A plain gray enamel bowl of thick, smooth pale yellow cornmeal soup with a few dice of turnip, one small cube of beef and a scatter of black pepper, on a worn gray stone flag. — A bowl of thick yellow cornmeal soup with diced turnip and a little beef.

Soyer’s Soup No. 2 (1857)

Name: Soyer's Soup No. 2
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Cuisine: Irish
Ingredients: 30 g beef dripping; 55 g boneless beef shin, cut into 2.5 cm cubes; 55 g turnip, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice; 570 ml cold water; 340 g fine yellow cornmeal; 4 l hot water; 4 tsp salt; 1 tsp soft brown sugar; ½ tsp ground black pepper; 1 clove garlic, crushed; ¼ tsp ground celery seed; ⅛ tsp dried mint

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Soyer’s Soup No. 2, his second receipt for the needy, printed in 1857: maize flour boiled two hours with a little beef and diced turnip, seasoned with garlic, mint and celery.

By The Forgotten MenuPublished Oct 28, 2026

Recipe makes: About 4.5 liters of soup, 8 bowls
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 2 hr 30 min
Total: 2 hr 45 min

About 10 minutes of frying, 15 minutes to bring the pot to the boil, 2 hours at a gentle boil with a stir every 10 minutes because the meal catches, then 5 minutes to season.

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A bowl of thick yellow cornmeal soup with diced turnip and a little beef.

The story behind the recipe

Half the cost of Soyer’s Soup No. 2 went on maize flour. His table prices the two gallons at sixpence, about £4 today by UK consumer prices (Bank of England), and threepence of it is the meal, against a penny for a quarter of a pound of beef. Alexis Soyer printed it in 1857 as the second of his “Receipts for the Needy,” and on the section’s opening page, just after dating some of its receipts to the famine year, he names it with No. 1. “In making the receipts Nos. 1 and 2 public,” he wrote, “I did not suppose that they would meet with the entire approbation of the nation.” The section was renumbered after 1847, so whether this is the No. 2 of the famine year rests on his word.

Two hours for the meal

Maize was the great relief food of those years, bought by the government in America and sold in Ireland from 1846, and Soyer thought people were cooking it far too briefly. How that meal reached Ireland, and why doctors said his soups held too little food, is told in What Did Soyer’s Dublin Soup Kitchen Serve in 1847?. His answer to half-cooked meal was time, and this receipt gives it two hours at the boil.

The flavor came from a bottle. Instead of onion, leek and celery, No. 2 is seasoned with “four drops of essences”: two of garlic, one of mint and one of celery, added at the end with the salt, sugar and pepper. The meat is a puzzle. The cost table lists the beef, cut in inch squares, but the method never says when it goes in.

Soyer built his next receipt on this one. No. 3 is the same soup with a pound of potatoes, written for families who could get a few once a week: Soyer’s Potato Soup No. 3 (1857).

Making it today

The amounts here are half of his. Fine yellow cornmeal stands in for his maize flour, and beef shin for his unnamed beef, which we fry with the turnip because his table includes it. His essences are hard to find now, so a little crushed garlic, ground celery seed and dried mint take their place. The salt is cut to a little over half of his.

No. 2.—For Two Gallons.
Quarter of a pound of beef, at 4d., cut into pieces of one inch square … 1
Two ounces of dripping, or melted suet … 0½
Quarter of a pound of turnips or carrots, cut into dice half an inch square … 0¼
Four drops of essences … 0¼
One and a half pound of maize flour … 3
Three ounces of salt
Quarter ounce of brown sugar
One teaspoonful of black pepper, ground fine … 0¼
Fuel … 0¾
6
Take two ounces of either dripping, American lard, or suet, to which add the turnips or carrots; fry for ten minutes, add one quart of cold water and the meal, well mixing, and moisten by degrees with seven quarts of hot water; boil for two hours, and season with three ounces of salt, one quarter ounce of brown sugar, one teaspoonful of black pepper, two drops of essence of garlic, one drop of essence of mint, one drop of essence of celery; stir quickly, and serve directly.

Alexis SoyerSoyer’s Culinary Campaign (London: G. Routledge & Co.; New York: 18, Beekman Street, 1857), Receipts for the Needy, No. 2, For Two Gallons, p. 559

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Ingredients

For about 4.5 liters of soup, 8 bowls. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for about 4.5 liters of soup, 8 bowls.

Beef dripping30 g
Boneless beef shin, cut into 2.5 cm cubes55 g
Turnip, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice55 g
Cold water570 ml
Fine yellow cornmeal340 g
Hot water4 l
Salt4 tsp
Soft brown sugar1 tsp
Ground black pepper1/2 tsp
Garlic, crushed1 clove
Ground celery seed1/4 tsp
Dried mint1/8 tsp

Ingredients as written here

30 g beef dripping
55 g boneless beef shin, cut into 2.5 cm cubes
55 g turnip, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice
570 ml cold water
340 g fine yellow cornmeal
4 l hot water
4 tsp salt
1 tsp soft brown sugar
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
¼ tsp ground celery seed
⅛ tsp dried mint

Equipment

Heavy soup pot, at least 6 liters
Mixing bowl and whisk
Long-handled wooden spoon
Kettle
Ladle

Instructions

Melt the beef dripping in the soup pot over medium heat. Add the beef shin and turnip and fry for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beef is lightly browned.
Whisk the fine yellow cornmeal into the cold water in the bowl until there are no lumps, then stir it into the pot.
Pour in the hot water from the kettle a little at a time, stirring all the time so the meal stays smooth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, still stirring.
Turn the heat down until the soup bubbles gently, partly cover and cook for 2 hours. Every 10 minutes, stir right down to the bottom and into the corners with the wooden spoon, keeping your hand back, because hot cornmeal spits. If it grows thicker than a thin porridge, loosen it with a little more hot water.
Stir in the salt, soft brown sugar, ground black pepper, garlic, ground celery seed and dried mint, let it bubble for 2 minutes and serve hot. After two hours at the boil the soup is far past 145°F (63°C), the safe minimum for the beef.

Nutrition

210calories per serving

Recipe makes: About 4.5 liters of soup, 8 bowls
Servings: 8

Estimated per bowl (8) from USDA FoodData Central values for degermed yellow cornmeal, beef tallow, beef shank, turnip and brown sugar.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

Half of Soyer’s two-gallon receipt. Doubled, it is his full pot; a bigger pot of cornmeal needs stirring more often so it does not catch.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.

We halved Soyer’s two-gallon receipt, so his imperial quart of cold water and seven quarts of hot water come to about 570 ml and 4 liters. His table allows carrots for the turnips, and his method allows American lard or suet for the dripping. The other changes come from us: fine cornmeal for maize flour, beef shin, frying the beef with the turnip, a partly covered pot, garlic, celery seed and dried mint for his essences, and a little over half his salt. Divide leftovers into shallow containers and refrigerate within 2 hours, use within 3 to 4 days and reheat to 165°F (74°C), adding water, since the soup sets as it cools.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.