Wednesday, September 20, 2006

CREAM SOUPS

Soups classed as cream soups consist of a thin white sauce to which
is added a vegetable in the form of a puree or cut into small pieces.
Because of their nature, cream soups are usually high in food value; but
they are not highly flavored, so their use is that of supplying
nutrition rather than stimulating the appetite. Considerable variety can
be secured in cream soups, for there are scarcely any vegetables that
cannot be used in the making of them. Potatoes, corn, asparagus,
spinach, peas, tomatoes, and onions are the vegetables that are used
oftenest, but cream soups may also be made of vegetable oysters, okra,
carrots, watercress, celery, cabbage, cauliflower, beans, lentils, and
dried peas. The vegetables may be cooked especially for the soup, or
left-over or canned vegetables may be utilized. It is an excellent plan
to cook more than enough of some vegetables for one day, so that some
will be left over and ready for soup the next day.

If the vegetable is not cut up into small pieces, it must be put through
a sieve and made into the form of a puree before it can be added to the
liquid. It will be observed that with the large, round sieve, a potato masher must be used to mash the vegetables, the pulp of which is caught by the utensil in which the sieve is held. In making use of the smaller sieve, or ricer, the vegetable is placed in it and then mashed by pressing the top down over the contents with the aid of the handles.

THIN WHITE SAUCE.
--The liquid for cream soups should be thin white
sauce made entirely of milk or of milk and cream. The flavor of the soup
will be improved, however, by using with the milk some meat stock, or
the stock that remains from cooking celery, asparagus, or any vegetables
that will lend a good flavor to the soup. The recipe here given makes a
sauce that may be used for any kind of cream soup.

THIN WHITE SAUCE

1 pt. milk, or milk and cream or stock
1 tsp. salt
2 Tb. butter
2 Tb. flour

Heat the liquid, salt, and butter in a double boiler. Stir the flour and
some of the cold liquid that has been reserved to a perfectly smooth,
thin paste and add to the hot liquid. Stir constantly after adding the
flour, so that no lumps will form. When the sauce becomes thick, it is
ready for the addition of any flavoring material that will make a
palatable soup. If thick material, such as any vegetable in the form of
a puree, rice, or potato, is used without additional liquid, only half
as much flour will be required to thicken the sauce.

CREAM-OF-POTATO SOUP.--Because of the large quantity of carbohydrate
derived from the potato, cream-of-potato soup is high in food value. For
persons who are fond of the flavor of the potato, this makes a delicious
soup and one that may be served as the main dish in a light meal.

CREAM-OF-POTATO SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Four)

2 slices of onion
1 sprig parsley
2 medium-sized potatoes
1 c. milk
1 c. potato water
1 Tb. flour
2 Tb. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Cook the onion and parsley with the potatoes, and, when cooked soft,
drain and mash. Make a sauce of the milk, potato water, flour, and
butter. Season with the salt and pepper, add the mashed potato,
and serve.

C
REAM-OF-CORN SOUP.--The flavor of corn is excellent in a cream
soup, the basis of the soup being milk, butter, and flour. Then, too,
the addition of the corn, which is comparatively high in food value,
makes a very nutritious soup.

CREAM-OF-CORN SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Four)

1 pt. milk
1 Tb. butter
1 Tb. flour
1 c. canned corn
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Make a white sauce of the milk, butter, and flour. Force the corn
through a colander or a sieve, and add the puree to the white sauce.
Season with the salt and pepper, and serve.

Cream-of-Asparagus Soup.--The asparagus used in cream-of-asparagus
soup adds very little besides flavor, but this is of sufficient value to
warrant its use. If a pinch of soda is used in asparagus soup, there is
less danger of the curdling that sometimes occurs. In making this soup,
the asparagus should be combined with the white sauce just
before serving.

CREAM-OF-ASPARAGUS SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Four)

1 pt. milk
2 Tb. flour
2 Tb. butter
1 c. asparagus puree
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Make white sauce of the milk, flour, and butter. Add to it the cup of
puree made by forcing freshly cooked or canned asparagus through a
sieve. Season with the salt and pepper, and serve.

Cream-of-Spinach Soup.--Although cream-of-spinach soup is not
especially attractive in appearance, most persons enjoy its flavor, and
the soup serves as another way of adding an iron-containing food to the
diet. Children may often be induced to take the soup when they would
refuse the spinach as a vegetable.

CREAM-OF-SPINACH SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Four)

1 pt. milk
2 Tb. flour
2 Tb. butter
1/2 c. spinach puree
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Make white sauce of the milk, flour, and butter. Add the spinach puree,
made by forcing freshly cooked or canned spinach through a sieve. Season
with the salt and pepper, heat thoroughly, and serve.

