Southern Soups & Stews

This Christmas present was from Ann because she likes soup. Usually, when she comes for Christmas, I make up 4 or 5 batches of soup and freeze them so she can leave with a cooler of soup. Little did she know that Southern Soups & Stews was written by one of our favorites, Nancie McDermott.

(Now I am going to digress and tell you what I hate about most cookbooks as a way of pointing out what is really great in McDermott's book. Many cookbook authors act like they invented cooking. Like no one before them ever thought of putting macaroni and cheese together in a casserole dish! How about putting bits of chocolate into cookies?  And then one day, I dropped my chicken in a big vat of hot oil and it was delicious. I admit it, my cornbread recipes is the same one my Mother used and she got it from her aunt, who got it from her grandmother and it is the same cornbread recipe that 90% of Southerner's use and frankly, I don't know who thought it up...but it does have a history, even if it is just my history.)

Sitting alone in the kitchen with Southern Soups & Stews you will find that not only is Nancie McDermott there with you, but the kitchen is jam packed with other people who have helped build a culinary legacy, and a damn fine cookbook.  McDermott always gives credit where credit is due. In doing that, she takes the reader and cook on mad romp through the history of Southern cooking.

You will find Rufus Estes who published what as probably the first cookbook by an African-American chef. There is Nathalie Dupree, who was promoting Southern cooking on PBS before "Southern" cooking was the new big thing.  There is a chicken bog that in some form or another, graces my table every Sunday. The Crab Soup from Buster Holmes that brought back memories of 721 Burgundy.  When I was kid, I used to venture back in the French Quarter to Buster Holmes. I was often the only white face in there and I could never afford crab soup, but the red beans and rice were transcendent.

This shrimp is McDermott's own.  Drawn from years and years of French Arcadian cooking in Louisiana an etouffée comes from the French word étouffer to smother or braise.  Cajun and Creole cooks for generations have smothered the local shrimp and crawfish in a thick roux with peppers, onions, and celery. 

Shrimp Etouffée

1 1/2 pounds head-on medium shrimp, or 1 pound medium shrimp, unshelled

1 1/2 cups shrimp stock, chicken stock, or water

1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

 Rice, for serving

1. Remove the shrimp shells, tails and heads if you have them, and place them in a medium saucepan. Cover and refrigerate the shrimp. Pour the stock over the shrimp shells and place the saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring it to a rolling boil, and then lower the heat to maintain a lively simmer. Cook for 20 minutes and then remove from the heat.

2. While the stock is simmering, stir the thyme, salt, pepper, cayenne, and paprika together in a small bowl, using a fork to combine them. When the stock is ready, pour it through a wire-mesh strainer into a measuring cup. Add a little water if needed to make 1 1/2 cups.

3. Place a large heavy skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the butter. Swirl to coat the pan as the butter melts. When a pinch of flour blooms on the surface when added to the butter, scatter in the flour and stir quickly and thoroughly, combining the butter and flour evenly into a thick, smooth roux. Continue cooking, stirring often, as the roux turns from white to golden-brown, about 2 minutes. Add the spice mixture, onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic and stir quickly, mixing the vegetables into the roux. Cook until everything is fragrant and softened, 1 to 2 minutes more. 
4. Slowly add the stock, stirring and scraping to mix it in evenly. When the sauce is bubbling and boiling gently, lower the heat and cook, stirring now and then, until the sauce is thickened and smooth, about 15 minutes.

5. Scatter in the shrimp and let them cook undisturbed until the sides are turning visibly orange or pink, about 1 minute. Toss well and continue cooking, stirring often, until the shrimp are pink, firm, and cooked through and nicely flavored by the sauce. Add the green onions and parsley and stir well. Transfer the etouffée to a serving dish and serve it hot or warm over the rice. 

At Cookbook Of The Day, we are always stressing that cookbooks are really just history books with food interspersed within them.   Nancie McDermott is one of those authors who never disappoints. The book is filled with histories, famous chefs, infamous cooks, family, friends, memories,  and a whole bunch of delicious recipes. There is even a bibliography -- a must for a modern cookbook. This is the perfect book for cooks and for historians alike, so grab yourself a copy of Southern Soups & Stews.

Food For The Greedy

An oldie goldie on this snowy day.  Not only is this book old, but it is a reprint of an even older version.  Why Nancy Shaw chose to title this cookbook Food for the Greedy is beyond me.  She states in her introduction:

The receipts which I have assembled in this small book are ones which I use regularly in my own home. I think that, at any rate, half of the receipts could not be met with elsewhere, as I have collected them for many years, from many people, in many lands.

They are indeed as strange mix of recipes culled from a lifetime of thinking about food.  The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English posits that food writing or cookbooks, as one would think about them today, began in the 1920's.  During this period, society ladies began to organize their recipes into collections and they often wrote columns in local papers.  Cambridge is quick to point out that virtually none of these women could actually cook.  This was a trend that continued through the 1930's when Food for the Greedy was originally published.

The very first recipe in the book is for a dish called Potassium Soup.  This hardly sounds like a dish served for some greedy foodie. It also calls for canned okra.  I can honestly say that I have never seen canned okra, but, in my defense, I rarely spend time in the canned vegetable isle of the grocery.  I was so interested that I checked to see if there was still such a thing as canned okra.  To my surprise, there is indeed canned okra and now I feel obliged to buy a can for my own edification, but I digress...

Potassium Soup

Cut up small: 3 carrots, 2 onions, 1 large head of celery, 1/2 can of okra and one kernel of garlic, and place them in 2 quarts of water.  Boil for 17 minutes. Then add one handful of parsley and one green pepper, and boil again for 7 minutes.  Add a large tin of tomatoes and boil up again.  Strain through a sieve to the desired thickness.

American receipt, said to ensure longevity!

