Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie Published: 1840

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SOUPS.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Always use soft water for making soup, and be careful to
proportion the quantity of water to that of the meat. Somewhat
less than a quart of water to a pound of meat, is a good rule for
common soups. Rich soups, intended for company, may have a still
smaller allowance of water.

Soup should always be made entirely of fresh meat that has not
been previously cooked. An exception to this rule may sometimes be
made in favour of the remains of a piece of roast beef that has
been very much under-done in roasting. This may be
added to a good piece of raw meat. Cold ham, also, may be
occasionally put into white soups.

Soup made of cold meat has always a vapid, disagreeable taste,
very perceptible through all the seasoning, and which nothing
indeed can disguise. Also, it will be of a bad, dingy colour. The
juices of the meat having been exhausted by the first cooking, the
undue proportion of watery liquid renders it, for soup,
indigestible and unwholesome, as well as unpalatable. As there is
little or no nutriment to be derived from soup made with cold
meat, it is better to refrain from using it for this purpose, and
to devote the leavings of the table to some other object. No
person accustomed to really good soup, made from fresh meat, can
ever be deceived in the taste, even when flavoured with wine and
spices. It is not true that French cooks have the art of producing
excellent soups from cold scraps. There is much bad
soup to be found in France, at inferior houses; but good
French cooks are not, as is generally supposed, really in the
practice of concocting any dishes out of the refuse of the table.
And we repeat, that cold meat, even when perfectly good, and used
in a large quantity, has not sufficient substance to flavour soup,
or to render it wholesome.

Soup, however, that has been originally made of raw meat entirely,
is frequently better the second day than the first; provided that
it is re-boiled only for a very short time, and that no additional
water is added to it.

Unless it has been allowed to boil too hard, so as to exhaust the
water, the soup-pot will not require replenishing. When it is
found absolutely necessary to do so, the additional water must be
boiling hot when poured in; if lukewarm or cold, it will entirely
spoil the soup.

Every particle of fat should be carefully skimmed from the
surface. Greasy soup is disgusting and unwholesome. The lean of
meat is much better for soup than the fat.

Long and slow boiling is necessary to extract the strength from
the meat. If boiled fast over a large fire, the meat becomes hard
and tough, and will not give out its juices.

Potatoes, if boiled in the soup, are thought by some to render it
unwholesome, from the opinion that the water in which potatoes
have been cooked is almost a poison. As potatoes are a part of
every dinner, it is very easy to take a few out of the pot in
which they have been boiled by themselves, and to cut them up and
add them to the soup just before it goes to table.

The cook should season the soup but very slightly with salt and
pepper. If she puts in too much, it may spoil it for the taste of
most of those that are to eat it; but if too little, it is easy to
add more to your own plate.

The practice of thickening soup by stirring flour into it is not a
good one, as it spoils both the appearance and the taste. If made
with a sufficient quantity of good fresh meat, and not too much
water, and if boiled long and slowly, it will have substance
enough without flour.


FAMILY SOUP.

Take a shin or leg of beef that has been newly killed; the fore
leg is best, as there is the most meat on it. Have it cut into
three pieces, and wash it well. To each pound allow somewhat less
than a quart of water; for instance, to ten pounds of leg of beef,
nine quarts of water is a good proportion. Put it into a large
pot, and add half a table-spoonful of salt. Hang it over a good
fire, as early as six o'clock in the morning, if you dine at two.
When it has come to a hard boil, and the scum has risen, (which it
will do as soon as it has boiled,) skim it well. Do not remove the
lid more frequently than is absolutely necessary, as uncovering
the pot causes the flavour to evaporate. Then set it on hot coals
in the corner, and keep it simmering steadily, adding fresh coals
so as to continue a regular heat.

About nine o'clock, put in four carrots, one parsnip, and a large
onion cut into slices, and four small turnips, and eight tomatas,
also cut up; add a head of celery cut small. Put in a very small
head of cabbage, cut into little pieces. If you have any objection
to cabbage, substitute a larger proportion of the other
vegetables. Put in also a bunch of sweet marjoram, tied up in a
thin muslin rag to prevent its floating on the top.

Let the soup simmer unceasingly till two o'clock, skimming it
well: then take it up, and put it into a tureen. If your dinner
hour is later, you may of course begin the soup later; but it will
require at least eight hours' cooking; remembering to put in the
vegetables three hours after the meat.

If you wish to send the meat to table, take the best part of it
out of the soup, about two hours before dinner. Have ready another
pot with a dozen tomatas and a few cloves. Moisten them with a
little of the soup, just sufficient to keep them from burning.
When the tomatas have stewed down soft, put the meat upon them,
and let it brown till dinner time over a few coals, keeping the
pot closely covered; then send it to table on a dish by itself.
Let the remainder of the meat be left in the large pot till you
send up the soup, as by that time it will be boiled to rags and
have transferred all its flavour to the liquid.

