Ok, this has nothing to do with jeeps, but the recipe was unusual enough that I thought I’d write about it …..

One of the first things I do when I move to a new place (and I’ve moved a lot) is that I get myself a library card.  I love to read and pretty much exclusively checkout non-fiction books.  I try to read about 5 a month or 60 a year, which I suppose makes me a book worm compared with the national average of 4 books a year.  However, my reading pales in comparison to someone like Teddy Roosevelt (I highly recommend this book about TR), who even as president would read several books a day in multiple languages, reading 10s of thousands of books during his lifetime. Even more amazing, with his photographic memory, apparently he had an astounding ability to recall details of what he read even years later.

So, last night before going to sleep  I was reading a book called The World of Caffeine, a history of caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate).  As I read through the book, I came across this recipe for something I had never heard of before, Beer Soup, a popular breakfast dish up through the 18th century.  As a former chef, an interesting recipe always catches my eye.  This recipe was unusual enough, some might say gross enough,  that I thought I’d share this treat(?).

BEER SOUP RECIPE from rural Germany in the 18th century:

“Heat the beer in a saucepan; in a separate small pot beat a couple of eggs.  Add a chunk of butter to the hot beer.  Stir in some cold beer to cool it, then pour over the eggs.  Add a bit of salt, and finally mix all the ingredients together, whisking it well to keep it from curdling.  Finally, cut up a roll, white bread, or other good bread, and pour the soup over it.  You may also sweeten to taste with sugar.”

Now you know ….

From the World of Caffeine, Page 97-98.  The book itself is a highly detailed book, though I think it could be written differently to make it a little more approachable.  The author bounces between Chocolate, Coffee and Tea as he moves forward in time, which makes it a bit disjointed for my tastes.

Previous to this book, I read a history of chocolate called Bitter Chocolate, that presents a clearer history of chocolate along with following the ever present slavery that’s been associated with chocolate for several centuries, and which still exists within the Ivory Coast today.