Ann Knox, on Making ‘Hot Apple Soup (Apfelsuppe)’

1lb sour or cooking apples
2 tablespoons sugar
1 lemon
1 cup sultanas
1 cup currants
1 or 2 tablespoons cornflour
1 tablespoon butter
1 teacup white wine

Cut up the apples, skin, core, and all, into small pieces and put them into a big saucepan. Grate the lemon rind over them. Cook them slowly until the apples are soft. Then press them through
a sieve into a bowl and return them to the saucepan. Add 4 pints water, the sugar, currants, and sultanas. Simmer gently for 30 minutes. Now melt the butter in a small thick saucepan. Slowly stir the cornflour into it and then add this mixture to the soup gradually, stirring all the time. Simmer for another 10 minutes and then serve.

In Austria, larger quantities of sugar and butter are generally used. Try experimenting with more of each and see if you like it the richer way.

© Ann Knox, Austrian Cooking (1955)

I stumbled across Ann Knox’s Austrian Cooking on either Google Books or Archive.org and, knowing someone of Austrian descent who might appreciate it, decided to download a copy to send to them¹Not realising until I opened the file that the book was published as recently as 1955, so could very well still be in copyright, but I reckon one extract for non-commercial purposes ought to count as ‘fair use’…. And of course, I had to check out any fruit-related recipes first.

The one above, for ‘hot apple soup’ immediately caught my eye, if only because apples aren’t something I’ve ever associated with soup. It does sound very simple indeed to make: chop, cook and sieve the apples, then add the water and fruit, simmer, then thicken with butter and cornflour. And I expect you could add a few spices – maybe even some chilli – as well, if you wanted to perk it up a bit.

Interestingly, no mention is made in the method of when to add the teacup of white wine that’s listed in the ingredients… perhaps that’s a small bonus for the cook instead?

Austrian Cooking by Ann Knox is currently out of print (although quite likely still in copyright) but second hand copies are available.

As always, if you feel inspired to make this dish, please do let me know how you get on. You can leave a comment below, or send me an email with your notes and photos.

Footnotes

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  Not realising until I opened the file that the book was published as recently as 1955, so could very well still be in copyright, but I reckon one extract for non-commercial purposes ought to count as ‘fair use’…