Labor Day Holiday

We have a holiday today so I am doing some cooking and freezing food so that if I don't feel like cooking I don't have to. I have made a big pot of broth.  As I was making it I got to thinking about it's history.   I know that it has been cooked by women in the family for 4 generations and I suppose it might go back further than that.  My Grandmother used to call it "Mutton Broth", but you can't buy mutton any more so it now has to be "Lamb Broth" .

I usually set aside a weekend to make this soup.  I start with about 1kg of neck of lamb chops and use these to make a stock and keep the meat to go through the soup.   (I slowly steam the meat off the bones and then bake the bone to make the stock.)

Next day I finely chop a variety of root vegetable. All on the large size, including onion, turnip, parsnip, swede, 2 carrots and 2 celery sticks.  I add this to the meat and 4 to 6 litres of stock, depending on how much vegetable there is.  Then I add 1/2 cup of pearl barley, salt pepper and Worstershire sauce  and cook on a very low heat for a couple of hours.  As this is a cooking day I will usually bake some fresh bread, but suddenly I am starting to have problems with gluten.   I have had to reduce the amount of yeast bread I eat.

So I bought some of that gluten free bread that tastes like cardboard.  I froze it ,buttered both sides of the bread and cut it up into croutons and baked them in the oven until golden brown.  They taste great and are just right for the soup.

I wonder if my daughter will continue the tradition of this soup?

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Comments

[Queeniepatch.blogspot.com]

I hope she will. It sounds delicious. Good labour on Labour Day.

[RachelandDesign]

It certainly sounds very tasty.

[Carolyn Foley]

There is now a huge supply in the freezer.