Part 42

_Clear Stock (Consommé)._--Put 2 lb. lean beef cut in small pieces, and a fowl half roasted, and also cut in pieces, bones and all, into a saucepan, which fill up with common stock or broth (cold). Set the saucepan on the fire, and when the contents get hot skim the liquor carefully, then add salt to taste, and the following vegetables cut up in small pieces; 2 or 3 carrots, 2 onions, a head of celery (a pinch of celery seed will do as well if no celery is procurable), one tomato (fresh or dried), and a handful of parsley. Also add in due proportions, and according to taste, chervil, marjoram, thyme, cloves allspice, whole pepper, mace, and bay leaf. This done, set the saucepan by the side of the fire to simmer very gently for at least 4 hours; then strain the liquor through a cloth, free it absolutely from fat, and clarify with white of egg or raw meat.

_Fish Stock._--(_a_) Take 2 lb. any kind of fish, such as skate, plaice, flounders, small eels, or the trimmings of soles that have been filleted, pack them into a saucepan with a head of parsley including the root, a head of celery, 2 blades of mace, a few cloves, some white pepper, salt to taste, and a bay leaf; put in as much cold water as will cover the contents of the saucepan, and set it to simmer gently for 2 hours, then strain off the liquor and it is ready. A small onion may be put in with the other vegetables. (The G. C.)

(_b_) Put the bones, trimmings, and skin of any fish you may have into the liquor in which fish has boiled, with a suitable assortment of vegetables and flavouring herbs, a few peppercorns, a little spice, and boil the whole for 2 hours. Strain it off, add to each quart 1 oz. boiled rice, a teacupful of milk, and half a teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley. Serve at once. Small pieces of cooked fish improve the soup. If it is intended to make this soup, the liquor must not be made very salt, nor acid with vinegar. This is a slight drawback, for these expedients both have the effect of making the flesh firm and flaky. It is said that fish is never so good as when boiled in sea water, and whether that be true or not, it certainly is a good plan to make the water decidedly brackish to boil white fish like cod.

_Gravy Stock._--Place a layer of slices of onion in a saucepan, holding a gallon, over this a layer of fat bacon, and over all about 2 lb. shin of beef chopped up in small pieces; 1 pint common stock, or even water, being poured on the whole, set the saucepan on the fire for 1 hour, or until the liquor is almost evaporated--what is called reduced to a “glaze”--then add sufficient cold common stock or cold water to cover the contents of the saucepan, and 2 or 3 carrots cut in slices, a leek, a head of celery (when in season), or some celery seed, a handful of parsley, half a clove of garlic, a sprig of marjoram and thyme, a bay leaf, 4 or 5 cloves, white pepper and salt to taste. After boiling about 3 hours, strain off the liquor, and, being absolutely freed from fat, it is ready for use.

_Veal or White Stock._--Toss 2 onions sliced and 1 lb. lean veal cut in small pieces in a saucepan with some butter until they assume a light colour, then add ½ lb. ham chopped up small, and moisten with a pint of common stock cold and perfectly free from fat. Let the liquor reduce almost to a glaze, but not quite; then add 2 qt. cold common stock, a knuckle of veal or 2 calves’ feet chopped up, 2 carrots, a head of celery, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, mace, pepper, and salt, all in due proportions. After 2-3 hours’ boiling, strain free from fat, and it is ready.

_Vegetable Stock._--Take some carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, and celery, in equal quantities; cut them up into small pieces, and toss them in plenty of butter for ½ hour; then add 2 heads of lettuce shred fine, some parsley, and chervil, a little thyme, marjoram, and tarragon, in judicious proportions; toss them a little longer, and then add as much water as you want stock; pepper, salt, cloves, mace to taste, and a pinch of sugar; let the whole stew gently for some hours, then strain the liquor through a cloth. A couple of tomatoes (either from a tin or fresh), or 2 or 3 spoonfuls of _conserve de tomates_, is a great improvement.

_White Stock._--See Veal Stock.