The "Okra" can be bought at good class grocers who stock less well known canned goods.

Well, it turns out that "Okra" can be bought at good class grocers who stock less well known canned goods or at Amazon.  Clearly, with the help of Amazon we can all be greedy!

The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook

The guys behind Trout Point Lodge are an interesting lot. Daniel Abel, Charles Leary, and Vaughn Perret came together to become food entrepreneurs. . Two boys from Louisiana and one from Oregon who had studied law, worked in politics, and studied Chinese history; guys who had lived in China, New York City and Ithaca. The suits fell in love with farmer’s markets and were called back to the Crescent City.

Soon they were raising chicken and goat, planting a garden and foraging both literally and figuratively for traditional Creole and Cajun ingredients. Soon restaurants in New Orleans were featuring their produce and cheeses. And then they took a trip to Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia was no accident. The original Cajun came to Louisiana from the Arcadian region of Nova Scotia. The French settlers who founded Nova Scotia were expelled and made their way to Louisiana. Arcadians who became “Cajuns” possessed an innate ability to live off the land and a remarkable respect for that land.Trout Point Lodge became their new venture. They built a cultural center, cooking school, and resort. The Pacific Northwest offers up a bounty of natural ingredients. In the Trout Point garden they grow fava beans.Here is a soup that can also double as a dip.

Chilled Fava Soup

6 cups fresh fava beans, shelled

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 cup medium tomatoes, pureed

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

2 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup Crème Frâiche

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the fava beans, and cook for 30 seconds. Drain and rinse under cold water.

2. Place the beans in a food processor and process into a paste.

3. Transfer the paste to a large mixing bowl, and stir in the lemon juice and olive oil until smooth. Add the cumin, tomatoes, parsley, mint, and cream. Stir well. Cove and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or as long as 24 hours.

4. Serve cold, with a dollop of Crème Frâiche on top of each serving.

Add a bit less cream and you have a great dip. Versatile and tasty.

New American Table

Everyone knows Marcus Samuelsson's story by now. Born in Ethiopia, adopted and raised in Sweden, ventured to America to train, but stayed to find his fortune. With such a varied background, one can see how his take on the "American" table might be just a bit different than most.

Samuelsson is rather obsessed with the immigrant experience and that intense interest is displayed in The American Table. Samuelsson draws recipe inspiration from the vibrant ethnic cultures he sees in New York and beyond. In this book one can find green salsa, breakfast burritos, salmon flatbread, doro we't, tempura crab, soy-glazed dumplings, garlic feta dip, turkey meatloaf and the list goes on.

While it is a bold way to look at cuisine in America, it makes for a bit of a disjointed cookbook. If you are looking for international ideas, this is the place to go, even if the title is a bit misleading. If you are looking to plan an entire dinner, this might not be the best fit. From a personal standpoint, recipes with dozens of ingredients are often off-putting, and Samuelsson loves long lists of ingredients that might be easy to find in New York City, but in most places, putting together one recipe will require a bit of specialty shopping.

If you are undaunted, check out his veggie soup. I love orzo and feel it is one of those ingredients that needs to be used more.

My Veggie Soup

1/2 cup orzo
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion chopped
1 tablespoon mild chile powder
1 3-inch piece ginger peeled and minced
2 green Anaheim chiles seeds and ribs removed, chopped
4 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon white miso
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cups baby spinach
2 tomatoes coarsely chopped
2 , white and green parts chopped scallions
1 avocado halved, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped Thai basil leaves

1. Bring 3 cups salted water to a boil in a medium pot. Add the orzo, and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Strain, and set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil in the same pot, over medium heat. Add the onion, chile powder, ginger, chiles, garlic, and mustard seeds, and saute until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add 4 cups water, season with the salt and white pepper, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the miso, mirin, and soy sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the spinach, tomatoes, scallions, avocado, lemon juice, cilantro, basil and orzo, and simmer until heated through.

I, of course, feel a ham hock would be a great addition to the ingredients list, but that's just carnivorous old me.

An Appetite For Passion

Sometime people write cookbooks because they love the food and sometimes because they get paid.

Today at Lucindaville, we wrote about Ivana Lowell's memoir. Lowell is the daughter of Caroline Blackwood. An Appetite For Passion was written because Lowell got paid... here is the story.

Ivana Lowell worked for Harvey Weinstein (oh yes and she was dating his brother, Bob). Miramax, the Weinsteins company had acquired the movie, Like Water for Chocolate and they were about to do a special-edition DVD release. Harvey wanted a cookbook tie-in and he enlisted Ivana Lowell.

"I had loved the movie, and the idea of a cookbook seemed like a terrific one until I looked at a copy of [Laura] Esquivel's book... The book was divided into twelve sections, one for each month of the year, and each section began with a recipe.
I went back to Harvey with the bad news. "It already is a cookbook, " I told him. He flew into a rage. "I don't care if it's already a fucking cookbook! Write another one. Call it a sequel! I want a Miramax book to tie in with the movie."

Like her mother before her, Lowell collected recipes from friends and other sources to compile the book. Her sense of humor was always at the forefront as she presented dishes like Root Vegetable Ménage à Trois, Spice Massaged Tuna in Bed with Greens and her mother's recipe for lamb meatballs, Lady Caroline's Lamb with Three Byronic Sauces. Here is a recipe from The Four Seasons:

Lush Peach soup

6 ripe peaches, peeled and pitted
1 small orange, halved and seeds removed
1/2 lemon, seeds removed
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick (You may substitute 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
4 whole cloves
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons peach brandy
7 ounces ginger ale

Place the peaches, orange, and lemon in a large saucepan and add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, wine, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 1 hour, or until the ingredients are very tender.

