The family history in soup--for girlclone
When I was a little girl, my mother used to make a beef barley soup on cold days. It left me with an obsession--when the weatherman is calling for snow, I get the ingredients, and when the snow starts to fly, I get out the soup pot and get busy. I can't help myself--it's what makes a snow day a snow day, and it is particularly satisfying to come into the house to the smell of it when one has done the Snowflake Tango with the shovel, and to fill one's tummy with it when the toes are still tingly with cold. It's hearty, it's meaty, it's filling, and it's utterly comfort food.
I learned how to make it by watching my mother, and there was no "recipe". We didn't even call it beef barley soup--we called it "Mrs. Wilson's soup", because my mother pretty much made it from memory, because she had watched her mother make it (When it was "Mrs. MacPherson's Soup"!). And like all family recipes, we learned by watching, we added our own stuff to our version of it, and we all put our names to it, like the records of each generation found in a family Bible.
This is my version....
Mrs. Roberts' Soup
Two meaty beef shin bones (more if they aren't impressively meaty)
1 pound-ish package of stew beef, trimmed up so that they are "soup-sized", which I think should be a little smaller than "stew-sized"
2 boxes of beef stock--about 8 cups. You can use canned broth, but I prefer the stock because I think it's richer and more beefy-tasting, and if you get the broth, get the unsalted kind--the salted stuff tastes like you've been sucking on boullion cubes. But this is my addition--my mother used only water, and always made a perfectly good soup.
A handful of carrots, half chopped, half sliced--I often get the pre-sliced ones and just throw them in from the bag. It doesn't make the broth carrot-y at all--just sweetens it a bit.
4 stalks of celery, chopped--about a cup
1/2 to 1 sweet onion, chopped--also about a cup
Salt and pepper to taste
About a half-teaspoon of nutmeg (fresh ground is always nicest, but tinned will do)
1 bag pearlized barley
Brown the meat in canola oil in the bottom of a stock pot until well-browned on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot and add the chopped vegetables (reserve the sliced carrot to add later), sauteing until softened and translucent--the purpose of this vegetable mixture is to add flavor, not to make vegetable soup, so chopping it finely and saute-ing it down to a soft texture will give you the soup you want.
(That's called a "mirpois", by the way--that mix of carrot, onion and celery sauted to give flavor and bulk-- in case you didn't know and on the off chance that you want to impress someone with your mad soup skilz by throwing a French term in there just to ramp your kitchen cred!)
Return the meat to the pot and add the stock. The stock should cover the meat completely--if it doesn't, you can supplement with water until it does. Bring to a boil and boil until the meat is ready to fall off the bones. Remove the soup bones, cut off the meat and return the meat to the pot.
Give the bones to your canine sous chef, or any random dog in the neighborhood, as they are doggie heaven and will earn you a friend for life.
Taste the broth and add salt, pepper and nutmeg to your liking. You may also like to add various herbs here as well--thyme, parsley or herbes de province are VERY nice in this soup.
Add the sliced carrot and bag of barley to the soup and simmer until the barley is soft and swollen--about 45 minutes to an hour. Adjust the seasonings and serve with a crusty, lovely bread (I like beer bread with this, but any rustic, whole grain bread will do nicely) or whole grain crackers with butter (which is what my Dad likes).
This makes a very thick, very barley heavy soup--if you prefer less barley, you can add only half the bag. If you like your soup thinner, you can add more stock or more water.
But if you decide to make this soup, I encourage you to play with it. Add something you like, or take out the things you don't.
Make it "Mrs/Ms/Mr Whoever's Soup".
And put your OWN name on the line of the Old Family Recipe Book....!
I learned how to make it by watching my mother, and there was no "recipe". We didn't even call it beef barley soup--we called it "Mrs. Wilson's soup", because my mother pretty much made it from memory, because she had watched her mother make it (When it was "Mrs. MacPherson's Soup"!). And like all family recipes, we learned by watching, we added our own stuff to our version of it, and we all put our names to it, like the records of each generation found in a family Bible.
This is my version....
Mrs. Roberts' Soup
Two meaty beef shin bones (more if they aren't impressively meaty)
1 pound-ish package of stew beef, trimmed up so that they are "soup-sized", which I think should be a little smaller than "stew-sized"
2 boxes of beef stock--about 8 cups. You can use canned broth, but I prefer the stock because I think it's richer and more beefy-tasting, and if you get the broth, get the unsalted kind--the salted stuff tastes like you've been sucking on boullion cubes. But this is my addition--my mother used only water, and always made a perfectly good soup.
A handful of carrots, half chopped, half sliced--I often get the pre-sliced ones and just throw them in from the bag. It doesn't make the broth carrot-y at all--just sweetens it a bit.
4 stalks of celery, chopped--about a cup
1/2 to 1 sweet onion, chopped--also about a cup
Salt and pepper to taste
About a half-teaspoon of nutmeg (fresh ground is always nicest, but tinned will do)
1 bag pearlized barley
Brown the meat in canola oil in the bottom of a stock pot until well-browned on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot and add the chopped vegetables (reserve the sliced carrot to add later), sauteing until softened and translucent--the purpose of this vegetable mixture is to add flavor, not to make vegetable soup, so chopping it finely and saute-ing it down to a soft texture will give you the soup you want.
(That's called a "mirpois", by the way--that mix of carrot, onion and celery sauted to give flavor and bulk-- in case you didn't know and on the off chance that you want to impress someone with your mad soup skilz by throwing a French term in there just to ramp your kitchen cred!)
Return the meat to the pot and add the stock. The stock should cover the meat completely--if it doesn't, you can supplement with water until it does. Bring to a boil and boil until the meat is ready to fall off the bones. Remove the soup bones, cut off the meat and return the meat to the pot.
Give the bones to your canine sous chef, or any random dog in the neighborhood, as they are doggie heaven and will earn you a friend for life.
Taste the broth and add salt, pepper and nutmeg to your liking. You may also like to add various herbs here as well--thyme, parsley or herbes de province are VERY nice in this soup.
Add the sliced carrot and bag of barley to the soup and simmer until the barley is soft and swollen--about 45 minutes to an hour. Adjust the seasonings and serve with a crusty, lovely bread (I like beer bread with this, but any rustic, whole grain bread will do nicely) or whole grain crackers with butter (which is what my Dad likes).
This makes a very thick, very barley heavy soup--if you prefer less barley, you can add only half the bag. If you like your soup thinner, you can add more stock or more water.
But if you decide to make this soup, I encourage you to play with it. Add something you like, or take out the things you don't.
Make it "Mrs/Ms/Mr Whoever's Soup".
And put your OWN name on the line of the Old Family Recipe Book....!