Ok, a bit of beef stew is not so bad in the summer is it? Especially when trying to stretch the budget. This one is from my Great Grandmother’s files.

1 1/2 lbs cubed stew beef
Dredge in 2 TBS flour and pepper and salt (to taste)
Brown in 2 tbs. cooking oil
1 can beef broth or consomme
1/3 cup burgundy wine
1 cup celery cut fine
Cover and cook 1 hour
Add 1 small can mushrooms
6 onions
6 potatoes (medium)
8 carrots
Cook slowly until vegetables are tender.
Serves 4 to 6.

This one is from an old newspaper clipping. Dauphin Island is off the coast of Alabama and where my mother spent many of her childhood summers.

 Dauphin Island Crab Gumbo

2 cups finely chopped celery
2 cups finely chopped onion
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
Minced Parsley
3 tablespoons bacon drippings
3/4 cup sifted flour
2 cups raw crab meat
2 cups canned tomatoes
1 cup cut okra
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Paprika (optional)
Hot sauce (optional)
1 tablespoon gumbo file

Saute celery onions, peppers, and parsley in drippings in covered skillet until soft. Remove from pan. Brown flour in drippings, add to vegetables. Add 3 qts water and crab. Cook for 30 minutes. Add tomatoes, okra and seasonings; simmer for one hour. Remove from heat; stir in file. Serve over rice.

Note: if cooked crab meat is used, add 10 minutes before removing from heat. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Spam! Yes…a retro recipe with Spam! Ok, so they call it canned luncheon meat. You can go for it or you can substitute ham. In any case, this makes for a nice winter lunch or supper on a budget.

Thrifty Meat-Bean Stew

1 1/2 cups large dry limas (12 oz)
3 cups cold water
1 16-oz can tomatoes, cut up
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt

***
1 12-oz can luncheon meat, cubed
1 beef bouillon cube
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup reconstituted nonfat dry milk or fluid milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet (optional)

Rinse beans; place in large saucepan and add water. Bring to boiling; cover and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 1 hour. (Or add beans to water and soak overnight.) Do not drain. Add tomatoes, onion and salt; cover and simmer for 1 1/4 hours. Add luncheon meat, bouillon cube, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine milk and flour; add to stew mixture. Cook, stirring constantly till thickened and bubbly; stir in Kitchen Bouquet. Makes 8 servings. (From Good Food on a Budget, 1971)

Well, some of you have vanished already. The classic refreshment of the 30s just isn’t your thing. Others read on trying to figure out just what it is…it is basically beef Jell-o.

But before you run off…reconsider. It is elegant, salty, smooth, cool and refreshing, all at the same time.

