Part 3

CHICKEN SOUP.--Cut up two large fine fowls, as if carving them for the table, and wash the pieces in cold water. Take half a dozen thin slices of cold ham, and lay them in a soup-pot, mixed among the pieces of chicken. Season them with a very little cayenne, a little nutmeg, and a few blades of mace, but no salt, as the ham will make it salt enough. Add a head of celery, split and cut into long bits, a quarter of a pound of butter, divided in two, and rolled in flour. Pour on three quarts of milk. Set the soup-pot over the fire, and let it boil rather slowly, skimming it well. When it has boiled an hour, put in some small round dumplings, made of half a pound of flour mixed with a quarter of a pound of butter; divide this dough into equal portions, and roll them in your hands into little balls about the size of a large hickory nut. The soup must boil till the flesh of the fowls is loose on the bones, but not till it drops off. Stir in, at the last, the beaten yolks of three or four eggs; and let the soup remain about five minutes longer over the fire. Then take it up. Cut off from the bones the flesh of the fowls, and divide it into mouthfuls. Cut up the slices of ham in the same manner. Mince the livers and gizzards. Put the bits of fowl and ham in the bottom of a large tureen, and pour the soup upon it.

This soup will be found excellent, and may be made of large old fowls, that cannot be cooked in any other way. If they are so old that when the soup is finished they still continue tough, remove them entirely, and do not serve them up at all.

Similar soup may be made of a large old turkey. Also, of four rabbits.

DUCK SOUP.--Half roast a pair of fine large tame ducks, keeping them half an hour at the fire, and saving the gravy, the fat of which must be carefully skimmed off. Then cut them up; season them with black pepper; and put them into a soup-pot with four or five small onions sliced thin, a small bunch of sage, a thin slice of cold ham cut into pieces, a grated nutmeg, and the yellow rind of a lemon grated. Add the gravy of the ducks. Pour on, slowly, three quarts of boiling water from a kettle. Cover the soup-pot, and set it over a moderate fire. Simmer it slowly (skimming it well) for about four hours, or till the flesh of the ducks is dissolved into small shreds. When done, strain it through a tureen, the bottom of which is covered with toasted bread, cut into square dice about two inches in size.

FRENCH WHITE SOUP.--Boil a knuckle of veal and four calves' feet in five quarts of water, with three onions sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, four heads of white celery cut small, a table-spoonful of whole pepper, and a _small_ tea-spoonful of salt, adding five or six large blades of mace. Let it boil very slowly, till the meat is in rags and has dropped from the bone, and till the gristle has quite dissolved. Skim it well while boiling. When done, strain it through a sieve into a tureen, or a deep white-ware pan. Next day, take off all the fat, and put the jelly (for such it ought to be) into a clean soup-pot with two ounces of vermicelli, and set it over the fire. When the vermicelli is dissolved, stir in, gradually, a pint of thick cream, while the soup is quite hot; but do not let it come to a boil after the cream is in, lest it should curdle. Cut up one or two French rolls in the bottom of a tureen, pour in the soup, and send it to table.

COCOA-NUT SOUP.--Take eight calves' feet (two sets) that have been scalded and scraped, but not skinned; and put them into a soup-kettle with six or seven blades of mace, and the yellow rind of a lemon grated. Pour on a gallon of water; cover the kettle, and let it boil very slowly (skimming it well) till the flesh is reduced to rags and has dropped entirely from the bones. Then strain it into a broad white-ware pan, and set it away to get cold. When it has congealed, scrape off the fat and sediment, cut up the cake of jelly, (or stock,) and put it into a clean porcelain or enameled kettle. Have ready half a pound of very finely grated cocoa-nut. Mix it with a pint of cream. If you cannot obtain cream, take rich unskimmed milk, and add to it three ounces of the best fresh butter divided into three parts, each bit rolled in arrow-root or rice-flour. Mix it, gradually, with the cocoa-nut, and add it to the calves-feet-stock in the kettle, seasoned with a small nutmeg grated. Set it over the fire, and boil it, slowly, about a quarter of an hour; stirring it well. Then transfer it to a tureen, and serve it up. Have ready small French rolls, or light milk biscuit to eat with it; also powdered sugar in case any of the company should wish to sweeten it.