_Clarifying Stock._--(_a_) For 1 qt. take the white of an egg, beat it up with a cupful of soup (cold), then add the rest, and beat it on the fire with an egg whisk; when it boils, strain through a piece of tammy.

(_b_) For same quantity, mince, not too finely, 1 oz. lean raw beef, add it to the liquor and set it on the fire in a saucepan; when it boils, strain it as above. Liver may be used instead of beef, and the white of egg may be used in addition to either. If the soup does not turn out clear enough, the operation of clarifying must be repeated.

With stock as a basis, a great variety of soups are made, and generally named from the particular vegetable or dainty employed to give the desired flavour. Following are some recipes.

_Apple Soup._--Boil apples with their cores until quite soft with slices of bread and some lemon peel in sufficient water. Strain through a sieve, add sugar, a glass of wine and some powdered cinnamon or nutmeg. Stir in yolks of eggs or cream, if approved.

_Apple and Currant Soup._--Proceed with apples, bread, and the lemon peel as in last recipe. After straining, boil again with currants, a cup of milk, and the requisite sugar, with a small teaspoonful of aniseeds, if approved. A few cloves with the first boiling is an improvement. Another way is to leave out the spice, and when the soup is ready for serving, stir in some pounded sweet and bitter almonds.

_Artichoke Soup (d’artichauts)._--Boil 3 lb. Jerusalem artichokes in 1 qt. milk, adding to it about a teacupful of water. When the artichokes have become very soft, rub them through a sieve, and add a little pepper and salt and a few grains of cayenne. Just before serving, stir in ¼ pint cream; if not thick enough, add a little flour and butter. Serve with bread cut in small dice and fried in butter, to be handed round with the soup.

_Asparagus Soup (d’asperges)._--Take 50 asparagus heads (called sprue asparagus), boil it in a saucepan with 3 pints stock free from fat. When done, remove the asparagus, pound in a mortar, and pass through a hair sieve. Melt about 1½ oz. butter in a saucepan on the fire, and mix with it 2 tablespoonfuls flour; add a little sugar, pepper, and salt, the asparagus pulp, and all the stock in which the asparagus was boiled. Let the whole boil up, adding as much more stock as will make the soup of the right consistency. Then put in a little spinach greening, and lastly a small pat of fresh butter, or stir in ½ gill cream. Serve over small dice of bread fried in butter.

_Barley Soup (d’orge)._--Cut up in small pieces carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, and celery in equal quantities; toss them in plenty of butter for ½ hour; add 2 heads of lettuce finely shredded, parsley, chervil, a sprig of marjoram; put in 2 qt. boiling water, pepper, salt, a few cloves, and a pinch of sugar; let the whole simmer for 2 hours, then strain the liquor through a cloth. Boil 1 pint pearl barley in 1 qt. of this stock till it is reduced to a pulp, pass it through a hair sieve, and add as much more stock as will be required to make the purée of the consistency of cream; put the soup on the fire, when it boils stir into it, off the fire, the yolk of an egg beaten up with a gill of cream; add ½ pat of fresh butter, and serve with small dice of bread fried in butter.

_Batter-cream Soup._--Mix 2-3 tablespoonfuls flour with water enough to make as thick a batter as you can stir, then add as many eggs as there are spoonfuls of flour, and stir well. Have ready some boiling broth which has been seasoned and strained; pour it into the batter, stirring all the while; set it over the fire to boil a few minutes, and serve.

_Bean Soup._--See Haricot.

_Beer Soup._--Simmer together 2 qt. beer, not bitter, a stick of cinnamon, a few cloves, the thin rind of a lemon, and sugar to taste. Beat in a tureen or bowl the yolks of 6 eggs and ½ pint cream. Strain on these the scalding beer, stirring all to a foam with the wire whisk. Serve hot, with toast.

_Birds’-nests Soup._--One bird’s nest is needed for each person; soak for 12 hours in fresh water; drain and wipe, separating the fibres, and carefully removing all feathers &c., by washing through several waters, until the nests are perfectly clean. Put them in a saucepan, cover with chicken broth, place the saucepan in a bain-marie, and cook very gently for 2 hours in the broth. At the moment of serving, place the nests in a soup dish, and cover with enough very rich, clear, hot chicken broth for the number of guests. Add pepper and salt to taste, and serve at once.