Jellied Beef Consomme

4 cups beef broth
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

~~~~~~~~~~

2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin

Combine first five ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer 15 minutes. Strain mixture, discarding vegetables and return to saucepan.

In small bowl combine sherry and water; sprinkle gelatin over top to soften gelatin. Add gelatin mixture to broth. Heat and stir until gelatin dissolves. Pour into a large bowl. Chill until set. Break with fork and serve in small dishes or elegant glassware. Garnish with a bit of parsley or savory whipped cream or sour cream.

Now I know that everyone and their cousin has a Gazpacho recipe these days. Now, once upon a time, Gazpacho was exotic and Tomato Bouillon commonplace. So, try this for a refreshing summer retro treat. Retro soup, cocktail, and beverage all in one!

Tomato Bouillon on the Rocks

1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced carrots
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 sprigs parsley
4 cups canned tomato juice (or homemade)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
6 whole cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups canned bouillon or consomme, chilled
6 lemon slices
6 green scallions or celery sticks

Early on the day, if desired :

1. In large saucepan, combine all ingredients except bouillon, lemon slices, scallions. Bring to boil; cover; simmer over low heat 1 hour.

2. Strain; then refrigerate

15 minutes before serving:

1. Combine chilled tomato mixture with bouillon.

2. Serve in Old-fashioned glasses, filled one-fourth full with crushed ice. Garnish each with a lemon slice which has been snipped in center and has a scallion threaded through this center. Makes 6 servings.

All of you gagging at soup and particularly at cream of potato…know that Cream of Salmon Soup is the recipe right beneath this one in the book. On the other hand, this soup will fill you up on a dime in lean times and is a good one to have in your repertoire for those desperate no money until pay day times.

It does beat having yet ANOTHER bowl of ramen. It gives you the opportunity to feel like you are really cooking and having a meal…but doesn’t take long either.

So, be brave, get some thrifty retro comfort. (and oh…I sprinkle a bit of nutmeg on mine instead of the parsley if I am out of parsley.) By the way…homemade potato soup is WAY better than that canned stuff.

Cream of Potato Soup

5 cups thinly sliced potatoes
1 medium onion, sliced
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
1â…” cups evaporated milk
1 cup water
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Put potatoes and onion into a 3-qt saucepan and barely cover with cold water. Add salt, cover and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until potatoes are perfectly tender. Mash potatoes in their liquid. Add butter, evaporated milk and water. Stir and add a little more water if soup is too thick. Reheat to scalding, remove from heat and stir in chopped parsley. Serve immediately. 5 servings. The Modern Family Cookbook

Well, I know Liz isn’t looking forward to this and frankly the whole pickle relish definitely kills it for me too.(if the canned beets didn’t off the bat). I myself say stick with the Beet Borsht posted previously.

But, speaking of creamed, I am getting creamed in the Blogger’s Choice Awards…which is worse than beet soup…so go vote for me! A vote for Retro-Food is a vote for misunderstood American Recipes of yesteryear!

Cream of Beet Soup

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
No. 2 can beets
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons grated onion
1 tablespoon pickle relish
¼ cup cider vinegar or to taste

Melt butter, blend in flour and gradually stir in milk; cook over direct heat, stirring constantly until  sauce boils and thickens. Drain beets (save juice) and put beets through ricer or food mill into the hot sauce. Add salt, onion, beet juice, and pickle relish, and heat again to boiling. Remove from heat, add vinegar and serve immediately. 5 servings. The Modern Family Cookbook

I like split pea soup: to describe fog; and well, I like it every 5 years or so on a cold wintry day. With springtime peeking its head around…not so much. But you, you might like it any day, so vary your recipe a bit. The bay leaf, tomato and celery seed give it a nice flavor though so give them a try.

½ ham bone
1 quart water
1 bay leaf
â…› teaspoon celery seed
Pinch of thyme, if desired (Rosemary is also nice)
1 cup green split peas soaked 2 hours in 1 cup water
1 medium tomato or  ½ cup canned tomatoes
1â…” cups evaporated milk

Use bone from which practically all meat has been removed. Crack bone and put into soup kettle; add water, seasonings, soaked peas and tomato. Cover and simmer about 2 hours. Remove bone and put soup through a sieve or food mill into another saucepan. Stir in evaporated milk and re-heat. Serve steaming hot. 5 generous servings. The Modern Family Cookbook

This sounds good in a bland comforting sort of wintery way. This is a vegetarian soup recipe, though I suppose, if you were a meat eating sort, you could add a ham bone, skipping the ricing step; or or a cup of ham to it after ricing.

Cream of Navy Bean Soup

1 cup dried navy beans
4 cups cold water
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon celery salt
Dash pepper
2 tablespoon grated carrot, optional
Wash beans, cover with water and let stand overnight. Next morning drain, cover with the cold water, add onion, cover and simmer about 1½ to 2 hours or until beans are soft. Remove from heat and put through ricer or food mill into a saucepan. Add milk, seasonings and carrot and reheat. Serve hot. 5 servings.

Another one of those foods I can’t say I see often these days, but the grocery store on the other side of down is rumored to carry them.
2 oxtails, about 3½ lbs.
¼  cup barley
½ cup chopped onion
½ diced carrot
1 tablespoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 cup diced potatoes
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon caramel or kitchen bouquet

Wipe oxtails with damp cloth. Chop at joints, making pieces 1 to 2 inches long. Put on to cook in 2½  quarts cold water, add barley when water boils; reduce heat and simmer gently for 2 hours. then add onion, carrot, salt and pepper, and continue cooking 20 mimutes. Add potatoes and cook until just tender. Remove oxtail, separate meat from bone and return meat to soup. Add parsley and  caramel or other coloring. Serve hot. 5 or 6 servings.