This soup recipe comes from The Enterprising Housekeeper (1898), which is a collection of recipes put together by Helen Louise Johnson and published by the Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Pennsylvania. Inside you’ll find adverts for products the company made mixed with the recipes, and some of them have great images that I’ll no doubt end up sharing here later on.
According to the preface for the soup chapter, soups with heartier ingredients like beans can be used for a main dish (if it’s a lighter soup or broth, it should be used as a starter instead).
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Original Recipe
Lima Bean Soup
- 1 cup of lima beans
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 cup of water
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoonfuls of butter
- 1 tablespoonful of flour
- 1 small onion
- Salt and pepper to taste
Slice the onion and brown in the butter ; add the flour ; stir until smooth and brown. Add the water, bay leaf and beans, and cook twenty minutes, or until the beans are soft. Press through a sieve. Scald the milk, add the beans and cook until thickened. Season and serve.
A few drops of celery extract, onion juice, a little catsup, Worcestershire sauce, or curry powder ; any proper flavoring used with judgment gives variety and adds to the various soups. The coarser leaves and stalks of the celery may not be sufficient to give the right flavor to the soup, but a drop or two of celery extract will add just what is needed. Tomatoes can be used with great freedom, as they combine with so many other things. Remember that a tablespoonful of meat, vegetable or cereal need never be wasted where soup is served everyday.
Recipe Card
Lima Bean Soup from 1898
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup lima beans
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup water
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 onion small
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice the onion and brown in the butter. Add the flour and stir until smooth and brown.
- Add the water, bay leaf and beans, and cook twenty minutes, or until the beans are soft. Press through a sieve.
- Scald the milk, add the beans and cook until thickened. Season and serve.
Notes
Recipe Notes
- When you’re adding in the flour, do a little at a time so it doesn’t clump up into a big mess
- “Scalding milk” is a thing used for sauces; this Wikipedia page has some more info on that
- Pressing the beans through a sieve– does this mean actually pushing them into the sieve until the beans are mush, or is separating them from the liquid they cooked in good enough? Personally, I’d want the beans to be whole so I’d just strain them instead
- Actually, thinking about this more it’s obvious you’re supposed to much the beans until they blend in with the rest of the soup and it’s a smooth texture. So for modern times, instead of sieving them just use a hand-blender or something
- Pretty sure “celery extract” is the same (or at least very similar to) modern-day celery seed
Source
Johnson, H. Louise. The enterprising housekeeper: Suggestions for breakfast, luncheon and supper. 2d ed. Philadelphia: The Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Pa., [1898].