_Bone Soup._--Take a good quantity of bones of any kind, cover with water, add carrots, celery, a bunch of all kinds of herbs, a little parsley, onions, a blade or two of mace, and a few cloves, according to the quantity. Make it boil up quick, then pour in a little cold water to make the scum rise, and skim just as you would clear soup. Boil for several hours, then strain off and let it stand till next day. Take off the grease, whip up the whites of 2 eggs in a little cold water, add the shells, and beat all well together in the soup; set it on the fire to boil for ½ hour, till it looks clear, and strain off. Do not let it boil too fast.

_Bonne Femme Soup._--Cut up a good-sized onion into very thin rounds, and place these in a saucepan with a good allowance of butter. Take care not to let the onion get brown, and when it is half done throw in 2-3 handfuls of sorrel, 1 lettuce, and a small quantity of chervil, all finely cut; add pepper, salt, a little nutmeg, and keep stirring until the vegetables are nearly done. Then put in 1 tablespoonful pounded loaf sugar, and half a cupful of stock or broth free from fat. Let the mixture reduce nearly to a glaze, when about 1 qt. of stock or broth of the same kind as that used before should be added, and, after the soup has given one boil, it can be put aside until the time of serving. Meanwhile prepare about 18 very thin slices of bread, about 1 in. wide and 2 in. long, taking care that they have a crust along one of their sides. Dry these slices in the oven. When it is time to send up the soup, first remove the superfluous fat from it, then set it to boil, and when it boils take it off the fire and stir into it the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs beaten up with ¼ pint of cream or milk. Pour the soup over the slices of bread, and serve in 3 minutes. (The G. C.)

_Brunoise Soup._--Take equal parts of carrots, turnips, onions, and celery; cut them all in the shape of very small dice. Put a good piece of butter in a saucepan, with a little pepper and salt, and a teaspoonful of powdered lump sugar. Toss the carrots in this till they begin to take colour; then put in the celery, after a little time the turnips, and then the onions. When all the vegetables are equally coloured, add as much stock as you want soup, and set the saucepan by the side of the fire to simmer gently for 2 hours. Then skim, and serve. (The G. C.)

_Calf’s Head Soup._--Having well washed and soaked the head, put it on the fire in cold water, and simmer it 2½ hours from the time of its coming to a scalding heat. When quite done, take it out. Cut the meat off in neat slices; slice the tongue also, and take out the brains. Throw back the bones into the soup. Dry a pinch of saffron, rub it to powder, put it in the soup, with a small wineglassful of pale vinegar, a tablespoonful of sugar, a little nutmeg, and salt to taste. Shred parsley may be added if approved. The brains, divided into small pieces, must be put into the tureen, with 3 or 4 yolks of eggs beaten, and the scalding soup poured on them. Dip the slices of meat in egg and breadcrumbs, fry them a delicate brown in butter, and serve them after the soup, with any white vegetable.