Cream-of-Pea Soup.--Either dried peas or canned green peas may be
used to make cream-of-pea soup. If dried peas are used, they must first
be cooked soft enough to pass through a sieve. The flavor is quite
different from that of green peas. With the use of green peas, a fair
amount of both protein and carbohydrate is added to the soup, but more
protein is provided when dried peas are used.

CREAM-OF-PEA SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Four)

1 pt. milk
1 Tb. flour
2 Tb. butter
1/2 c. pea puree
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Make white sauce of the milk, flour, and butter. Put enough freshly
cooked or canned peas through a sieve to make 1/2 cupful of puree. Then
add the pea puree, the salt, and the pepper to the white sauce. Heat
thoroughly and serve.

CREAM-OF-TOMATO SOUP.--As a rule, cream-of-tomato soup is popular
with every one. Besides being pleasing to the taste, it is comparatively
high in food value, because its basis is cream sauce. However, the
tomatoes themselves add very little else besides flavor and
mineral salts.

CREAM-OF-TOMATO SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Four)

1 c. canned tomatoes
1 pt. milk
3 Tb. flour
3 Tb. butter
1/8 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Force the tomatoes through a sieve and heat them. Make white sauce of
the milk, flour, and butter. Add the soda to the tomatoes, and pour them
slowly into the white sauce, stirring rapidly. If the sauce begins to
curdle, beat the soup quickly with a rotary egg beater. Add the salt and
pepper and serve.

CREAM-OF-ONION SOUP.--Many persons who are not fond of onions can
often eat soup made of this vegetable. This is probably due to the fact
that the browning of the onions before they are used in the soup
improves the flavor very decidedly. In addition, this treatment of the
onions gives just a little color to the soup.

CREAM-OF-ONION SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Four)

4 medium-sized onions
4 Tb. butter
2 Tb. flour
2-1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Slice the onions and brown them in a frying pan with 2 tablespoonfuls of
the butter. Make white sauce of the flour, the remaining butter, and the
milk. Add to this the browned onions, salt, and pepper. Heat thoroughly
and serve.

Noodle Soup

The addition of noodles to soup increases its food
value to a considerable extent by providing carbohydrate from the flour
and protein from the egg and flour. Noodle soup is a very attractive
dish if the noodles are properly made, for then they will not cause the
soup to become cloudy when they are put into it. Little difficulty will
be experienced if the directions here given for making noodles are
followed explicitly.

NOODLE SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Six)

1 egg
1 Tb. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
Flour
1 qt. household stock
3 sprigs parsley
1 small onion

To make noodles, beat the egg slightly, add to it the milk, and stir in
the salt and enough flour to make a stiff dough. Toss upon a floured
board and roll very thin. Allow the dough to dry for hour or more, and
then cut it into strips about 4 inches wide. Place several strips together, one on top of the other, and roll them up tight, in the manner indicated. Cut each roll into thin slices with a sharp knife. When the slices are separated the noodles should appear as shown in the pile at the right. If it is desired not to follow this plan, the dough may be rolled into a thin sheet and cut into strips with a noodle cutter.

Such a supply of noodles may be used at once, or they may be dried
thoroughly and sealed tightly in a jar for future use. The very dry
ones, however, require a little longer cooking than those which are
freshly made. With the noodles prepared, heat the stock with the parsley
and onion chopped very fine. Add the noodles and cook for 15 or 20
minutes or until the noodles are thoroughly cooked.

Rice, barley, macaroni, and other starchy materials may be added to
stock in the same way as the noodles.

Vegetable Soup With Noodles.--The combination of noodles and
vegetables in soup is a very excellent one, since the vegetables add
flavor and the noodles add nutritive value. If the vegetables given in
the accompanying recipe cannot be readily obtained, others may be
substituted.

VEGETABLE SOUP WITH NOODLES
(Sufficient to Serve Six)

1 carrot
1 onion
1 turnip
1 stalk celery
1 c. boiling water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. noodles
2 sprigs parsley
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 qt. household stock

Dice the vegetables and put them on to cook with the boiling water and
the salt. Cook for a few minutes or until partly soft. Add the noodles,
parsley, pepper, and stock and cook for 15 minutes longer. Serve.

HEAVY THICK SOUPS

Julienne Soup.--A very good way in which to utilize any small
quantities of vegetables that may be in supply but are not sufficient to
serve alone is to use them in julienne soup. For soup of this kind,
vegetables are often cut into fancy shapes, but this is a more or less
wasteful practice and should not be followed, as tiny strips or dice cut
finely and carefully are quite as agreeable. The vegetables do not add a
large amount of nutriment to this soup, but they introduce into the soup
mineral salts that the soups would otherwise not have and they also add
a variety of flavor.

