Marguerite Patten’s Thick Windsor Soup

In her excellent book, Marguerite Patten’s Century of British Cooking, Marguerite gives two recipes for Windsor soup (you can also see our comments about the dish here.) One is for a clear version and one for a thicker, heartier version which, she says, is the Windsor soup known today. She calls the first one simply Windsor soup. Here is her version of thick Windsor Soup.

Version 2 – Thick Windsor Soup

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the stock:

1 calf’s foot
few beef bones
2.1 litres/3½ pt water
bouquet garni
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:

50g/2 oz beef dripping or butter
1 large onion, chopped
225g/8 oz stewing beef, diced
2 medium carrots
2 celery sticks, chopped
bouquet garni
150 ml/¼ pt Madeira wine

Method

Put all the ingredients for the stock into a pan and simmer for 2 to 2½ hours then strain and measure out 1.5 litres/2½ pints.

Heat the dripping or butter, add the onion and beef and stir over a low heat for 10 minutes. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil then add the carrots, celery and extra herbs. Simmer for 2 hours, then sieve or liquidise. Return to the pan with the wine and reheat. Check the seasoning and then garnish as for the clear version.

Variations: It is the beef and vegetables that thicken the soup. If you like it even thicker use a little flour or cornflour or add 1 or 2 diced potatoes with the other vegetables.

Another way of adding body is to add 50g/2 oz long grain rice when reheating the soup. Cook until the rice is tender.

(You could also try Jamie Oliver’s modern take on Brown Windsor Soup with barley.)

Marguerite Patten’s Century of British Cooking

Marguerite Patten
Hardback, 336 pages
1999, Grub Street
ISBN 1 902304 14 4
RRP: £25.00