In a small bowl whisk the cornstarch into the brandy. Stir the brandy mixture into the peach mixture and return to a boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Remove and discard the orange and lemon rinds, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves. Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Push the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Divide 1 cup of the soup into 4 small ramekins and freeze. Chill the rest of the soup and add ginger ale just before serving. Serve in chilled bowls and float the frozen soup on top.

Check out Caroline Blackwood's cookbook, Darling, You Should'nt Have Gone To So Much Trouble.

Saved By Soup

My friend, Ann, who doesn't cook, has several cookbooks with the full intention of cooking. Recently she chastised me for stealing her "soup" book. She said she brought it out for me to see, but she never got it back. I thought that was odd. I am very much a "stew" kind of girl. A "chowder" girl. But really, soup is not my thing. So I checked the soup/stew category on my book shelves to no avail. I searched low then high. Tucked away high, high on a shelf (where I usually put books I don;t really think I will ever cook from!) sat Ann's soup book, Saved By Soup by Judith Barrett. Judith Barrett has written several risotto books (which I might add, sit within easy reach on the shelf.) which I love very much.

Anyway, if you insist on soup, this book is pretty good. My favorite section s on fruit soups, which I am more inclined to like than say, Asian broths of which there are several. Here is the closest thing to a stew you will find in Saved By Soup.

Home-style Chicken and Vegetable Soup

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 pound boneless, skinless white-meat chicken, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium-size onion, finely chopped
2 medium-size carrots, chopped
1 celery stalk, trimmed and chopped
1/4 pound fresh fennel (about half a small bulb), tall stalks and leaves discarded and bulb finely chopped
1 medium-size zucchini, trimmed and diced
1 large Yukon Gold potato (about 1/2 pound), peeled and diced
2 cups canned chopped tomatoes, with their juices
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in a heavy 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, season with salt to taste, and cook, stirring, until all pieces have turned white and are beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and place in a small bowl.

Add onion, carrots, celery, fennel, and zucchini to the pan and cook, stirring, until vegetables begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir in chicken pieces, potato, tomatoes, and broth and bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until potato is tender and the chicken cooked through, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in parsley, and serve.

OK, Ann, you were right! I did have the book. I am returning it pronto!

The Somerset Club Cook Book

The Somerset Club began informally in the mid- 1820's. It was known as the Temple and the Beacon and finally the Somerset Club. It's present location combines two townhouses built roughly at the same time the club formed.

In 1819, David Sears built a townhouse at 42 Beacon Street on Beacon Hill that was designed by Alexander Parris. An addition was built in 1832, followed by an adjacent house at 43 Beacon Street for his daughter, known as the Crowninshield-Amory house.



In 1851 the Somerset Club purchased the Crowninshield-Armory house and dubbed it the Beacon Club until it was renamed the Somerset Club in 1852. In 1871 the Somerset Club purchased the David Sears townhouse, combining the two into one big clubhouse.



John Sears, great-great grandson of David Sears said of the club,

“It’s a place where you go to have a pop and talk about whether the salmon were biting and whether or not you’ve navigated the pond ‘round the fourth hole and how are the kids."

In a 2002 article marking the 150th anniversary of the Somerset Club, it's then President Samuel"Spike" Thorne laid out the rules.

For those who can make the cut, the Somerset affords an escape from the all too oppressive present. Here there are no baseball caps worn backwards, no harried wannabes, no remarkably rude teenagers sprouting metal from their faces. The club, of course, has its rules, and they’re strictly abided by. For example, a tie is a must. Work papers are forbidden in the dining room and almost everywhere else. And no electronics are allowed.

“Somebody comes here and opens up a cell phone, we tell him to put it away or get out,” says Thorne. Also, it is to be remembered that this is a social club — no touchy talk of politics here. “One does not enter the dining room or the bar with the idea that one has to bring forth a stimulating point of view on a hot topic of current interest."

From 1904 until 1944, the Somerset Club kitchen was helmed by Chef François Lombard, who kept detailed notes. In 1963, the club assembled a collection of recipes with the help of cookbook writer, Charlotte Turgeon.
Here is a lovely soup made from Jerusalem artichokes.

Crème Palestine

4 Jerusalem artichokes
5 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup cream
salt and pepper

Pare the artichokes and slice quite thin. Cover with water in a small saucepan, dot with 2 tablespoons of butter, and stew for 20 minutes or until the artichokes are tender. Melt the rest of the butter in another pan. Stir in the flour, and when it is well blended stir in the broth gradually until it is all incorporated into a smooth sauce. Force the artichokes through a fine strainer or spin in the blender. Combine with the sauce and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in the cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Tasty and brahmin!

The Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook

In reading through my pile of Alabama cookbooks, I couldn’t help but think of that old adage, “Everything old is new again.” That could be a problem.

Every chef waxes poetic about the vegetables at the Farmer’s Market, how they are fresh and organic and beautiful. They speak as though this is some new phenomenon, an amazing discovery on their part. I worry that this comes from a “fashion” in food as much as a love for the product. I can’t think of a living soul, especially a chef, who would pass up fresh black-eyed peas for canned ones. All those farmers in Alabama with amazingly beautiful fruits and vegetables have always been there. As a child, my great-uncle had a huge organic farm. I can’t remember buying vegetables at a store once we moved to Alabama.

When my Uncle Knox reached his 90’s and was no longer able to keep his garden going, he rose early three days a week all summer long and met a truck farmer from Chilton County to get his vegetables and their extraordinary peaches. When he moved into town and could no longer drive, he told the farmer he wouldn’t be seeing him. The truck farmer asked where he moved and each day he drove into town, he stopped at the curb in front of the house so Uncle Know could come out and get his vegetables.

In 1884, Orange Judd published Truck Farming in the South, detailing how farmers could move their produce to buyers in the North. Southern farmers have always been there, providing amazing produce to everyone, not just chefs.