_Carrot Soup (Crécy, Nivernaise)._--Fry a large onion a nice brown colour without burning it, scrape, wash, and well dry 2 or 3 large carrots, cutting out all specks; cut them into thin slices and put them into a stewpan with about 3 pints of stock, let them cook gently over the fire until quite tender, then strain them from the soup, rub them through a tammy with the fried onion back into the soup, warm it again, and season with a very little pepper and salt. Serve with fried croutons on a napkin in a plate to hand round with it. This soup should be made the day before or early in the day on which it is to be used; this gives the fat in which the onions have been fried time to rise to the top, and it can easily be removed when cold. If a very nice colour is wished, only the red parts of the carrots should be used, of course more carrots will then be required; it should be of about the consistency of pea soup. Almost any other vegetable suitable for a purée may be used in the same way, such as turnip, parsnip, vegetable marrow, or potato; or if the stock chance not to be particularly good, it may be thickened either with semolina, tapioca, or sago in the proportion of about three ounces to a quart of stock. For semolina, drop it into the stock when boiling, keep stirring it, and let it simmer gently for about ½ hour. Sago should be washed in boiling water, and added gradually to the boiling stock, stirring and simmering until perfectly soft and transparent. Tapioca must be put into the stock while cold, and must be allowed to boil gradually, it must then be simmered gently till quite soft as for sago; but even greater care will be necessary to keep stirring, or the tapioca will cling together and be lumpy. Should there not be likely to be any sufficiently good stock for next day’s dinner, an excellent soup, as well as a most useful cold dish for family use, may be made by stewing a piece of the thick brisket of beef the day before the soup is wanted. To 6 lb. of beef allow 3 large onions, 2 medium-sized carrots, 12 cloves, a sprig or two of parsley, and a tiny bunch of sweet herbs tied in muslin. Fry one of the onions a dark brown, without burning it, slice up one of the carrots and the remaining onions into a large stewpan, adding the second carrot, merely cut into 2 or 3 pieces, add a small piece of sweet dripping, and set the stewpan on the fire, stirring the vegetables until they are about half cooked, and are slightly browned; then take out half the vegetables; to those remaining in the stewpan add half the fried onion, 6 of the cloves, the bunch of herbs, and the parsley; slightly rub the beef with a small quantity of salt, place it above the vegetables, adding those that were taken from the stewpan, the other half of the fried onion, and 6 cloves, to rest on the top of the beef. Pour in as much of any stock you may happen to have as will well cover the beef, or, if you have no stock, use cold water; set it on the fire, which should not be a very fierce one, and let it remain till it begins to bubble; then remove it to the side, and let it remain simmering for 4-5 hours, or until done enough to be able to draw out the bones; it will require watching to ascertain this, as, when once tender enough for this, it should not cook any more. When the bones are removed, set the beef in a cool place between 2 dishes, with a heavy weight on the top; the next day it will be ready to trim and glaze, and serve as pressed beef. The soup and vegetables should be poured into a basin to stand all night; in the morning remove the fat which has risen to the top, warm the soup, and strain the vegetables from it. Trim off the outer discoloured parts of the larger pieces of carrot and cut them into thin slips, putting them back into the soup to be served in it; the rest of the vegetables may go into the stockpot, as there will still be much goodness in them. A slight shake of pepper will complete the soup, which should be a dark brown gravy soup of excellent flavour. If preferred to the carrots, a small quantity of Naples macaroni may be served in it; boil it in water till tender, then strain it and cut it into fine rings and add it to the soup.

_Cauliflower Soup._--Make a clear white soup of mutton, or veal, properly seasoned with salt and white pepper. Mix 2 or 3 spoonfuls of flour in milk to thicken the soup to the consistence of cream. Break up a cauliflower into small tufts; boil them in salted water; drain carefully, and add them unbroken to the soup when about to serve. If extra richness is desired, add the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs, with a little cream beaten up.

_Celery Soup._--Put into a saucepan the carcase and other remnants of a roast fowl, with a piece of ham or bacon, and a couple of heads of celery (reserving a few of the best pieces to be sliced finely, boiled in stock, and served in the soup). Fill up with stock and let it simmer 2-3 hours, then strain, clarify with white of egg or a little raw meat, and serve with celery.

_Cheap Soups._--These are given more especially for the benefit of those who have charge of soup kitchens for the poor in winter. Many hints, however, may be gained from them, and some are well adapted for households with small means.

(_a_) Take the liquor of meat boiled the day before, with the bones of leg and shin of beef, add to the liquor as much water as will make it 130 qt. and also the meat of 10 stone of leg and shin of beef and 2 ox heads cut into pieces, add 2 bunches of carrots, 4 bunches of turnips, 2 bunches of leeks, ½ peck of onions, a bunch of celery, ½ lb. pepper, and some salt. To be boiled for 6 hours. Either oatmeal, barley, or peas may be put in to thicken it if necessary.

