Chapter 5

Six pounds of a shin of veal, one fowl, three table-spoonfuls of butter, four stalks of celery, two onions, one blade of mace, one stick of cinnamon, eight quarts of cold water, salt, pepper. Wash and cut the veal and fowl into small pieces. Put the butter in the bottom of the soup pot and then put in the meat. Cover, and cook gently (stirring often) half an hour, then add the water. Let it come to a boil, then skim and set back where it will boil gently for six hours. Add the vegetables and spice and boil one hour longer. Strain and cool quickly. In the morning take off all the fat. Then turn the jelly gently into a deep dish, and with a knife scrape off the sediment which is on the bottom. Put the jelly into a stone pot and set in a cold place. This will keep a week in cold weather and three days in warm.

Consommé à la Royale.

Two eggs, two table-spoonfuls of milk, one-fourth of a tea-spoonful of salt. Beat eggs with a spoon, and add milk and salt Turn into a buttered cup, and place in a pan of warm water. Cook in a slow oven until firm in the centre. Set away to cool. Cut into small and prettily-shaped pieces; put into the tureen, and pour one quart of boiling consomme or clear stock on it.

Cheese Soup.

One and a half cupfuls of flour, one pint of rich cream, four table- spoonfuls of butter, four of grated Parmesan cheese, a speck of cayenne, two eggs, three quarts of clear soup stock. Mix flour, cream, butter, cheese and pepper together. Place the basin in another of hot water and stir until the mixture becomes a smooth, firm paste. Break into it the two eggs, and mix quickly and thoroughly. Cook two minutes longer, and set away to cool. When cold, roll into little balls about the size of an American walnut When the balls are all formed drop them into boiling water and cook gently five minutes; then put them in the soup tureen and pour the boiling stock on them. Pass a plate of finely grated Parmesan cheese with the soup.

Thick Vegetable Soup.

One quart of the sediment which is left from the clear stock, one quart of water, one-fourth of a cupful of pearl barley, one good-sized white turnip, one carrot, half a head of celery, two onions, about two pounds of cabbage, three potatoes, salt and pepper. Wash the barley and put it on in the quart of water, and simmer gently for two hours. Then add all the vegetables (except the potatoes), cut very fine, and the quart of stock. Boil gently for one hour and a half, then add the potatoes and the salt and pepper. Cook thirty minutes longer. When there is no stock, take two pounds of beef and two quarts of water. Cook beef, barley and water two hours, and add the vegetables as before. The meat can be served with the soup or as a separate dish.

Mulligatawny Soup.

One chicken or fowl weighing three pounds, three pounds of veal, two large onions, two large slices of carrot, four stalks of celery, three large table-spoonfuls of butter, one table-spoonful of curry powder, four of flour, salt, pepper, five quarts of water. Take two table- spoonfuls of the fat from the opening in the chicken and put in the soup pot As soon as melted, put in the vegetables, which have been cut very fine. Let all cook together for twenty minutes, stirring frequently, that it may not burn; then add the veal, cut into small pieces. Cook fifteen minutes longer; then add the whole chicken and the water. Cover, and let it come to a boil. Skim, and set back where it will simmer for four hours (in the mean time taking out the chicken when it is tender). Now put the butter into a small frying-pan, and when hot, add the dry flour. Stir until a rich brown; then take from the fire and add the curry powder. Stir this mixture into the soup, and let it cook half an hour longer; then strain through a sieve, rinse out the soup pot and return the strained soup to it. Add salt and pepper and the chicken (which has been freed from the bones and skin and cut into small pieces); simmer very gently thirty minutes. Skim off any fat that may rise to the top, and serve. This soup is served with plain boiled rice in a separate dish or with small squares of fried or toasted bread. The rice can be served in the soup if you choose.

Mulligatawny Soup, No. 2.

Chicken or turkey left from a former dinner, bones and scraps from roast veal, lamb or mutton, four quarts of water, four stalks of celery, four table-spoonfuls of butter, four of flour, one of curry, two onions, two slices of carrot, salt, pepper, half a small cupful of barley. Put on the bones of the poultry and meat with the water. Have the vegetables cut very fine, and cook gently twenty minutes in the butter; then skim them into the soup pot, being careful to press out all the butter. Into the butter remaining in the pan put the flour, and when that is brown, add the curry powder, and stir all into the soup. Cook gently four hours; then season with salt and pepper, and strain. Return to the pot and add bits of chicken or turkey, as the case may be, and the barley, which has been simmering two hours and a half in clear water to cover. Simmer half an hour and serve.

