Portuguese Family Soup, or Cucido (1922)

Portuguese Family Soup, or Cucido
A Book of Unusual Soups (1922)
1 lb lean beef
2 slices raw ham
Bacon fat
Bone from leg of mutton or ham
2 cups parboiled dried beans
½ a lage fowl
1 small head of cabbage
2 large carrots
1 clove garlic
1 pint tomatoes
1 cup rice
1 small onion
4 tbs butter
2 tbs of catsup
1 tsp of white pepper
Cut into two-ounce pieces one pound of lean beef, divide two slices of raw ham into one-inch srips, and brown in bacon fat on a very hot pan. Put into the soup kettle with three pints of cold water or stock, or a mixture of the two. Add the bone from a leg of mutton or ham, and two cupfuls of parboiled dried beans. Let come to a boil, and simmer for two hours,or until meat and beans are almost cooked. Add one entire small or the half of a large fowl, cut up as for fricassee. Let come to a boil, cook for fifteen minutes, then add one small head of cabbage, whole; two large carrots; and a clove of garlic. Cook until cabbage when tried with a fork, is almost done, then add a pint of tomatoes, either canned or fresh and whole, and cook for fifteen minutes longer. Sometimes three or four links of sausage are added at this point. Prepare in another saucepan a cupful of rice as follows: Chop one small onion and cook until brown in four tablespoonfuls of butter, add the rice and enough liquid from the soup kettle to cook it, with allowance for swelling – perhaps four cupfuls. When the grains are soft add two tablespoonfuls of catsup, either mushroom or tomato, and one teaspoonful of white pepper. Stir all together thoroughly and place in the bottom of a soup tureen. Strain over this the liquid from the soup kettle and arrange the meat and vegetables on a hot platter This soup calls for some care in making, but is an uncommonly good dinner-in-one piece. Six servings.
Accompaniments. French rolls, or such bread stuffs as maybe served at dinner time, are in place since this soup is a hearty one-piece dinner.
Garnishes the platter may be garnished with very small dumplings not more than an inch in diameter, cooked with the soup. Or a border of cress with radish roses her and ther is still better.
Service. Serve in large, rimmed soup plates both a portion from the tureen and one from the dish of meat and vegetables at the same time. Soup spoons and knives and forks are used to eat the soup.
Did we eat it:
Would I make it again:
Notes: I also used only one type of meat – sausage and I left the meat in the soup to serve. I sauteed the onion in only about 1 tbs of butter. Then I added the beans, cabbage, carrots, garlic, tomatoes, rice, catsup, and white pepper. Then cooked till beans were done. I had dried beans (soaked overnight) so this took about 2 hours.

Antique Recipe Collections
HearthRecipes.com