This soup will be greatly improved by the addition of a few dozen
ochras cut into very thin slices, and put in with the other
vegetables. You may put Lima beans into it, green peas, or indeed
any vegetables you like: or you may thicken it with ochras and
tomatas only.

Next day, take what is left of the soup, put it into a pot, and
simmer it over hot coals for half an hour: a longer time will
weaken the taste. If it has been well made and kept in a cool
place, it will be found better the second day than the first.

If your family is very small, and the leg of beef large, and the
season winter, it may furnish soup for four successive days. Cut
the beef in half; make soup of the first half, in the manner above
directed, and have the remainder warmed next day; then on the
third day make fresh soup of the second half.

We have been minute in these directions; for if strictly followed,
the soup, though plain, will be found excellent.

If you do not intend to serve up the meat separately, break to
pieces all the bones with a mallet or kitchen cleaver. This, by
causing them to give out their marrow, &c., will greatly enrich
the liquid. Do this, of course, when you first begin the soup.


FINE BEEF SOUP.

Begin this soup the day before it is wanted. Take a good piece of
fresh beef that has been newly killed: any substantial part will
do that has not too much fat about it: a fore leg is very good for
this purpose. Wash it well. Cut off all the meat, and break up the
bones. Put the meat and the bones into a large pot, very early in
the day, so as to allow eight or nine hours for its boiling.
Proportion the water to the quantity of meat--about a pint and a
half to each pound. Sprinkle the meat with a small quantity of
pepper and salt. Pour on the water, hang it over a moderate fire,
and boil it slowly; carefully skimming off all the fat that rises
to the top, and keeping it closely covered, except when you raise
the lid to skim it. Do not, on any account, put in additional
water to this soup while it is boiling; and take care that the
boiling goes steadily on, as, if it stops, the soup will be much
injured. But if the fire is too great, and the soup boils too
fast, the meat will become hard and tough, and will not give out
its juices.

After the meat is reduced to rags, and the soup sufficiently
boiled, remove the pot from the fire, and let it stand in the
corner for a quarter of an hour to settle. Then take it up, strain
it into a large earthen pan, cover it, and set it away in a cool
dry place till next day. Straining it makes it clear and bright,
and frees it from the shreds of meat and bone. If you find that it
jellies in the pan, (which it will if properly made,) do not
disturb it till you are ready to put it into the pot for the
second boiling, as breaking the jelly may prevent it from keeping
well.

On the following morning, boil separately, carrots, turnips,
onions, celery, and whatever other vegetables you intend to
thicken the soup with. Tomatas will greatly improve it. Prepare
them by taking off the skin, cutting them into small pieces, and
stewing them in their own juice till they are entirely dissolved.
Put on the carrots before any of the other vegetables, as they
require the longest time to boil. Or you may slice and put into
the soup a portion of the vegetables you are boiling for dinner;
but they must be nearly done before you put them in, as the second
boiling of the soup should not exceed half an hour, or indeed,
just sufficient time to heat it thoroughly.

Scrape off carefully from the cake of jellied soup whatever fat or
sediment may still be remaining on it; divide the jelly into
pieces, and about half an hour before it is to go to table, put it
into a pot, add the various vegetables, (having first sliced
them,) in sufficient quantities to make the soup very thick; hang
it over the fire and let it boil slowly, or simmer steadily till
dinner time. Boiling it much on the second day will destroy the
flavour, and render it flat and insipid. For this reason, in
making fine, clear beef soup, the vegetables are to be cooked
separately. They need not be put in the first day, as the soup is
to be strained; and on the second day, if put in raw, the length
of time required to cook them would spoil the soup by doing it too
much. We repeat, that when soup has been sufficiently boiled on
the first day, and all the juices and flavour of the meat
thoroughly extracted, half an hour is the utmost it requires on
the second.

Carefully avoid seasoning it too highly. Soup, otherwise
excellent, is frequently spoiled by too much pepper and salt.
These condiments can be added at table, according to the taste of
those that are eating it; but if too large a proportion of them is
put in by the cook, there is then no remedy, and the soup may by
some be found uneatable.

Many persons prefer boiling all the vegetables in the soup on the
first day, thinking that they improve its flavour. This may be
done in common soup that is not to be strained, but is
inadmissible if you wish it to be very bright and clear. Also,
unless you have a garden and a profusion of vegetables of your
own, it is somewhat extravagant, as when strained out they are of
no further use, and are therefore wasted.


MUTTON SOUP.

Cut off the shoulder part of a fore quarter of mutton, and having
cut all the meat from the bone, put it into a soup pot with two
quarts of water. As soon as it boils, skim it well, and then
slacken the fire and simmer the meat for an hour and a half. Then
take the remainder of the mutton, and put it whole into the soup-pot
with sufficient boiling water to cover it well, and salt it to
your taste. Skim it the moment the fresh piece of meat begins to
boil, and about every quarter of an hour afterwards. It should
boil slowly five hours. Prepare half a dozen turnips, four
carrots, and three onions, (all cut up, but not small,) and put
them in about an hour and a half before dinner. [Footnote: The
carrots should be put in early, as they require a long time to
boil; if full grown, at least three hours.] You may also put in
some small dumplings. Add some chopped parsley.

