Pork soup

The end of November was cold and we thought it appropriate to have another go at pork soup, the active ingredient of which is a piece of pork tenderloin, presently available from Sainsbury's of Kiln Lane. A good and useful cut which is still very moderately priced, unlike, for example, neck of lamb. With the last recorded occasion being back in April, as noticed at reference 1. Snapped above towards the end of its cooking.

Started at 11:00 with just over 6oz of pearl barley in three and a half pints of water. After about an hour, I added a bit more water.

At 12:25 added maybe 350g of pork, coarsely chopped. Maybe three quarters of a tenderloin. Onion and celery at 12:45. White cabbage at 12:55. Elderly mushrooms just before the off.

No room at the inn for left over mashed potato (whites, good) and left over cabbage (wrong sort, that is to say not white).

We did a little over half at the first sitting.

More than enough left to be gingered up for lunch the following day - a gingering up which went some way towards mitigating the overnight decline, with even the finest pork soup not standing that well. Best fresh.

The stump of tenderloin was chopped and cooked separately, probably simmering it for half an hour or so before adding it and its cooking water in. Added in the left over mash and cabbage. Added in some more fresh white cabbage. Ending up by looking very much the same as the day before. Different taste and texture though.

Supplemented on this second occasion by apple pie.

Served with hot, yellow custard. Made from a tin rather than poured from a carton.

PS: to think that in years gone by the left over vegetables would have been turned into bubble & squeak, that is to say fried up with a dollop of something fatty from the fat bowl. A bowl which ran for months and months without being cleaned out, just topped up with dripping from roasts and fat from frying. A bit of old-fashioned recycling, before it became as fashionable as it has become since. With the colours of the contents of the bowl sometimes being interesting.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/04/pork-soup.html.