Spice soup
Spiced soup is a dividend of boiling fresh or corned beef and was a staple of the Georgian table, served either before the meat or as a separate dinner with dumplings.
- As much stock as you can drain from the meat: the proportions given here are per pint (2 cups, not 20 oz, of course)
- ¼ teaspoon mace
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- a scant ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- salt if needed (obviously not for corned beef)
- about a heaped teaspoon of grated orange peel
- juice of an orange
1. Combine the ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil, strain the soup, return it to a boil and serve.
Notes:
- As noted elsewhere, the combination of citrus and mace is prototypically English but nearly forgotten and deserves rediscovery.
- Saffron is included in early recipes but is unnecessary. A pinch of ground ginger is a less expensive and nicer addition.
- This is good enough to make for its own sake with store-bought stock on a cold winter day. Some of the stuff in boxes is not bad.