Cut the meat off the scrag into small pieces, and send it to table
in the tureen with the soup. The other half of the mutton should
be served on a separate dish, with whole turnips boiled and laid
round it. Many persons are fond of mutton that has been boiled in
soup.

You may thicken this soup with rice or barley that has first been
soaked in cold water; or with green peas; or with young corn, cut
down from the cob; or with tomatas scalded, peeled, and cut into
pieces.

Cabbage Soup may be made in the same manner, of neck of
mutton. Omit all the other vegetables, and put in a large head of
white cabbage, stripped of the outside leaves, and cut small.

Noodle Soup can be made in this manner also. Noodles are a
mixture of flour and beaten egg, made into a stiff paste, kneaded,
rolled out very thin, and cut into long narrow slips, not thicker
than straws, and then dried three or four hours in the sun, on tin
or pewter plates. They must be put in the soup shortly before
dinner, as, if boiled too long they will go to pieces.

With the mutton that is taken from the soup you may send to table
some suet dumplings, boiled in another pot, and served on a
separate dish. Make them in the proportion of half a pound of beef
suet to a pound and a quarter of flour. Chop the suet as fine as
possible, rub it into the flour, and mix it into a dough with a
little cold water. Roll it out thick, and cut it into dumplings
about as large as the top of a tumbler, and boil them an hour.


VEAL SOUP.

The knuckle or leg of veal is the best for soup. Wash it and break
up the bones. Put it into a pot with a pound of ham or bacon cut
into pieces, and water enough to cover the meat. A set of calf's
feet, cut in half, will greatly improve it. After it has stewed
slowly, till all the meat drops to pieces, strain it, return it to
the pot, and put in a head of celery cut small, three onions, a
bunch of sweet marjoram, a carrot and a turnip cut into pieces,
and two dozen black pepper-corns, with salt to your taste. Add
some small dumplings made of flour and butter. Simmer it another
hour, or till all the vegetables are sufficiently done, and thus
send it to table.

You may thicken it with noodles, that is paste made of flour and
beaten egg, and cut into long thin slips. Or with vermicelli,
rice, or barley; or with green peas, or asparagus tops.


RICH VEAL SOUP.

Take three pounds of the scrag of a neck of veal, cut it into
pieces, and put it with the bones (which must be broken up) into a
pot with two quarts of water. Stew it till the meat is done to
rags, and skim it well. Then strain it and return it to the pot.

Blanch and pound in a mortar to a smooth paste, a quarter of a
pound of sweet almonds, and mix them with the yolks of six hard
boiled eggs grated, mid a pint of cream, which must first have
been boiled or it will curdle in the soup. Season it with nutmeg
and mace. Stir the mixture into the soup, and let it boil
afterward about three minutes, stirring all the time. Lay in the
bottom of the tureen some slices of bread without the crust. Pour
the soup upon it, and send it to table.


CLEAR GRAVY SOUP.

Having well buttered the inside of a nicely tinned stew-pot, cut
half a pound of ham into slices, and lay them at the bottom, with
three pounds of the lean of fresh beef, and as much veal, cut from
the bones, which you must afterward break to pieces, and lay on
the meat. Cover the pan closely, and set it over a quick fire.
When the meat begins to stick to the pan, turn it; and when there
is a nice brown glaze at the bottom, cover the meat with cold
water. Watch it well, and when it is just coming to a boil, put in
half a pint of cold water. This will cause the scum to rise. Skim
it well, and then pour in another half pint of cold water; skim it
again; pour in cold water as before, half a pint at a time, and
repeat this till no more scum rises. In skimming, carefully avoid
stirring the soup, as that will injure its clearness.

In the mean time prepare your vegetables. Peel off the outer skin
of three large white onions and slice them. Pare three large
turnips, and slice them also. Wash clean and cut into small pieces
three carrots, and three large heads of celery. If you cannot
obtain fresh celery, substitute a large table-spoonful of celery
seed, tied up in a bit of clear muslin. Put the vegetables into
the soup, and then place the pot on one side of the fire, where
the heat is not so great as in the middle. Let it boil gently for
four hours. Then strain the soup through a fine towel or linen bag
into a large stone pan, but do not squeeze the bag, or the soup
will be cloudy, and look dull instead of clear. In pouring it into
the straining cloth, be careful not to disturb the ingredients at
the bottom of the soup-pot.

This soup should be of a fine clear amber colour. If not perfectly
bright after straining, you may clarify it in this manner. Put it
into the stew-pan. Break the whites of two eggs into a basin,
carefully avoiding the smallest particle of the yolk. Beat the
white of egg to a stiff froth, and then mix it gradually with the
soup. Set it over the fire, and stir it till it boils briskly.
Then take it off, and set it beside the fire to settle for ten
minutes. Strain it then through a clean napkin, and it will be fit
for use. But it is better to have the soup clear by making it
carefully, than to depend on clarifying it afterward, as the white
of egg weakens the taste.

