1863 LETTUCE SOUP

 " Lettuce may be best kept by sprinkling with cold water and placing in a tin pail closely covered.Lettuce , like other raw vegetables, when eaten will help to stimulate  flagging appetite...." -1896 Boston Cooking School Cook Book

 If there was enough lettuce left in the garden, a soup could be made with  leftovers. These days, we are much luckier. It comes in by the tons in packages, bags, mounds of lettuce piled in produce bins.

  I used a large carton of lettuce plus  two extra heads. It wilts in the broth, so don't be scared to use up what you have.If you have spinach use some of that.

Add into a large pot two containers of  veggie broth, Then  star dumping in chopped veggies.Yellow zucchini...one of my favs.

 Civil war Lettuce soup would be mainly lettuce ,sometimes in a  in a cream like sauce and rice/vermicelli with onion. I updated it with extra veggies. And left out the cream

 I added spirals of sweet potatoes. You can find them now in the produce section. They cook beautifully.The original 1863 recipe is very simple. Lettuce, Rice/vermicelli, Onions. I tried that as well, it's nice. Not a hearty soup though.

 Add beans. Any beans you wish....canned ones to make it easier. Plus pasta.Then more  lettuce. Onions if you wish. Parsley if you have it.Then cook in large pot about 45 minutes to an hour.

  In the late 1800's ladies could take cooking lessons for about 15$ for 12 weeks. They had to eat their dishes at the end of each lesson.

 Some early lessons would include how to make a fire. Boiling coffee, grinding tomatoes for soup, cutting bread into croutons, boiling potatoes properly, cooking chops and toasting bread over the fire...

 FINAL lessons would include making bread, various potatoe dishes, frying fish, egg dishes, and pudding......

 Some students would learn that a fire took more work than they thought. From crumpling up paper, sticks and wood, arranged with coal.Then after the dampers were closed.......striking  a match.

Some students learned to be careful how they applied the match. To keep all clothing free from the flame. Once fire caught on the apron, it was noticed  it was very hard to extinguish.

 When soup is ready, serve with sourdough pancakes, biscuits or bread. Leftovers can be readily frozen, if you do not add milk.

 KITCHEN HINTS:To clean grease clogs from a sink. Dump down ashes from the fire, with a ton of water.

 KITCHEN HINT: To Clean Carpets. Tear up old newspaper. Sprinkle over dirty carpet. Sweep the newspaper away. Then wipe carpet with ammonia. Supposed to bleach those colours brighter..

 Photographs 2019