ALMOND SOUP is made in the above manner, substituting pounded almonds for the grated cocoa-nut. You must have half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, mixed with two ounces of shelled bitter almonds. After blanching them in hot water, they must be pounded to a smooth paste (one at a time) in a marble mortar; adding frequently a little rose-water to prevent their oiling, and becoming heavy. Or you may use peach-water for this purpose; in which case omit the bitter almonds, as the peach-water will give the desired flavor. When the pounded almonds are ready, mix them with the other ingredients, as above.

The calves' feet for these soups should be boiled either very early in the morning, or the day before.

SPRING SOUP.--Unless your dinner hour is very late, the stock for this soup should be made the day before it is wanted, and set away in a stone pan, closely covered. To make the stock take a knuckle of veal, break the bones, and cut it into several pieces. Allow a quart of water to each pound of veal. Put it into a soup-pot, with a set of calves' feet,[A] and some bits of cold ham, cut off near the hock. If you have no ham, sprinkle in a tea-spoonful of salt, and a salt-spoon of cayenne. Place the pot over a _moderate_ fire, and let it simmer slowly (skimming it well) for several hours, till the veal is all to rags and the flesh of the calves' feet has dropped in shreds from the bones. Then strain the soup; and if not wanted that day, set it away in a stone pan, as above mentioned.

[A] In buying calves' feet always get those that are singed, not skinned. Much of the glutinous or jelly property resides in the skin.

Next day have, ready boiled, two quarts or more of green peas, (they must on no account be old,) and a pint of the green tops cut off from asparagus boiled for the purpose. Pound a handful of raw spinach till you have extracted a tea-cupful of the juice. Set the soup or stock over the fire; add the peas, asparagus, and spinach juice, stirring them well in; also a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into four bits, and rolled in flour. Let the whole come to a boil; and then take it off and transfer it to a tureen. It will be found excellent.

In boiling the peas for this soup, you may put with them half a dozen sprigs of green mint, to be afterwards taken out.

Late in the spring you may add to the other vegetables two cucumbers, pared and sliced, and the whitest part or heart of a lettuce, boiled together; then well drained, and put into the soup with the peas and asparagus. It must be very thick with vegetables.

SUMMER SOUP.--Take a large neck of mutton, and hack it so as nearly to cut it apart, but not quite. Allow a small quart of water to each pound of meat, and sprinkle on a tea-spoonful of salt and a very little black pepper. Put it into a soup-pot, and boil it _slowly_ (skimming it well) till the meat is reduced to rags. Then strain the liquid, return it to the soup-pot, and carefully remove all the fat from the surface. Have ready half a dozen small turnips sliced thin, two young onions sliced, a table-spoonful of sweet marjoram leaves picked from the stalks, and a quart of shelled Lima beans. Put in the vegetables, and boil them in the soup till they are thoroughly done. You may add to them two table-spoonfuls of green nasturtion seeds, either fresh or pickled. Put in also some little dumplings, (made of flour and butter,) about ten minutes before the soup is done.

Instead of Lima beans, you may divide a cauliflower or two broccolis into sprigs, and boil them in the soup with the other vegetables.

This soup may be made of a shoulder of mutton, cut into pieces and the bones cracked. For a large potful add also the breast to the neck, cutting the bones apart.

AUTUMN SOUP.--Begin this soup as early in the day as possible. Take six pounds of the lean of fine fresh beef; cut it into small pieces; sprinkle it with a tea-spoonful of salt, (not more); put it into a soup-pot, and pour on six quarts of water. The hock of a cold ham will greatly improve it. Set it over a moderate fire, and let it boil slowly. After it comes to a boil, skim it well. Have ready a quarter of a peck of ochras cut into very thin round slices, and a quarter of a peck of tomatos cut into pieces; also a quart of shelled Lima beans. Season them with pepper. Put them in; and after the whole has boiled three hours _at least_, take four ears of young Indian corn, and having grated off all the grains, add them to the soup and boil it an hour longer. Before you serve up the soup remove from it all the bits of meat, which, if the soup is sufficiently cooked, will be reduced to shreds.