I am trilled that farmers are getting their due, but let us never forget that they have always been there, feeding the nation. That is a fact and not fashion. What does make me happy in all of these Alabama cookbooks is the celebration of the traditional foods and the love of family that has always been at the forefront of Southern culture. No one celebrates that more than Chris and Idie Hastings.

In 1995 they opened The Hot and Hot Fish Club. While the restaurant might be new, The Hot and Hot Fish Club is over 150 years old. As articles and profiles are written each week about those “culinary pioneers” who gather in homes to prepare meals for cooking clubs and roaming restaurants, and formal gatherings, truth be told, it has been done before.

Chris’ great-great-great-great-grandfather, Hugh Fraser, was a founding member of The Hot and Hot Fish Club in 1845. After meeting informally to discuss the weeks work, fishing and planting, one person would offer up his catch and vegetables and the men would enjoy a simple meal among friends. After a time they decided to become a formal epicurean gentleman’s club complete with rules, regulations, and dues.

There were eighteen rules for The Hot and Hot Fish Club. Six of the rules involved baskets of champagne. That's my kind of club. Here are two of the rules outlining officer's duties.

RULE V DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT

Each member, in rotation, and in order of residences, shall act as President. He shall furnish a ham, and good rice, and also attend to the preparation for dinner, to be on the tables a 2 o’clock p.m., or not later than half-past 2. He must preserve order, and select sides with the vice-President for games. If absent he must send his ham and rice.

RULE VI DUTIES OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT

The Vice-President shall, in addition to his dish and wine, supply the Club with water and ice, and attend the games. If the President is absent, the Vice-President will preside, and his next neighbor officiates for him. He must also announce whether champagne will be brought at the ensuing club.

When the The Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook was published, the rules from 1845 form the decorated endpapers. Clearly, this cookbook is worth the price just to read those rules. But it is not the only reason. In his introduction writer and sportsman Charles Gaines writes,

“The recipes here are as elegantly form-following-function contrivances as a Le Corbusier chair; unprissy, unhistionic, uncomplicated, and honest.”

“Unprissy” is the key. If I have a complaint about many Southern cookbooks, it is that prissy, often-precious quality they seem to have, as though that is the norm. The Hastings take the indigenous food of the South and make it unprissy and honest. Why argue with Charles Gaines. There is grouper, dove, bobtails, okra, muscadines, green tomatoes, and hot and hot fish of every kind.


As a testament to this cookbook, it took me forever to pick a recipe. I finally chose one of my favorites. In the introduction to the recipe the cook is told not to tell anyone what the soup is as one might lose the chance to impress your diners of you tell them this is just cauliflower.

Cauliflower Soup with White Truffle Oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sliced tallow onion, about 1 medium
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 pound white cauliflower florets
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
White truffle oil (optional)

Melt the butter in a medium stockpot over medium-low heat. Add the onion and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the onion is softened and translucent. Add the cauliflower and stock and bring the mixture to a boil; reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cream and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender and the mixture is slightly reduced.

Transfer the cauliflower mixture to a blender and process until pureed. Season the soup with the salt and pepper. Ladle 3/4 cup of the soup into six bowls and drizzle each serving with 1 to 2 drops of truffle oil, if using. Serve immediately.

For some really wonderful recipes, check out The Hot and Hot Cookbook. Remember, when you are getting all misty-eyed about those fresh carrots at Whole Foods, Napa did not invent fresh farm produce, it has always been there.

Also, when you visit me in Shirley, bring a basket of champagne. It’s a rule!

A Surprise in Every Dinner

Sometimes when I pull a cookbook, I find that I end up looking several cookbooks by the author. I drag them out and then they end up still sitting on my desk some time later. A short time ago, I featured Edwardian Glamour Cooking Without Tears by Oswell Blakeston and got to do a post featuring the poet H.D., which doesn’t always happen in cookbook blurbs. I will spare you the modernist poetry this time, but I did want to share this recipe from Blakeston’s, A Surprise in Every Dinner.

In this book, Blakeston is not really concerned with cooking times or amounts of ingredients. (He’s my kind of cook!) He states:

“In the old days cooks would weigh out materials as carefully as chemists and then time the cooking to the fraction of an ounce. Today one cannot expect such time-consuming precision.”

His favorite time saver is the modern butcher who should be able to allay any fears you have when cooking pork chops or lamb. He will sell you the proper joint and give you the time it takes to cook prepare it properly. (This book is from the 1960’s; good luck finding that butcher, today.)

I went meatless with this recipe, however. You will need a good florist instead of a good butcher. It is that tie of year when mums are everywhere, and here is a recipe that incorporates them into you dinner meal instead of simply in your decorating scheme.

Chrysanthemum Soup

chrysanthemums, 4 blooms
milk, 1 pint
butter, 1 tablespoon
salt
pepper
cornflour, 2 tablespoons

Soak the chrysanthemums in boiling water for two minutes. Take them out and pull off the petals. Chop the petals. Warm up the milk, and dissolve the butter in it. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cornflour, and stir till the milk thickens. Add the chopped petals, and cook for two minutes.

Here is the COOKING WITH FLOWERS caveat: Know where your flowers come from. Your yard is the best location. What you don’t want is soup of boiling pesticide, so ask questions before you cook.


In the meantime, now when see pot after pot of chrysanthemums you can think: "Maybe I’ll have those for dinner."

Good Food on the Aga

There are a few thing in this world I covet and one of them is an Aga stove.


The first Aga’s were designed in Sweden, in 1922 by Dr. Gustaf Dalen. The Nobel Prize winner lost his sight. He designed the cooker with the intention of making it easy to use for a blind person. A British manufacturer took over the production and it has been a British made product ever since.

Some people sit around and think of driving a Porsche or a Jaguar but me, I want an Aga. Currently, I am forced to merely own Aga cookbooks instead of the actual stove.

