Beer Soup

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Sciesis2 Guru Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Vancouver (not BC) Washington (not DC) US of A Posts: 1261 Good Answers: 12	Beer Soup 08/14/2015 5:28 PM
	In playing trivial pursuit, I came across the question "What did the British drink at breakfast before tea became popular?" The answer was "Beer soup". So I ask our Brit friends "What in the world is beer soup, and how is it made?
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#4 "Re: Beer Soup" by jhhassociates on 08/16/2015 4:04 AM (score 3)

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#2 "Re: Beer Soup" by Rixter on 08/14/2015 6:16 PM (score 1)

lyn Guru Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 42355 Good Answers: 1693	#1 Re: Beer Soup 08/14/2015 6:05 PM
	I'm not a Brit. But I have beer soup regularly on the weekends. I just leave out the wheat flour, butter and all that mixing and cooking and take the beer straight. Never did like warm beer.
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Kulas Power-User Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 418 Good Answers: 3	#3 In reply to #1 Re: Beer Soup 08/14/2015 10:36 PM
	nice one __________________ "When I thought I exceeded to be wise but wisdom was far from me" -King Solomon
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Re: Beer Soup

08/14/2015 6:16 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_soup

Type	Soup
Main ingredients	Roux, beer, cheese
Variations	Use of potato as an ingredient and thickener

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jhhassociates Guru Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: North West England Posts: 1170 Good Answers: 153	#4 Re: Beer Soup 08/16/2015 4:04 AM
	Just because it is an answer in Trivial Pursuit does not mean it is a correct answer! What they are calling "beer soup" was actually "small beer" which should not be confused with modern light ale. It resembled a sort of half brewed Budweiser, but sweeter and with much less alcohol. Since the Middle Ages it has been brewed by each individual "ale house" and a brush (bundle of twigs tied together) mounted over the door was a sign that ale was sold on the premises. This is the origin of modern British pub signs. Much of the water supply was contaminated with sewerage, and cholera was rife, so small beer made by boiling a mix of water, barley or oats and hops, then left to ferment for 3-5 days, was a safer alternative to drinking water. Each brewer had their own recipe which was jealously guarded, especially if their brew attracted more customers than their rivals. Unlike modern beers most town made small beer was unfiltered and the residual barley and hops made it "soup like" in texture and appearance which is obviously the reason for the error by Trivial Pursuit's question setters. Most small beer produced in the countryside was filtered through a cloth bag, with the solids (mash) being used to feed pigs and chickens.
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Andy Germany Guru Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 50.390866N, 8.884827E Posts: 17996 Good Answers: 200	#5 Re: Beer Soup 08/16/2015 4:06 AM
	Thinking about my countrymen, I would be MOST surprised if they cooked something with beer.... Those recipes (I did look) reek of modernity to me. But probably taste great as well. I suspect that years before Tea was affordable or even available, the folks simply drank beer and Porter for breakfast (Porter is a dark Beer).....as water was suspect in many towns and the alcohol tended to sterilize the liquids..... Over the years I have known several alcoholics that STILL drink it for breakfast, ~~elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea, Dinner and if they get thirsty, the whole evening too.......~~ __________________ "What others say about you reveals more about them, than it does you." Anon.
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CaptMoosie Guru Join Date: May 2009 Location: Red Hook, New York (Mid-Hudson River Valley) Posts: 4362 Good Answers: 179	#6 In reply to #5 Re: Beer Soup 08/16/2015 9:18 AM
	I usually cook "Welsh Rarebit" with Bitters. Yummmmm!!!!!! __________________ "Veni, Vidi, Vici"; hendiatris attributed to Gaius Julius Caesar, 47 B.C.
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uli_newBuilder Commentator Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 87 Good Answers: 5	#7 In reply to #5 Re: Beer Soup 08/16/2015 2:34 PM
	Hello Any, in our country it was in the 14 to 16 century & before the invention of refrigeration a requirement to brew beer. This was the only way to preserve food calories over winter time when there were no sources of fresh food. There were cities where nearly every house had the right to brew. And the cooking of beer soup was so common that in Zeitz (see http://unterirdisches-zeitz.de/ber.html) the domestic servants complained that they got beer soup more than 3 times a week. Naturally the cooking reduced the alcohol content - so also the little babies were feed with it. Here in Bavaria Beer soup is still served in country stile restaurants an I my self use it for the cure of a "soure throat" and when I have caught a cold. Fry " large fine cut onions in a pan with butter, add a 1 or 2 fine cut "Brezel" (the brown ones from Oktoberfest - preferred when a bit dry) and roast them together with the onions for a short time, add 1/2 ltr. soup fond (beef or chicken - can be purchased in the gourmet div. of the supermarket - and let that simmer for 10min. Stir from time to time. Add 1/2 ltr. of dark bock beer. There are two ways for that procedure: 1) let the soup cool down to 65 dec.C and add the beer directly from the fridge and have your soup fast afterwards. (Eating temperature + alcohol!) Or 2) take the beer warm as purchased and cook it - hot meal, but no alcohol. Or when I have a serious cold 1 prefer method 3: Start with method 1 - when finished add a good measure of whiskey or brandy - go to bead and cure "the result"!
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Chankley Power-User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: South coast of England Posts: 411 Good Answers: 36	#8 Re: Beer Soup 08/17/2015 4:08 AM
	When my school was founded in the 14th century, it had its own brewery on the campus and each boy had a ration of two pints a day, two for breakfast. As others have said, this was because the water was unsafe and the alcohol content very low. I don't know when they stopped serving beer. For some reason petitions to reinstate the custom were rejected.
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rashavarek Guru Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Madison, WI. Posts: 2074 Good Answers: 77	#9 In reply to #8 Re: Beer Soup 08/17/2015 10:46 AM
	Perhaps this is why it USED to be referred to as "Jolly old England"? __________________ Knowing is the end result of learning, not believing.
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