Thursday, September 04, 2003

By Alice Stock, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Since people moved from hunting and gathering to agriculture, some 10,000 years B.C., they have probably made soup. It's easy. Simmer meat and bones in water, add grains or vegetables and you have a warm, nutritious meal.

In the 19th century, American science and advertising popularized condensed soup and made-from-scratch soup fell from favor.

According to the Campbell Soup Co.'s Web site, Arthur Dorrance succeeded Joseph Campbell in 1894 as president of the Campbell Preserve Co., whose best-known product at that time was Beefsteak Ketchup, a pungent sauce.

In 1897, Dorrance hired his nephew, John T. Dorrance, a chemist, to develop a formula for condensing soups. By reducing 32 ounces of soup to 10 ounces, the company could lower the price from 34 cents to 10 cents.

The price was right, but housewives still preferred to make their own soup. So Dorrance took his horse-drawn wagon on the road, offering people a taste of consomme, and tomato, vegetable, chicken and oxtail soups. He hoped to convince buyers that condensed soup was high in quality and inexpensive.

He was a clever enough marketer that he didn't try to convince housewives that condensed soup was comparable to homemade; he contended only that it was "different with a taste all its own."

His best argument was they were also much quicker and easier to prepare than homemade soup. Saving time and effort is what changed the way Americans ultimately thought of soup.

By 1922, Campbell was selling so much condensed soup that the company formally changed its name to Campbell Soup Co.

Another marketing idea was to use condensed soups in recipes, such as Green Bean Casserole, now a classic. That recipe was printed in a company cookbook, "Helps for the Hostess," published in 1916.

Campbell estimates that Americans use more than 1 million cans of soup every day in a large variety of recipes, many of which originated with the company.

In 1941, the company published its first full-length cookbook, "Easy Ways to Good Meals." Others followed. Two in my personal collection are "A Campbell Cookbook: Cooking with Soup" (no publication date, but clues point to the 1950s) and "Campbell's Creative Cooking with Soup: Over 10,000 Delicious Mix and Match Recipes" (1988).

Condensed Scotch Broth is available, but why not experience the "original"?

Scotch Broth

Sometimes called "barley broth," this simple Scottish soup is perhaps more authentic and flavorful when made with mutton (sheep older than 2) when it's available. Other vegetables, such as celery, cabbage or potato, are sometimes added, but the constants are barley, lamb and leek.

• 1 pound stewing lamb
  

• (we used neck bones and shank) or 1 pound stewing beef trimmed of fat
  
• 2 to 3 ounces pearl barley, rinsed (or 1/2 cup quick- cooking barley)
  
• 1/4 cup split, dried peas, soaked overnight (or 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas)
  
• 2 leeks, white part only, split in four pieces lengthwise and rinsed (or 2 medium yellow onions)
  
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
  
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
  
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
  
• 1 turnip, peeled and diced
  
• Chopped parsley as garnish

Put the meat in a heavy pot with a lid and cover with about 6 cups cold water.

Add the pearl barley and dried peas, bring to a boil and skim. (If using quick-cooking barley, follow directions on box and add during the last 10 minutes of cooking; if using fresh peas, add during the last 10 minutes of cooking; if using frozen peas, add at the end until heated through.)

Add salt and pepper and cook gently, without boiling, 1 hour.

Skim again, add leek (or onion), carrot and turnip and simmer until the meat falls off the bone.

Meat may be taken out of the soup and eaten separately or cut into small pieces and left in.

Garnish with parsley and serve hot. Makes about 4 servings.

"The Wine and Food Society's Guide to Soups" by Robin Howe, 1967

E-mail this story   Print this story