Soak two quarts of dried or split peas over-night. In the morning take
three pounds of the lean of fresh beef, and a pound of bacon or pickled
pork. Cut them into pieces, and put them into a large soup-pot with the
peas, (which must first be well drained,) and a table-spoonful of dried
mint rubbed to powder. Add five quarts of water, and boil the soup
gently for three hours, skimming it well, and then put in four heads of
celery cut small, or two table-spoonfuls of pounded celery seed.
It must be boiled till the peas are entirely dissolved, so as to be
no longer distinguishable, and the celery quite soft. Then strain it
into a tureen, and serve it up with toasted bread cut in dice. Omit the
crust of the bread.
Stir it up immediately before it goes to table, as it is apt to settle,
and be thick at the bottom and thin at the top.