JULIENNE SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Six)

1 pt. mixed vegetables
1/2 tsp. salt
1 qt. stock
1/4 tsp. pepper

Cut into tiny dice or into strips such vegetables as celery, carrots,
and turnips, making them as nearly the same size and shape as possible.
Put them on to cook in enough boiling salted water to cover well. Cook
until they are soft enough to be pierced with a fork, but do not lose
their shape. Drain off the water and put the vegetables into the stock.
Bring to the boiling point, season with the pepper, and serve.

Ox-Tail Soup.--The use of ox tails for soup helps to utilize a part
of the beef that would ordinarily be wasted, and, as a rule, ox tails
are comparatively cheap. Usually the little bits of meat that cook off
the bones are allowed to remain in the soup. Variety may be obtained by
the addition of different kinds of vegetables.

OX-TAIL SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Eight)

2 ox tails
1 large onion
1 Tb. beef drippings
4 qt. cold water
1 Tb. mixed herbs
4 peppercorns
1 Tb. salt

Wash and cut up the ox tails, separating them at the joints. Slice the
onion and brown it and half of the ox tails in the beef drippings. When
they are browned, put them and the remainder of the ox tails into a
kettle. Add the water and the herbs and peppercorns tied in a little
piece of cheesecloth. Bring to the boiling point, and then simmer for 3
to 4 hours or until the meat separates from the bones. Add the salt an
hour before serving the soup. Remove the fat and serve some of the
nicest joints with the soup. If vegetables are desired, they should be
diced and added 20 minutes before serving, so that they will be
cooked soft.

Mulligatawny Soup.--If a highly seasoned soup is desired,
mulligatawny, although not a particularly cheap soup, will be found very
satisfactory. The curry powder that is used adds an unusual flavor that
is pleasing to many people, but if it is not desired, it may be omitted.

MULLIGATAWNY SOUP
(Sufficient to Serve Eight)

3 lb. chicken
1 lb. veal
4 qt. cold water
2 onions
1 Tb. butter
4 peppercorns
4 cloves
1 stalk celery
1 Tb. curry powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 lemon

Cut up the chicken and veal, add the cold water to them, and place over
a slow fire. Slice the onions and brown them in the butter. Add them and
the peppercorns, cloves, chopped celery, and curry powder stirred to a
smooth paste with a little water to the meat. Simmer together slowly
until the chicken is tender. Remove the meat from the bones and cut it
into small pieces. Put the bones into the kettle and simmer for another
hour. Strain the liquid from the veal and bones and remove the fat. Add
the salt, pepper, chicken, and the juice of the lemon. Return to the
fire and cook for a few minutes. Serve with a tablespoonful or two of
cooked rice in each soup dish.

Consomme & Tomato Bouillon

One of the most delicious of the thin, clear broths is
consomme. This is usually served plain, but any material that will not
cloud it, such as finely diced vegetables, green peas, tiny pieces of
fowl or meat, may, if desired, be added to it before it is served. As a
rule, only a very small quantity of such material is used for
each serving.

CONSOMME

4 lb. lower round of beef
4 lb. shin of veal
1/4 c. butter
8 qt. cold water
1 small carrot
1 large onion
2 stalks celery
12 peppercorns
5 cloves
4 sprigs parsley
Pinch summer savory
Pinch thyme
2 bay leaves
Salt
Pepper

Cut the beef and veal into small pieces. Put the butter and meat into
the stock kettle, and stir over the fire until the meat begins to brown.
Add the cold water, and let come to the boiling point. Skim carefully
and let simmer for 6 hours. Cut the vegetables into small pieces and
add to the stock with the spices and herbs. Cook for 1 hour, adding salt
and pepper to suit taste. Strain and cool. Remove the fat and clear
according to directions previously given.

Tomato Bouillon.--It is possible to make a clear tomato soup without
meat stock, but the recipe here given, which is made with meat stock,
has the advantage of possessing a better flavor. The tomato in this
bouillon lends an agreeable color and flavor and affords a change from
the usual clear soup. Cooked rice, macaroni, spaghetti, or vermicelli
may be added to tomato bouillon to provide an additional quantity of
nutrition and vary the plain soup.

TOMATO BOUILLON
(Sufficient to Serve Eight)

1 qt, meat stock
1 tsp. salt
1 Tb. sugar

1/4 tsp. pepper
1 can tomatoes

Heat the stock, and to it add the salt, sugar, and pepper. Rub the
tomatoes through a fine sieve, and add them to the stock. Cook together
for a few minutes and serve.