In making this (which is quite a show-soup) it is customary to
reverse the general rule, and pour in cold water.


SOUPE À LA JULIENNE.

Make a gravy soup as in the preceding receipt, and strain it
before you put in the vegetables. Cut some turnips and carrots
into ribands, and some onions and celery into lozenges or long
diamond-shaped pieces. Boil them separately. When the vegetables
are thoroughly boiled, put them with the soup into the tureen, and
then lay gently on the top some small squares of toasted bread
without crust; taking care that they do not crumble down and
disturb the brightness of the soup, which should be of a clear
amber colour.


MACCARONI SOUP.

This also is made of clear gravy soup. Cut up and boil the
maccaroni by itself in a very little water, allowing a quarter of
a pound to a quart of soup. The pieces should be about an inch
long. Put a small piece of butter with it. It must boil till
tender, but not till it breaks. Throw it into the soup shortly
before it goes to table, and give it one boil up. Send to table
with it a plate or glass of rasped Parmesan or other rich cheese,
with a dessert spoon in it, that those who like it may put it into
their soup on the plate.

While the maccaroni is boiling, take care that it does not get
into lumps.


RICH MACCARONI SOUP.

Take a quart of clear gravy soup, and boil in it a pound of the
best maccaroni cut into pieces. When it is tender, take out half
of the maccaroni, and add to the remainder two quarts more of the
soup. Boil it till the maccaroni is entirely dissolved and
incorporated with the liquid. Strain it; then return it to the
soup-pan, and add to it the remainder of the maccaroni, (that was
taken out before the pieces broke,) and put in a quarter of a
pound of grated Parmesan cheese. Let it simmer awhile, but take it
up before it comes to a boil.

It may be made with milk instead of gravy soup.


VERMICELLI SOUP.

Cut a knuckle of veal, or a neck of mutton into small pieces, and
put them, with the bones broken up, into a large stew-pan. Add the
meat sliced from a hock or shank of ham, a quarter of a pound of
butter, two large onions sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a
head of celery cut small. Cover the pan closely, and set it
without any water over a slow fire for an hour or more, to extract
the essence from the meat. Then skim it well, and pour in four
quarts of boiling water, and let it boil gently till all the meat
is reduced to rags. Strain it, set it again on the fire, and add a
quarter of a pound of vermicelli, which has first been scalded in
boiling water. Season it to your taste with salt and cayenne
pepper, and let it boil five minutes. Lay a large slice of bread
in the bottom of your tureen, and pour the soup upon it.

For the veal or mutton you may substitute a pair of large fowls
cut into pieces; always adding the ham or a few slices of bacon,
without which it will be insipid. Old fowls that are fit for no
other purpose will do very well for soup.


MILK SOUP.

Boil two quarts of milk with a quarter of a pound of sweet
almonds, and two ounces of bitter ones, blanched and broken to
pieces, and a large stick of cinnamon broken up. Stir in sugar
enough to make it very sweet. When it has boiled strain it. Cut
some thin slices of bread, and (having pared off the crust) toast
them. Lay them in the bottom of a tureen, pour a little of the hot
milk over them, and cover them close, that they may soak. Beat the
yolks of five eggs very light Set the milk on hot coals, and add
the eggs to it by degrees; stirring it all the time till it
thickens. Then take it off instantly, lest it curdle, and pour it
into the tureen, boiling hot, over the bread.

This will be still better if you cover the bottom with slices of
baked apple.


RICH BROWN SOUP.

Take six pounds of the lean of fresh beef, cut from the bone.
Stick it over with four dozen cloves. Season it with a tea-spoonful
of salt, a tea-spoonful of pepper, a tea-spoonful of
mace, and a beaten nutmeg. Slice half a dozen onions; fry them in
butter; chop them, and spread them over the meat after you have
put it into the soup-pot. Pour in five quarts of water, and stew
it slowly for five or six hours; skimming it well. When the meat
has dissolved into shreds, strain it, and return the liquid to the
pot. Then add a tumbler and a half, or six wine glasses of claret
or port wine. Simmer it again slowly till dinner time. When the
soup is reduced to three quarts, it is done enough. Put it into a
tureen, and send it to table.


RICH WHITE SOUP.

Take a pair of large fat fowls. Cut them up. Butter the inside of
the soup-pot, and put in the pieces of fowl with two pounds of the
lean of veal, cut into pieces, or with four calf's feet cut in
half. Season them with a tea-spoonful of salt, a half tea-spoonful
of cayenne pepper, and a dozen blades of mace. Cover them with
water, and stew it slowly for an hour, skimming it well. Then take
out the breasts and wings of the fowls, and having cut off the
flesh, chop it fine. Keep the pot covered, and the veal and the
remainder of the fowls still stewing.

