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Green-Pea Soup
258. Take the insides of six cos-lettuces and three cucumbers, pare and slice them, and cut the lettuces in pieces; add half a pint of young peas, an onion both top and bottom, and a very little parsley; put them into a stewpan, with half a pound of butter and a little salt and black pepper; cover them close, and stew gently two hours; shake the pan frequently, but do not open the lid; boil some younger peas till tender, rub them through a colander, and add the pulp to the stew; the next day add another half-pint of young peas, and as much of the pea-water as will reduce the soup to the thickness you wish to have it. By way of variety, all the vegetables may be rubbed through the colander, and it will make a nice smooth soup. Another Green-pea Soup. -To a gallon of water add half a peck of large green peas and a French roll; let them boil till the peas are broken; strain them through a colander, put to them some whole pepper and mace, half a peck of young peas, and let them boil; take a handful of spinach, two or three cabbage-lettuces, a few green onions; cut them in pieces not too small, put them in a stew-pan with half or a quarter of a pound of butter; let them stew till very tender; when the peas are enough boiled put in a few marigold leaves, and let them boil together; cut a quantity of bread in little squares, and fry them very dry to eat with the soup.
Two versions of the same soup, both built on the old English habit of stewing salad vegetables down in butter until they collapse. Neither gives a yield, a pot size or any temperature, so the notes below fill those in.
- The hinge: stew, do not fryThe lettuce, cucumber and onion go into a covered pan with butter over the lowest possible heat and are meant to fall apart in their own moisture. Browning shifts the flavour away from the sweet green character the dish is built on. Use a heavy pan with a tight lid and the smallest burner, and resist lifting the lid; the recipe asks you to shake the pan instead.
- Two hours is not a misprint, but 45 minutes is enoughTwo hours is not a misprint, but far less will do -- lettuce and cucumber are generally soft in 30 to 45 minutes covered, and beyond that you are mainly driving off water.
- Cos-lettuce and "an onion both top and bottom"Cos is romaine; the "insides" are the pale heart leaves. The onion called for is a spring onion or salad onion used whole, bulb and green tops together, not a dry brown onion.
- Half a peck of peasA peck is 8 quarts dry measure. Green peas in the pod run roughly 7 to 8 lb to the peck, so half a peck is around 3 1/2 to 4 lb unshelled, perhaps 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb shelled. The second recipe calls for that quantity twice over, once for the large peas boiled until broken and strained, once for young peas added whole. Frozen petits pois stand in well for the young peas; mature boiling peas suit the first.
- The French rollA small white roll, boiled until it disintegrates, acting as the thickener in place of flour. A couple of ounces of stale white bread is a workable modern stand-in, though the size of a period French roll is not certain.
- Marigold leavesPot marigold, Calendula officinalis, and in practice the petals rather than the foliage; they were a standard English pot-herb for colour and a faint bitterness. Use petals from unsprayed plants, a good pinch, added at the end. The ornamental French and African marigolds sold in garden centres are a different genus and are not what is meant.
- The overnight standThe first version deliberately rests a day before the second batch of peas and the pea-water go in. Cool it quickly, refrigerate, and bring it back to a full simmer the next day; a butter-rich vegetable purée left at room temperature overnight is exactly the sort of thing that spoils.
- Butter and seasoningHalf a pound of butter to this quantity of vegetables is a great deal by present taste; two to three ounces will still give a silky texture. The first version seasons only at the start and the second calls for no salt at all, so season at the end; the whole pepper and mace in the second version should be fished out or strained before serving.
- YieldNeither version states one. The first will serve roughly six; the second, built on a gallon of water, a good deal more. The fried bread squares are croutons, and drying them thoroughly is what keeps them from going soft in the bowl.