[205-*] My witty predecessor, Dr. Hunter (see Culina, page 97), says, “If a proper quantity of curry-powder ([No. 455]) be added to pease soup, a good soup might be made, under the title of curry pease soup. Heliogabalus offered rewards for the discovery of a new dish, and the British Parliament have given notoriety to inventions of much less importance than ‘curry pease soup.’”
N.B. Celery, or carrots, or turnips, shredded, or cut in squares (or Scotch barley,—in the latter case the soup must be rather thinner), or cut into bits about an inch long, and boiled separately, and thrown into the tureen when the soup is going to table, will give another agreeable variety, and may be called celery and pease soup. Read [Obs.] to [No. 214]
[207-*] The French call this “soup maigre;” the English acceptation of which is “poor and watery,” and does not at all accord with the French, which is, soups, &c. made without meat: thus, turtle, the richest dish that comes to an English table (if dressed without meat gravy), is a maigre dish.
[209-*] We copied the following receipt from The Morning Post, Jan. 1820.
- 210 lbs of beef, fore-quarters,
- 90 lbs. of legs of beef,
- 3 bushels of best split pease,
- 1 bushel of flour,
- 12 bundles of leeks,
- 6 bundles of celery,
- 12 lbs. of salt,
- 11 lbs. of black pepper.
These good ingredients will make 1000 quarts of nourishing and agreeable soup, at an expense (establishment avoided) of little less than 2 1/2d. per quart.
Of this, 2600 quarts a day have been delivered during the late inclement weather, and the cessation of ordinary employment, at two stations in the parish of Bermondsey, at one penny per quart, by which 600 families have been daily assisted, and it thankfully received. Such a nourishment and comfort could not have been provided by themselves separately for fourpence a quart, if at all, and reckoning little for their fire, nothing for their time.
[214-*] Some lovers of haut goût fry the tails before they put them into the soup-pot.