Sunday, June 29, 2014

Melissa: A Little Barley, a Lot of Soup

I have to admit everyone, I cheated...

This week was a LONG week.  My sister got married smack dab in the middle of this challenge, plus we had visitors from Germany for the entire week after the wedding, so I did something a little bad... I let Colonial Williamsburg do the guesswork for me.  I made their barley soup recipe based off of Mary Randolph's 1824 recipe from The Virginia Housewife.  It goes a little something like this...




That would make A LOT of soup.  CW's recipe is for a smaller, more manageable portion (but still giant!) of delicious soup-stew-stuff.  I added an extra carrot, left out the onions so that my mother would be able to eat it (she hates onions!), and used beef instead of mutton for cost's sake.  It was an absolutely delicious stew, and definitely a balanced meal in and of itself.

It ain't pretty, but it tastes amazing!

The Challenge: #2 Soups and Sauces

The Recipe: Colonial Williamsburg, via The Virginia Housewife

The Date/Year and Region: 1820's Virginia

How Did You Make It: Started off stewing the beef, barley, and water for a bit, then added the turnips and carrots, then finally added the ham and tomatoes.  If I would make it again I'd probably add the barley in later as it did get a bit mushy (and more barley!)

Time to Complete: Start to finish, about three hours.  Lots of cooking and cutting time.

Total Cost: Around $9 for eight servings of delicious soup!

How Successful Was It?: It was absolutely delightful!  I've never had turnips and I'm wary of tomato in soup, but this was amazing.  I will definitely make it again!

How Accurate Is It?: I did go off of a reproduction recipe instead of the original (but I had access to the original at least!) It would have benefitted from the addition of lamb or mutton instead of beef, and onions would have enhanced it even further.  I did used canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh and pre-packaged diced ham instead of "a few slices" of ham.  I would say it's about 75% there!

I've been amazed at all of the delicious soups and sauces our lovely members are posting on the Facebook group!  Go on over and check them out!  Bon appetit!

3 comments:

  1. I don't have Facebook so I can't see any of the posts, but my challenge is on my blog
    http://bluestockingmusings.blogspot.com/2014/06/historical-food-fortnightly-challenge-2.html

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    1. I don't have FB either. With scandals every week over people's data (this week, it's this: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28051930) , I don't understand why anyone would have an account.

      Anyway, mine is up at http://isabelladangelo.blogspot.com/2014/06/historical-food-fortnightly-2-soups.html.

      Your raspberry sauce looks like it would be good on ice cream or on cakes!

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  2. Isabella - Yes the sauce is delicious on ice cream! It is too hot for macaroni and cheese, the only sauce I know how make and like.

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