Green Turtle Soup.

One can of green turtle, such as is put up by the "Merriam Packing Co." Separate the green fat from the other contents of the can, cut into dice and set aside. Put one quart of water with the remainder of the turtle; add twelve pepper-corns, six whole cloves, two small sprigs each of parsley, summer savory, sweet marjoram and thyme, two bay leaves, two leaves of sage. Have the herbs tied together. Put one large onion, one slice of carrot, one of turnip, and a stalk of celery, cut fine, into a pan, with two large table-spoonfuls of butter. Fry fifteen minutes, being careful not to burn. Skim carefully from the butter and put into the soup. Now, into the butter in which the vegetables were fried, put two table-spoonfuls of dry flour, and cook until brown. Stir into the soup; season with salt and pepper and let simmer very gently one hour. Strain, skim off all the fat and serve with thin slices of lemon, egg or force-meat balls, and the green fat. The lemon should have a very thin rind; should be put into the tureen and the soup poured over it Cooking the lemon in this or any other soup often gives it a bitter taste. If the soup is wished quite thick, add a table-spoonful of butter to that in which the vegetables were cooked, and use three table-spoonfuls of flour instead of two. Many people use wine in this soup, but it is delicious without. In case you do use wine there should not be more than four table-spoonfuls to this quantity. If you desire the soup extremely rich, use a quart of rich soup stock. The green turtles are so very large that it is only in great establishments that they are available, and for this reason a rule for preparing the live turtle is not given. Few housekeepers would ever see one. The cans contain not what is commonly called turtle soup, but the meat of the turtle, boiled, and the proper proportions of lean meat, yellow and green fat put together. They cost fifty cents each, and a single can will make soup enough for six persons.

Black Bean Soup.

A pint of black beans, soaked over night in three quarts of water. In the morning pour off this water, and add three quarts of fresh. Boil gently six hours. When done, there should be one quart. Add a quart of stock, six whole cloves, six whole allspice, a small piece of mace, a small piece of cinnamon, stalk of celery, a bouquet of sweet herbs, also one good-sized onion and one small slice each of turnip and carrot, all cut fine and fried in three table-spoonfuls of butter. Into the butter remaining in the pan put a spoonful of flour, and cook until brown. Add to soup, and simmer all together one hour. Season with salt and pepper, and rub through a fine sieve. Serve with slices of lemon and egg balls, the lemon to be put in the tureen with the soup.

Scotch Broth.

Two pounds of the scraggy part of a neck of mutton. Cut the meat from the bones, and cut off all the fat. Then cut meat into small pieces and put into soup pot with one large slice of turnip, two of carrot, one onion and a stalk of celery, all cut fine, half a cup of barley and three pints of cold water. Simmer gently two hours. On to the bones put one pint of water; simmer two hours, and strain upon the soup. Cook a table-spoonful of flour and one of butter together until perfectly smooth; stir into soup, and add a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Meg Merrilies' Soup.

One hare, one grouse, four onions, one small carrot, four slices of turnip, a bouquet of sweet herbs, three table-spoonfuls of rice flour, four table-spoonfuls of butter, half a cupful of stale bread, half a cupful of milk, one egg, six quarts of water. Wash the grouse and hare and put to boil in the six quarts of cold water. When this comes to a boil, skim, and set back where it will simmer for one hour. Then take out the hare and grouse and cut all the meat from the bones. Return the bones to the soup and simmer two hours longer. Cut the meat into handsome pieces, roll in flour, and fry in the butter till a rich brown. Set aside for the present. Slice the onions, and fry in the butter in which the meat was fried; when brown, add to the soup. Make force-meat balls of the livers of the hare and grouse (which have been boiled one hour in the stock), the egg, bread and milk. Boil the bread and milk together until a smooth paste. Mash the livers with a strong spoon, then add bread and milk and the egg, unbeaten. Season well with pepper and salt and, if you like, with a little lemon juice. Shape into small balls and fry in either chicken fat or butter. Put these into the soup twenty minutes before dishing. Have the turnip and carrot cut into small pieces and cooked one hour in clear water. When the bones and the onions have simmered two hours, strain and return to the soup pot. Add the fried meat and vegetables. Mix the rice flour with a cupful of cold water; add to the soup, season with salt and pepper, simmer ten minutes. Add force-meat balls and simmer twenty minutes longer.

