"Miami Spice"

Do the words “peanut soup” make you think “Miami”? For many years, the words meant nothing to me. Then I married a man who went to college in Williamsburg, Virginia, and they meant Colonial-ish Thanksgiving appetizer—in the form of a broth-peanut butter-milk mixture, flavored with just a touch of celery and onion. Delicious, but it was pretty much just drinking peanut butter.

A few years later, Steven Raichlen’s Miami Spice came into my life. Subtitled “The New Florida Cuisine,” this 1993 cookbook was hardly where I expected to find a better peanut soup. But a small bowl of his version, amped up with scallions, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, and lime juice, came to define both Thanksgiving and Christmas lunch—and a bigger bowl defined lunch the day after, with my mother’s butterhorn rolls alongside.

Raichlen is better known now for his grilling and barbecue books and TV shows, but this remains my favorite of all he’s published. A self-described Yankee, Raichlen gained his Miami knowledge through a 10-year long-distance relationship with the woman who became his wife.

Rereading Miami Spice in 2024 provides great reminders of how much broader many Americans’ knowledge of “exotic” food has changed in the past few decades. In his drinks recipes, for example, Raichlen highlights the mojito as the “the most famous Cuban cocktail, although it’s ignored by most Anglos and virtually unknown in the States outside of Miami.” His sangria includes starfruit, mango, and atemoya “or other exotic fruit,” plus cinnamon for a flavor-packed drink. I remember falling in love with the beauty of starfruit slices, despite the relative tastelessness of the grocery-store version—tasting fresh-off-the-tree fruit in Costa Rica years later was a revelation.

Another cocktail recipe, of coconut water, rum, and lime juice, explains how to get the coconut water out of the coconut—no buying a box of it back then from your local Trader Joe’s. And the spinach, blood orange, corn, and macadamia nut salad recipe mentions Cara Cara oranges, developed by Florida growers—something else I couldn’t find until years later (at Trader Joe’s, to boot).

Even with our expanded knowledge and tastes, most of these recipes stand the test of time. From a black bean salsa to currant ketchup to Haitian spiced pork to spiced ice cream, Raichlen pulls together flavors that still taste current, giving some due to the cuisines they come from. (In the case of peanut soup, while it’s famously served at King’s Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg, and seemingly based on African groundnut stews brought to the U.S. by enslaved people, it didn’t become a thing til well into the 1800s.)

This is a book that, every year when I pull it out a few days before Thanksgiving to prep a double (or triple!) batch of peanut soup, I wonder where it’s been all year, and vow to come back to it right after Christmas. The flood of other books and newspaper recipes often tugs me away in the new year—my annual loss.

Peanut Soup

Adapted from Miami Spice

My notes:

This is Raichlen’s ingredient list, but I’ve left out his fried leek topping, and revised some of the directions to reflect what I do. I’ve never made the leeks, and never felt we were missing anything, since the recipe was already so much more complex than what we had been eating. If you want some quick extra crunch and flavor on top, try store-bought fried shallots or onions. Or make the fried leeks: Just slice a couple of well-washed and dried leeks into toothpick-thin slivers and fry in an inch or two of 350-degree oil for a minute; drain on paper towels and sprinkle lightly with salt.

In the soup, I always use the full amount of lime juice, and usually skip the fresh chili, adding a few pinches of red pepper flakes instead. I like it even more when made and chilled a day or two ahead, to further blend the flavors.

Serves 6 to 8

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

4 scallions, trimmed and finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 to 3 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

½ scotch bonnet or 1 jalapeño chili, seeded and minced

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

About 3 cups chicken stock

3 cups milk

2 cups chunky peanut butter

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, scallions, garlic, ginger, and chili, and cook until soft and lightly golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

Whisk in the chicken stock and bring to a boil, then whisk in milk, peanut butter, parsley (if you prefer, hold back a bit of parsley for garnishing the soup), a tablespoon of lime juice, and about a half-teaspoon of pepper. Whisking often, gently simmer the soup, uncovered, for 10 minutes, until creamy and well-flavored. Taste it for seasoning, and add a touch of salt if needed, more pepper, and/or more lime juice. If the soup is too thick, add a little more stock or water.