The Meyersville Grange
and the
Cooking Contest

The Meyersville Grange fund raiser Soup & Pasta cooking contest is held the second Friday of each Month from October through April.  It’s open to the public and there are two ways to get into this entertaining event.  You can pay $8. which entitles you to samples of all the soups and pasta dishes which you choose, Italian bread and butter, and your choice of beverage.  For a modest extra $2. per serving you can enjoy home made desserts.  Or, you can cook up a big pot of soup or pasta at home and bring the pot wrapped in towels (to keep in the heat) to the Grange and it is your ticket for admission.  

Occasionally there is a pressing need for money for a particular project.  In this case the Grange has been known to sponsor a second soup / pasta contest during a month.  This is a painless fund raiser and very popular with attendees.  It’s a lot more fun than just writing a check. 

For my first visit to the soup / past contest I brought Great Aunt Laura’s recipe for Swedish Yellow Pea soup.  It’s a great winter soup, sturdy, travels well, isn’t too challenging to make, and it is delicious.  I was always fascinated by Laura’s soup because of its pretty yellow color.  All the Dutch members of my family made a similar soup but they used green split peas.  The color was not so appealing as Laura’s creamy cheerful yellow soup which iss punctuated with tiny bits of bright orange carrot and brown ham. 

There was home made pea soup for sale in A and A Specialty Market (They have great fresh prepared food!) in Lincoln Park yesterday, it was $9. a quart.  We made five quarts at home the same day!  Costs a lot less than $45. to make it, and that's counting buying the smoked pork neck bones for $8..  If there’s a ham bone and some scrappy ham ends, the price is almost nothing for the sack of yellow peas, carrots, potatoes, onions.  Let's see, a dollar for the dried peas, a dollar for carrots, $1.50 for potatoes, $1.50 or so for onions.  Of course you have to add something for the energy for cooking but pressure cooker cuts the time, you use soap and water to wash up the dishes, pots, pans.   So $13. plus cooking and clean up costs.  Round it to about $15. and that is $3. per quart instead of $9.   That’s a big difference!   If I’d had a ham bone the soup would have cost only five dollars to make, a dollar a quart!  With home made soup the cook knows exactly what went into the dish, there’s no odd additives with unpronounceable names and potential unpleasant side effects.

It’s simple to make split pea soup.  Cook the bones or end of the ham in water the day before, chill over night and skim off the layer of hardened white fat which forms over night.   On TV cooking shows chefs rarely skim off the fat or chill the food the day before and remove the cake of fat from the top. 

When I was young and had more energy I used to make our own bar soap from the fat.  People raved over it because it kept their hands from chapping over the winter as the soap was loaded with lanolin. 

Great Aunt Laura’s
Swedish Yellow Pea Soup Recipe

Laura Sauerland Meyer, my Grandmother Emily’s half sister

(a recipe for a quick pea soup follows if you are short on time) 

This is a two day process.  Laura made the broth the first day by simmering the end of the ham and the ham bone in a stock pot for a couple of hours on low heat.  Then she would remove the ham bone and put all the ham bits in a bowl in the refrigerator.

Laura would chill the broth over night and next day remove the cake of white fat from the top of the broth and discard it.

If she wanted to store the broth for a few days before making the soup, she would leave the fat layer in place until ready to use the broth as this sealed out the air and kept the broth from spoiling.

Ingredients:

End of the ham plus the bone or 4-5 pounds of smoked pork neck bones or smoked ham hocks. 

1 pound bag dried, split yellow peas (Yes, you can use green if that’s what’s in the pantry.)

3 Tablespoons olive oil divided, more if you need it

2 large onions diced ½”

4 big carrots diced ½”

3 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters

Fresh ground pepper

Granulated garlic

Optional: ½ pound low salt deli ham diced ½”

Directions:

1. Put peas in a colander, pick over for stones or stems and then rinse peas under running water.

2. Put broth and peas on heat, cover.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer and cook until peas become mushy.  Replenish water if water level drops during the cooking process.  You want them to be soft enough that if you press them against the side of the pot with a spoon they collapse without resistance.
3. Sauté onions in 1 ½ Tbsp. olive oil until caramelized.  Pour caramelized onions into the pot of cooking peas.

4. Sauté carrots in 1 ½ Tbsp.  olive oil until very tender and beginning to turn golden.  If carrots begin to brown too much just add a cup of water and finish them by boiling.  Set the cooked carrots aside.5. Boil the potatoes in water until very tender.  Reserve potato cooking water.

6. Process the peas, potatoes and onions in batches in a blender until creamy smooth.  You will have to add some potato water to achieve a silky, liquid consistency.
7. Add the tender cooked carrots and the ½” diced ham bits.  When using smoked ham hocks or smoked neck bones for the broth, you can toss in a half pound of ½” diced low salt ham from the deli if you like more ham in your soup.This soup is ready to eat, but it is even better tasting if it sits a day in the refrigerator.  It will set up firm in the refrigerator over night, but heating it gently on low heat will liquefy the soup.  Stir when heating to keep from burning!  Laura’s recipe will make 5-6 quarts.  This yellow pea soup freezes well.  Laura’s technique gives you a very low fat, flavorful soup.  No salt is necessary as the ham makes the soup salty enough.

Pea Soup La Cena 
(A quick split pea soup)

 Recipe is courtesy of La Cena Fine foods Ltd., Saddle Brook, NJ.

Ingredients:

1 smoked ham hock

1 large onion coarsely chopped

2 quarts boiling water

1 pound La Cena yellow dried split peas

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Rinse ham hock. Add with chopped onion to the two quarts of boiling water. 

2. Rinse split peas, drain and add to the boiling water.

3. Cover, boil moderately fast for 1 ½ hours.

4. More boiling water may be added as necessary during cooking if necessary.

5. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.

6. Remove ham hock and rub remaining ingredients through sieve.

Serve very hot.  Bits of the ham from the hock may be used as garnish.

Serves 6-8.

I would not salt this soup as the ham hock will provide sufficient saltiness.

Background:

 Laura was a nurse. She trained in what was then called "The German Hospital" in Manhattan, NY and worked there as a skilled nurse after graduation.  Later the hospital was renamed, "Lenox Hill Hospital.  Laura and her husband Uncle Emil Meyer lived happily near by in a brownstone in that bastion of German culture, Yorkville.  Besides her career as a nurse, Laura rented the spare bedrooms in the brownstone to German travelers or immigrants to earn extra money.  One tenant was a German artist who did a magnificent pastel portrait of Laura to show American clients the fine quality of his work.  We have that beautiful picture to this day.  Uncle Emil was a physical culture specialist which apparently (this was before my time) meant he had some metal boxes larger than modern clothes dryers in the  lower level of the brownstone and he "baked" chubby people in these contractions to help them lose weight.   Laura and Emil were a happy couple but sadly Uncle Emil barely lived to see their twenty-fifth anniversary.  After his passing Laura continued to live in the magnificent brownstone with the huge moose-head taxidermy mount (my favorite thing in the whole house besides the huge white conch seashells in the garden!) hanging on the first floor landing.  When she retired, Laura sold the brownstone and to my eternal regret, donated the moose-head to the Salvation Army.  She moved to her brother's cozy cottage in Oakland, NJ and had a beautiful, light filled bedroom added to the house for herself.