Okra Soup.

One cold roast chicken, two quarts of stock (any kind), one of water, quarter of a pound of salt pork, one quart of green okra, an onion, salt, pepper, three table-spoonfuls of flour. Cut the okra pods into small pieces. Slice the pork and onion. Fry the pork, and then add the onion and okra. Cover closely, and fry half an hour. Cut all the meat from the chicken. Put the bones on with the water. Add the okra and onion, first being careful to press out all the pork fat possible. Into the fat remaining put the flour, and stir until it becomes a rich brown; add this to the other ingredients. Cover the pot, and simmer three hours; then rub through a sieve, and add the stock, salt and pepper and the meat of the chicken, cut into small pieces. Simmer gently twenty minutes. Serve with a dish of boiled rice.

Okra Soup, No. 2.

One pint of green okra, one of green peas, one of green com, cut from the cob, half a pint of shell beans, two onions, four stalks of celery, two ripe tomatoes, one slice of carrot, one of turnip, two pounds of veal, quarter of a pound of fat ham or bacon, two table- spoonfuls of flour, four quarts of water, salt, pepper. Fry the ham or bacon, being careful not to bum. Cut the veal into dice; roll these in the flour and fry brown in the ham fat; then put them in the soup pot. Fry the onion, carrot and turnip in the remaining fat. Add these to the veal, and then add the okra, cut into small pieces, the shell beans, celery and water. Simmer two hours, and then add the tomatoes, corn, peas and salt and pepper. Simmer half an hour longer and serve without straining. If dried okra be used for either soup, half the quantity given in the recipes is sufficient Okra is often called gumbo. The same kind of a soup is meant under both names.

Grouse Soup.

The bones of two roasted grouse and the breast of one, a quart of any kind of stock, or pieces and bones of cold roasts; three quarts of cold water, two slices of turnip, two of carrot, two large onions, two cloves, two stalks of celery, a bouquet of sweet herbs, three table- spoonfuls of butter, three of flour. Cook the grouse bones in three quarts of water four hours. The last hour add the vegetables and the cloves; then strain, and return to the lire with the quart of stock. Cook the butter and the flour together until a rich brown, and then turn into the stock. Cut the breast of the grouse into very small pieces and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and simmer gently half an hour. If there is any fat on the soup, skim it off. Serve with fried bread. When bones and meat are used instead of the stock, use one more quart of water, and cook them with the grouse bones.

Spring Soup.

Half a pint of green peas, half a pint of cauliflower, one pint of turnip, carrot, celery and string beans (all the four vegetables being included in the pint), half a cupful of tomato, half a pint of asparagus heads, two quarts of soup stock--any kind will do; three table-spoonfuls of butter, three table-spoonfuls of flour, and salt and pepper. Cook all the vegetables, except the peas and tomato, in water to cover one hour. Cook butter and dry flour together until smooth, but not brown; stir into the stock, which has been heated to the boiling point. Now add the tomato and simmer gently fifteen minutes; then strain. Add the peas and cooked vegetables to the strained soup, and simmer again for thirty minutes. Serve small slices of toasted bread in a separate dish.

Spring and Summer Soup Without Stock.

Quarter of a pound of salt pork, or three large table-spoonfuls of butter; three large young onions, half a small head of cabbage, three potatoes, half a small carrot, half a small white turnip, three table- spoonfuls of flour, two quarts of water, six large slices of toasted bread, salt, pepper, one small parsnip. Cut the pork into thin slices; place these in the soup pot and let them fry out slowly. Have the vegetables (except the potatoes), cut quite fine, and when the pork is cooked, put the vegetables into the pot with it. Cover tightly, and let cook very gently, on the back of the stove, one hour. Stir frequently to prevent burning. Add the water, which should be boiling. Let simmer gently for one hour, and then add the potatoes, cut into slices, and the flour, which has been mixed with a little cold water. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer gently an hour longer. Have the toasted bread in the tureen. Turn the soup on it and serve. A pint of green peas, cooked in the soup the last half, is a great addition. When the butter is used, let it melt in the soup pot before adding the vegetables.

