Bean Soup
2 tablespoons chopped onion 4 cups cold water 1 sprig parsley 1 stalk celery 2 tablespoons carrot 4 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 3 cups milk salt and cayenne 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sacce teaspoon pepper Soak beans over night. Cook beans, onion, parsley, celery and carrot in cold water; when tender rub through a sieve. Melt butter; add flour, milk and seasonings; cook five minutes. Combine mixtures and serve.
One cup stewed tomatoes added to this soup makes a pleasant variation.
A creamed bean purée in the New England style, thickened with a butter-flour roux and finished with milk rather than stock. The method is sound; the quantities need a little interpretation.
- Quantity of beansThe ingredient list gives no amount for the beans themselves. For 4 cups of water and 3 cups of milk, about 1 cup of dried white beans (navy, marrow or pea beans) soaked overnight is a reasonable reading, giving roughly six servings.
- Soaking and cooking timeAn overnight soak in cold water, then 1 to 1½ hours at a bare simmer until the beans crush easily between finger and thumb. Undercooked beans will not pass a sieve, and a food mill or blender will only make them gritty.
- Sieving"Rub through a sieve" removes the skins, which is the point of the step. A food mill with the medium plate does the same work in a fraction of the time; a blender purées the skins in rather than out, so pass it through a strainer afterward if you want the original texture.
- The rouxMelt the butter, cook the flour in it a minute before adding milk, and add the milk gradually off the heat to avoid lumps. Five minutes of cooking is enough to lose the raw flour taste at this thin a ratio.
- Cayenne and pepperThe pepper quantity in the list is missing, most likely a fraction lost in printing. A quarter teaspoon of black pepper and a pinch or two of cayenne suits this volume; salt to taste at the end, since Worcestershire brings its own.
- CombiningAdd the hot bean purée to the hot white sauce rather than the reverse, and keep the pan below a boil once the milk is in. A hard boil on a floury milk base scorches on the bottom and can curdle if the tomato variation is used.
- The tomato variationStewed tomatoes are acidic enough to split milk. Stir them in at the very end over low heat and serve promptly, or warm them separately and swirl them in at the bowl.
Lowney's Cook Book (1907) was published by the Walter M. Lowney Company of Boston, a chocolate manufacturer, and it carried a full complement of ordinary household recipes alongside the confectionery that justified the volume. This bean soup has the marks often associated with the Boston Cooking School style: dried beans, a white sauce base, and a pur o to to the cheapest pantry staple in the house. Dried navy and pea beans were a New England commodity of long standing, and the addition of Worcestershire sauce, cayenne and a cup of stewed tomatoes reflects the period's fondness for lifting a plain, thrifty base with bottled and canned seasonings.