Part 2

Collect the scraps left from breakfast and dinner, for instance, a half pint of soup, a gill of gravy, a half pint of mashed turnip or potato, a little macaroni cooked with cheese, a sour baked apple or broiled chop or steak, etc., etc.; put them in the stock pot or soup kettle with sufficient cold water, simmer for an hour, removing any scum that rises, then strain and set aside. Next day remove the grease, put the soup to cook, and when it boils, season with salt and pepper, and if it seems to need other seasoning add a pinch Of thyme, or celery seed, or a teaspoonful of sugar. It is sometimes well to put half a bay leaf and two or three cloves in the kettle with the scraps. The flavorings and spices required in a mixed soup of this description depend greatly upon the nature of the scraps used. If they are mostly light and delicate, thyme, mace, celery, or parsley can be added; if dark and heavy, cloves, bay leaf, sweet marjoram or a little Worcestershire sauce, or walnut or other catsup can be used more appropriately. Sometimes an ounce each of butter and flour cooked together in a saucepan till browned, and then added to the soup, give it the very thing it lacks; or it may be that the flour stirred with a gill of cold sweet cream is what is needed to make it a perfect soup.

To select and harmonize the materials for a mixed soup is one of the best evidences of culinary capacity; and the cook who can do this successfully, is qualified to prepare a soup of the most complex as well as one of the simplest character, without regard to its name or class.

OYSTER SOUPS.

These all belong to the white soup class, but they occupy so anomalous a position--an oyster soup being simply an oyster stew with additional liquid, and a thickening of flour--that they deserve special mention.

TO STEW OYSTERS.--_No. 1._

Rinse a quart of oysters in cold water, drain through a sieve. Put a piece of butter the size of an egg in a stew pan, and when melted add a pint of milk and let it come to a boil; add the oysters, and the moment the edges curl remove from the fire; season with salt and pepper. Serve with small crackers, or on thin slices of buttered toast.

TO STEW OYSTERS.--_No. 2._

Pour a pint of cold water over a quart of oysters, stir well and drain; put the liquor in a stew pan greased with butter; when it boils, skim, add the oysters, season to taste with butter, salt and pepper, and cook and serve as in No. 1.

In changing an oyster stew to a soup, the thickening and extra liquid should be added and cooked before the oysters are put into it.

POTAGES, PUREES AND CONSOMMES.

These are French terms used to designate different kinds of soups; but they are applied so indiscriminately as to possess very little significance, even for culinary adepts; and the dividing line between a potage, a puree, a consomme, and an ordinary soup, is so imaginary as to be indistinct to plain every-day people. But as a foreign or grotesque name does not detract from the quality of a good thing, those who prefer to call a soup a potage, a puree or a consomme, can do so with impunity, and not legally infringe on the domain of any professional cook.

HOW TO SCALD SOUP.

To scald stock or soup properly, it must be brought to the boiling point and thoroughly heated. Its liability to ferment and grow sour is only increased by merely re-warming it.

WHEN TO ADD FLAVORING.

Vegetables when used merely to flavor soups should be simmered only long enough to extract their juices; and aromatic spices, orange and lemon juice, and other liquid flavorings whose subtle essences are driven off by heat, should be added barely a sufficient length of time before the soup is served, for them to blend and harmonize with the other materials--in fact it is usually better to put them in the tureen and pour the soup over them just before it goes to the table.

ORDER OF ADDING VEGETABLES.

Where several kinds of vegetables are used in the preparation of a soup, care should be taken to put those that require most cooking in the kettle first; and, if possible, to limit the simmering of each kind to the time actually necessary to cook it tender.

BROWNING VEGETABLES.

Breakfast bacon and ham give a peculiarly fine flavor to many soups, and when they are used the vegetables added to such soups should be browned in the fryings of the meat; but when neither bacon nor ham is used, the vegetables should be browned in butter, as in most cases they impart a richer flavor to the soup, if nicely browned in a little grease before being added.

VEGETABLES, ETC., ADAPTED TO SOUPS.

While nearly all kinds of vegetables, herbs, spices and cereals can be appropriately used at pleasure in clear, vegetable and mixed soups, those specially adapted to white soups are: cauliflower, potato, white turnip, onion, celery, salsify, cresses, capers, olives, parsley, thyme, rice, macaroni, vermicelli, tapioca, sago, mace, and red and white pepper.

TO CLARIFY SOUPS.

To each gallon of soup add, while cold, the whites and shells of two eggs beaten with a little cold water, simmer for fifteen minutes, removing the scum as it rises, and then strain through a flannel cloth or bag.

CARAMEL.

Preparations for coloring and flavoring soups can be obtained at almost any grocery by those who wish to use them. But caramel, which is innocent and cheap, is one of the best coloring materials, and is easily prepared:--

Stir half a pound of sugar and a spoonful of water in a saucepan over the fire till a bright brown, then add half a pint of water, boil a few minutes and strain. Caramel made in this manner will keep a considerable length of time if put in an air-tight jar or bottle.

THICKENING FOR SOUPS.

When flour, corn starch, farina or arrow root are to be used as thickening for soups they should be stirred to a smooth paste with cold milk, cream, or butter, and then added to the boiling soup. If the flour is desired brown it should be cooked with butter before it is added to the soup.

