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Spring Soup, Thick
Soak half a pint of green split peas, then boil them till tender in as much stock, made from bones, as will cover them, and with them two young carrots and two turnips, five or six spring onions, a small bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a small leek, and a few outer sticks of celery, if these can be had. When the peas and vegetables are quite tender, rub them through a sieve. Add additional stock to make the puree as thick as custard; and if it is not a good colour, add spinach-juice to make it green (see SPINACH, GREEN, ETC.). Cut a small bunch of asparagus-tops into the shape of peas. Boil these separately in a little water with the heart of a finely-shredded young cabbage, and three or four leaves of mint. Be careful to keep these vegetables a good colour. A few minutes before the soup is to be served throw them into it. If they can be procured, freshly-picked peas can be used instead of the dried split peas. Time to boil the soup, one and a half to two hours. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A split-pea puree dressed up with fresh spring vegetables added at the last moment. The recipe works as written; most of what needs saying is about quantities, colour and the order of operations.
- Half a pint of split peasAn imperial half-pint is 10 fl oz, so roughly 1 1/4 US cups of dried green split peas, about 8-9 oz by weight. They will swell to two or three times that volume once cooked.
- Soaking is optional nowSplit peas will generally collapse in 45-60 minutes without soaking. A soak shortens the cooking time rather than being needed for texture.
- The hinge is the garnishThe asparagus tips, shredded cabbage heart and mint go in at the very end, off the main boil. Blanch them briefly in salted water, drain, and add in the last two or three minutes. Anything longer and the colour and bite that justify calling this a spring soup are gone.
- Spinach-juice for colourThe recipe sends you to the book's own entry for green colouring, which in this period normally meant an extract pressed from pounded spinach. It is a laborious way to tint soup; a handful of raw spinach blitzed into the finished puree does the same job. Do not boil it after, or the colour turns olive.
- Sieve or blenderRubbing through a sieve was the standard route to a smooth puree. A blender does it in seconds, though passing the blended soup through a fine sieve afterwards removes pea skins and carrot fibre and is worth the minute it takes.
- \"As thick as custard\"Pouring custard, not set custard. The soup should coat a spoon and just run off it. Hold back some stock and add it at the end rather than trying to boil down an over-thin puree, which dulls the colour.
- Stock made from bonesThe recipe specifies only a bone stock; a light veal or chicken one would suit. A good low-sodium chicken stock stands in, and it is easier to season at the end.
- Fresh peas insteadIf you use fresh shelled peas as the note suggests, treat it as a different soup: they cook in 8-10 minutes, not two hours, so simmer the root vegetables and aromatics first and add the peas near the end.
- YieldFive or six as stated, which suits a first course. Three or four if it is the meal.
The name is seasonal rather than regional: spring soup, potage printanier in the French kitchens the book so often defers to, meant whatever the first tender vegetables of the year happened to be, cut small and added late. The construction here is a compromise typical of late-Victorian household cookery: dried split peas carry the body and the cost, while a small quantity of asparagus tips, cabbage heart and mint supplies the seasonal claim. The instruction to correct the colour with spinach juice belongs to the same period's conviction that a green soup should look green; the recipe cross-references the book's own heading for green colouring.