Recipes

Minestrone Soup (TM 10-412)

Recipe No. 528 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.

Army TM10-412 · Soup

Serves 6¼ gallons 100 servings, approximately one cup each.
View source — TM 10-412 Army Recipes (War Department, 1944) ↗

Recipe No. 528 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

  • Beans, navy, dry — 1¼ pounds
  • Water — 5 quarts (5 No. 56 dippers)
  • Barley, noodles, rice or spaghetti — 1½ pounds
  • Garlic — 2 cloves

Salt — 2 ounces (4 mess kit spoons)

  • Stock, beef, chicken or ham — 3¼ gallons* (13 No. 56 dippers)
  • Onions, diced — 2½ pounds (2½ No. 56 dippers)
  • Potatoes, diced — 2½ pounds (2½ No. 56 dippers)
  • Celery strips — 2½ pounds (2½ No. 56 dippers)
  • Carrots, diced — 4 pounds (3⅓ No. 56 dippers)

Parsley, chopped — 2 ounces (¼ mess kit cup)

  • Cheese, chopped (optional) — 12 ounces (¾ No. 56 dipper)

Directions

  1. Wash beans. Add enough water to cover beans; soak 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
  2. Add remaining water. Cover and heat to boiling point; reduce heat and simmer 1 hour or until beans are tender.
  3. Add barley, noodles, rice or spaghetti, garlic and salt; mix thoroughly. Continue simmering 30 minutes.
  4. Prepare beef stock (recipe No. 519), chicken stock (recipe No. 521) or ham stock (recipe No. 520).
  5. Combine beans, stock, onions, potatoes, celery, carrots and parsley; mix well.
  6. Cover and heat to boiling point; reduce heat and simmer about 1 hour.
  7. Sprinkle chopped cheese over soup just before serving.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Beans, navy, dry — 1⅔ oz Water — 1⅔ cups Barley, noodles, rice or spaghetti — 2 oz Garlic — scale to taste (2 cloves) Salt — about 1 tsp Stock, beef, chicken or ham — 1 qt Onions, diced — 3¼ oz Potatoes, diced — 3¼ oz Celery strips — 3¼ oz Carrots, diced — 5 oz Parsley, chopped — about 1 tsp Cheese, chopped (optional) — 1 oz

More stock may be added if needed for volume. Left-over vegetables may be used instead of the fresh if care is taken to prevent overcooking. Use a quantity equal to the total amount of vegetables in recipe above. Peeled fresh tomatoes may also be used.

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 528, Soups. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.