One of my favorites is a reprint of Ambrose Heath’s Good Food on the Aga. I especially love it because the reprint in a Persephone Book. They are the most beautifully done books in recent memory. Many of their books are fiction reprints, but several titles are cookery books and each on features carefully chosen endpapers from historic fabrics. Good Food on the Aga was published in 1933. The endpapers were designed in the same year by Bernard Adeney. The block-printed linen furnishing fabric was designed for Allan Walton Textiles.



Ambrose Heath wrote over 70 books between 1932 and 1968. Many of them were cookery books. In Good Food on the Aga, Heath lays out the advantages of the Aga and basic cooking techniques. Remember, it is 1933, so the Aga he is describing is coal-burning type. Occasionally, an old wood or coal burning Aga come up for sale.

This book is divided into months of the year. Each month begins with a listing of what foods one can expect to be fresh and available during that month. Then he gives you a list of the recipes to correspond. Each recipe is listed on the side of the page. Underneath the recipe is a list of ingredients. A list is all. Vague amounts are listed within the recipes. It is very old-fashioned. Cooking with this book is a bit of an adventure, so it is more important than ever to read the recipe fully.

In August, Heath recommends the following:

Iced Polish Soup

Beetroot
Cucumber
Egg
Parsley
Chervil

I read somewhere the other day of an iced vegetable soup from Poland which sounded appropriate for August evenings. A beetroot cut in very small pieces was cooked in salt water, while this was being done half a cucumber cut in thin slices was sprinkled with salt so that the water was exuded. The beetroot, cucumber, cucumber water, and the water in which the beetroot had been cooked were mixed together when cold, and to this were added slices of hard boiled eggs, chopped parsley and chervil, pepper and one well-beaten egg. It must be kept well iced, and at the very last moment pieces of ice were put into the individual cups in which the soup was served. I have not tried it yet, but I certainly shall do so.

I love the convoluted way the recipe is written and even more so that he included it in a cookbook with out ever trying it. Well, we haven’t tried it either. If Ambrose Heath hasn’t tried it, neither are we. Some brave soul out there needs to make it and let us know how it tastes

Charlie Palmer’s Casual Cooking

Charlie Palmer is the chef at Manhattan’s fashionable Aureole restaurant and Charlie Palmer Steak and several others. He has won numerous James Beard awards. Oh yes, and he has kids to feed. So all the fine dinning that impressed the James Beard awards committee’s, all the culinary expertise that draws diners to his restaurants mean little to kids in the kitchen. Instead of writing a pompous, coffee table sized tome on cooking at Aureole, he wrote a book about feeding his sons. (The next year he did the Aureole book!)

The book offers a chef’s take on chicken soup, macaroni & cheese, brownie ice cream sandwiches and baked chicken. As a kid, I watched my mother opening up cans of mushroom soup to add to dishes copied from the newspaper. There is no worse site in a kitchen than contents of a can of mushroom soup. It is an unsightly grayish color with flecks of rubbery dark bits posing as mushrooms. It looks like cream gravy that has been left to sit out on the stovetop for several days. When I looked at it, I always wondered what had befallen the cook who left this soup to coagulate in such a foul form.

Since then, the thought of Mushroom Soup has been forever tainted, until Charlie Palmer came along. Central New York proves a fertile breeding ground for morel mushrooms, as does West Virginia. The soup has leeks, thought Palmer suggests wild leeks or ramps as a substitution, another West Virginia delicacy. Morels are often available but last time I saw them in a store they were $58 a pound! Palmer suggests using button mushrooms and mixing them with rehydrated dried mushrooms. Save the water from the soaking liquid and strain it for the stock. Check out the post at Lucindaville for rehydrating mushrooms. Finally, canned white beans work fine but rinse them good before using.

Mushroom Soup (without Cream)

2 pounds wild mushrooms – if possible a mix of morels and one or two others
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup chopped leeks (white part only)
1 stalk celery, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
2 tablespoons dry sherry
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups pureed white beans (about 2 16 ounce cans)
Ground nutmeg

1. Using a small brush or a clean towel, carefully clean the mushrooms of all debris. Remove any tough stems and roughly slice the mushrooms: you want a rustic look, so don’t try to create perfect slices. Set Aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and celery and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are quite soft but not brown. Stir in the thyme and sherry and cook v for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté for an additional 5 minutes.
3. Add the broths and season to taste with salt and pepper. Raise the heat and bring to a boil, then lover the heat and cook for 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are very tender and the broth is infused with flavor.
4. Stir the bean puree into the soup. Season to taste with nutmeg and, if necessary, additional salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the soup is well blended and very hot. Serve immediately or cool (preferably in an ice-water bath), cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Now that is mushroom soup! The only place for that soup in a can would be in an Andy Warhol painting.

Coyote Café

Mark Miller began his cooking career with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse. He was one of the first chefs to notice and embrace the Mexican ingredients and cuisine around him. Miller absorbed the old traditions of the rustic, home cooks, and gave the traditional ingredients that fresh California twist. He became a forerunner in what is now generally accepted as “Southwest” cuisine.

When I lived in Washington, D. C. I spent many a fine evening (and an occasional afternoon) in Mark Miller's Red Sage. I had a memorable birthday in Santa Fe at Coyote Café . Miller is a critical thinker, often foregoing an exact recipe to assess the raw ingredients in the kitchen and to modify a dish according to the ripeness and flavor of what he is cooking.

While he may have helped to popularize southwestern cuisine, he was born in New England. Here is a recipe from his Coyote Café cookbook that is reminiscent of the old Portuguese tradition of cooking sausage with clams.