You may put in with the ochras and tomatos one or two sliced onions. The soup, when done, should be as thick as a jelly.

Ochras for soup may be kept all winter, by tying them separately to a line stretched high across the store room.

WINTER SOUP.--The day before you make the soup, get a leg or shin of beef. Have the bone sawed through in several places, and the meat notched or scored down to the bone. This will cause the juice or essence to come out more freely, when cooked. Rub it slightly with salt; cover it, and set it away. Next morning, early as possible, as soon as the fire is well made up, put the beef into a large soup-pot, allowing to each pound a small quart of water. Then taste the water, and if the salt that has been rubbed on the meat is not sufficient, add a very little more. Throw in also a tea-spoonful of whole pepper-corns; and you may add half a dozen blades of mace. Let it simmer slowly till it comes to a boil; then skim it well. After it boils, you may quicken the fire. At nine o'clock put in a large head of cabbage cut fine as for cold-slaw; six carrots grated; the leaves stripped from a bunch of sweet marjoram; and the leaves of a sprig of parsley. An hour afterwards, add six turnips, and three potatoes, all cut into four or eight pieces. Also two onions, which will be better if previously roasted brown, and then sliced. Keep the soup boiling steadily, but not hard, unless the dinner hour is very early. For a late dinner, there will be time to boil it slowly all the while; and all soups are the better for long and slow boiling. See that it is well skimmed, so that, when done, there will be not a particle of fat or scum on the surface. At dinner-time take it up with a large ladle, and transfer it to a tureen. In doing so, carefully avoid the shreds of meat and bone. Leave them all in the bottom of the pot, pressing them down with the ladle. A mass of shreds in the tureen or soup-plate looks slovenly and disgusting, and should never be seen at the table; also, they absorb too much of the liquid. Let the vegetables remain in the soup when it is served up, but pick out every shred of meat or bone that may be found in the tureen when ready to go to table.

In very cold weather, what is left of this soup will keep till the second day; when it must be simmered again over the fire, till it just comes to a boil. Put it away in a tin or stone vessel. The lead which is used in glazing earthen jars frequently communicates its poison to liquids that are kept in them.

VEGETABLE SOUP--(_very good_.)--Soak all night, in cold water, either two quarts of yellow split peas, or two quarts of dried white beans. In the morning drain them, and season them with a very little salt and cayenne, and a head of minced celery, or else a heaped table-spoonful of celery seed. Put them into a soup-pot with four quarts of water, and boil them slowly till they are all dissolved and undistinguishable. Stir them frequently. Have ready a profuse quantity of fresh vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, parsnips, potatos, onions, and cauliflowers; also, salsify, and asparagus tops. Put in, first, the vegetables that require the longest boiling. They should all be cut into small pieces. Enrich the whole with some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Boil these vegetables in the soup till they are all quite tender. Then transfer it to a tureen, and serve it up hot.

The foundation being of dried peas or beans, makes it very thick and smooth, and the fresh vegetables improve its flavor. It is a good soup for Lent, or for any time, if properly and liberally made.

All vegetable soups can be made in Lent without meat, if milk is substituted for water, and with butter, beaten eggs and spice, to flavor and enrich it.

FRENCH POT AU FEU.--This is one of the national dishes of France. The following is a genuine French receipt, and it would be found very palatable and very convenient if tried in our own land of plenty. The true French way to cook it is in an earthen pipkin, such as can be had in any pottery shop. The French vessel has a wide mouth, and close-fitting lid, with a handle at each side, in the form of circular ears. It is large and swelling in the middle, and narrows down towards the bottom. The American pipkin has a short thick spout at one side, and stands on three or four low feet. No kitchen should be without these vessels, which are cheap, very strong, and easily kept clean. They can sit on a stove, or in the corner of the fire, and are excellent for slow cooking.

