Soups

PHILADELPHIA PEPPER POT

• 1 lb. honeycomb tripe
• 1 veal knuckle
• 1½ qts. water
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tblsp. red pepper, diced
• 1 tblsp. green pepper, diced
• 1 tablespoon powdered thyme
• 6 peppercorns
• 4 potatoes, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 tomatoes, peeled, cut up
• 4 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 piece pimento, cut fine

Wash and scrub tripe thoroughly. Place in large kettle and cover with plenty of cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender. Simmer without boiling, that is the secret of making tripe tender. Drain and dice, ½ inch squares. In the meantime place the veal knuckle in another kettle adding 1½ qts. of water and all ingredients except the potatoes. Simmer at least one hour, put in potatoes and simmer for another hour or until meat falls off the bone. Remove bone and take off all the meat. Cut it into small pieces and together with the tripe put it back into the soup. Bring to a boil and the soup is ready to serve. This soup keeps well and can be reheated.

DUMPLINGS (Spaetzle)

• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. salt

Add milk to flour slowly, stirring constantly to keep mixture smooth. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Salt and mix well. When cooking in boiling salted water or meat broth, pour the batter from a shallow bowl, tilting it over the boiling kettle. With a sharp knife slice off pieces of the batter into the boiling liquid. Dip knife in the liquid before each cut to prevent sticking.

CORN CHOWDER

• 4 slices bacon
• 2 tblsp. onion, minced
• 1 tblsp. celery, minced
• 1 tblsp. pepper, minced
• 2 cups corn
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 3 tomatoes, cut-up
• 2 pints milk
• salt
• pepper

Dice the bacon and put into pan to brown, add onion, celery and pepper; fry until bacon is crisp. Add the corn and saute together for 3 minutes. Add the potatoes, tomatoes and seasoning, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Finally add the milk, heat to the boiling point and serve with a little chopped parsley.

EGG NOODLES

• 2 eggs
• ½ tsp. salt
• sifted flour

Add salt to the eggs and work in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Knead thoroughly, divide into 2 portions and roll each out as thin as possible, on a floured board. Cover with cloth and let stand until partly dry. Roll up the dough and cut into ¼ inch strips. Spread out on paper to dry a little longer.

DUTCH COUNTRY BEAN SOUP

• 1 lb. soup beans
• 1 ham bone
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 can tomato sauce
• ½ cup diced potatoes
• 2 tsp. minced parsley
• salt and pepper

Soak beans in water overnight. Drain, add fresh water and cook slowly with the ham bone for 2 hours. Put in the onion, celery, potatoes, tomato sauce, parsley and the salt and pepper and simmer until vegetables are soft. Remove the ham bone, trim off any meat, cut it up and add to soup. Many Pennsylvania Dutch cooks cut up hard boiled eggs and add them to the soup.

SPLIT PEA SOUP

• 1 lb. split peas
• 3 qts. water
• 1 ham bone
• salt
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• pepper

Wash peas, add cold water, vegetables and ham bone and simmer for three hours or until mixture is thick. Remove ham bone, force peas through coarse sieve and season to taste. Dilute with milk. Serve with toasted croutons.

VEGETABLE SOUP

• 1 soup bone
• 2 lbs. stewing beef
• 2 qts. water
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup tomatoes
• 2 tsp. salt
• black pepper

Into 2 qts. of water put soup bone and beef and boil for 2 hours. For a hearty, substantial soup, cut up the meat in small pieces and return to the broth. Add tomatoes, onions and celery. Also add other available vegetables, such as diced potatoes, carrots, turnip, string beans, corn, peas, cabbage or chopped peppers. Boil until all vegetables are tender.

