Southern Tomato Soup
Southern tomato soup is a meal in itself. Wash two quarts of tomatoes, and set over the fire in three pints of water; cook ten minutes, and drain, saving the water for the soup; press the tomatoes through a sieve, add to them one cucumber, peeled and cut small, one large onion sliced, one dozen okras (also sliced), a five cent marrowbone and the water drained from the tomatoes. Simmer for three hours, and just before sending to table thicken with a tablespoonful of flour wet with cold water. Season with salt, cayenne and three pats of butter.
“A meal in itself,” the book promises — a thrifty, vegetable-packed tomato soup enriched by a marrow bone.
- “A five-cent marrowbone”Just a beef marrow/soup bone from the butcher; its marrow enriches the broth as it simmers. Ask for a marrow or knuckle bone.
- Save the tomato waterThe recipe wisely reserves the blanching water for the soup — that’s flavor you’d otherwise pour down the drain.
- A garden in a potTomatoes, cucumber, onion, and okra together make it hearty; the okra also lightly thickens it, gumbo-style.
- TimeThree hours melds everything; add any quick vegetables toward the end.
This soup captures the frugal genius of the Southern kitchen: a five-cent bone, the water the tomatoes were scalded in, and whatever the garden offered, coaxed over three hours into “a meal in itself.” Marrow bones were a cook’s secret weapon for turning nearly-free ingredients into something rich and satisfying — nose-to-tail thrift long before it had a fashionable name.
From page 7 of the 1904 edition.
Original pages from the book