RECIPES FOR SOUP AND SOUP ACCOMPANIMENTS

So that the cook may put into practice the knowledge they have
gained about soup making, there are here given recipes for various kinds
of soup. As will be observed, these recipes are classified according to
the consistency and nature of the soups, all those of one class being
placed in the same group. As it is important, too, for the cook to
know how to prepare the various accompaniments and garnishes that are
generally served with soup, directions for the making of these are also
given and they follow the soup recipes.

In carrying out these recipes, it will be well to note that
exactness in fulfilling the requirements and care in working out the
details of the recipes are essential. These points cannot be ignored in
the making of soup any more than in other parts of cookery, provided
successful results and excellent appearance are desired. It is therefore
wise to form habits of exactness. For instance, when vegetables are to
be cut for soups, they should be cut into pieces of equal size, or, if
they are to be diced, they should be cut so that the dice are alike. All
the pieces must be of the same thickness in order to insure uniform
cooking; if this precaution is not observed, some of the pieces are
likely to overcook and fall to pieces before the others are done.

Strict attention should also be given to the preparation of other
ingredients and the accompaniments. The meat used must be cut very
carefully rather than in ragged, uneven pieces. Noodles, which are often
used in soup, may be of various widths; but all those used at one time
should be uniform in width--that is, all wide or all narrow. If
different widths are used, an impression of careless cutting will be
given. Croutons and bread sticks, to be most satisfactory, should be cut
straight and even, and, in order to toast uniformly, all those made at
one time should be of the same size.

SERVING SOUP

Soup may be correctly served in several different ways, the method
to adopt usually depending on the kind of soup. Thin, clear soups are
generally served in bouillon cups, which may be
placed on the table immediately before the family assembles or passed
after the members are seated. Heavier soups may be served at the table
from a soup tureen, or each person's portion may be served before the
family comes to the table. For soups of this kind, the flat soup plate,
is found preferable.

The spoon to be served with soup also depends on the kind of soup, but a
larger spoon than a teaspoon is always necessary. When soup is served in
a soup plate, a dessert spoon is used. A bouillon spoon is the best kind to use with any thin soup served in bouillon cups. Such a spoon, is about the length of a teaspoon, but has a round bowl.

To increase the attractiveness of soup and at the same time make it
more appetizing and nutritious, various accompaniments and relishes are
served with it. When the accompaniment is in the form of crackers,
croutons, or bread sticks, they may be passed after the soup is served,
or a few of them may be placed on the bread-and-butter plate at each person's place. The relishes should be passed while the soup is being eaten. Plain whipped cream or whipped cream into which a little mashed pimiento has been stirred adds much to the flavor and appearance of soup when served on the top of any hot or cold variety. Then, too, many soups, especially vegetable soups, are improved in flavor by the addition of a spoonful of grated cheese, which should be sprinkled into the dish at the time of serving. For this purpose, a hard, dry cheese, such as Parmesan, which can often be purchased already grated in bottles, is the most satisfactory.

In summer, clear soups are sometimes served cold, as cold soups are
found more desirable for warm weather than hot ones. However, when a
soup is intended to be hot, it should be hot when it is ready to be
eaten, and every effort should be made to have it in this condition if
an appetizing soup is desired. This can be accomplished if the soup is
thoroughly heated before it is removed from the stove and the dishes in
which it is to be served are warmed before the soup is put into them.

* * * * *

THICKENING SOUP

Although thin, clear soups are preferred by some
and are particularly desirable for their stimulating effect, thick soups
find much favor when they are used to form a substantial part of a meal.
Besides giving consistency to soup, thickening usually improves the
flavor, but its chief purpose is to give nutritive value to this food.
In fact, whenever a soup is thickened, its food value is increased by
the ingredient thus added. For this reason, it is advisable to thicken
soups when they are desired for any other purpose than their
stimulating effect.
The substance used to thicken soups may be either a starchy material
or food or a puree of some food. The starchy materials generally used
for this purpose are plain flour, browned flour, corn starch, and
arrowroot flour. Any one of these should be moistened with enough cold
water to make a mixture that will pour easily, and then added to the hot
liquid while the soup is stirred constantly to prevent the formation of
lumps. A sufficient amount of this thickening material should be used to
make a soup of the consistency of heavy cream.

The starchy foods that are used for thickening include rice, barley,
oatmeal, noodles, tapioca, sago, and macaroni. Many unusual and fancy
forms of macaroni can be secured, or the plain varieties of Italian
pastes may be broken into small pieces and cooked with the soup. When
any of these foods are used, they should be added long enough before the
soup is removed to be cooked thoroughly.

Purees of beans, peas, lentils, potatoes, and other vegetables are
especially desirable for the thickening of soups, for they not only give
consistency, but add nutritive value and flavor as well. Another
excellent thickening may be obtained by beating raw eggs and then adding
them carefully to the soup just before it is to be served. After eggs
have been added for thickening, the soup should not be allowed to boil,
as it is liable to curdle.