ADDITIONS TO SOUPS.

Eggs cooked in a variety of ways, croutons, noodles, dumplings, force meat balls, and a dozen other articles that are manufactured for the purpose, are used according to fancy as additions to soups. Some of them are cooked in the soup and served with it, and some are cooked separate and put in the tureen or the individual plates, and the soup poured over them.

CROUTONS.

A bit of toasted or fried bread is called in French a crouton; and croutons, which are simply bits of bread toasted or fried brown, are very nice in a variety of soups. The bread can be toasted in the ordinary way and used dry, or it can be buttered, cut in dice and toasted brown in the oven, or fried brown in butter or drippings. The best way of serving croutons is to put a spoonful of them in each plate and pour the hot soup over them.

NOODLES.

The noodle is one of the traditional articles for serving in soups. It is a general favorite and is easily made:

To three eggs, two tablespoonfuls of water, and a pinch of salt, add flour enough to make a stiff dough. Work and knead fifteen or twenty minutes, roll to a very thin sheet, dust lightly and evenly with flour, and roll up compactly. Then with a thin sharp bladed knife cut into very thin slices and let dry for a couple of hours before putting in the soup. They will cook in five minutes. Or,

Beat an egg very light, add flour until stiff enough to roll into little crumbs the size of wheat or rice grains, drop into boiling soup and cook a few minutes.

DUMPLINGS.

A very delicate dumpling for soup can be made of biscuit dough, raised with either yeast or baking powder, in this manner: roll the dough thin, cut into dice, roll under the hand on a floured board, and steam for twenty minutes; put in the tureen and pour boiling soup over them.

But the most delicate of dumplings are made of light bread crumbs, suet or marrow, egg and seasoning. These can be varied in seasoning to suit any soup. This is a good combination for a clear, white or delicate soup of any kind. Mix well, but lightly, a tablespoonful uncooked beef marrow and half a pint bread crumbs, seasoned with salt, pepper, grated lemon peel and mace; add one well beaten egg, roll into balls in the hands, and drop into the boiling soup. They should be served as soon as they rise to the surface.

FORCE MEAT BALLS.

To four parts cooked veal, and one part suet minced together, add four parts bread crumbs and season with salt, pepper, powdered cloves and sweet herbs. Bind together with beaten egg, make into small balls and fry brown. These are much used in mock turtle and other heavy soups.

SOUP AND SOUP MAKING QUESTIONS.

1.--What is a stock pot?

2.--How should it be used and how frequently?

3.--What is soup stock?

4.--How many kinds of stock are there?

5.--What is simple stock?

6.--What is compound stock?

7.--How is stock made?

8.--Why should the water for making stock be salted?

9.--How much salt should be used?

10.--Why should the scum that rises be removed?

11.--Why should meat for making stock be put to cook in cold water?

12.--Why should meat for soup be simmered rather than boiled?

13.--What should be the quality of the meat for making stock or soup?

14.--What is beef tea and how is it made?

15.--Upon what does the consistency of stock depend?

16.--What length of time should stock be simmered?

17.--When sufficiently cooked how should it be treated?

18.--How long will stock keep?

19.--Should vegetables be cooked with meat in making stock? Why not?

20.--How many classes of soups are there?

21.--What are they?

22.--What flavors should predominate in soup?

23.--What kinds of spices should be added to soup?

24.--Does the same rule that governs the flavor hold good in regard to the color of soups?

25.--When and how should the grease be removed from soup?

26.--What is plain soup?

27.--What effect on a plain soup has the addition of grain or grain products?

28.--How is plain chicken soup made?

29.--How is cream of celery soup made?

30.--How can a plain chicken soup be changed to a mulligatawny soup?

31.--How is clear soup made?

32.--How is amber soup made?

33.--How is tomato soup made?

34.--How is julienne soup made?

35.--How are vegetable soups made?

36.--How is a plain vegetable soup made?

37.--How is onion soup made?

38.--How is dried pea soup made?

39.--How is green pea soup made?

40.--When does a pea soup become a mixed soup?

41.--From what is stock for white soups obtained?

42.--What is a leading characteristic of white soups?

43.--How is cream of asparagus soup made?

44.--How is corn soup made?

45.--Give a recipe for a rich white soup.

46.--Upon what does the individuality of a mixed soup depend?

47.--How is mock turtle soup made?

48.--How can a good save-all soup be made?

49.--How does an oyster soup differ from an oyster stew?

50.--How are oysters stewed?

51.--What are potages, purees and consommes?

52.--What is the distinction between them and ordinary soups?

53.--How should soup or stock be scalded?

54.--When is the proper time for adding flavorings and spices to soups?

55.--How should vegetables be added?

56.--How should vegetables for soups be browned?

57.--What different vegetables, herbs and spices are adapted to different soups?

58.--How are soups clarified?

59.--What is caramel, and how is it made?

60.--How should thickening for soups be prepared and used?

61.--What are some of the additions to soup?

62.--What are croutons and how are they made and served?

63.--How are noodles made?

64.--How are dumplings made?

65.--How are force meat balls made?

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

Italicized or underlined text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.