With the December wintry days comes the desire for comfort foods to warm the body all the way to the bone. It is not unusual to find stew, chilli, gumbo and soup on the daily menu. Up for celebration is a special soup with quite a bit of history behind its creation according to legend.

Taste of History & The Original Philiadelphia Pepper Pop Soup

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December 29 is...

Pepper Pot Day

Pepperpot Recipe with Lamb

A Bit of 'Pepper Pot' History According to Legend...

In the midst of war, there was always the existence of a battle for food: “Philadelphia Pepper Pot soup” is a thick spicy soup first created on December 29, 1777. During the Revolutionary War, an exceptionally harsh, miserable winter was experience by the rag-tag Continental Army band of some 10,000 troops in Valley Forge. Officially, the basic ration per man per day was a pound of bread, a pound of meat or fish, a quart of beer, and a pint of milk. In reality the army often went days without bread, or meat, or both. The absence of meat almost led to mutiny for the quite literally, half-naked, diseased and starving troops, along with the accompanying women and children.

General Washington instruction his chief cook, Christopher Ludwick, to gather whatever food he could find to feed the frail soldiers. In Washington's own words as the story goes , make a soup “that will warm and strengthen the body of a soldier and inspire his flagging spirit.” The chef was able to find scraps of beef tripe, vegetables, and a lot of pepper. He mixed the ingredients together with some other seasonings and created the hot spicy soup we now know as pepper pot. It became known as "the soup that won the war."

Compare the Philadelphia Pepper Pot to one labeled 'Authentic' Pepper Pot...

Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup.
Sliced onion, 1/4 cup each 1/2 lb. honeycomb tripe, cut in cubes, chopped celery, chopped green peppers, 11/2 cups potato cubes, 4 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns, finely pounded, 31/2 tablespoons flour, 5 cups hot White Stock, 3/4 tablespoon salt, 1/2 cup heavy cream.
Cook vegetables in three tablespoons butter fifteen minutes; add flour, and stir until well mixed; then add remaining ingredients except cream. Cover, and let cook one hour. Just before serving, add cream and remaining butter.