Pease Soup

Pease Porridge Hot
Pease Porridge Cold
Pease Porridge in the Pot
Nine Days Old

Everybody has heard that doggerel at one time or another. It dates back to medieval days, and refers to the habit of brewing a large pot of porridge, from dried peas, which the family then ate on until it was gone. The lady of the house would add more water as necessary.

Just as common was Pease Soup, which is nothing more than a thin porridge. Such soups appear in many European cultures. My mother, for instance, would make one using split peas and flanken; a hearty, almost-stew dish, ideal on a cold blustery day.

My recipe is a composite of several historic versions. For instance, Martha Washington's Book of Cookery, which dates to around 1645, has a pease soup recipe using "white" peas. White peas simply meant aged, or dried, peas.

Almost 200 years later, Mary Randolph provides a more "modern" version in her The Virginia Housewife. Between those two, cookbooks, cooking manuscripts, and journals have constant references to pease soup.

A note on color. It is totally irrelevant. Because I grew up on them, I tend to use the yellow split peas. But the green ones are more historically correct. However, they taste essentially the same.

Pease Soup

1 1/4 cups split peas
1/4 lb salt pork, diced
1 cup country ham, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp dry savory
3 cloves
Salt & pepper to taste
2 quarts water

Rinse peas. Cover with fresh water. Add other ingredients. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and let simmer two hours, covered, until peas are tender and falling apart. If not thick enough, let boil uncovered until liquid is reduced.

Historically, the soup would have been simmered uncovered, with more water added as necessary.

Going by today's standard methods, you can render the salt pork first, until lightly colored and sauté the onions and carrots in the rendered fat, then add the other ingredients.

That's pretty much how I make my split pea soup today....I just use green peas and grate the carrot rather than dicing it....just personal preference on the texture.

This is a great soup . my lovely wife is doing it the same way.

she is using smoke beef Sausages.