Mix the chopped chicken with the grated crumb of about one quarter
of a loaf of stale bread, (a six cent loaf,) having soaked the
crumbs in a little warm milk. Have ready the yolks of four hard
boiled eggs, a dozen sweet almonds, and half a dozen bitter ones
blanched and broken small. Mix the egg and almonds with the
chopped chicken and grated bread, and pound all in a mortar till
it is well incorporated. Strain the soup from the meat and fowl,
and stir this mixture into the liquid, after it has stewed till
reduced to two quarts. Having boiled separately a quart of cream
or rich milk, add it hot to the soup, a little at a time. Cover
it, and let it simmer a few minutes longer. Then send it to table.

These two soups (the brown and the white) are suited to dinner
parties.


MEG MERRILIES' SOUP.

Take four pounds of venison, or if you cannot procure venison you
may substitute the lean of fresh beef or mutton. Season it with
pepper and salt, put it into a large pot, (break the bones and lay
them on the meat,) pour in four quarts of water, and boil it three
hours, skimming it well. Then strain it, and put it into another
pot.

Cut up a hare or a rabbit, a pair of partridges, and a pair of
grouse; or one of each, with a pheasant, a woodcock, or any other
game that you can most easily obtain. Season them and put them
into the soup. Add a dozen small onions, a couple of heads of
celery cut small, and half a dozen sliced potatoes. Let the soup
simmer till the game is sufficiently done, and all the vegetables
tender.

This is the soup with which the gipsy, Meg Merrilies, regaled
Dominie Sampson.

When game is used for soup, it must be newly killed, and quite
fresh.


VENISON SOUP.

Take four pounds of freshly killed venison cut off from the bones,
and one pound of ham in small slices. Add an onion minced, and
black pepper to your taste. Put only as much water as will cover
it, and stew it gently for an hour, keeping the pot closely
covered. Then skim it well, and pour in a quart of boiling water.
Add a head of celery cut into small pieces, and half a dozen
blades of mace. Boil it gently two hours and a half. Then put in a
quarter of a pound of butter, divided into small pieces and rolled
in flour, and half a pint of port or Madeira wine. Let it boil a
quarter of an hour longer, and then send it to table with the meat
in it.


HARE OR RABBIT SOUP.

Take a large newly killed hare, or two rabbits; cut them up and
wash the pieces. Save all the blood, (which adds much to the
flavour of the hare,) and strain it through a sieve. Put the
pieces into a soup-pot with four whole onions stuck with a few
cloves, four or five blades of mace, a head of celery cut small,
and a bunch of parsley with a large sprig of sweet marjoram and
one of sweet basil, all tied together. Salt and cayenne to your
taste. Pour in three quarts of water, and stew it gently an hour
and a half. Then put in the strained blood and simmer it for
another hour, at least. Do not let it actually boil, as that will
cause the blood to curdle. Then strain it, and pound half the meat
in a mortar, and stir it into the soup to thicken it, and cut the
remainder of the meat into small mouthfuls. Stir in, at the last,
a jill or two glasses of red wine, and a large table-spoonful of
currant jelly. Boil it slowly a few minutes longer, and then put
it into your tureen. It will be much improved by the addition of
about a dozen and a half small force-meat balls, about the size of
a nutmeg. This soup will require cooking at least four hours.

Partridge, pheasant, or grouse soup may be made in a similar
manner.

If you have any clear gravy soup, you may cut up the hare, season
it as above, and put it into a jug or jar well covered, and set in
boiling water till the meat is tender. Then put it into the gravy
soup, add the wine, and let it come to a boil. Send it to table
with the pieces of the hare in the soup.

When hare soup is made in this last manner, omit using the blood.


MULLAGATAWNY SOUP, AS MADE IN INDIA.

Take a quarter of an ounce of China turmeric, the third of an
ounce of cassia, three drachms of black pepper, two drachms of
cayenne pepper, and an ounce of coriander seeds. These must all be
pounded fine in a mortar, and well mixed and sifted. They will
make sufficient curry powder for the following quantity of soup:

Take two large fowls, or three pounds of the lean of veal. Cut the
flesh entirely from the bones in small pieces, and put it into a
stew-pan with two quarts of water. Let it boil slowly for half an
hour, skimming it well. Prepare four large onions, minced and
fried in two ounces of butter. Add to them the curry powder and
moisten the whole with broth from the stew-pan, mixed with a
little rice flour. When thoroughly mixed, stir the seasoning into
the soup, and simmer it till it is as smooth and thick as cream,
and till the chicken or veal is perfectly tender. Then stir into
it the juice of a lemon; and five minutes after take up the soup,
with the meat in it, and serve it in the tureen.

Send to table separately, boiled rice on a hot-water dish to keep
it warm, The rice is to be put into the plates of soup by those
who eat it.

To boil rice for this soup in the East India fashion:--Pick and
wash half a pound in warm water. Put it into a sauce-pan. Pour two
quarts of boiling water over it, and cover the pan closely. Set it
in a warm place by the fire, to cook gradually in the hot water.
In an hour pour off all the water, and setting the pan on hot
coals, stir up and toss the rice with a fork, so as to separate
the grains, and to dry without hardening it. Do not use a spoon,
as that will not loosen the grains sufficiently.