Clam Soup with Sausage

1/2 white onion
4 large cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound Roma tomatoes
1 large red potato, cut into 1/2 inch dice
1/2 pound hot Italian or Andouille sausage cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 cups fish stock (or clam juice)
20 small Littleneck or Manila clams, washed
1/4 bunch cilantro
4 lime wedges

Slowly sauté the onion and garlic in 1 tablespoon of oil for 15 minutes in a covered pan. Broil or sear the tomatoes over flame for 5 or 6 minutes, chop, add to pan, and continue to cook slowly for a further 20 minutes. Boil the potato in lightly salted water for 5 minutes. Rinse under cold water and set aside. Sauté the chorizo slowly in the remaining oil for 20 minutes. Reserve the sausage and oil.

Deglaze the pan with a little fish stock, and reserve the juices. Add I cup of the stock to the onions, garlic, and tomato mixture, and then add the clams. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 4 minutes. Add the chorizo, the reserved juices, and potato and continue to cook until the clams open. Add the remaining stock. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

If you are in D. C. give Red Sage a try!

Greenwich Village Cookbook

When Vivian Kramer was a little girl living in Pennsylvania, she longed to be a “career girl” in New York City and live in Greenwich Village. She accomplished her dream, spending 15 years in the “Village” eating in many of the restaurants. She began collecting recipes from the leading restaurants and in 1969 published Greenwich Village Cookbook. Four hundred recipes from 75 restaurants


This recipe is from Jai-Alai at 82 Bank Street. It was a small Basque restaurant run by Valentin Aguirre, who was the founding father of the New York Basque Center. Aguirre would meet in the basement of a house on Water Street with several other Basque men to discuss their heritage and culture. Thirteen of the men formalized the group in 1913 with a charter drafted by Fiorello La Guardia, who later became Mayor of New York. After operating a boarding house on Cherry Street, Aguirre moved his base of operation to 82 Bank street where he opened Jai-Alai.

Sopa De Ajo con Huevos

4 tablespoons olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 rolls (hard or soft), cut in cubes and toasted
6 cups chicken broth
4 tablespoons grated Muenster cheese
4 eggs

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the garlic until golden brown. Add the bread cubes, chicken broth, and Muenster cheese and simmer for 10 minutes. Break the eggs into a bowl. (Do not beat.) Carefully drop the eggs into the soup. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the eggs are poached. Serve at once.

This soup was a favorite among Basque émigré and starving artist alike. Valentin Aguirre died in 1953.

The Potato Book

The Hampton Day School in Bridgehampton, New York decided to produce a book as a fund-raiser. Not a terribly unusual thing to do. Bridgehampton was once covered in potato fields, so the idea was to do a potato cookbook filled with recipes and fun potato facts and Myrna David stepped up. The Potato Book was born.

For any other community, such a fundraiser might go unnoticed, but Bridgehampton is a hotbed of writers, artists, restaurants and even Craig Claiborne. And while he didn’t have any children in the Hampton Day School, Truman Capote wrote the introduction. With all this talent, the book was snapped up by a publisher, primarily for the introduction. Capote wrote:

“I live in Sagaponack by the sea. The house, which I love, sits smack in the middle of potato fields. In Fall, when the harvesting is done and the tractors are gone from the fields, I amble out through the empty rows collecting small, sweet, leftover potatoes for my larder.

Imagine a cold October morning, I fill my basket with found potatoes in the field and race to the kitchen to create my one and only most delicious ever potato lunch. The Russian vodka—it must be 80 proof – goes into the icebox to chill. The potatoes into the oven to bake. My breathless friend arrives to share the feast. Out comes the icy vodka. Out comes a bowl of sour cream. Likewise the potatoes, piping hot.

We sit down to sip our drinks. We split open steaming potatoes and put on some sour cream. Now I whisk out the big tin of caviar, which I have forgotten to tell you is the only way I can bear to eat a potato."

Well this is hardly a rousing endorsement of the potato, but then Capote grew up in Alabama so I just love hear him (and when I read this I “hear” his unique voice) using words like “larder’ and “icebox” and I am drawn to his writing.

If you are out in the Hamptons for the summer, you may find the need to cook for a large gathering. Here’s what you need.

Quahog Chowder For 100

1 bushel chowder (Quahog) clams, opened and minced
15 pounds dressed-weight striped bass filets, chunked
1 3/4 gallons clam broth, reserved from steaming open clams (plus one quart)
18 medium-sized onions, minced fine and squeezed
2 pounds salt pork, diced
1/2 pound butter
10 pounds potatoes, pared and diced
3 quarts milk
1 cup Almaden white wine
Thyme, one bunch minced
1 cup chopped fresh parsley

Try out pork, add onions and cook until just slightly brown. Add butter if necessary. Add clam broth. Bring to a boil. Add potatoes; cook until tender. Add fish; cook until half or three-quarters done. Add clams, simmer briefly. Add thyme and parsley. Add milk and wine. Simmer all a while.

In keeping with our transcription of recipes from the book they are in, we left “Try” out the pork. I’m sure this is supposed to be “Fry”. As you can tell, this is a fund-raising cookbook, so there was no trained dietitian or even a trained cook to test the recipes. I am not sure how to tell if bass is “three-quarters done.” Nor am I sure how long, “a while” is. But you get the idea.

Banqueting For One

Banqueting for One is a quirky little cookbooks I picked up for its totally unusual vibe.

First, I adored the title. As a girl who often “banquets” alone, I could not think of better title. Seriously, how about Cooking All Alone, or The I Don’t Have a Dinner Guest Cookbook, or Banqueting for One: which concept is more appealing.

Secondly, the book is painstakingly hand written. As someone who can’t read her own handwriting, I admire lovely penmanship.

Thirdly, I adore the author’s photo. It’s the eighties. I confess to owning a similar Ralph Lauren collar during those heady times. I further confess it is a look that in no way needs to be resurrected. I will also confess that I am sick of looking at pictures of cookbook authors so air brushed and so skinny that it is not hard to believe syrup of ipecac is a favorite after dinner drink!