(_b_) Wash 1 qt. Scotch barley or split peas, put them into a large saucepan or fish-kettle with 3 gal. water, add 3 large Portugal or Spanish onions cut into quarters, 6 large carrots, 6 or 8 turnips, herbs, pepper, salt, and allspice according to taste, one ox heel well divided, 7 lb. shin of beef; boil all together for 8-10 hours. It can be made cheaper and equally good by substituting for the shin of beef a 4 lb. tin of Australian beef or mutton, but this must be added only so as to mix in at the last with the other ingredients. Being thoroughly cooked in Australia, and free from bone, skin, and gristle, it is spoiled if it is cooked more than enough to make it hot for use. This beef or mutton is enveloped in its own jelly.

(_c_) Be most particular that the kitchen maid keeps every drop of water in which any meat is boiled; put this in the boiler, and fill up with water. When this boils, put in a few pieces of meat, 10 lb. to the 20 gal. (get 30 lb. of neck and shoulder pieces of beef once a week for it, and slightly salt them), some salt, and either pearl barley, groats, or oatmeal; whilst these are boiling, cut up some turnips and carrots in small pieces, say ½ in. square, cabbage and leeks, not cut too fine. These add to the soup, and boil all for 2 hours. The outer stalks of celery, if kept, make a great addition. Then take out the meat, and cut it up into small portions, putting one or two pieces into the can with the soup, when given to the poor.

(_d_) Put 2 oz. dripping into a saucepan capable of holding 2 gal. water, with ¼ lb. leg of beef, without bones, cut into square pieces about ½ in., and two middling-sized onions peeled and sliced; set the saucepan on the fire, and stir the contents round for a few minutes until fried lightly brown; then add (ready washed) the peelings of 2 turnips, 15 green leaves or tops of celery, and the green part of 2 leeks--the whole of which are usually thrown away; cut the above vegetables in small pieces and throw them into the saucepan with the other ingredients, stirring them occasionally; then add ½ lb. common flour (any farinaceous substance would do), ½ lb. pearl or Scotch barley, mixing all well together; then add 2 gal. water seasoned with 3 oz. salt and ¼ oz. brown sugar; stir it occasionally until boiling, and then allow it to simmer for 3 hours gently. You may use all kinds of vegetables cut aslant.

_Cherry Soup._--Use black cherries, and proceed as for plum soup. Put a few cloves in at first; 1 lb. cherries to 1 qt. water will be found very good. After straining, break some of the stones, and put the kernels into the soup. Add also a few whole cherries towards the last, only long enough to soften them.

_Chestnut Soup (de marrons)._--Boil ½-1 lb. chestnuts until they will peel easily. Put them in a stewpan, sprinkle with salt, and leave to steam soft and mealy. Work through a wire sieve; put butter half the size of an egg in a stewpan, and when it is melted add a small finely minced onion and a few mushrooms. Dredge in a tablespoonful of flour, put in the chestnuts, and stir in enough white or brown soup to give it the consistency of a creamy batter; let it boil up. Serve with sippets of toast or any other soup accompaniment. As a thickening or purée for any kind of good white soup, chestnuts are very delicate. They take less time to cook if the outer rind is peeled off first, and when they have had a scald scrape off the inner peel, boil, and steam them dry; then pass them through a sieve. About a pint will thicken a soup for a small pastry.

_Chicken Soup (Sévigné, de volaille, à la reine)._--(_a_) Cut some carrots in slices, and with a column cut out of these a number of discs ¼ in. diameter. Cut similar discs out of some leeks, celery, and sorrel leaves; make an equal quantity (about a wineglassful) of each, and parboil them separately in salted water, leaving the leeks and sorrel discs in the water until wanted. Take 3 pints white stock made with poultry and quite free from grease; when boiling hot put the vegetables into it, then a few tarragon leaves cut small, and a little chervil picked out leaf by leaf. Beat up the strained yolks of 4 eggs with ½ gill cream, stir into them a little of the soup, and then quickly stir in the whole into the soup off the fire, and serve.

(_b_) See Poultry Soup.