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Macaroni Cream Soup
Fine macaroni, especially nice for use in soups, can be had in the shape of rice, seeds, shells, rings, letters, stars, and other shapes. 1 tablespoon of one of these kinds, or of ordinary macaroni broken into small pieces 1/2 cup potato, chopped fine 1/4 cup onion, chopped fine 1 pint hot milk 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon chopped parsley Cook macaroni, potato, and onion in one pint water till all are tender. Add remaining ingredients.
A plain milk-and-water soup thickened only by the starch from the potato and pasta. It comes together in about twenty minutes and depends entirely on seasoning.
- "Cream" means milk, not creamThere is no cream, roux or egg here. The body comes from starch released by the potato and the small pasta into the cooking water, so do not drain that water off.
- The soup pastaThe shapes listed are what is now sold as pastina, stelline, anellini or alphabets. One tablespoon is a small amount by design; more will absorb the liquid and turn the soup into porridge as it stands.
- Cooking orderPastina is tender in 5-7 minutes, while finely chopped potato needs 10-12. Give the potato and onion a head start and add the pasta partway through, or cut the potato very small as the recipe directs.
- Do not boil after the milkAdd the hot pint of milk off the boil and bring back only to a bare simmer. Hard boiling scorches milk on the pan bottom and can make it curdle against the salt and onion.
- Warming the milkHeating the milk separately, as specified, keeps the soup from dropping out of temperature. Scald it in a separate pan or a microwave rather than pouring it in cold.
- SeasoningThree-quarters of a teaspoon of salt for a pint of milk plus a pint of water is on the light side of ordinary; taste and adjust at the end. White pepper or nutmeg would not be out of place, though the recipe calls for neither.
- YieldAbout a quart, serving two generously or three as a first course. It thickens noticeably on standing, so thin with a little milk when reheating.
Factory-made macaroni in small fancy shapes was widely advertised in the later nineteenth century, and cookbooks of the period often pause to list the available forms, as this one does. The dish belongs to a family of "cream soups" built on milk and a starchy vegetable rather than stock, which suited households cooking without a stockpot. Soups of this kind were useful where no meat broth was wanted.