Chapter 2

This soup is not any more expensive than many other kinds. A small turtle may be purchased at Fulton market for from ten to twenty cents per pound, and weighing from fifteen to forty pounds, the price varying according to the law of supply and demand. The only objection to small turtles is that they do not contain a very large percentage of the green fat, so highly prized by epicures.

Procure a live turtle, cut off the head, and allow it to drain and cool over night; next morning place it on the working table, lay it on its back, and make an incision round the inner edge of the shell; then remove it. Now remove the intestines carefully, and be very careful that you do not break the gall; throw these away; cut off the fins and all fleshy particles, and set them aside; trim out the fat, which has a blueish tint when raw; wash it well in several waters. Chop up the upper and under shells with a cleaver; put them with the fins into a large saucepan; cover them with boiling water; let stand ten minutes; drain and rub off the horny, scaly particles, with a kitchen towel.

Scald a large saucepan, and put all the meat and shell into it (except the fat); cover with hot water; add a little salt, and boil four hours. Skim carefully, and drain; put the meat into a large crock; remove the bones, and boil the fat in the stock. This does not take very long if first scalded. When done, add it also to the crock; pour the stock into another crock; let it cool, and remove all scum and oily particles; this is quite work enough for one day. Clean the saucepans used, and dry them thoroughly.

Next day fry out half a pound of fat ham; then add one chopped onion, one bay leaf, six cloves, one blade of mace, two tablespoonfuls of chopped celery tops, a tablespoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of white pepper, and one quart of ordinary soup stock. Simmer for half an hour. Now put the turtle stock on the fire; when hot strain the seasoning into it; remove the turtle from the other crock, cut it up, and add to the stock; now add a pint of dry sherry.

Do not let the soup come to a boil; taste for seasoning, and if herbs are needed tie a string to a bunch of mixed herbs, throw them into the soup, and tie the other end to the saucepan handle; taste often, and when palatable, remove the herbs. If the soup is not dark enough, brown a very little flour and add to it. Keep the soup quite hot until served; add quartered slices of lemon and the yolk of a hard boiled egg, quartered just before serving; send to table with a decanter of sherry.

The yolks of the eggs may be worked to a paste, and made into round balls to imitate turtle eggs if this is desired.

I have placed before my readers this complicated receipt in as simple a form as it is possible to do, having carefully avoided all the technical formulas used in the profession.

GUMBO SOUP.--Cut up two chickens, two slices of ham, and two onions into dice; flour them, and fry the whole to a light brown; then fill the frying pan with boiling water; stir it a few minutes, and turn the whole into a saucepan containing three quarts of boiling water. Let it boil for forty minutes, removing the scum.

In the meantime soak three pints of ochra in cold water for twenty minutes; cut them into thin slices, and add to the other ingredients; let it boil for one hour and a half. Add a quart of canned tomatoes and a cupful of boiled rice half an hour before serving.

JULIENNE SOUP.--Cut into fine shreds, an inch long, two carrots, two turnips, two heads of celery, and the white ends of two spring leeks. Put them into a frying pan, with one ounce of butter, a teaspoonful of salt, and one lump of cut sugar; simmer until tender, then add a cupful of stock. Put two quarts of veal stock in a saucepan; add the vegetables, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, a little fresh sorrel if convenient (wild wood sorrel is the best for julienne) shredded. Taste for seasoning; boil once, and serve.

LENTIL SOUP.--Lentils are very nutritious, and form the basis of a most excellent soup; but they are little used in American cookery. Soak a pint of dry lentils for two hours; put them in a saucepan; add two quarts of cold water, half an onion, two or three celery tops, salt, whole peppers, and two or three ounces of the small end of a ham. Boil gently for three hours; add a little more hot water, if the quantity has been reduced by boiling, pour through a sieve, remove the ham, onion and celery; rub the lentils through a sieve, return to the soup; whisk it thoroughly; taste for seasoning, and serve with croutons.

LIEBIG'S SOUP.--An excellent soup may be prepared at short notice, as follows:--Take half an onion, three or four outer stocks of celery, one carrot sliced, salt, pepper, and a very little mace. Boil these in two quarts of water for half an hour; strain, and add to the water two tablespoonfuls of Liebig's Extract of meat; whisk thoroughly, taste for seasoning, and serve.