CLEARING SOUP

Sometimes it is desired to improve the appearance of
soup stock, particularly a small amount of soup that is to be served at
a very dainty luncheon or dinner. In order to do this, the stock may be
treated by a certain process that will cause it to become clear. After
being cleared, it may be served as a thin soup or, if it is heavy
enough, it may be made into a clear, sparkling jelly into which many
desirable things may be molded for salad or for a dish to accompany a
heavy course. Clearing soup is rather extravagant; however, while it
does not improve the taste, it does improve the appearance.

A very satisfactory way in which to clear stock is to use egg whites and
crushed egg shell. To each quart of cold stock should be added the
crushed shell and a slightly beaten egg white. These should be mixed
well, placed on the fire, and the mixture stirred constantly until it
boils. As the egg coagulates, some of the floating particles in the
stock are caught and carried to the top, while others are carried to the
bottom by the particles of shell as they settle. After the mixture has
boiled for 5 or 10 minutes, the top should be skimmed carefully and the
stock then strained through a fine cloth. When it has been reheated, the
cleared stock will be ready to serve.

REMOVING GREASE FROM SOUP

A greasy soup is always unpalatable.
Therefore, a very important feature of soup making, whether a thin or a
thick soup is being made, is the removal of all grease. Various ways of
removing grease have been devised, depending on whether the soup is hot
or cold. In the case of hot or warm soup, all the grease that it is
possible to remove with a spoon may be skimmed from the top, and the
remainder then taken up with a piece of clean blotting paper,
tissue-paper, or absorbent cotton. Another plan, by which the fat may be
hardened and then collected, consists in tying a few small pieces of ice
in a piece of cloth and drawing them over the surface of the soup. A
very simple method is to allow the soup or stock to become cold, and
then remove the fat, which collects on the top and hardens, by merely
lifting off the cake that forms.

PROCESSES INVOLVED IN MAKING STOCK

Although the making of stock or soup is a simple process, it must
necessarily be a rather long one. The reason for this is that all flavor
cannot be drawn from the soup materials unless they are subjected to
long, slow cooking at a temperature lower than the boiling point. With
this point definitely understood, the actual work of soup making may
be taken up.

COOKING MEAT FOR SOUP.--When clear stock is to be made from fresh
meat, the required quantity of meat should be cut into small pieces
rather than large ones, so as to expose as much of the surface as
possible from which the flavor of the meat can be drawn. A little more
flavor is obtained and a brown color developed if a small part, perhaps
a fourth, of the pieces of meat are first browned in the frying pan. The
pieces thus browned, together with the pieces of fresh meat, are put
into a kettle and a quart of cold water for each pound of meat is
then added.

The reason for using cold rather than hot water will be evident when the
action of water on raw meat is understood. The fiber of meat is composed
of innumerable thread-like tubes containing the flavor that is to be
drawn out into the water in order to make the stock appetizing. When the
meat is cut, these tiny tubes are laid open. Putting the meat thus
prepared into cold water and allowing it to heat gradually tend to
extract the contents of the tubes. This material is known as
extractives, and it contains in its composition stimulating
substances. On the other hand, plunging the meat into hot water and
subjecting it quickly to a high temperature will coagulate the protein
in the tissue and prevent the extractives from leaving the tubes.

To obtain the most flavor from meat that is properly prepared, it
should be put over a slow fire and allowed to come gradually to the
boiling point. As the water approaches the boiling point, a scum
consisting of coagulated albumin, blood, and foreign material will begin
to rise to the top, but this should be skimmed off at once and the
process of skimming continued until no scum remains. When the water
begins to boil rapidly, either the fire should be lowered or the kettle
should be removed to a cooler part of the stove so that the water will
bubble only enough for a very slight motion to be observed. Throughout
the cooking, the meat should not be allowed to boil violently nor to
cease bubbling entirely.

The meat should be allowed to cook for at least 4 hours, but longer if
possible. If, during this long cooking, too much water evaporates, more
should be added to dilute the stock. The salt that is required for
seasoning may be added just a few minutes before the stock is removed
from the kettle. However, it is better to add the salt, together with
the other seasonings, after the stock has been drawn off, for salt, like
heat, has a tendency to harden the tissues of meat and to prevent the
flavor from being readily extracted.

Although, as has been explained, flavor is drawn from the fibers of
meat by boiling it slowly for a long time, the cooking of meat for soup
does not extract the nourishment from it to any extent. In reality, the
meat itself largely retains its original nutritive value after it has
been cooked for soup, although a small quantity of protein is drawn out
and much of the fat is removed. This meat should never be wasted;
rather, it should be used carefully with materials that will take the
place of the flavor that has been cooked from it.

