Along the Silk Road

Somehow November quite often seems to catch me by surprise. Clearly this shouldn’t be so as it happens every year(!). October can be pleasant, bright and mild as the summer fades gently out of sight, but just a few weeks later as November rolls in, the temperature drops by around ten degrees and, as the clocks have gone back, it’s dark by about five o’clock - a real contrast that heralds the colder, darker days ahead. November is the final month of autumn and, as we say farewell to the very last tattered remnants of the warmer days behind us, we can begin to look forward to the frosts and snow of winter, sparkling icy days and long walks, returning to the warmth of the stove and a bowl of soup, mug of cocoa or a hearty stew to warm the cockles of our hearts. (

And, thinking of those soups, stews and casseroles, it’s a good thing that November is one of the best months for root vegetables. Parsnips and celeriac are particularly good this month. And though the pickings are slimmer than in October, the hedgerows still carry some of autumn’s bounty as rose hips and chestnuts are welcome additions to the autumn larder.

These days bacon is available all year round, but traditionally it would have been made in November for eating through the winter. Right up until the end of WW2 it was common for families to keep a pig at the end of their gardens, or to be part of a pig club that raised pigs communally. Pigs were fed on kitchen scraps and other food waste throughout the year, and then killed and their meat cured with Martinmas, November 12, being the traditional date for the first slaughter. The parts that couldn’t be preserved such as the offal would be eaten straight away, then brawn and sausages made from those that would keep for a short time and the belly and loin made into bacon that would be ready to eat by Christmas.

Simply Soup

“We hear often of a cook who professes to be a good soup maker. Nothing is easier than for every cook to become good in this department, but she must remember a few facts and act upon them. 1. That long slow cooking is essential for most soups, and that most recipes give the minimum of time possible, not the maximum desirable. 2. That soup can be made of anything - fish, flesh, fruit or flour, and that the economic housewife uses what she has at hand with a seasoning of common sense. 3. That a combination of many things produces generally a better result than the use of one or two materials only, the value of which fact is great from the point of view of using scraps.”

The Victorians simply loved soup, and many a social conscience was appeased by making vast quantities of soup to give to the poor - some of it nourishing and good, some very poor indeed. The great chef, Alexis Soyer, altered the diet of the soldiers fighting Crimea in the 1850s by ordering the proper cooking of their meat, seasoning it well and seeing that the soup that could be made from it was used to nourish the wounded and convalescent instead of being thrown away as useless. Later he was to do much the same with his soupkitchens during the Irish famine. Even earlier, by the end of the eighteenth century it was realised that “portable soup”, that is soup boiled down to a solid substance that could be reconstituted with water - the ancestor of our modern stock cubes, was a very good way of providing nourishment on long journeys. Captain Cook, during his voyage of exploration, took this portable soup with him as well as “sour-crout” which he insisted that his unwilling crew should eat - and for the first time during a long voyage the whole crew was free of scurvy.

Unfortunately one result of the Victorian obsession with soup is that generations have grown up feeling that it’s impossible to make soup at home without an enormous stock pot. The third rule given by Mrs Beeton (above) can lead to very poor soup making since if all odds and ends of scraps were put into the pot the result would have little taste of its own, though the result would undoubtedly be nourishing - if rather unappealing!

Soups can be heart and thick, full of chunky vegetables and meat or fish - a meal in themselves - or clear delicate consommes or broths to act as an appetiser at the beginning of a formal meal. Sometimes soup was served at the start of a meal to help fill the diners up before the more expensive main dish was served and indeed for many poorer folk it would have been the only dish of the meal.

You don’t need a stock pot these days as many good quality stock cubes, and even fresh stock, are available - be sure to choose a good quality wellflavoured version for soup as this will affect the taste. You can even make soup with a milk base, or with the liquid from cooking vegetables. And such soups, whether thick or thin, pureed or not, according to taste, can be both comforting and warming.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

● 1.5kg peeled and deseeded butternut squash, cut into 3cm/1¼in cubes (see tip) ● 1 large onion, roughly chopped ● 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped ● 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into cubes ● 4 tbsp olive oil ● 1 tbsp clear honey (optional) ● 5cm/2in piece fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped ● 1.5 litres/2½ pints vegetable stock ● salt and freshly ground black pepper Method

● Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.

● Tip the prepared squash into a large, resealable freezer bag with the onion, carrots and red pepper. Add half the oil and salt and pepper and toss everything together until the vegetables are evenly coated. Tip into a large roasting tin and spread out to form a single layer.

● Roast in the oven for 40–45 minutes, or until tender and tinged brown. Drizzle over the honey, if using, 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

● Place the large, deep-sided saucepan over a medium heat, add the remaining oil and, when it is hot, add the ginger and fry for a minute. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, then stir in the roasted vegetables and add salt and pepper.

● Remove the saucepan from the heat and, using a hand blender, blend the mixture until smooth. Return to the heat to warm through and serve hot with crusty bread.