With the lingering wintry tinge in Vegas the past few weeks, I got me a real strong jones on for a bowl of soup. No, not just any warm concoction, but something rather specific from my past. I craved canned Campbell's Scotch broth. I loved this salty, muttonish barley brew as a kid. For some reason, cubes of carrot and pearls of grain called to me with a tasty lamb's bleat ...
I headed to normal grocery stores, over a half-dozen at least. Along the red and white walls of Campbell's soup can stacks and gravity-powered cylinder servers, not a container of Scotch broth was to be found. Where was my lamb soup from days of yore to be found?
I looked online for Scotch broth -- eBay proffered some Warhol prints. Not edible.
I decided to leverage my immense media powers. I called a Campbell's Soup company media relations phone number. No response. I might not have properly enunciated "I'm trying to find out where I can find Scotch broth and why it's not in stores." For the PR intern who screened my recorded message, I understand your scrutiny and rejection.
I then emailed a consumer-level missive to Campbell's via an online form. The next day I received this advice:
Mr Greg Thilmont, we received your message and appreciate your taking the
time to contact Campbell Soup Company to inquire about our Campbell's
Condensed Scotch Broth Soup.
We regret that you had difficulty locating this product. Since the
product cannot be found on the shelves of your local store, we suggest
that you give your store manager this product's UPC code and ask him/her
to stock the product. This product's UPC code is 0051000012876.
We hope this information is helpful to you. We appreciate customer
inquiries like yours because they help us become aware of consumer
preferences and concerns.
Thank you for visiting the Campbell Soup website.
Campbell Soup Web Team
jlh
Damn, what was I thinking? I write about food, I like to cook, I document my edible travails. Why order this stuff from a store?
So I made some homemade Scotch broth. I sliced some leeks and diced some carrots and celery. I boiled some barley grains separately. I placed some lamb shoulder cuts into a crock pot over the sauteed veggies.
I let it slow-cook away.
Two hours into the heating I must admit I ladled out the broth, put it into the freezer, and later scraped centimeters of coagulated lamb fat off the surface. I underestimated the tallow factor in my cuts.
I returned the lower lipid-level broth to the crock, added the plumped grains, and cooked it all up.
Was it like the craved can? No, I must admit it was thinner and less salty, less cubical and more rustic in its constituents. It was certainly fresh and crunchy for a soup.
But regardless of the health factor of my new version of Scotch broth, the taste of the canned version still resides in some vestigial neurons of my brain.
(This glog pot was stirred to the Scottish sounds of the Jesus and Mary Chain and Teenage Fanclub.)