MAKING OF SOUP

PRINCIPAL INGREDIENTS

The making of the stock that is used in soup is the most important
of the soup-making processes; in fact, these two things--soup and
stock--may be regarded, in many instances, as one and the same. The
cook will do well, therefore, to keep in mind that whenever
reference is made to the making of soup usually stock making is also
involved and meant. Before the actual soup-making processes are taken
up, however, the nature of the ingredients required should be well
understood; for this reason, suitable meats and vegetables, which are
the principal ingredients in soups, are first discussed.

MEAT USED FOR SOUP MAKING.--With the exception of pork, almost every
kind of meat, including beef, veal, mutton, lamb, game, and poultry, is
used for soup making. Occasionally, ham is employed, but most other
forms of pork are seldom used to any extent. When soup stock is made
from these meats, they may be cooked separately, or, as a combination is
often an improvement over a single variety, several kinds may be
combined. For instance, mutton used alone makes a very strongly flavored
soup, so that it is usually advisable to combine this kind of meat with
another meat that has a less distinctive flavor. On the other hand, veal
alone does not have sufficient flavor, so it must be combined with lamb,
game, fowl, or some other well-flavored meat.

20. Certain cuts of meats are preferred to others in the making of
soups, because of the difference in their texture. The tender cuts,
which are the expensive ones, should not be used for soups, as they do
not produce enough flavor. The tough cuts, which come from the muscles
that the animal uses constantly and that therefore grow hard and tough,
are usually cheaper, but they are more suitable, because they contain
the material that makes the best soup. The pieces best adapted to soup
making are the shins, the shanks, the lower part of the round, the neck,
the flank, the shoulder, the tail, and the brisket. Although beef is obtained from the cow, the same cuts come from practically the same places in other animals. Stock made from one of these cuts will be improved if a small amount of the fat of the meat is cooked with it; but to avoid soup that is too greasy, any excess fat that remains after cooking should be carefully removed. The marrow of the shin bone is the best fat for soup making.

If soup is to be made from fish, a white variety should be selected. The
head and trimmings may be utilized, but these alone are not sufficient,
because soup requires some solid pieces of meat. The same is true of
meat bones; they are valuable only when they are used with meat, an
equal proportion of bone and meat being required for the best stock.

VEGETABLES USED FOR SOUP MAKING.--In soup making, the cook has
also a large number of vegetables from which to select, for any
vegetable that has a decided flavor may be used. Among those from which
soups can be made successfully are cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus,
corn, onions, turnips, carrots, parsnips, tomatoes, beans, peas,
lentils, salsify, potatoes, spinach, celery, mushrooms, okra, and even
sweet potatoes. These vegetables are used for two purposes: to provide
flavoring and to form part of the soup itself as well as to furnish
flavor. When they are used simply for flavoring, they are cooked until
their flavor is obtained and then removed from the stock. When they are
to form part of the soup, as well as to impart flavor, they are left in
the soup in small pieces or made into a puree and eaten with the soup.

Attention, too, must be given to the condition of the vegetables that
are used in soup. The fresh vegetables that are used should be in
perfect condition. They should have no decayed places that might taint
or discolor the soups, and they should be as crisp and solid as
possible. If they are somewhat withered or faded, they can be freshened
by allowing them to stand in cold water for a short time. When dried
vegetables are to be used for soup making, they should first be soaked
well in cold water and then, before being added to the stock, either
partly cooked or entirely cooked and made into a puree.

THE STOCK POT

NATURE, USE, AND CARE OF STOCK POT.--Among the utensils used for
cooking there is probably none more convenient and useful than the stock
pot. It is nothing more or less than a covered crock or pot into which materials that will make a well-flavored stock are put from time to time. From such a supply, stock can be drawn when it is needed for soup; then, when some is taken out, more water and materials may be added to replenish the pot. The stock pot should be made of either enamel or earthenware, since a metal pot of any kind is liable to impart flavor to the food. Likewise, its lid, or cover, should be tight-fitting, for then it will be an excellent utensil in which the
materials may be stored until they are to be heated, when they can be
poured or dipped into a saucepan or a kettle.

The stock pot, like any other utensil used for making soup, should
receive considerable care, as it must be kept scrupulously clean. No
stock pot should ever be allowed to stand from day to day without being
emptied, thoroughly washed, and then exposed to the air for a while
to dry.


