Mary Berry's vintage tomato soup recipe from her 1975 cookbook Beating the Cost of Cooking has surprised modern readers because it contains no actual tomatoes. Instead, the recipe relies on tomato juice as the base, and requires no cooking at all.
Recipe from the 1970s
The former Great British Bake Off judge, now 91, has been publishing recipes since the 1960s. In her 1975 book, she included a tomato soup recipe that notably omits fresh tomatoes. The recipe uses tomato juice, natural yoghurt, cucumber, lemon, and Worcester sauce, served chilled.
Introducing the recipe, Mary wrote: "A quick-to-make soup that doesn't need cooking. Use your own home-made yogurt if you prefer. It's very much a sophisticated taste (I found it unpopular with my younger children)."
Ingredients and Method
The recipe serves six and calls for 500ml of natural yoghurt, 500ml of tomato juice, the juice and grated rind of one lemon, half a cucumber cut into 5cm cubes, salt, ground black pepper, and Worcester sauce. The method is simple: whisk together the yoghurt and tomato juice, stir in the lemon juice, rind, and cucumber cubes. Season with salt, pepper, and Worcester sauce. Serve chilled, garnished with cucumber slices. The soup can be made up to 24 hours in advance and kept refrigerated.
Out-of-Print Book
The cookbook, which also features a sweetcorn scramble recipe, is now out of print. However, old copies can occasionally be found on AbeBooks and eBay. Mary has not revisited this particular recipe in any of her later cookbooks or television shows.