Fourthly, the recipes are quite good and easily expandable if per chance you find a dinner companion.


Here is an effortless cold soup for summer. Wolfenden recommend for one that you make this soup with the half of avocado left over from the salad you made, earlier.

Iced Avocado Soup

Whisk up the other half with lemon juice, seasoning and enough chicken stock to make it liquid. Add a little cream or top of the milk. Chill. Rub a soup bowl with a clove of garlic. Pour in the soup and top with a little more cream that is sprinkled with chopped chives.

In addition to the book, my copy had a lovely bookmark with an oven temperature conversion chart. As someone who get food magazines from 4 continents, it is very handy.


Enjoy!

Kitchen Essays

Agnes Jekyll was the sister-in-law of famous garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. It has been said that if Gertrude Jekyll was an artist-gardener, then Agnes was an artist-housekeeper. Mary Lutyens, the daughter of designer Edwin Lutyens, described Agnes Jekyll’s house as, “the apogee of opulent comfort and order without grandeur, smelling of pot-pouri, furniture polish and wood smoke.”



Her witty kitchen essays offer tips and recipes for many occasions. Her notes on a first dinner party fail to reveal that Agnes Jekyll's first dinner party included Robert Browning, John Ruskin, and Edward Burne-Jones, so the bar is set a bit high! But if you follow these simple steps you can invite anyone you please.

Their First Dinner Party

It must not err on the side of parsimony, nor yet by its lavishness vex those new relations or old aunts whose attitude has been characterized as “affectionate but hostile.”

“Not fewer in number than the Graces, nor yet exceeding the Muses,” runs an old adage regarding the perfect party.*

If you can establish a name for having good food…friends will grow lyrical over your cold mutton.

Julienne Soup

Clear soup gives the cook her first chance, and already a dress rehearsal will have given a taster of it’s quality. Having attained to a taste of its quality. Having attained a well-flavoured consommé, cut some carrots, onions, celery, turnips, into a small dice, if for a Brunoise; and into fine strips with the green parts of leeks added, if for Julienne. Cook these slowly to a golden color in plenty of butter for an hour (the butter does again for similar purposes), and sprinkle them lightly with white sugar. Drain them dry, put them into the simmering consommé, and let them gently cook from 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Julienne soup sounded fun, but I must tell you that cooking julienned carrots for an hour in butter and then 2 hours in a consommé leads me to believe there will be gracious little "julienne" in that broth. Seriously, cooking carrots, turnips and onions for three hours gives you mush, but it must have been good mush because John Ruskin never complained.



Kitchen Essays is another in the series of books published by Persephone Books. Persephone Books is a small British press that reprints lovely copies of lost classics. The plain grey covers give way to glorious endpapers like the ones in Kitchen Essays, taken from a printed silk designed by George Sheringham for Seftons in 1922. (Yes the covers are a respectable light grey and not that dark flannel that came out in the above photo. Rest assured I am a better cook than photographer.) Check out They Can't Ration These, another Persephone Book featured at Cookbook of the Day.

* Three Graces and Nine Muses -- add in yourself as the Hostess and your dinner party should be 4 to 10 people. Don't set out the caviar for those bitchy "aunts," you weren't good enough for their nephew anyway. But do try the julienne soup with that cold mutton and old girls should wax positively lyrical.

Of course, if they like it too much, you might have to invite them again. What a dilemma.

Ant Egg Soup

I'm not a chef and I'm not a journalist, I'm just a greedy romantic
who was transported by an idea and went to discover more.

Natacha Du Pont De Bie

I share a passion with the writer, Larry McMurtry -- reading accounts of women travelers. The Victorians are my favorites. I love Karen Blixen, Mary Shelley and Freya Stark who are high on the list My favorite is Isabelle Eberhardt. I have a friend who believes the world is divided into truly cool people and everyone else. Her dividing line is Isabelle Eberhardt, who the truly cool have read. Eberhardt rebelled against her European/Russian upbringing and struck out on her own for North Africa, following her fascination with Islamic culture. Eberhardt died in a flash flood before she turned 30. Fortunately her writing has remained.
While the stories may not seem as exotic, there are still women travelers out there writing wonderful accounts of their adventures.

One of those writers is Natacha Du Pont De Bie whose book, Ant Egg Soup: The Adventures Of A Food Tourist In Laos, is a wonderful travelogue written by a true gastronaut! De Bie's adventure in Laos began in a book about Vietnam. While dreaming of a trip to Southeast Asia, she ran across a sentence stating there was only one Lao cookbook in English. In true romantic fashion she had to find it. Being in England she went to the one place she knew would have such a book, Books For Cooks. Indeed, Books For Cooks had a copy of Traditional Recipes of Laos and De Bie was on her way.

Her book is a delightful adventure through the back roads and largely unknown cuisine of Laos, including the speciality of the title. If you don't have fresh ant eggs, I have heard they can be found frozen or canned in some of the larger markets or, of course, on-line. The distributor listed in the book is, alas, gone. Perhaps they sold so many cans of ant eggs they were able to retire.


Ant Egg Soup


2 snakehead fish, cut into 2.5 cm (1inch) pieces (or use monkfish tail)
2 cups ant eggs
1 liter(1 3/4 pints) fish stock
8 small or 4 large cloves garlic, peeled and cracked with the back of a machete
5 cm (2 inch) piece galangal, peeled
2 stalks of lemon grass, finely chopped
1 sour tamarind bean, peeled and seeds removed, or 1 tablespoon bought paste
1-2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 bunch pak waan or the juice of one lime
4 handfuls sweet basil leaves
4 plum tomatoes, chopped in eighths
1 handful coriander

Scale and gut the fish, cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) piece and wash under tap. Reserve to one side.
Now prepare and defrost ant eggs by putting them in a bowl of water. The earth and sand they accumulate will drop to the bottom of the bowl. Scoop out any other floating detritus such as leaves and stick, and sieve eggs to shake off any excess water.
Bring the fish stock to the boil in a large pan. Add the garlic, galangal and lemon grass and let boil for 5 minutes. Now add the fish sauce and salt.
Next add the pak waan or lime juice. Add the sweet basil leaves and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the ant eggs and simmer another 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, throw in the coriander leaves and serve with sticky rice.

