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Prussian Soup
Cut two heads of celery into small pieces, and put them into a stewpan with three ounces of dripping, two carrots, two turnips, two onions, two leeks, and a pound of potatoes; the vegetables must all be cut up small. Fry until they are soft, which will be in about twenty minutes. Put with them half a pound of lean beef or mutton cut into slices, cover the saucepan closely, let the ingredients steam gently for an hour, and be very careful that they do not burn. Pour over them two quarts of water, and add a pint of split peas which have been soaked for twelve hours or more. Bring the liquor to the point of boiling, and skim carefully. Draw it back, and let it simmer for three hours. Press the vegetables through a colander, season the soup with salt and pepper, and, if liked, a little dried mint; boil it up again, and serve very hot. The peas may, if liked, be omitted, and a little brown thickening boiled with the soup. This economical dish is very popular in Prussia, hence its name. Time, five hours or more, according to the quality of the peas. Probable cost, 4d. a pint. Sufficient for six or eight persons.
A long, thrifty vegetable-and-pea soup built on a slow sweating stage before any liquid goes in. The instructions are sound; most of what needs translating is units, fat and one piece of stove vocabulary.
- The hinge: the dry hourThe hour of covered steaming with the meat, before the water goes in, is what gives this soup its flavour. Use the heaviest pan you own on the lowest heat and stir every ten minutes; if the base browns past golden the whole pot tastes scorched.
- "Draw it back"On a coal range this meant pulling the pan to a cooler part of the top. Today: bring to a bare boil, skim, then reduce to the gentlest simmer for the three hours.
- DrippingThree ounces is about 6 tablespoons of beef fat. Butter, lard or oil all work; dripping is what gives the soup its savoury, faintly roasted background, and beef fat saved from a roast is the closest match.
- Heads of celeryA Victorian head of celery is a whole bunch, not a single rib. Two heads is a lot of celery -- perhaps 1 to 2 lb trimmed -- and it is the largest single vegetable in the pot.
- Liquid and peasThe book is British, so two quarts is 80 imperial fluid ounces, about 2.4 US quarts or 2.3 litres. A pint of split peas measured dry is roughly 2 1/3 cups, about 1 lb; yellow or green both suit. Expect to add water toward the end, as the peas will thicken it considerably.
- Pressing through a colanderThis gives a coarse, rustic purée. Fish out the meat first, then pass the vegetables through a colander or food mill, or pulse briefly with a stick blender -- a full blitz in a high-speed blender makes it gluey and pale.
- The meatHalf a pound of lean beef or mutton is flavouring, not the main event. Shin, chuck or lamb shoulder will be tender after four hours; shred it and return it to the pot rather than serving the slices whole.
- Brown thickeningThe pea-free variant calls for what the period called brown thickening: flour cooked in fat until nut-coloured, i.e. a brown roux, whisked in and simmered out. Allow about 2 tablespoons each flour and fat for this quantity.
- Seasoning and yieldSix to eight servings, as stated. Salt only at the end, after the peas have broken down; dried mint is worth trying at about a teaspoon, added with the final boil so it has time to soften.
The name is the book's own explanation -- an economical pea-and-root soup thought of as characteristically Prussian. Split peas cooked down with root vegetables and a little cured or lean meat are genuinely central to North German and Berlin cooking, where Erbsensuppe remains a staple, so the attribution is at least plausible even if the specific dish is an English kitchen's idea of it. What is more revealing is the price note: 4d. a pint, printed alongside the yield, marks this as one of the deliberately cheap entries included for households cooking to a budget, where half a pound of meat was expected to season two and a half quarts of soup rather than feed anyone directly. The technique -- frying the vegetables in dripping, then steaming them covered for an hour before adding water -- is standard practice for the period and the reason these plain soups tasted of more than their ingredient list suggests.