MACARONI SOUP.--Boil half a pound of Macaroni for half an hour, in three pints of water slightly salted; add a blade of mace. When done, drain, and cut it into two inch pieces. Put three pints of soup stock into a saucepan; add the macaroni; taste for seasoning, boil a moment and serve.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.--Take half a calf's head, with the skin on; remove the brains. Wash the head in several waters, and let it soak in cold water for an hour. Put it in a saucepan with five quarts of beef stock; let it simmer gently for an hour; remove the scum carefully. Take up the head and let it get cold; cut the meat from the bones into pieces an inch square, and set them in the ice-box.

Dissolve two ounces of butter in a frying pan; mince a large onion, and fry it in the butter until nicely browned, and add to the stock in which the head was cooked. Return the bones to the stock; simmer the soup, removing the scum until no more rises. Put in a carrot, a turnip, a bunch of parsley, a bouquet of herbs, a dozen outer stalks of celery, two blades of mace and the rind of one lemon, grated; salt and pepper to taste. Boil gently for two hours, and strain the soup through a cloth. Mix three ounces of browned flour with a pint of the soup; let simmer until it thickens, then add it to the soup. Take the pieces of head out of the ice-box, and add to the soup; let them simmer until quite tender. "Before serving add a little Worcestershire sauce, a tablespoonful of anchovy paste, a gobletful of port or sherry, and two lemons sliced, each slice quartered, with the rind trimmed off." Warm the wine a very little before adding it to the soup. Keep in ice-box three or four days before using. Serve the brains as a side dish.

MULLIGATAWNY SOUP.--Divide a large chicken into neat pieces; take a knuckle of veal, and chop it up; put all into a large saucepan, and add one gallon of water; salt; boil for three hours or until reduced one-third. Put an ounce of butter in a hot frying pan, cut up two red onions, and fry them in the butter. Into a half pint of the stock put two heaping tablespoonfuls of curry powder; add this to the onion, then add the whole to the soup, now taste for seasoning. Some like a little wine, but these are the exception and not the rule. Before serving add half a slice of lemon to each portion. Many prefer a quantity of rice to be added to the soup before it is finished; the rice should be first well washed and parboiled.

MUTTON BROTH.--Take four pounds of lean mutton trimmings; cut them into neat pieces; put them into a saucepan; add three quarts of cold water, one heaping teaspoonful of salt. Bruise, and add six peppercorns, three or four celery tops, and one young leek. Boil slowly for two hours; remove the scum as it rises. Boil a cupful of rice for twenty minutes; add it to the soup, and taste for seasoning; remove the celery, leek, and mutton bones; pour the soup into a hot tureen, and serve.

Substitute a knuckle of veal for mutton, and you will have an excellent veal broth.

ONION SOUP.--Peel and cut into small pieces three medium-sized onions; fry them in a little butter until tender, but not brown; pour over them a pint of stock; add a little salt and cayenne. Simmer for fifteen minutes; press the soup through a sieve; put it in a saucepan, and add three tablespoonfuls of grated bread crumbs, and half a gobletful of hot cream. Taste for seasoning, and serve with small slices of toast.

OXTAIL SOUP.--Take two oxtails; cut them into joints, and cut each joint into four pieces; put them into a pan with two ounces of butter, and fry them for ten minutes. Slice two onions, one turnip, two carrots, and a dozen outer stalks of celery, and fry in the same butter, with three slices of bacon cut up fine; fry to a light brown. Turn the ingredients into a saucepan with a quart of stock or ham water, and boil quickly for half an hour, then add two more quarts of stock, a bouquet of herbs, two bay-leaves, a dozen whole peppers crushed, a few cloves, and salt to taste. Simmer until the meat is quite tender; then take it out; strain the soup; skim off the fat, and thicken with two ounces of flour. Return the meat to the soup; add a tablespoonful of Worcestershire, and a cupful of sherry, and serve with grated rusks.

OYSTER SOUP.--Wet a saucepan with cold water; pour into it two quarts of milk. When at boiling point, add two dozen oysters and a pint of oyster liquor well seasoned with salt and pepper. Dissolve a tablespoonful of rice flour in a little cold milk; finally add a large tablespoonful of table butter; do not let the soup boil again as it will contract the oysters. Pour into a tureen, taste for salting, and serve, a few broken crackers may be added. The object in wetting the pan is to prevent the milk from burning.

PEA SOUP.--Cut two large slices of ham into dice, with a sliced onion, and fry them in a little bacon fat until they are lightly browned. Cut up one turnip, one large carrot, four outer stalks of celery, and one leek into small pieces; add these last ingredients to the ham and onion, and let them simmer for fifteen minutes; then pour over them three quarts of corned-beef water or hot water, and add a pint of split peas which have been soaked in cold water over night.