The wife of a French artisan commences her pot au feu soon after breakfast, prepares the ingredients, puts them, by degrees, into the pot, attends to it during the day; and when her husband has done his work she has ready for him an excellent and substantial repast, far superior to what in our country is called a _tea-dinner_. Men frequently indemnify themselves for the poorness of a tea-dinner by taking a dram of whiskey afterwards. A Frenchman is satisfied with his excellent pot au feu and some fruit afterwards. The French are noted as a temperate nation. If they have eaten to their satisfaction they have little craving for drink. Yet there is no country in the world where so much good eating might be had as in America. But to live well, and wholesomely, there should also be good cooking, and the wives of our artisans must learn to think more of the comfort, health, and cheerfulness of him who in Scotland is called the _bread-winner_, than of their own finery, and their children's uncomfortable frippery.

_Receipt._--For a large pot au feu, put into the pipkin six pounds of good fresh beef cut up, and pour on it four quarts of water. Set it near the fire, skim it when it simmers, and when nearly boiling, add a tea-spoonful of salt, half a pound of liver cut in pieces, and some black pepper. Then add two or three large carrots, sliced or grated on a coarse grater; four turnips, pared and quartered; eight young onions peeled and sliced thick, two of the onions roasted whole; a head of celery cut up; a parsnip split and cut up; and six potatos, pared, sliced, or quartered. In short any good vegetables now in season, including tomatos in summer and autumn. Also a bunch of sweet herbs, chopped small. Let the whole continue to boil slowly and _steadily_; remembering to skim well. Let it simmer slowly five or six hours. Then, having laid some large slices of bread in the bottom of a tureen, or a very large pan or bowl, pour the stew or soup upon it; all the meat, and all the vegetables. If you have any left, recook it the next morning for breakfast, and _that day_ you may prepare something else for dinner.

For beef you may substitute mutton, or fresh venison, if you live in a venison country, and can get it newly killed.

WILD DUCK SOUP.--This is a company soup. If you live where wild ducks are abundant, it will afford an agreeable variety occasionally to make soup of some of them. If you suspect them to be sedgy or fishy, (you can ascertain by the smell when drawing or cleaning them,) parboil each duck, with a carrot put into his body. Then take out the carrot and throw it away. You will find that the unpleasant flavor has left the ducks, and been entirely absorbed by the carrots. To make the soup--cut up the ducks, season the pieces with a little salt and pepper, and lay them in a soup-pot. For a good pot of soup you should have four wild ducks. Add two or three sliced onions, and a table-spoonful of minced sage. Also a quarter of a pound of butter divided into four, and each piece rolled in flour. Pour in water enough to make a rich soup, and let it boil slowly till all the flesh has left the bones,--skim it well. Thicken it with boiled or roasted chestnuts, peeled, and then mashed with a potato beetle. A glass of Madeira or sherry will be found an improvement, stirred in at the last, or the juice and grated peel of a lemon. In taking it up for the tureen, be careful to leave all the bones and bits of meat in the bottom of the pot.

VENISON SOUP.--Take a large fine piece of freshly killed venison. It is best at the season when the deer are fat and juicy, from having plenty of wild berries to feed on. I do not consider winter-venison worth eating, when the meat is poor and hard, and affords no gravy, and also is black from being kept too long. When venison is fresh and in good order it yields a fine soup, allowing a small quart of water to each pound of meat. When it has boiled well, and been skimmed, put in some small dumplings made of flour and minced suet, or drippings. Also, boiled sweet potatos, cut into round thick slices. You may add boiled sweet corn cut off the cob; and, indeed, whatever vegetables are in season. The soup-meat should boil till all the flesh is loose on the bones, and the bits and shreds should not be served up.

The best pieces of buffalo make good soup.

GAME SOUP.--Take partridges, pheasants, grouse, quails, or any of the birds considered as game. You may put in here as many different sorts as you can procure. They must all be fresh killed. When they are cleaned and plucked, cut them in pieces as for carving, and put them into a soup-pot, with four calves' feet and some slices of ham, two sticks of celery, and a bundle of sweet herbs chopped small, and water enough to cover the whole well. Boil and skim well, till all the flesh is loose from the bones. Strain the liquid through a sieve into a clean pot, then thicken it with fresh butter rolled in flour. Add some force-meat balls that have been already fried; or else some hard-boiled yolks of eggs; some currant jelly, or some good wine into which a half-nutmeg has been grated; the juice of two oranges or lemons, and the grated yellow peel of one lemon. Give the soup another boil up, and then send it to table, having bread rolls to eat with it.

