Companaticum/Perpetual Stew (longish, geeky, but possibly interesting)

[phroggies]

Okay, bear with me here. I was reading Food in History, by Reahy Tannahill (gift from DH, aka "prince among men") and came across this description of medieval peasant cooking:

. . . bread, water or ale, and a

companaticum ('that which goes with the bread') from the cauldron, the original stockpot or pot-au-feu that provided an ever-changing broth enriched daily with whatever was available. The cauldron was rarely emptied out except in preparation for the meatless weeks of Lent, so that while a hare, hen or pigeon would give it a fine, meaty flavour, the taste of salted pork or cabbage would linger for days, even weeks. This rang a bell and I consulted The Passionate Vegetarian and found her recipe for what she calls "Eternal Soup." You basically start a (vegetarian) soup in the crockpot. After lunch you put the insert in the fridge. The next morning you take it out, heat it up, and toss beans, veggies, whatever in it. By lunch it's supposed to be fabulous, and then you repeat the process indefinitely.

Fascinating, I thought to myself. I wonder if this can be done with meat? So I did some "research" (i.e., googled for a while) and found that this is actually done in a number of cultures; I found references to Jamaican and Polynesian dishes that claim to have been in the family for generations (obviously on a stove, not in a crockpot). Lest all this seem really gross, there's apparently more upscale version in the form of "master stock" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_stock). Apparently so long as you either keep it at a low boil or boil it once a day and refrigerate when it's not on the heat, you can do this safely.

So, with DH's consent (he's more worried about getting tired of soup than the health issues), I'm going to try that, starting with the soup I made today. Any one interested in a report on the experiment? Any thoughts about what I should look out for? Still trying to figure out how to determine when to fish out any bones. . . .

[tinuviel_k]

That sounds really interesting! It would be fun to keep a journal and log what turns the perpetual soup would take over the course of weeks and months.

[hibana]

Heh... my grandfather did this when he was at college, and called it "revolving stew". I'd do it... but I'd get tired of eating soup. My dh probably wouldn't care... the man could eat the same 3 meals 3 times a day for the rest of time, I think. :

[steph117]

I'd love to hear how it turns out!!

[Junegoddess]

I'd love to hear updates... matter of fact... "Perpetual Soup" sounds like a fabulous name for a blog.

You could give daily/weekly updates on what went in, whether it tasted good, whether the family is getting sick of soup... I'm a total food geek, I'd dig it.

I would try, but, I already have a hard time cooking just what what we'll eat or managing the leftovers. My kids won't eat soup at ALL, and dh would probably only put up with it 3-4 times a week. It wouldn't take long before I'd have a very full pot. I think I could only add to it every other day at the most. It's hard to make a teensy bit of soup.

I wonder what veggies could put up with the reheating well? Over time the unlucky ones that were left behind from Day 1 would be mushy....

I'm intrigued, though!

[momma4fun]

Cool! I've thought about this quite a bit before!

We do this, but not forever. I think the most perpetual soup we had going was for 3 weeks.

I would like to start doing it on our woodstove.

Thanks for the links!

[spughy]

OMG I LOVE that book! It's one of my absolute super-favourite books of all time - I bought it about 10 years ago and it's the only book I've ever actively campaigned to get back from a loan . I'd forgotten the perpetual soup! That's such a great idea. Mmm soup...

[phroggies]

Junegoddess, the theory in Passionate Vegetarian is that as the older veggies break down they just add to the thickness of the soup. I could see that working in both good and bad ways; we'll see.

I know I'll have a terrible time keeping up with this if I don't start now, so here's what I've done so far:

Starter Soup (2/2/08; I had this soup on the stove already before I decided to try this):

Chicken broth
Cubed chicken
LOTS of garlic, roughly chopped
A small amount of finely diced rutabaga and carrot
A few leaves of kale, shredded
A good amount of chopped celery
A bunch of thyme, tied together with a string
Some diced canned tomatoes

Added 2/3/08: some leftover sausage, chopped carrots, and more of the rutabaga mixture. Verdict: less garlicky than yesterday's but pretty good. DH went back for thirds. I fear he will burn himself out.

Tonight I added a diced venison tenderloin medallion left over from dinner. Just 'cause.

I'll try to keep folks posted on my progress. I do have to say this will be an incredibly thrifty option if it works out! Momma4fun, I envy your wood stove. That would be such a perfect way.

[weliveintheforest]

any update?

[deditus]

Cool! I was recently watching Bizzare Food on Travel Channel. The episode was in China, and they showed some perpetual stew, I don't remember how old because I was half asleep, 80 years maybe. I will be interested to see how your experiment goes.

[Feb2003]

So...how did it go???

The food geek in me is so curious!!

[blastomom]

Maybe we could do a "CSA Soup"??? All the stuff we don't get around to eating right away every week could go into the pot