Enjoy!

If you are interested in merely reading about great women adventurers try Dea Birkett's, Spinsters Abroad.

And if you want to hang out with the truly cool kids, read The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt.

The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper

"The world is divided into two kinds of people: those who wake up thinking about what they are going to eat for supper, and those who don’t. We are decidedly in the former camp; in fact, we wake up thinking about what we are going to cook for supper."

So begins The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper. Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift are the award winning host’s of Public Radio’s aptly named, The Splendid Table. Their book is more than a cookbook, though they handle that part of it with great aplomb. The book is also a bibliography, quote books, celebrity dish, advice column and how to meditation on the way we eat supper.

My favorite piece of advice:

The 450 F. Oven. Walk in the door and turn the over to 450 F. Even if you have no idea what you are going to be eating, this single act starts supper.

Here’s a recipe that required no oven at all.

Iced Cantaloupe Soup With Jalapeno And Basil

One 2 1/2-pound intensely sweet-smelling ripe cantaloupe
2 cups ice cubes
Generous pinch of salt
4 or 5 grinds of black pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 2 large lime (about 1/2 cup)
Grates zest of 1/2 large lime


Finish

1 or 2 jalapenos, seeded and cut into a fine dice
10 to 12 fresh basil leaves, coarse chopped
1/2 medium red onion, cut into 1/2 inch dice (optional)

1.Cut the melon into quarters. Scoop out its seeds and trim away the rind. Slice it into chunks and put them into a food processor. Add the ice, salt, pepper, sugar, lime juice, and puree. Stir in the grated zest.
2. Place the jalapenos, basil, and onions in separate small serving bowls. Pour the puree into individual soup bowls or into a pitcher for further chilling.
3. To serve, pour the soup into bowls and pass the condiments. The basil and jalapeno are the essential finishes for the soup, while the onion is an attractive option.

As you can see, I am committed to willing spring into existence, even with snow this week!

Babe's Country Cookbook

I admit it. Babe was one of favorite movies and Babe: Pig in the City, isn't far behind. While I love the movies they were not grounds for me to stop eating pork. And as much as I loved the singing mice, the first one to set a tiny paw into my kitchen is dead; I don't care if he's singing Ave Maria!

Even with my predilection for pork of the "everything but the squeal" variety, I do own Babe's Country Cookbook : 80 Complete Meat-Free Recipes from the Farm compiled by Dewey Gram. Needless to say, there are no recipe's for Babe or any of his farm friends. It's vegetarian only in the Babe Country Cookbook. I can live with that.



We have been awash with garlic lately and since it freezing here in West Virginia, I saw this recipe and fell in love.

Kelly Sim's Roasted Garlic Soup

3 heads garlic (not cloves- heads, whole and unpeeled)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 leek (just the white part), trimmed, rinsed well, and sliced
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced
2 quarts water

GARLIC "CHIPS"

3 or 4 cloves elephant garlic (those are the huge cloves)
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 red bell pepper, for garnish
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Preheat your oven to 350. Roast the whole, unpeeled heads of garlic on a baking sheet in the oven for 45 minutes. While the papery skin will turn dark brown, the pulp will become soft and golden brown. When cool enough to handle, slip off the skins. Slice the garlic heads and reserve.

In a large soup kettle or saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoon oil. Add the onion and leek, and saute until soft but not brown, about 8 minutes. Add the sliced roasted garlic heads, the sliced potatoes, and the water. Simmer partially covered, for one hour.

MAKING GARLIC "CHIPS": Peel and thinly slice the elephant garlic. In a small skillet, heat the 2 tablespoons oil. Add the garlic slices, and saute until they become golden brown garlic "chips," about 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, and reserve.

Core and seed bell pepper. Cut into thin strips, and reserve.

Just before the soup is done, stir in the cream. In batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor, and then strain through a sieve into a bowl for extra smoothness. Season with the salt and pepper. If need be, reheat the soup, but don't let it come to a boil. pour into 8 bowls, and garnish with the garlic "chips" and red bell peppers.

I like mine a bit more rustic. I use my immersion blender and never sieve! Most of the time I forget to garnish. Even without red pepper it a soup Babe would be proud of.

Ba Ram Ewe

Kitchen Life

Art Smith’s big claim to fame is being Oprah’s chef. He must be pretty good because Oprah’s never been a skinny girl. Smith is known for “American cuisine” a term that is so overused it is virtually devoid of meaning these days. In Kitchen Life, Smith tries to get the reader to be organized and ready to cook when they roll in from work.
It took him years to get Oprah to get organized and cook after her show. The recipes are so easy, even Oprah can cook them, but frankly she just got another cook.


Here is a warm, hardy soup. Cabbage is a truly underused vegetable. It’s cheap and tasty and good for you.

Cabbage and Bacon Soup

6 bacon slices, cut into 1-inch-long pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium head cabbage (2 pounds),cored and sliced into 1/2 inch-wide strips
1 quart reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Place the bacon in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour out all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pot and return to the heat.

2. Add the onion and carrots and cook, stirring often, until the onion is golden, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the cabbage. Add the broth, 2 cups water, and the thyme, and bring to boil over high heat.

3.Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly ajar. Simmer until the cabbage is very tender, about 45 minutes. During the last 5 minutes, stir in the reserved bacon. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

I'm sure Oprah is making this soup as we speak!