Boil gently until the peas are quite tender stirring constantly to prevent burning; then add salt and pepper to taste, and a teaspoonful of brown sugar. Remove the soup from the fire, and rub through a sieve; if it is not thick enough to suit your taste, add a few ounces of flour mixed smoothly in a little cold milk; return the soup to the fire, and simmer for half an hour. Cut up four slices of American bread into small dice, and fry the pieces in very hot fat until nicely browned; place them on a napkin or towel, and add a few to each plate or tureen of soup just before it goes to table.

PEA SOUP, ECONOMICAL.--Boil for four hours two quarts of green pea hulls in four quarts of water, in which beef, mutton, or fowl has been boiled, then add a bunch or bouquet of herbs, salt and pepper, a teaspoonful of butter, and a quart of milk. Rub through a hair sieve, thicken with a little flour, and serve with croutons, as in the foregoing receipt.

POTATO SOUP.--Wash and peel two dozen small sized potatoes; put them into a saucepan with two onions; add three quarts of corned-beef water; boil for one hour and a half until the potatoes fall to pieces. Pour the soup through a sieve, and rub the potato through it to a fine pulp; put the whole into the saucepan again; when very hot add a pint of hot rich cream, salt and pepper, if necessary; whisk thoroughly; pour into a tureen, add croutons, and serve.

PURÉE OF BEANS.--Soak two quarts of small, white beans over night; change the water twice; drain, put them into a pot or saucepan, and cover them with cold water. Boil slowly for six hours; as the water evaporates, add hot water. One hour before the beans are cooked add one pound of salt pork, a bunch of fresh herbs, half a dozen whole cloves, salt if necessary; when done pour the soup through a sieve, remove the pork and seasoning, and rub the soup through a sieve; add the pulp to the stock; taste for seasoning; pour the soup into a tureen, add croutons and serve. Many prefer a ham bone to pork.

PURÉE OF CLAMS.--Chop twenty-five large hard-shell clams, very fine, and put them aside; fry half a chopped red onion in an ounce of hot butter; add a teaspoonful of chopped celery tops, a blade of mace, one salted anchovy, six whole peppers, and a pint of soup stock. Let it boil; then strain into a saucepan; add the chopped clams and one quart of stock or hot water. Boil slowly one hour; strain all the clams through a sieve twice, and return to the stock; season with salt and cayenne. Keep the soup warm, but do not let it boil again; taste for seasoning. Boil one pint of cream in a saucepan previously wet with cold water; strain it, and add to the soup slowly. Mix a teaspoonful of rice flour in a little cold milk; add to the soup; whisk the soup; taste again for seasoning; pour it into a hot tureen, and serve.

RABBIT SOUP.--Cut up two jack rabbits into neat pieces; put them into a stewpan containing one quarter of a pound of melted butter; add a slice of fat bacon cut into small pieces. Fry for five minutes in the butter; slice two small carrots, and two red onions, and add to the saucepan with one bay leaf, one blade of mace, four cloves, a few green celery stalks, one ounce of salt, and one long red pepper.

Pour over all, one gallon of stock; simmer gently for nearly three hours; skim carefully; strain into a saucepan, and set on back of range to keep hot, but not to boil. Add half a pint of dry sherry, and serve with croutons. If not dark enough add a little glaze.

SCOTCH BROTH.--Take two pounds of mutton trimmings; cut into neat pieces; put into a saucepan with three quarts of water, one large red onion, salt, and a dozen whole peppers. Boil gently, and remove the scum as it rises; wash half a pint of barley; soak it while the soup is boiling, and add it at the end of the first hour. Let the soup boil for two hours longer; taste for seasoning; pour slowly into a soup tureen, leaving the meat in the saucepan. Some prefer to take the meat out of the soup, and after removing the bones they return the meat to the soup.

SORREL SOUP.--Sorrel is an excellent ingredient for soup. Its acid leaves are much appreciated by the French; the wild sorrel may be used, but now that truck gardeners are cultivating it extensively, it will be found less troublesome to use the latter.

The Germans make the best sorrel soup; their recipe is as follows:--Wash and pick over two quarts of sorrel; remove the stems; then cut the sorrel into pieces. Heat two ounces of butter in a small saucepan; add the sorrel and a few blades of chives; cover without water and allow it to steam for half an hour. Stir to prevent burning; sprinkle over this a tablespoonful of flour free from lumps. Now add three quarts of well-seasoned veal stock; taste for seasoning; boil once, and send to table with croutons or small bits of toast. This an excellent spring and summer soup.

