From an old cook book, here is the lineal descendant of the soup for which Esau sold his birthright — the kind of soup to come home to on a winter’s night.
Ingredients
1/2 pound green split peas
1/4 pound red lentils
2 tablespoons pearl barley
4 tablespoons white beans
1 good soup bone
1/2 pound shin beef
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 quarts water
salt and freshly ground pepper
large sprig of parsley
extra parsley to garnish
Instructions
Put the peas, lentils, barley, and beans into a large bowl, cover to twice their depth with cold water and leave to swell overnight. Next day rinse well. Put the bone and the meat (in one piece) with salt and water into a soup kettle. Bring slowly to the boil, skim, then add the other ingredients. Cover and simmer as slowly as possible for 2 or 3 hours, stirring occasionally. When the soup is ready the legumes will have dissolved into a purée, and sieving will be unnecessary. Before serving taste for seasoning, remove the bone, and serve a little of the meat with each serving. Garnish with scissored parsley.