Giblet Soup.

The giblets from two or three fowl or chickens, any kind of stock, or if there are remains of the roast chickens, use these; one large onion, two slices of carrot, one of turnip, two stalks of celery, two quarts of water, one of stock, two large table-spoonfuls of butter, two of flour, salt, pepper. Put the giblets on to boil in the two quarts of water, and boil gently until reduced to one quart (it will take about two hours); then take out the giblets. Cut all the hard, tough parts from the gizzards, and put hearts, livers and gizzards together and chop rather coarse. Return them to the liquor in which they were boiled, and add the quart of stock. Have the vegetables cut fine, and fry them in the butter until they are very tender (about fifteen minutes), but be careful they do not burn; then add the dry flour to them and stir until the flour browns. Turn this mixture into the soup, and season with pepper and salt. Cook gently half an hour and serve with toasted bread. If the chicken bones are used, put them on to boil in three quarts of water, and boil the giblets with them. When you take out the giblets, strain the stock through a sieve and return to the pot; then proceed as before.

Potage à la Reine,

Boil a large fowl in three quarts of water until tender (the water should never more than bubble). Skim off the fat, and add a teacupful of rice, and, also, a slice of carrot, one of turnip, a small piece of celery and an onion, which have been cooked slowly for fifteen minutes in two large table-spoonfuls of butter. Skim this butter carefully from the vegetables, and into the pan in which it is, stir a table- spoonful of flour. Cook until smooth, but not brown. Add this, as well as a small piece of cinnamon and of mace, and four whole cloves. Cook all together slowly for two hours. Chop and pound the breast of the fowl very fine. Rub the soup through a fine sieve; add the pounded breast and again rub the whole through the sieve. Put back on the fire and add one and a half table-spoonfuls of salt, a fourth of a teaspoonful of pepper and a pint of cream, which has come just to a boil. Boil up once and serve. This is a delicious soup.

Tomato Soup.

One quart can of tomato, two heaping table-spoonfuls of flour, one of butter, one teaspoonful of salt, one of sugar, a pint of hot water. Let tomato and water come to a boil Rub flour, butter and a table- spoonful of tomato together. Stir into boiling mixture, add seasoning, boil all together fifteen minutes, rub through a sieve, and serve with toasted bread. This bread should first be cut in thin slices; should be buttered, cut into little squares, placed in a pan, buttered side up, and browned in a quick oven.

Mock Bisque Soup.

A quart can of tomato, three pints of milk, a large table-spoonful of flour, butter the size of an egg, pepper and salt to taste, a scant teaspoonful of soda. Put the tomato on to stew, and the milk in a double kettle to boil, reserving however, half a cupful to mix with flour. Mix the flour smoothly with this cold milk, stir into the boiling milk, and cook ten minutes. To the tomato add the soda; stir well, and rub through a strainer that is fine enough to keep back the seeds. Add butter, salt and pepper to the milk, and then the tomato. Serve immediately. If half the rule is made, stir the tomato well in the can before dividing, as the liquid portion is the more acid.

Onion Soup.

One quart of milk, six large onions, yolks of four eggs, three table- spoonfuls of butter, a large one of flour, one cupful of cream, salt, pepper. Put the butter in a frying-pan. Cut the onions into thin slices and drop in the butter. Stir until they begin to cook; then cover tight and set back where they will simmer, but not burn, for half an hour. Now put the milk on to boil, and then add the dry flour to the onions, and stir constantly for three minutes over the fire. Then turn the mixture into the milk and cook fifteen minutes. Rub the soup through a strainer, return to the fire, season with salt and pepper. Beat the yokes of the eggs well; add the cream to them and stir into the soup. Cook three minutes, stirring constantly. If you have no cream, use milk, in which case add a table-spoonful of butter at the same time.

Potato Soup.

