I am well aware Goldilocks, during her notorious, well documented pillaging of the Bear Home, critically evaluated the porridge cooking of Mother Bear, pronouncing both Papa and Momma Bear's porridge as not to her liking before robbing Baby Bear of his dinner. However, there is a reason behind why I have used her name for this soup for over 70 years.
Back in the early 1950s, when we were kids and the family lived on Nimitze Street (Not far from the old VA Hospital) site, and later on Faircourt (adjacent to the original Jackson Country Club location), mom had the challenge of feeding a growing family on a limited budget. What she had the budget to put on the table needed to be suitable for the entire family. Taste and appeal were important, but in this case, so was the name of the dish. In order to convince two young boys and later an additional two younger sisters that they were excited when we had her version of vegetable beef soup, she decided to call this one “Momma Bear Soup”. What vintage 1950s kid wouldn't want to eat the soup made by Momma Bear herself?
Truth is, this is an excellent soup (almost the thickness of stew) to fill the bellies of working-class people. I can see no reason why ritzy/schmitzy folks wouldn't enjoy it too.
Here is how I make (true to her recipe) my mom's Momma Bear Soup, with my Grandmother's Depression Era Cornbread thrown in as a nice addition to this dish. It is satisfying, good for you and heats up from frozen like a dream. You will notice, it is rich in tomato content and because of that, it has a good tomato base taste, which I have always thought was a nice thing.
As I have stated in the past, we are soup people. At our house, this soup is cooked maybe 6-7 times a year. I believe we have 4 or 5 two serving containers in the freezer right now.
Mama Bear (Vegetable Beef) Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients:
6
medium or 4 large Carrots, shredded or cubed in 1/8 - 1/4" bit
4
large Red Potatoes, shredded or cubed 1/4 - 1/2" bits
12
ounces Green Peas, frozen
1 - 2 pounds Stew Meat or Roast Beef cubed 3/4" Seasoned with salt, black pepper and Lawry's garlic salt
3 - 4
cups water
2
cans (15 oz) Tomatoes, diced
1
small can (8 oz)Tomato Sauce
1
small can (6 oz) Tomato Paste
1
can White Cream Style Corn (Pride of Illinois brand is best)
2
teaspoons Sugar
3
teaspoons Salt
2
Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
Pepper – To Taste
Directions:
Brown
stew meat in oil in a heavy 5 qt pot over medium heat. Season with
salt, black pepper, and garlic salt to taste. It is fine to substitute
cubed or shredded leftover cooked pot roast for stew meat.
Add peas and cook 20 minutes, stirring more often.
Notes: This soup is better the next day and freezes very well. We always keep several containers frozen for quick soup meals.
Depression Era Cornbread
This is a repetition of my original Jackson Jambalaya Post, but this time baked in an old corn stick cast iron pan I bought in an estate sale a while back.
Ingredients:
1 cup Martha
White Self Rising Corn Meal
3/4 cup Martha White Self Rising Flour
1
teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400" f. Also preheat Cast Iron skillet, in this case a Corn Stick pan. Do not add oil yet because it will smoke.
Mix dry ingredients in a suitable bowl.
Mix in Buttermilk and sufficient additional water as needed to make the mix slightly thicker than pancake batter
You also need a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, or in this case, a Corn Stick Pan and a little oil for the pan. You also need a 400 degree F preheated oven.
I stick the pan in the oven
as it preheats. You don't need it until the oven gets to
temperature anyway. And it must be sizzling hot when the
batter goes in. The preheating oven is a good place to get it hot,
but not too hot.
Mix the ingredients, flour and cornmeal with
salt baking powder and butter milk to make a thick batter then add it to the corn stick pan after a brushing of 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil or bacon fat added before the batter. It should sizzle when the
batter is placed in the pan.
Place
the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes.
Cooking times will vary, and you will learn what your oven does.
The top of the bread should be somewhat browned when the corn sticks are ready to come out of the oven. The skillet side will be crunchy magic if a suitable amount of sizzling hot oil is used. If your pan is properly seasoned, the corn sticks fall right out. Otherwise help them by gently loosening the edges with a fork,
This soup was intended to be eaten with cornbread. The taste is the same, but Corn Sticks are kind of pretty too.
Thanks for looking at my photo recipe post.
God Bless You!
10 comments:
I'm guessing that you are using two 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes. Fire roasted tomatoes would taste good. We're soup people, too.
The cornbread recipe inspires me to season the old cornbread stick cast iron pan from my grandmother's generation - about 100 years ago, LOL. I haven't used it in decades and those sticks look yummy with the bowl of soup.
Thank you, Mr. Bear!
I want that right this second. Thank you!
CB looks like Piccadilly sticks, which I loved.
9:19 - I fixed the can sizes. Sorry I left that out. Corn sticks are a nice change from the skillet pones I usually make. I have never been good at putting the correct amount of batter to keep them from expanding out of the corn depressions in the pan. I have 5 corn stick cast iron pans, including one that makes a stick about half the size of the one shown in this post. It comes out of the oven pretty small with lots of crunch and not must bread. I like the crunch, so I like them, but I run them over so badly they usually don't make a very good photo and can be hard to coax out of the pan,
Looks good! Hope you and the wife are feeling better.
This looks fantastic! I am cold today and soup sounds wonderful. I'll be trying this soon.
Thanks, Bear! Looks amazing! Can't wait to try this weekend! Appreciate your posts!
Bear - Help please. How much Baking Powder in the cornbread???
thx.
As a decidedly poor and novice cook (despite my age), I appreciate the fullness of the recipes and the photos. Since I wouldn't know the difference between a saute and a sauce, it's useful to have each step photographed and discussed. Too many foodie blogs start at an advanced level with a million different kitchen devices and spices and not ordinary things I would find at home or Kroger. Much appreciated.
12:57
If you use self-rising flour and self-rising cornmeal, technically, no baking powder is needed.
Stop me when I get too deep here.
One never really knows how old their flour and cornmeal actually are. The rising power of baking powder deteriorates over time, exentually to the point where self-rising is closer to AP flour or Cornmeal than not. I usually add about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder to make sure I get a little rise in the bread when the butter milk is added.
The action of the acid in the buttermilk and the baking powder they put in self-rising flour or cornmeal is what causes the rise in the cornbread as it gets hot and cooks in the oven. My opinion is that if your self-rising flour or cornmeal is less than six months old, you will do fine with no baking powder added at all.
Having said that, I almost always add about 1/8 teaspoon just to make sure. Don't forget a little salt too - maybe a half teaspoon. JUst makes the cornbread taste better.
Too many words were written - made ZeroBear's head hurt
Oh, by the way, I can sometimes taste the baking powder after baking the quick bread, especially in biscuits, so never add much more than a half teaspoon, because you might taste it.
What does it taste like? Wet your finger and transfer a tidbit to your tongue. It won't hurt you, but from that point on, you may be able to self judge whether the amount you added was too much.
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