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Peas Soup, to Flavour
A pinch of the following savoury powder will impart an agreeable flavour to dried peas soup. Pound together in a mortar one ounce of dried sage, one ounce of dried mint, a quarter of an ounce of celery-seed, a sprinkling of cayenne, and a little allspice. When the ingredients are reduced to powder, put them into a perfectly dry bottle, cork securely, and store until wanted for use.
A dry seasoning blend rather than a dish, of the sort Victorian cooks kept bottled beside the salt. The only real difficulty is that dried herbs are measured here by weight, which makes the quantities look far smaller than they are.
- What an ounce of dried herb amounts toAn ounce of dried rubbed sage is roughly a cup loosely packed; an ounce of dried mint about the same. If you weigh whole dried leaves rather than rubbed, expect a good deal more volume. The finished blend fills a small jam jar.
- Celery seedA quarter ounce is roughly a tablespoon. It is potent and slightly bitter, so do not round it up.
- "A sprinkling" and "a little"The cayenne and allspice are left deliberately vague and the original gives no usable quantity. A quarter teaspoon of cayenne and half a teaspoon of ground allspice against two ounces of herbs gives warmth without dominating; adjust on tasting rather than guessing upward.
- GrindingA mortar works but a spice grinder or clean coffee mill is faster and gives a finer, more even powder. Sieve out any stalky fragments of sage, which will not break down and float unpleasantly in the soup.
- The dry bottle mattersThis is the hinge of the whole thing. Any residual moisture in the jar will cake the powder and encourage mould in the sage. Warm the jar in a low oven and let it cool fully before filling.
- How much to use"A pinch" is understated for a large pot. Start with a quarter teaspoon per litre of pea soup, stirred in during the last ten minutes so the mint keeps its lift; long boiling flattens the mint.
- KeepingDried herb blends hold their character for around six months in a cool dark cupboard. After that the sage turns dusty and the mint fades first.
Blended seasoning powders were a fixture of the nineteenth-century English store cupboard, alongside "kitchen pepper" and the various curry and forcemeat powders that Cassell's carried: a cook who ground her own could season consistently without opening five jars. The pairing of sage and mint with dried peas is older than the book. Split pea or "pease" soup was cheap winter food built on peas dried for keeping, and dried peas cook to a bland, heavy purée that begs for something aromatic; mint with peas and sage with pork were both long-established English habits. The celery seed does the work fresh celery would in a modern mirepoix, and the cayenne and allspice are often said to reflect a Victorian taste for a faint warmth in savoury dishes rather than any real heat.