A quart of milk, six large potatoes, one stalk of celery, an onion and a table-spoonful of butter. Put milk to boil with onion and celery. Pare potatoes and boil thirty minutes. Turn off the water, and mash fine and light. Add boiling milk and the butter, and pepper and salt to taste. Rub through a strainer and serve immediately. A cupful of whipped cream, added when in the tureen, is a great improvement. This soup must not be allowed to stand, not even if kept hot. Served as soon as ready, it is excellent.

Asparagus Soup.

Two bundles of asparagus, one quart of white stock or water, one pint of milk, and one of cream, if stock is used, but if water, use all cream; three table-spoonfuls of butter, three of flour, one onion, salt and pepper. Cut the tops from one bunch of the asparagus and cook them twenty minutes in salted water to cover. The remainder of the asparagus cook twenty minutes in the quart of stock or water. Cut the onion into thin slices and fry in the butter ten minutes, being careful not to burn; then add the asparagus that has been boiled in the stock. Cook five minutes, stirring constantly; then add flour, and cook five minutes longer. Turn this mixture into the boiling stock and boil gently twenty minutes. Rub through a sieve, add the milk and cream, which has just come to a boil, and also the asparagus heads. Season with salt and pepper, and serve. Dropped eggs can be served with it if you choose, but they are rattier heavy for such a delicate soup.

Green Pea Soup.

Cover a quart of green peas with hot water, and boil, with an onion, until they will mash easily. (The time will depend on the age of the peas, but will be from twenty to thirty minutes.) Mash, and add a pint of stock or water. Cook together two table-spoonfuls of butter and one of flour until smooth, but not brown. Add to the peas, and then add a cupful of cream and one of milk. Season with salt and pepper, and let boil up once. Strain and serve. A cupful of whipped cream added the last moment is an improvement.

Pumpkin Soup.

Two pounds of pumpkin. Take out seeds and pare off the rind. Cut into small pieces, and put into a stew-pan with half a pint of water. Simmer slowly an hour and a half, then rub through a sieve and put back on the fire with one and a half pints of boiling milk, butter the size of an egg, one tea-spoonful of sugar, salt and pepper to taste, and three slices of stale bread, cut into small squares. Stir occasionally; and when it boils, serve.

Cream of Celery Soup.

A pint of milk, a table-spoonful of flour, one of butter, a head of celery, a large slice of onion and small piece of mace. Boil celery in a pint of water from thirty to forty-five minutes; boil mace, onion and milk together. Mix flour with two table-spoonfuls of cold milk, and add to boiling milk. Cook ten minutes. Mash celery in the water in which it has been cooked, and stir into boiling milk. Add butter, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Strain and serve immediately. The flavor is improved by adding a cupful of whipped cream when the soup is in the tureen.

Tapioca Cream Soup.

One quart of white stock, one pint of cream or milk, one onion, two stalks of celery, one-third of a cupful of tapioca, two cupfuls of cold water, one table-spoonful of butter, a small piece of mace, salt, pepper. Wash the tapioca, and soak over night in cold water. Cook it and the stock together, very gently, for one hour. Cut the onion and celery into small pieces, and put on to cook for twenty minutes with the milk and mace. Strain on the tapioca and stock. Season with salt and pepper, add butter, and serve.

Cream of Rice Soup.

Two quarts of chicken stock (the water in which fowl have been boiled will answer), one tea-cupful of rice, a quart of cream or milk, a small onion, a stalk of celery and salt and pepper to taste. Wash rice carefully, and add to chicken stock, onion and celery. Cook slowly two hours (it should hardly bubble). Put through a sieve; add seasoning and the milk or cream, which has been allowed to come just to a boil. If milk, use also a table-spoonful of butter.

Cream of Barley Soup.

A tea-cupful of barley, well washed; three pints of chicken stock, an onion and a small piece each of mace and cinnamon. Cook slowly together five hours; then rub through a sieve, and add one and a half pints of boiling cream or milk. If milk, add also two table-spoonfuls of butter. Salt and pepper to taste. The yolks of four eggs, beaten with four table-spoonfuls of milk, and cooked a minute in the boiling milk or cream, makes the soup very much richer.

Duchess Soup.