Cream of Celery Soup

Recipe No. 535 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Soups. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

Beef stock — 3¼ gallons (13 No. 56 dippers)

• Celery, finely diced — 12 pounds (12 No. 56 dippers)
• Milk, evaporated — 30 — 14½-ounce cans
• Onions, chopped — 12 ounces (¾ No. 56 dipper)
• Fat, melted — 1½ pounds (¾ No. 56 dipper)
• Flour, sifted — 1 pound (1 No. 56 dipper)
• Salt — 3 ounces (6 mess kit spoons)
• Pepper — (¼ mess kit spoon)

Directions

Key ingredients

Evaporated Milk

1. Prepare beef stock (recipe No. 519); add celery.
2. Cover and heat to boiling point; reduce heat and simmer about 35 minutes or until celery is tender. Add milk.
3. Fry onions in melted fat. Add flour, salt and pepper; stir until smooth.
4. Add onion mixture slowly to hot celery mixture; mix thoroughly. Heat to boiling point; reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes or until soup is slightly thick, stirring constantly.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Beef stock — 1 qt Celery, finely diced — 15⅓ oz Milk, evaporated — 2⅓ can(s) (14½ oz) Onions, chopped — 1 oz Fat, melted — 2 oz Flour, sifted — 1¼ oz Salt — about 1½ tsp Pepper — scale to taste ((¼ mess kit spoon))

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 535, Soups. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.