Chicken Soup Recipe, Depression Era

     I've tried many ways of making chicken soup over the years and while they were all good they weren't fantastic I was always looking for something else.  This started as a research project into Depression Era cooking.  One of things that Herbert Hoover promised as president was "A chicken in every pot" and there's a reason for this, chicken was expensive, especially young chickens.  Chickens were kept for laying eggs and after 5 years when they stopped laying that's when they ended up as dinner.

Cajun Onion Soup

Yesterday when I was trying to come up with something different for dinner I had just 2 requirements, it had to be simple and it had to use the cheese I had in the freezer (yes you can freeze cheese.)  So I hit upon the idea of French Onion soup but decided to give it my own twist and turn it into something nouveau.  What I came up with I dubbed Cajun Onion Soup as it has that Louisiana flare to it.  Now there is another Cajun Onion Soup recipe on the internet and it sounds not so tasty.  It involves a roux which violated my simple requirement and it calls for pasta sauce(WTH?).  It comes from a 1970's recipe book which was an era of regrettable food so I suppose I'll forgive them.  Here's my recipe:

Hungarian Pork With Sauerkraut

Eastern European countries have many ways to cook cabbage and pork.  My Polish/Russian grandparents cooked a dish called Kapusta that was a mixture of pork, cabbage and sauerkraut.  This dish being the Hungarian equivalent, it has some differences though.  The addition of tomatoes gives it a sweet kick to counter the vinegar taste of the sauerkraut and all is brought together with the ever present sour cream at the end.  This dish is more of a stew than a main dish and is best served in a nice wide bowl.  Leftovers can be frozen.  For the pork, get a cheap cut of meat like a picnic ham.  Use only the meaty part reserving the fat for use in another recipe.  Properly speaking, this dish is a Szekler recipe which originated with the Szekely people who live in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania.  My family descends from this group with Tamasi's being mentioned in various codexes from the 1300's as "Counts of the Szeklers" and having fought hard against the constant Turkish invasions.  The origins of the Szeklers are unclear and it is thought they are descendants of the Avars who settled in that area in late Roman times and were used as a border control by the later Byzantine Empire.  When the Magyars came later and settled Hungary the Szeklers continued their border control responsibilities. This recipe is from the New Brunswick Orthodox Church Cookbook printed in 1958.

Ukrainian Borscht (or Borshch)

This recipe comes by way of much historical and ethnic research and putting together a recipe.  Much like General Tso's Chicken is indicative of Hunan Cuisine, this recipe is meant to savor the multitudinous flavors of the many ways of making Ukrainian Borscht.  In essence, borscht served hot is a winter dish made primarily of root vegetables that would have kept over a long winter.  The soup itself is amazingly healthy as it is full of many immune system vitamins and minerals that the body needs to fight off infection (move over chicken soup, I have something better).  This is not a slapdash, quick and easy recipe, it's a labor of love taking time to be made right, but the end result is well worth the effort spent making it.  Your yield will be about 8qts of soup.  I froze half of mine for later and ate the other half now (and shared with friends).  Get organic ingredients as much as you can as the taste is well worth it.  I've tailored this ingredients list for shopping at The Fresh Market.

Ukrainian Borscht

2lbs Beef Short Ribs
3L Water
2tsp Real Salt (Redmond's)
1 Bunch Organic Carrots w/ tops
1 Celery Root
1 Small onion and 2 large onions
8-10 Whole Allspice berries
8 Whole Cloves
3lbs whole organic beets
2T unsalted Kerrygold Butter
1lb Organic Turnips
1 1/2lbs Organic Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes
1tsp pepper
2T Tomato Paste
8 Cloves Organic Garlic
1T Lemon Juice
Sour Cream
Organic Fresh Dill

