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Hot soup on a cold winter’s day

Karen Wils photo Above, an ice fisherman enjoys hobo soup on the ice.

ESCANABA — I am going to step back in time… and step into my mother’s kitchen circa 1969.

The windows are steamy and the back entrance way is warm as I peel off my coat, scarf, boots and mittens.

The awesome aroma of homemade soup simmering on the back of the stove welcomes me home from school.

Today was a laundry day for Mom. The old fashioned wringer wash machine in the basement had quite a workout with six kids and a husband who worked in a factory. The basement lines were full of clothes.

Wash days were often soup days when I was growing up.

A nice beefy bone, celery, onion, veggies and barley slowly cooked all day making the house smell wonderful with flavors blended to perfection.

Nothing hits the spot on a cold winter’s day like a bowl of homemade soup.

Some of my mom’s specialties were beef and barley, rice and tomato, split pea soup, bean soup, boiled dinner, chili, chicken dumpling and fish soup. Homemade soup was served in a large soup plate and was a meal back then — not just an appetizer.

Ground bologna sandwiches or egg salad sandwiches went along nicely with homemade soup, too.

I can still see Mom’s favorite old soup kettles sitting on the stove with the ladle ready to dip in. One nice thick bottom kettle was called the “pea soup kettle” because it was the one she always made pea soup in. Another favorite pot for soup making was called the “semi heavy kettle” because those words were inscribed on its side.

“Johnny Jump Up” was the name of another kettle of hers. It had a noisy little steam valve on top of it.

Over the years, with a large family, I wonder just how many gallons of soup those kettles produced.

Today soup is thought of differently, like a light lunch or a snack. Soup recipes often call for a can of chicken or beef broth or vegetable stock. Real old fashioned soup starts with a ham bone, beef bones or a turkey carcass. Grandma was right about the health benefits of a good bone broth.

The key to good made from scratch soup, I have learned over the years, is time. It needs to cook low and slow for most of the day. Good fresh herbs and spices help out too. My mother always used her own canned tomatoes in soups and chili. I use frozen carrots and green beans from my garden in many soups.

You can find some good soup recipes online now days or in cookbooks, but if you want a really great soup recipe, ask your grandmother or an older relative or friend who has been making soups for years. Most soup recipes are not written down. The measurements are not precise.

A veteran soup maker will be happy to talk you through how much of this and that until you have a perfect pot of chicken and dumplings.

Come in out of the cold and have a soup day at your house.

——

Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.

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