FOOD SUITABLE FOR THE STOCK POT.--Some one has said that nothing
edible is out of place in the stock pot, and, to a great extent, this
statement is true. Here should be put the bones from the cooked roast,
as well as the trimmings cut from it before it went into the oven; the
tough ends and bones of beefsteak; the trimmings or bones sent home by
the butcher; the carcasses of fowls, together with any remains of
stuffing and tough or left-over bits of meat; any left-over vegetables;
the remains of the gravy or any unsweetened sauces used for meats or
vegetables; the spoonful of left-over hash, stew, or stuffing; a
left-over stuffed tomato or pepper; and the water in which rice,
macaroni, or certain vegetables have been cooked. Of course, plain water
can be used for the liquid, but the water in which such vegetables as
cauliflower, carrots, beans, peas, asparagus, celery, and potatoes have
been cooked is especially desirable, for, besides imparting flavor to
the soup, it adds valuable mineral salts. However, when such things as
left-over cereals, rice, macaroni, and green vegetables are to be
utilized in soup, they should not be put in the stock pot; rather, they
should be added to the stock after it is removed from the pot.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF SOUP

Besides having an important place in the
meal of which it forms a part, soup is very often an economy, for it
affords the housewife a splendid opportunity to utilize many left-overs.
With the French people, who excel in the art of soup making chiefly
because of their clever adaptation of seasoning to foods, their
pot-au-feu is a national institution and every kitchen has its stock
pot. Persons who believe in the strictest food economy use a stock pot,
since it permits left-overs to be utilized in an attractive and
palatable way. In fact, there is scarcely anything in the way of fish,
meat, fowl, vegetables, and cereals that cannot be used in soup making,
provided such ingredients are cared for in the proper way. Very often
the first glance at the large number of ingredients listed in a soup
recipe creates the impression that soup must be a very complicated
thing. Such, however, is not the case. In reality, most of the soup
ingredients are small quantities of things used for flavoring, and it is
by the proper blending of these that appetizing soups are secured.

VALUE OF SOUP

1. SOUP is a liquid food that is prepared by boiling meat or vegetables,
or both, in water and then seasoning and sometimes thickening the liquid
that is produced. It is usually served as the first course of a dinner,
but it is often included in a light meal, such as luncheon. While some
persons regard the making of soup as difficult, nothing is easier when
one knows just what is required and how to proceed. The purpose of this
Section, therefore, is to acquaint the housewife with the details of
soup making, so that she may provide her family with appetizing and
nutritious soups that make for both economy and healthfulness.

2. It is interesting to note the advancement that has been made with
this food. The origin of soup, like that of many foods, dates back to
practically the beginning of history. However, the first soup known was
probably not made with meat. For instance, the mess of pottage for which
Esau sold his birthright was soup made of red lentils. Later on meat
came to be used as the basis for soup because of the agreeable and
appetizing flavor it provides. Then, at one time in France a scarcity of
butter and other fats that had been used to produce moistness and
richness in foods, brought about such clear soups as bouillon and
consomme. These, as well as other liquid foods, found much favor, for
about the time they were devised it came to be considered vulgar to chew
food. Thus, at various periods, and because of different emergencies,
particular kinds of soup have been introduced, until now there are many
kinds from which the housewife may choose when she desires a dish that
will start a meal in the right way and at the same time appeal to
the appetite.

3. VALUE OF SOUP IN THE MEAL.--Not all persons have the same idea
regarding the value of soup as a part of a meal. Some consider it to be
of no more value than so much water, claiming that it should be fed to
none but children or sick persons who are unable to take solid food. On
the other hand, many persons believe that soup contains the very essence
of all that is nourishing and sustaining in the foods of which it is
made. This difference of opinion is well demonstrated by the ideas that
have been advanced concerning this food. Some one has said that soup is
to a meal what a portico is to a palace or an overture to an opera,
while another person, who evidently does not appreciate this food, has
said that soup is the preface to a dinner and that any work really worth
while is sufficient in itself and needs no preface. Such opinions,
however, must be reconciled if the true value of this food is to be
appreciated.

4. Probably the best way in which to come to a definite conclusion as to
the importance of soup is to consider the purposes it serves in a meal.
When its variety and the ingredients of which it is composed are thought
of, soup serves two purposes: first, as an appetizer taken at the
beginning of a meal to stimulate the appetite and aid in the flow of
digestive juices in the stomach; and, secondly, as an actual part of the
meal, when it must contain sufficient nutritive material to permit it to
be considered as a part of the meal instead of merely an addition. Even
in its first and minor purpose, the important part that soup plays in
many meals is not hard to realize, for it is just what is needed to
arouse the flagging appetite and create a desire for nourishing food.
But in its second purpose, the real value of soup is evident. Whenever
soup contains enough nutritive material for it to take the place of some
dish that would otherwise be necessary, its value cannot be
overestimated.

