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Category: Soups

Brennan's turtle soup
Turtle Was a Popular Dish in the 1800s

Turtle Was a Popular Dish in the 1800s

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Many cookbooks from the 1800s included recipes for cooking turtle; snapping turtle, box turtle, sea turtle, and diamondback terrapin. Today, many species of turtles are endangered and it’s illegal to capture or kill them.  In the U.S., you can hunt diamondback terrapins and snapping turtles, but only in season and you must have a hunting license. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS: TURTLE SOUP Kill the turtle at daylight in summer, the night before in winter, and hang it up to bleed….

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How to Cook Ox-tails

How to Cook Ox-tails

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Ox-tail in cooking refers to the tail of cattle. An ox-tail can weigh weigh 7 to 8 pounds, is jointed and bony, and each section has some marrow in the center. When sold, it is skinned and cut into short sections.  Ox-tail is rich in gelatin and takes a long time to cook; therefore, it’s usually used for soups, braising, or stews. You could also use a pressure cooker if you wanted to save time.  INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS OX-TAIL Cut…

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Leek and Potato Soup
Start With Plain White Soup Stock

Start With Plain White Soup Stock

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  Cooks in the 1800s often made soup stock and used it for a base, adding various ingredients. Making homemade soup was a necessary skill because commercially prepared soups weren’t readily available until 1869. That’s when Joseph Campbell and Abraham Anderson began a company to produce canned foods (including soups). This was certainly a convenience! INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS White stock is an especially nice broth having a delicate flavor, made from veal and fowl. If allowed to remain…

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vegetables for soup
Soups for Four Seasons

Soups for Four Seasons

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In the days before electrical refrigeration, soups were usually made with vegetables that were in season. Preparing and cooking soup took many hours. These four seasonal soups have meat as a base for flavoring, but the meat is never left in the soup to be eaten. Because of the long, slow cooking, all of the flavor is extracted and the meat discarded. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS SPRING SOUPUnless your dinner hour is very late, the stock for this soup…

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Cream of Squash Soup
Vintage Vegetable Cream Soup Recipes

Vintage Vegetable Cream Soup Recipes

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Cream soups are a great way to use fresh vegetables and incorporate milk and cream into a meal. no matter what the season. Even though these recipes are from 1800s cookbooks, you should be able to recreate them today. The cream of lettuce and cream of lima bean soups sound interesting to me. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS: CREAM OF LETTUCETake two heads of nice, fresh lettuce, wash and drain and chop fine with half a small white onion. Put…

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Old Fashioned Strawberry Soup
Making Soups from Fruit

Making Soups from Fruit

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I never tasted a soup made from fruit until a couple of years ago.  I was at a local restaurant in southern Illinois, and they had cantaloupe soup on the menu.   Since I like to try new things, I ordered it and was surprised at how good it was. Many of the recipes below are from Mrs Mary Wilson’s Cookbook published 1920. Even though this blog is based on 1800s cookbook recipes, I thought you might like to try…

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Making Fresh Bone Broth Soup Stock
How to Make Soup Stock

How to Make Soup Stock

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So many recipes from 1800s cookbooks call for soup stock and all good cooks kept a supply on hand. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS MEANING AND USE OF STOCK Soup stock may be regarded as a liquid containing the juices and soluble parts of meat, bone, and vegetables, which have been extracted by long, slow cooking and which can be utilized in the making of soups, sauces, and gravies. Keep stock in small jars in a cool place. It makes…

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