Tasting History with Max Miller
Published Mar 5, 2024

A complete Ellis Island meal: Tapioca Pudding, coffee, Beef and Barley Soup, and white bread.

City/Region: United States of America
Time Period: 1887

The food on Ellis Island could be pretty good or pretty terrible depending on when you were there. The quality went up and down a lot, but the food was always free to those who were staying on the island. A menu for the midday meal on Tuesday, January 20, 1920 lists English Beef Soup with Barley, Lamb Stew with Vegetables, Bread and butter substitute, Tapioca Pudding, Coffee. This recipe doesn’t use a lot of meat, but the marrow melts into the broth and there are plenty of vegetables and flavor, making for a hearty soup.

Beef Soup

Select a small shin of beef of moderate size, crack the bone in small pieces, wash and place it in a kettle to boil, with five or six quarts of cold water. Let it boil about two hours, or until it begins to get tender, then season it with tablespoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of pepper; boil it one hour longer, then add to it one carrot, two turnips, two tablespoonfuls of rice or pearl barley, one head of celery and a teaspoonful of summer savory powdered fine; the vegetables to be minced up in small pieces like dice. After these ingredients have boiled a quarter of an hour, put in two potatoes cut up in small pieces; let it boil half an hour longer, take the meat from the soup, and if intended to be served with it, take out the bones and lay it closely and neatly on a dish, and garnish with sprigs of parsley.

Serve made mustard and catsup with it. It is very nice pressed and eaten cold with mustard and vinegar, or catsup. Four hours are required for making this soup. Should any remain over the first day, it may be heated, with the addition of a little boiling water, and served again. Some fancy a glass of brown sherry added just before being served. Serve very hot.

— The White House Cook Book, 1887.

Ingredients:
Beef shank, enough to get 1 lb (1/2 kg) meat
6 quarts (5 1/2 L) water
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 carrot
2 turnips
1 head of celery
2 tablespoons pearl barley
1 teaspoon powdered summer savory
1 lb (1/2 kg) potatoes, I used yellow potatoes

Instructions:

1. Cut the meat off of the bones, then cut the meat into about 1-inch pieces.
2. Add the meat and the bones to the 6 quarts of water in a large pot. Bring it to a boil. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Put the lid on, reduce the heat to a gentle boil, and let it cook for 2 hours.
3. After 2 hours, stir in the salt and pepper. Put the lid back on and cook it for another hour.
4. Meanwhile, peel the carrot and turnips and chop them and the celery into small pieces.
5. Add the chopped carrot, turnips, and celery to the pot along with the pearl barley and summer savory. Boil for 15 minutes while you chop the potatoes, then add them to the pot. Simmer for 30 minutes without the lid.
6. After the soup has simmered, remove the bones. Dish it into bowls and serve it forth with Tapioca Pudding for an Ellis Island meal.

Tapioca Pudding
Scarcity of food was one of the main reasons that Europeans immigrated to America, and there was always a free meal to be had on their first stop on Ellis Island. This pudding is a lot firmer than modern versions, and isn’t as sweet. There’s no sugar in the pudding itself, and I highly recommend that you serve it with the brown sugar and cream as suggested in the historical recipe.

Cold Tapioca Pudding

Soak a cupful of tapioca over night in a quart of cold water. In the morning drain off all the water. Put the tapioca and a quart and a half a pint of milk in the double boiler. After cooking forty-five minutes, add a teaspoonful of salt. Stir well, and cook fifteen minutes longer. Wet a mould or bowl in cold water. Turn the pudding into this, and set away to cool. Serve with sugar and cream. This pudding is also nice hot.

— Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book by Maria Parloa, 1880.

Ingredients:
1 cup (130 g) tapioca pearls
1 quart (1 L) cold water
5 cups (1.2 L) whole milk
1 teaspoon salt
Brown sugar, for serving
Cream, for serving

Instructions:

1. Combine the tapioca pearls and the cold water in a large bowl. Let it soak overnight, or at least 6 hours.
2. The next morning, drain off the water. Set up a double boiler and pour the milk into the top pot. Add the drained tapioca pearls to the milk. Bring a couple of inches of water to a boil in the bottom pot. Set the pot with the milk and tapioca pearls on top and let it cook for about 45 minutes.
3. After 45 minutes, stir in the salt. The pudding should have started to get thick by now. Cook it for another 15 minutes, then immediately take it off the heat and pour it into a bowl or other mold. Let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.
4. Once the pudding has set up, scoop it into a dish and serve it forth with Beef and Barley Soup for an Ellis Island meal.