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Spinach Soup
263. Shred two handsful of spinach, a turnip, two onions, one head of celery, two carrots, and a little thyme and parsley. Put all into a stewpot with a bit of butter the size of a walnut, and a pint of broth, or the water in which meat has been boiled; stew till the vegetables are quite tender; work them through a coarse cloth or sieve with a spoon, then to the pulp of the vegetables and liquor put a quart of fresh water, pepper and salt, and boil altogether. Have ready some suet dumplings the size of a walnut, and, before pouring the soup into the tureen, put them into it. The suet must not be shred too fine, and take care that it is quite fresh.
A thrifty pot-liquor soup: root vegetables and spinach stewed, pushed through a sieve, then thinned and served with small suet dumplings. The one thing the original assumes and never states is how the dumplings are made and cooked.
- The dumplings are cooked separately"Have ready some suet dumplings" means they are already boiled or steamed before they meet the soup. Dropping raw dough into a thin, sieved purée will cloud it and the dumplings will fall apart; simmer them in salted water or stock until they float and are firm, then lift them into the tureen.
- No dumpling proportions are givenThe book leaves them to the cook. A workable ratio is 2 parts self-raising flour to 1 part shredded suet by weight, salt, and cold water to a soft dough; roll into walnut-sized balls and simmer 15-20 minutes. Beef suet is sold shredded and packaged, and vegetable suet behaves the same way.
- "Not shred too fine" and "quite fresh"Coarse shreds of suet melt slowly and leave the dumpling light; suet grated to a paste gives a heavy, greasy result. The insistence on freshness dates from before refrigeration -- suet turns rancid quickly. Use packaged suet within its date or fresh beef fat from a butcher the same day.
- Butter the size of a walnutAbout 1 oz, or 2 tablespoons. It is there to sweat the vegetables, not to enrich the soup.
- Two handsful of spinachPerhaps 4 to 8 oz of fresh leaf spinach, which cooks down to very little. Frozen leaf spinach works here since everything is sieved anyway; thaw and drain it well.
- Liquid measuresA pint of broth plus a quart of water in British measure is 20 fl oz plus 40 fl oz, so roughly 7 cups in total. "The water in which meat has been boiled" may already carry salt, depending on how the meat was cooked, so taste before seasoning; if you use commercial stock, hold back the salt until the end.
- SievingThe coarse cloth or sieve is what gives this soup its texture -- slightly rough, not silky. A blender or food processor will do it faster; a brief pulse rather than a long blitz keeps it closer to the original. Push through a coarse sieve afterwards if the celery leaves strings behind.
- TimingStew the vegetables covered in the pint of broth until a knife goes through the carrot and turnip without resistance; shredded as directed this may take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes. Once the puree and water are combined, bring it back to a boil only briefly.
- YieldAround 7 cups of thin soup, enough for four as a first course with three or four dumplings each.
This belongs to a large family of nineteenth-century English soups built on the water meat was boiled in -- a resource any household with a boiled joint had on hand. The vegetables are the standard British root and herb mix rather than anything specifically Continental, and the spinach is present as much for colour as for flavour, two handfuls carrying a whole pot. The suet dumpling makes it a soup meant to fill as well as flavour, closer to a light meal than to a course. Suet was a cheap solid fat of the period, shredded from beef kidney fat, and the caution that it must be "quite fresh" reflects a kitchen without cold storage.