MOCK TURTLE OR CALF'S HEAD SOUP.

This soup will require eight hours to prepare. Take a large calf's
head, and having cleaned, washed, and soaked it, put it into a pot
with a knuckle of veal, and the hock of a ham, or a few slices of
bacon; but previously cut off and reserve enough of the veal to
make two dozen small force-meat balls. Put the head and the other
meat into as much water as will cover it very well, so that it may
not be necessary to replenish it: this soup being always made very
rich. Let it boil slowly four hours, skimming it carefully. As
soon as no more scum rises, put in six potatoes, and three
turnips, all sliced thin; with equal proportions of parsley, sweet
marjoram and sweet basil, chopped fine; and pepper and salt to
your taste.

An hour before you send the meat to table, make about two dozen
small force-meat balls of minced veal and beef-suet in equal
quantities, seasoned with pepper and salt; sweet herbs, grated
lemon-peel, and powdered nutmeg and mace. Add some beaten yolk of
egg to make all these ingredients stick together. Flour the balls
very well, and fry them in butter. Before you put them into the
soup, take out the head, and the other meat. Cut the meat from the
head in small pieces, and return it to the soup. When the soup is
nearly done, stir in half a pint of Madeira. Have ready at least a
dozen egg-balls made of the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, grated or
pounded in a mortar, and mixed with a little flour and sufficient
raw yolk of egg to bind them. Make them up into the form and size
of boy's marbles. Throw them into the soup at the last, and also
squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Let it get another slow boil, and
then put it into the tureen.

We omit a receipt for _real_ turtle soup, as when that very
expensive, complicated, and difficult dish is prepared in a
private family, it is advisable to hire a first-rate cook for the
express purpose.

An easy way is to get it ready made, in any quantity you please,
from a turtle-soup house.


OX TAIL SOUP.

Three ox tails will make a large tureen full of soup. Desire the
butcher to divide them at the joints. Rub them with salt, and put
them to soak in warm water, while you prepare the vegetables. Put
into a large pot or stew-pan four onions peeled and quartered, a
bunch of parsley, two sliced carrots, two sliced turnips, and two
dozen pepper corns. Then put in the tails, and pour on three
quarts of water.

Cover the pot, and set it on hot coals by the side of the fire.
Keep it gently simmering for about three hours, supplying it well
with fresh hot coals. Skim it carefully. When the meat is quite
tender, and falls from the bones, strain the soup into another
pot, and add to it a spoonful of mushroom catchup, and two
spoonfuls of butter rubbed in flour.

You may thicken it also with the pulp of a dozen onions first
fried soft, and then rubbed through a cullender. After it is
thickened, let it just boil up, and then send it to table, with
small squares of toasted bread in the tureen.


OCHRA SOUP.

Take a large slice of ham (cold boiled ham is best) and two pounds
of the lean of fresh beef; cut all the meat into small pieces. Add
a quarter of a pound of butter slightly melted; twelve large
tomatas pared and cut small; five dozen ochras cut into slices not
thicker than a cent; and salt and cayenne pepper to your taste.
Put all these ingredients into a pot; cover them with boiling
water, and let them stew slowly for an hour. Then add three quarts
of hot water, and increase the heat so as to make the soup
boil. Skim it well, and stir it frequently with a wooden or silver
spoon.

Boil it till the tomatas are all to pieces, and the ochras
entirely dissolved. Strain it, and then serve it up with toasted
bread cut into dice, put in after it comes out of the pot.

This soup will be improved by a pint of shelled Lima beans, boiled
by themselves, and put into the tureen just before you send it to
table.


BEAN SOUP.

Put two quarts of dried white beans into soak the night before you
make the soup, which should be put on as early in the day as
possible.

Take five pounds of the lean of fresh beef--the coarse pieces will
do. Cut them up, and put them into your soup-pot with the bones
belonging to them, (which should be broken to pieces,) and a pound
of bacon cut very small. If you have the remains of a piece of
beef that has been roasted the day before, and so much under-done
that the juices remain in it, you may put it into the pot, and its
bones along with it. Season the meat with pepper and salt, and
pour on it six quarts of water. As soon as it boils take off the
scum, and put in the beans (having first drained them) and a head
of celery cut small, or a table-spoonful of pounded celery-seed.
Boil it slowly till the meat is done to shreds, and the beans all
dissolved. Then strain it through a cullender into the tureen, and
put into it small squares of toasted bread with the crust cut off.

Some prefer it with the beans boiled soft, but not quite
dissolved. In this case, do not strain it; but take out the meat
and bones with a fork before you send it to table.


PEAS SOUP.

Soak two quarts of dried or split peas overnight. 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.


GREEN PEAS SOUP.

