Memory Monday: Tomato Soup

My mother at 16

My mother years later in Texas

TOMATO SOUP—THEN AND NOW

I love looking at old cookbooks and seeing how women made things years ago. In one cookbook, The Home Cook Book, published 1876 (two years after my great-grandmother Emma married my great-grandfather John L.). I came across several recipes grouped together with the same title. It just goes to show how women in the 1800s are like the women of today—they each like their own recipes.

TOMATO SOUP.

Mrs. Whitehead.

Boil chicken or beef four hours; then strain; add to the soup one can of tomatoes and boil one hour. This will make four quarts of soup.

TOMATO SOUP.

Mrs. Wheelock.

One pint tomatoes, two quarts water, one tablespoonful corn starch, beef bone, or cold steak.

TOMATO SOUP WITHOUT MEAT

C. 0. Van Cline, East Minneapolis.

One quart of tomatoes, one quart of water, one quart of milk. Butter, salt and pepper to taste. Cook the tomatoes thoroughly in the water, have the milk scalding, (over water to prevent scorching.) When the tomatoes are done add a large teaspoonful of salaratus, which will cause a violent effervescence. It is best to set the vessel in a pan before adding it to prevent waste. When the commotion has ceased add the milk and seasoning. When it is possible it is best to use more milk than water, and cream instead of butter. The soup is eaten with crack­ers and is by some preferred to oyster soup. This recipe is very valuable for those who keep abstinence days.

TOMATO SOUP.

Mrs. B. J. Seward.

To one pint tomatoes canned, or four large raw ones, cut up fine, add one Quart boiling water and let them boil. Then add one teaspoon of soda, when it will foam; immediately add one pint of sweet milk, with salt, pepper and plenty of butter. When this boils add eight small crackers rolled fine, and serve. Equal to oyster soup.

TOMATO SOUP.

Mrs. J. Hudson.

One quart of tomatoes, one soup-bone, one onion, one cucumber sliced, two ears of grated corn, salt, pepper and a trifle of cayenne pepper. Boil four hours, then add one tablespoon of corn starch dissolved in cold water; strain before serving.

TOMATO SOUP.

Mrs. G. W. Brayton.

For one gallon of soup, take two and a half quarts good beef stock, one medium sized carrot, one turnip, one beet and two onions peeled and cut in pieces; boil the vege­tables in the beef stock three-quarters of an hour; strain through a sieve ; add a two quart can of tomatoes and boil fifteen minutes; strain again and add salt and pepper. While this is cooking, take a sauce-pan that will hold about six quarts and put in a quarter of a pound of butter and heat it to a light brown ; add while hot three tablespoons of flour; take from the fire and mix thor­oughly; add one dessert spoon of sugar and stir until it boils; boil fifteen minutes and strain.

TOMATO SOUP.

Mrs. L. H. Smith.

Make one gallon beef stock. Take half peck ripe to­matoes, cut in halves, two carrots, two onions, one turnip cut fine ; boil all together for one hour and a half, then strain all through a fine sieve; take a sauce-pan large enough to hold it and put it on the fire with half pound of butter; heat it until of a light brown color, and add two spoons of flour, mixing well together; add to this two spoons of white sugar, salt and pepper to suit taste; stir well until it boils; let it boil and skim it for five minutes, and serve very hot. This recipe serves a large family; usually prepare two quarts of beef stock for a small family, using half the quantity of ingredients.

Now I don’t know if my great-grandmother ever made tomato soup, but I do know my mother never did. She used the kind in the can, you know, the one that was mm-mm good. As a matter of fact, I can only remember her using tomato soup for one thing (and it wasn’t served as soup). She used it for what she called “Swiss Steak,” and the recipe goes something like this:

MOTHER’S SWISS STEAK

Round steak, cut into serving sizes (from the calves she raised herself)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Flour

Shortening (when I was growing up, Mother never used anything but Crisco)

Tomato soup, large can (or two, depending on how much meat you use)

Season meat and dredge in flour. Brown steak in Crisco, then put meat to a granite-ware roaster. Add flour to pan dripping and stir. Add tomato soup, diluted with one soup can of water. Bring to a boil, stirring until well mixed. Pour over meat. She usually put this on before church on Sunday morning and when we got home, Sunday dinner was mostly done.

Mother made this quite often while I was growing up. There were seven in our family, so she made a large amount of this at a time. Now that I make it for just my husband and myself, I use two cube steaks and a regular-size can of that mm-mm good tomato soup. Lately, I have been adding some of the seasoning my son mixed up for smoking brisket. That really adds a great taste to this dish.

Do you have a favorite recipe from the time you were growing up that you’ve changed and made your own? Would you tell us what it was?