Prepare your celery root by washing it then peeling off the skin.  Cut off a 1/2" thick round and set aside.  Wrap remaining root and place in fridge for later. Remove tops from carrots and set aside along with one whole carrot, scraped clean. Take your small onion, unpeeled and stud it with 8 whole cloves.  In 8qt Stockpot bring water, salt and beef to a simmering boil.  Strain off foam until it stops rising to the surface. Add your piece of celery root, clove onion, carrot, allspice berries and carrot tops to pot and simmer 2 hours until meat is very tender.  Remove meat taking out bones and chopping beef fine, strain broth (it will have reduced by 1/3) and set aside.  While meat is simmering, take your beets, scrub them and wrap individually in Aluminum Foil.  Place in 400 deg oven and roast 1 hour until beets are slightly tender.  Remove and let cool. To prep the rest of the ingredients, peel your turnip and 2-3 carrots, the rest of the celery root and dice.  Peel your cooled beets and grate on the large side of a box grater and set aside.  Take the pot the meat was cooked in rinse out and set back on med-high stove until dry then add butter.  Chop your 2 large onions into rough pieces and cook in pot 5 mins stirring often.  Add in diced turnip, carrots and celery root and cook 3 mins until soft.  Add reserved stock, shredded beets, beef, pepper, potatoes, garlic cloves and tomato paste and simmer on low heat until potatoes are cooked through.  Add lemon juice and taste, you want a balance of sweet and sour so add more lemon juice if necessary.  Turn off heat and serve with sour cream garnished with finely chopped dill.

Hearty Corn Chowder Recipe

There's quite a few recipes out there for corn chowder and in the main I think they're just bland.  This recipe is based on couple of the more interesting ones I've found with a few added twists all my own.  While not exactly vintage, corn chowder has been around since at least the 1800's.  What sets my recipe apart is the use of organic and fresh ingredients as opposed to frozen or canned.

Hearty Corn Chowder

4 Slices Smoked Bacon, Chopped
1lb Fresh Spicy Italian Sausage (about 2 links)
1 Large Organic White Onion, Diced
1 Red or Orange Bell Pepper, Diced
3 Cloves Organic Garlic, Minced
5 Ears Bi-Color Corn, Strip kernels from cob with knife
2C Chicken Stock
2C Whole Organic Valley Milk
1/4C Flour
1/2tsp Sage
1tsp Salt
1/2tsp Pepper
1/2tsp Smoked Sweet Paprika
Organic Green Onions for garnishing
Aged White Cheddar (Optional)

Prep all ingredients then in a heavy bottom 6qt pot heat on stove over med-high heat.  Cook chopped bacon until crisp then remove with slotted spoon reserving fat in pot.  Add corn kernels and saute until slightly browned.  Remove sausage from casings and add to corn, breaking up with spoon.  Fry until browned then add Pepper, Onions, Garlic and all spices.  Cook about 5 mins until onions are translucent.  Sprinkle with flour and cook a few minutes more stirring constantly.  Add in chicken stock and stir well then add milk.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 20 minutes until thick.  Serve in bowls topped with bacon pieces, sliced green onion and if desired, some grated aged white cheddar.

Note:  For the Italian sausage try to get it at a butchers like The Fresh Market or another reputable dealer.  Standard Italian Sausage sold in the grocery store is of questionable quality.

Louisiana Cooking Week #3: 1910's Gumbo Recipe

I promised a real deal Gumbo recipe and here it is:

Colonial Peanut Soup

It's been chilly down here lately... well as chilly as it gets in North Florida at this time of year. I was looking for something different to have for dinner one night.  I knew I wanted soup but I just wasn't in the mood for Tomato or Mushroom soup and it's not quite chicken soup weather yet.  So it was off to an old standby, Peanut Soup.  Peanut Soup has been a staple in the US since colonial times but it's popularity waned in the late 20th Century except in areas where peanuts are a dominant crop (Georgia and especially Virginia).  This recipe is from an old Williamsburg recipe and has gone unchanged since Colonial times.