Take four pounds of knuckle of veal, and a pound of bacon. Cut
them to pieces, and put them into a soup kettle with a sprig of
mint and four quarts of water. Boil it moderately fast, and skim
it well. When the meat is boiled to rags, strain it out, and put
to the liquor a quart of young green peas. Boil them till they are
entirely dissolved, and till they have thickened the soup, and
given it a green colour. [Footnote: You may greatly improve the
colour by pounding a handful of spinach in a mortar, straining the
juice, and adding it to the soup about a quarter of an hour before
it has done boiling.]

Have ready two quarts of green peas that have been boiled in
another pot with a sprig of mint, and two or three lumps of loaf
sugar, (which will greatly improve the taste.) After they have
boiled in this pot twenty minutes, take out the mint, put the
whole peas into the pot of soup, and boil all together about ten
minutes. Then put it into a tureen, and send it to table.

Never use hard old green peas for this soup, or for any other
purpose. When they begin to turn yellow, it is time to leave them
off for the season.

Lima bean soup may be made in the same manner.


ASPARAGUS SOUP.

Asparagus soup may be made in a similar manner to that of green
peas. You must have four or five bunches of asparagus. Cut off the
green tops, and put half of them into the soup, after the meat has
been boiled to pieces and strained out. The asparagus must be
boiled till quite dissolved, and till it has given a green colour
to the soup. Then take the remainder of the asparagus tops (which
must all this time have been lying in cold water) and put them
into the soup, and let them boil about twenty minutes. Serve it up
with small squares of toast in the tureen.

You may heighten the green of this soup by adding the juice of a
handful of spinach, pounded in a mortar and strained. Or you may
colour it with the juice of boiled spinach squeezed through a
cloth. The spinach juice should be put in fifteen or ten minutes
before you take up the soup, as a short boiling in it will take
off the peculiar taste.


FRIAR'S CHICKEN.

Cut up four pounds of knuckle of veal; season it with white pepper
and salt: put it into a soup-pan and let it boil slowly till the
meat drops from the bone. Then strain it off. Have ready a pair of
young fowls skinned, and cut up as you carve them at table. Season
them with white pepper, salt, and mace. Put them into the soup,
add a handful of chopped parsley, and let them boil. When the
pieces of chicken are all quite tender, have ready four or five
eggs well beaten. Stir the egg into the soup, and take it
immediately off the fire lest it curdle. Serve up the chicken in
the soup.

Rabbits may be substituted for fowls.


CATFISH SOUP.

Catfish that have been caught near the middle of the river are
much nicer than those that are taken near the shore where they
have access to impure food. The small white ones are the best.
Having cut off their heads, skin the fish, and clean them, and cut
them in three. To twelve small catfish allow a pound and a half of
ham. Cut the ham into small pieces, or slice it very thin, and
scald it two or three times in boiling water, lest it be too salt.
Chop together a bunch of parsley and some sweet marjoram stripped
from the stalks. Put these ingredients into a soup kettle and
season them with pepper: the ham will make it salt enough. Add a
head of celery cut small, or a large table-spoonful of celery seed
tied up in a bit of clear muslin to prevent its dispersing. Pat in
two quarts of water, cover the kettle, and let it boil slowly till
every thing is sufficiently done, and the fish and ham quite
tender. Skim it frequently. Boil in another vessel a quart of rich
milk, in which you have melted a quarter of a pound of butter
divided into small bits and rolled in flour. Pour it hot to the
soup, and stir in at the last the beaten yolks of four eggs. Give
it another boil, just to take off the rawness of the eggs, and
then put it into a tureen, taking out the bag of celery seed
before you send the soup to table, and adding some toasted bread
cut into small squares. In making toast for soap, cut the bread
thick, and pare off all the crust.

This soup will be found very fine.

Eel soup may be made in the same manner: chicken soup also.


LOBSTER SOUP.

Have ready a good broth made of a knuckle of veal boiled slowly in
as much water as will cover it, till the meat is reduced to rags.
It must then be well strained.

Having boiled three fine middle-sized lobsters, extract all the
meat from the body and claws. Bruise part of the coral in a
mortar, and also an equal quantity of the meat. Mix them well
together. Add mace, nutmeg, cayenne, and a little grated lemon-peel;
and make them up into force-meat balls, binding the mixture
with the yolk of an egg slightly beaten.

Take three quarts of the veal broth, and put into it the meat of
the lobsters cut into mouthfuls. Boil it together about twenty
minutes. Then thicken it with the remaining coral, (which you must
first rub through a sieve,) and add the force-meat balls, and a
little butter rolled in flour. Simmer it gently for ten minutes,
but do not let it come to a boil, as that will injure the colour.
Pour it into a tureen, and send it to table immediately.


OYSTER SOUP.

To two quarts of oysters add a pint of water, and let them set an
hour. Then take them out of the liquor. Grate and roll fine a
dozen crackers. Put them into the liquor with a large lump of
fresh butter. When the grated biscuit has quite dissolved, add a
quart of milk with a grated nutmeg, and a dozen blades of mace;
and, if in season, a head of celery split fine and cut into small
pieces. Season it to your taste with pepper.