MEAT FILLING FOR NOODLES

• 1 cup ground beef
• 2 tblsp. fat
• 1 small onion
• ½ cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 cup bread cubes
• salt and pepper
• 2 tblsp. butter

Make a recipe of noodle dough (see above). Roll thin, let dry and cut into 3 inch squares. Brown meat in hot fat with the onion and seasoning. Soak bread cubes in water and press dry then add to the meat. Spoon mixture on the center of the noodle squares, fold in half and seal edges, like little pillows. Drop the filled squares into salted boiling water and cook 8 to 10 minutes. Lift carefully with draining spoon to a serving dish and top with the half cup of bread crumbs which have been browned in butter.

EGG BALLS FOR SOUP

Rub the yolks of three or four hard boiled eggs to a smooth paste and salt. To these add two raw ones lightly beaten. Add enough flour to hold the paste together. Make into balls with floured hands and set in cool place until just before your soup comes off. Put the balls carefully into the soup and boil one minute.

SPINACH FILLING FOR NOODLES

• 2 lbs. raw spinach, chopped
• 3 tblsp. butter
• salt and pepper
• 1½ cups bread crumbs
• 2 eggs

Make a recipe of noodle dough (see above). Steam and brown the spinach in melted butter. Add the eggs, 1 cup of dry bread crumbs and the seasoning. Mix well, spoon mixture on noodle dough squares and proceed as above.

SALSIFY OR VEGETABLE OYSTER SOUP

• 1½ cups diced salsify
• 1½ cups water
• 1 tblsp. vinegar
• 1 tblsp. butter
• 1 quart milk
• salt and pepper

Scrub, scrape and clean salsify. Dice and cook in salted water, with 1 tablespoon of vinegar added, until tender. Drain, add butter and rich milk, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and serve with crackers.

BEEF SOUP WITH DUMPLINGS

• 1 soup bone
• 2 lbs. stewing beef
• 2 quarts water
• salt
• 1½ cups flour
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• pepper

Cook meat until tender and remove from the broth. Add water until you have 2 quarts of broth. Make dumplings by mixing beaten egg and milk into flour until about the consistency of pancake batter. Drop from teaspoon into the boiling broth to form small dumplings. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes.

POTATO SOUP (Gruumbier Suupe)

• 4 cups diced potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 3 tblsp. flour
• 1 tblsp. butter
• 1 qt. milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt and pepper
• parsley

Boil potatoes and onion in small amount of water until soft. Add milk, salt and pepper then reheat. Brown flour in the butter and blend it slowly into the potato mixture. Add a little water to the beaten egg and stir into the soup. Let it cook for a few minutes and serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

CHICKEN CORN SOUP

• 1 stewing hen, about 4-lbs.
• 4 qts. water
• 1 onion, chopped
• 10 ears corn
• ½ cup celery, chopped with leaves
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• salt and pepper
• rivels

Put cut-up chicken and onion into the water and cook slowly until tender, add salt. Remove chicken, cut the meat into small (1-inch) pieces and return to broth, together with corn, which has been cut from the cob, celery and seasoning. Continue to simmer. Make rivels by combining 1 cup flour, a pinch of salt, 1 egg and a little milk. Mix well with fork or fingers to form small crumbs. Drop these into the soup, also the chopped, hard-boiled eggs. Boil for 15 minutes longer.

CORN SOUP WITH RIVELS

• 3 cups fresh or canned corn
• 2 qts. water
• 1 cup rich milk
• 1⅓ cups flour
• 1 egg
• 3 tblsp. butter
• 1½ tsp. salt
• parsley

Cook corn in water for 10 minutes. Make a batter by mixing egg, flour and milk together. Pour this batter through a colander, letting it drop into the boiling corn. Add butter and salt. Cook slowly in a covered pan for 3 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley. Soup should be eaten immediately after rivels are cooked.

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

• 4 lb. chicken
• 2½ qts. water
• 2½ tsp. salt
• 3 cups cooked noodles

Cut a young stewing chicken into serving pieces, bring to a boil and simmer for 2½ hours, adding water as needed. Skim off the fat and add:

• 1 tsp. peppercorns
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tblsp. parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper

Bring to boil again and add noodles, preferably home made noodles. Cook for 20 minutes longer.