SPRING SOUP.--Take two quarts of nicely seasoned veal stock; place it on the range to keep hot, but not to boil. Cut into neat strips four young carrots, four young spring turnips, and two spring leeks; add them to the stock. Now add half a pint of fresh green peas; boil gently for fifteen minutes; taste for seasoning, and serve.

TOMATO SOUP.--Cut four ounces of ham into dice; slice two onions, and fry with ham in two ounces of butter; when browned turn them into a saucepan containing three quarts of stock or corned-beef water, and add three carrots, two turnips, and one long red pepper, and a dozen outer stalks of celery. Simmer gently for one hour; then add a quart of canned tomatoes; boil gently for another hour; rub the whole through a sieve, and simmer again with the liquor a few minutes; add salt, and serve with fried bread crumbs.

TURKEY SOUP.--Take the remains of a cold roast turkey, trim off all the meat, break up the bones, and put them into a saucepan; cover them with two quarts of veal stock; salt and cayenne to taste. Boil gently for one hour; strain and skim. Now add the flesh of the turkey; simmer gently; dissolve a tablespoonful of rice flour in a little cold milk, and add it to the soup. Let it come to a boil; taste for seasoning, and serve with croutons.

VEGETABLE SOUP.--Wash and clean two carrots and two turnips; cut them into slices, and cut each slice into small narrow strips; put them into a saucepan with four stalks of celery cut into inch pieces, a dozen button onions, one long red pepper, and a teaspoonful of salt; add three quarts of soup stock; boil until the vegetables are tender, add a lump of sugar, and serve. The carrots and turnips may be cut into fancy shapes with a vegetable cutter.

VERMICELLI SOUP.--Take one quarter of a pound of vermicelli; break it into pieces, and boil it for five minutes; drain and add it to three pints of strong soup stock. Boil once; draw to one side, and simmer gently for twenty minutes. Should any scum arise, remove it; taste for seasoning, and send to table with a little Parmesan cheese.

COOKERY BOOKS.

By THOMAS J. MURREY,

_Formerly professional caterer of the Astor House, New York; Continental Hotel, Philadelphia, and other leading hotels._

* * * * *

FIFTY SOUPS.

Containing much valuable information concerning soups and soup-making, and fifty recipes for soups of all kinds, simple and elaborate.

"One of the most charming little cook-books recently published."--_Christian Union._

FIFTY SALADS.

Contains fifty recipes for salads and several for salad-dressings, etc., as well as remarks upon salad-making, salad herbs, etc.

"A practical _chef_, Mr. Murrey brings to his volume the experience of many years in the leading kitchens of New York, and his recipes are those which have made the reputation of several famous restaurants."--_Domestic Monthly._

BREAKFAST DAINTIES.

With many interesting hints and directions concerning breakfast breads, fruits, beverages, and dainty dishes. Mr. Murrey's own recipes.

PUDDINGS AND DAINTY DESSERTS.

With Mr. Murrey's own recipes for over 75 desserts, many of which are out-of-the-common and especially useful.

THE BOOK OF ENTRÉES.

Remarks upon and recipes (over 125 in number) for entrées of all varieties. Invaluable for dinners, lunches, late breakfasts, etc.

COOKERY FOR INVALIDS.

PRACTICAL CARVING.

LUNCHEON.

OYSTERS AND FISH.

_Each one of the above is attractively printed on fine laid paper._

_Covers in colors, with original design, 16mo, boards, each, 50 cts._

SALADS AND SAUCES.

_In same style of binding as above, but larger in size. 75 cts._

_Any of these books can be had of your bookseller, or will be sent to any address at publishers' expense, on receipt of advertised price._

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY, 29 West 23d Street, New York City.

_BLANK PAGES_

FOR

ADDITIONAL RECIPES.

+------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Notes: | | | | Table of contents: the page references for potato soup, | | purée of beans and purée of clams have been amended to | | page 33 from page 35 | | | | Page 8: excercised amended to exercised | | | | Page 9: porclain amended to porcelain | | | | Page 16: hours amended to hour | | | | Hyphenation has been standardised. | | | | Letters that are accented in the lower case are typically | | not accented in the upper case. This has been retained. | | Words containing accented letters in the lower case have | | been standardised. | +------------------------------------------------------------+