Mix the whole together, and set it in a closely covered vessel
over a slow fire. When it comes to a boil, put in the oysters; and
when it comes to a boil again, they will be sufficiently done.

Before you send it to table put into the tureen some toasted bread
cut into small squares, omitting the crust.


PLAIN OYSTER SOUP.

Take two quarts of large oysters. Strain their liquor into a soup
pan; season it with a tea-spoonful of whole pepper, a tea-spoonful
of whole allspice, the same quantity of whole cloves, and seven or
eight blades of mace. If the oysters are fresh, add a large tea-spoonful
of salt; if they are salt oysters, none is requisite. Set
the pan on hot coals, and boil it slowly (skimming it when
necessary) till you find that it is sufficiently flavoured with
the taste of the spice. In the mean time (having cut out the hard
part) chop the oysters fine, and season them with a powdered
nutmeg. Take the liquor from the fire, and strain out the spice
from it. Then return it to the soup pan, and put the chopped
oysters into it, with whatever liquid may have continued about
them. Add a quarter of a pound of butter, divided into little bits
and rolled in flour. Cover the pan, and let it boil hard about
five minutes. If oysters are cooked too much they become tough and
tasteless.


CLAM SOUP.

Having put your clams into a pot of boiling water to make them
open easily, take them from the shells, carefully saving the
liquor. To the liquor of a quart of opened clams, allow three
quarts of water. Mix the water with the liquor of the clams and
put it into a large pot with a knuckle of veal, the bone of which
should be chopped in four places. When it has simmered slowly for
four hours, put in a large bunch of sweet herbs, a beaten nutmeg,
a tea-spoonful of mace, and a table-spoonful of whole pepper, but
no salt, as the salt of the clam liquor will be sufficient. Stew
it slowly an hour longer, and then strain it. When you have
returned the liquor to the pot, add a quarter of a pound of butter
divided into four and each bit rolled in flour. Then put in the
clams, (having cut them, in pieces,) and let it boil fifteen
minutes. Send it to table with toasted bread in it cut into dice.

This soup will be greatly improved by the addition of small force-meat
balls. Make them of cold minced veal or chicken, mixed with
equal quantities of chopped suet and sweet marjoram, and a smaller
proportion of hard-boiled egg, grated lemon-peel, and powdered
nutmeg. Pound all the ingredients together in a mortar, adding a
little pepper and salt. Break in a raw egg or two (in proportion
to the quantity) to bind the whole together and prevent it from
crumbling to pieces. When thoroughly mixed, make the force-meat
into small balls, and let them boil ten minutes in the soup,
shortly before you send it to table. If you are obliged to make
them of raw veal or raw chicken they must boil longer.

It will be a great improvement to cut up a yam and boil it in the
soup.

Oyster soup may be made in this manner.


PLAIN CLAM SOUP.

Take a hundred clams, well washed, and put them into a large pot
of boiling water. This will cause the shells to open. As they open
take them out, and extract the clams, taking care to save the
liquor. Mix with the liquor a quart of water, (or what will be
much better, a quart of milk,) and thicken it with butter rolled
in flour. Add a large bunch of parsley tied up, and a large table-spoonful
of whole pepper. Put the liquid into a pot over a
moderate fire. Make some little round dumplings (about the size of
a hickory nut) of flour and butter, and put them into the soup.
When it comes to a boil, put in the clams, and keep them boiling
an hour. Take them out before you send the soup to table.

When the soup is done, take out the bunch of parsley. Have ready
some toasted bread cut into small squares or dice. Put it into the
soup before you send it to table.

You may make oyster soup in a similar manner.


WATER SOUCHY.

Cut up four flounders, or half a dozen perch, two onions, and a
bunch of parsley. Put them into three quarts of water, and boil
them till the fish go entirely to pieces, and dissolve in the
water. Then strain the liquor through a sieve, and put it into a
kettle or stew-pan. Have ready a few more fish with the heads,
tails, and fins removed, and the brown skin taken off. Cut little
notches in them, and lay them for a short time in very cold water.
Then put them into the stew-pan with the liquor or soup-stock of
the first fish. Season with pepper, salt, and mace, and add half a
pint of white wine or two table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Boil it
gently for a quarter of an hour, and skim it well.

Provide some parsley roots, cut into slices and boiled till very
tender; and also a quantity of parsley leaves boiled nice and
green. After the fish-pan has boiled moderately fifteen minutes,
take it off the fire, and put in the parsley roots; also a little
mushroom catchup.

Take out the fish and lay them in a broad deep dish, or in a
tureen, and then pour on the soup very gently for fear of breaking
them. Strew the green parsley leaves over the top. Have ready
plates of bread and butter, which it is customary to eat with
water souchy.

You may omit the wine or vinegar, and flavour the soup just before
you take it from the fire with essence of anchovy, or with any
other of the essences and compound fish-sauces that are in general
use.

Water souchy (commonly pronounced _sookey_) is a Dutch soup.
It may be made of any sort of small fish; but flounders and perch
are generally used for it. It is very good made of carp.


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