This is a fine soup for company. Venison soup may be made in this manner. Hare soup also.

SQUATTER'S SOUP.--Take plenty of _fresh-killed_ venison, as fat and juicy as you can get it. Cut the meat off the bones and put it (with the bones) into a large pot. Season it with pepper and salt, and pour on sufficient water to make a good rich soup. Boil it slowly (remembering to skim it well) till the meat is all in rags. Have ready some ears of young sweet corn. Boil them in a pot by themselves till they are quite soft. Cut the grains off the cob into a deep dish. Having cleared the soup from shreds and bits of bone left at the bottom of the pot, stir in a thickening made of indian meal mixed to a paste with a little fresh lard, or venison gravy. And afterwards throw in, by degrees, the cut corn. Let all boil together, till the corn is soft, or for about half an hour. Then take it up in a large pan. It will be found very good by persons who never were squatters. This soup, with a wild turkey or a buffalo hump roasted, and stewed grapes sweetened well with maple sugar, will make a good backwoods dinner.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.--Boil together a knuckle of veal (cut up) and a set of calves' feet, split. Also the hock of a cold boiled ham. Season it with cayenne pepper; but the ham will render it salt enough. You may add a smoked tongue. Allow, to each pound of meat, a small quart of water. After the meat has come to a boil and been well skimmed, add half a dozen sliced parsnips, three sliced onions, and a head of celery cut small, with a large bunch of sweet marjoram, and two large carrots sliced. Boil all together till the vegetables are nearly dissolved and the meat falls from the bone. Then strain the whole through a cullender, and transfer the liquid to a clean pot. Have ready some fine large sweetbreads that have been soaked in warm water for an hour till all the blood was disgorged; then transferred to boiling water for ten minutes, and then taken out and laid in very cold water. This will blanch them, and all sweetbreads should look white. Take them out; and remove carefully all the pipe or gristle. Cut the sweetbreads in pieces or mouthfuls, and put them into the pot of strained soup. Have ready about two or three dozen (or more) of force-meat balls, made of cold minced veal and ham seasoned with nutmeg and mace, enriched with butter, and mixed with grated lemon-peel, bread-crumbs, chopped marjoram and beaten eggs, to make the whole into smooth balls about the size of a hickory nut. Throw the balls into the soup, and add a fresh lemon, sliced thin, and a pint of Madeira wine. Give it one more boil up; then put it into a tureen and send it to table.

This ought to be a rich soup, and is seldom made except for dinner company.

If the above method is _exactly_ followed, there will be found no necessity for taking the trouble and enduring the disgust and tediousness of cleaning and preparing a calf's head for mock turtle soup--a very unpleasant process, which too much resembles the horrors of a dissecting room. And when all is done a calf's head is a very insipid article.

It will be found that the above is superior to any mock turtle. Made of shin beef, with all these ingredients, it is very rich and fine.

FISH SOUP.--All fish soups should be made with milk, (if unskimmed so much the better,) using no water whatever. The best fish for soup are the small sort of cat-fish; also tutaug, porgie, blue fish, white fish, black fish or sea-bass. Cut off their heads, tails, and fins, and remove the skin, and the backbone, and cut the fish into pieces. To each pound of fish allow a quart of rich milk. Put into the soup-pot some pieces of cold boiled ham. No salt will then be required; but season with cayenne pepper, and a few blades of mace and some grated nutmeg. Add a bunch of sweet marjoram, the leaves stripped from the stalks and chopped. Make some little dumplings of flour and butter, and put them in when the soup is about half done. Half an hour's steady boiling will be sufficient. Serve up in the tureen the pieces of fish and ham. Also some toast cut in dice.

Soup may be made in this manner, of chickens or rabbits, using always milk enriched with bits of butter rolled in flour and flavored with bits of cold ham.