If soup is thought of in this way, the prejudice that exists against it
in many households will be entirely overcome. But since much of this
prejudice is due to the fact that the soup served is often unappetizing
in both flavor and appearance, sufficient attention should be given to
the making of soup to have this food attractive enough to appeal to the
appetite rather than discourage it. Soup should not be greasy nor
insipid in flavor, neither should it be served in large quantities nor
without the proper accompaniment. A small quantity of well-flavored,
attractively served soup cannot fail to meet the approval of any family
when it is served as the first course of the meal.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Soup stocks

SOUPS

The basis of all good soups is the stock or liquid in which bones, cooked or uncooked meat or vegetables have been boiled.
The proportions for soup stock are generally one pound meat and bone to one quart water. The meat should be cut into small pieces and put into kettle with bones, covered with cold water and cooked slowly for several hours.
Gravies and browned pieces of meat are often added to the soup kettle for color and flavoring.
The stock should be strained, quickly cooled and all fat removed.
Cream soups are made with a cream sauce foundation to which is added strained pulp of vegetables or fish.

BROWN SOUP STOCK

6 lbs. shin of beef
3 to 6 quarts cold water
1 bay leaf
6 cloves
1 tablespoon mixed herbs
2 sprigs parsley
_ cup carrot
_ cup turnip
_ cup celery
_ cup onion

Wipe beef and cut lean meat into cubes; brown one-third in hot frying pan; put remaining two-thirds with bone and fat into soup kettle; add water and let stand 30 minutes. Place on back of range; add browned meat and heat gradually to boiling point. Cover and cook slowly six hours; add vegetables and seasoning one hour before it is finished. Strain and put away to cool. Remove all fat; reheat and serve.

Northern Italian Recipes

Clear Soup

Ingredients: Stock meat, water, a bunch of herbs (thyme, parsley, chervil, bay leaf, basil, marjoram), three carrots, three turnips, three onions, three cloves stuck in the onions, one blade of mace.
Cut up three pounds of stock meat small and put it in a stock pot with two quarts of cold water, three carrots, and three turnips cut up, three onions with a clove stuck in each one, a bunch of herbs and a blade of mace. Let it come to the boil and then draw it off, at once skim off all the scum, and keep it gently simmering, and occasionally add two or three tablespoonsful of cold water. Let it simmer all day, and then strain it through a fine cloth.
Some of the liquor in which a calfís head has been cooked, or even a calfís foot, will greatly improve a clear soup.
The stock should never be allowed to boil as long as the meat and vegetables are in the stock pot.

Zuppa Primaverile (Spring Soup)

Ingredients: Clear soup, vegetables.
Any fresh spring vegetables will do for this soup, but they must all be cooked separately and put into the soup at the last minute. It is best made with fresh peas, asparagus tips, and a few strips of tarragon.

Soup alla Lombarda

Ingredients: Clear soup, fowl forcemeat, Bechamel (No. 3), peas, lobster butter, eggs, asparagus.
Make a firm forcemeat of fowl and divide it into three parts, to the first add two spoonsful of cream Bechamel, to the second four spoonsful of puree of green peas, to the third two spoonsful of lobster butter and the yolk of an egg; thus you will have the Italian colours, red, white, and green. Butter a pie dish and make little quenelles of the forcemeat. Just before serving boil them for four minutes in boiling stock, take them out carefully and put them in a warm soup tureen with two spoonsful of cooked green peas and pour a very fresh clear soup over them. Hand little croutons fried in lobster butter separately.


Tuscan Soup

Ingredients: Stock, eggs.
Whip up three or four eggs, gradually add good stock to them, and keep on whisking them up until they begin to curdle. Keep the soup hot in a bain-marie.
No. 23. Venetian Soup
Ingredients: Clear soup, butter, flour, Parmesan, eggs.
Make a roux by frying two ounces of butter and two ounces of flour, add an ounce of grated cheese and half a cup of good stock. Mix up well so as to form a paste, and then take it off the fire and add the yolks of four eggs, mix again and form the again and form the paste into little quenelles. Boil these in a little soup, strain off, put them into the tureen and pour a good clear soup over them.

Roman Soup

Ingredients: Stock, butter, eggs, salt, crumb of bread, parsley, nutmeg, flour, Parmesan.
Mix three and a half ounces of butter with two eggs and four ounces of crumbs of bread soaked in stock, a little chopped parsley, salt, and a pinch of nutmeg. Reduce this and add two tablespoonsful of flour and one of grated Parmesan. Form this into little quenelles and boil them in stock for a few minutes put them into a tureen and pour a good clear soup over them.


Soup alla Nazionale

Ingredients: Clear soup, savoury custard.
Make a savoury custard and divide it into three parts, one to be left white, another coloured red with tomato, and the third green with spinach. Put a layer of each in a buttered saucepan and cook for about ten minutes, cut it into dice, so that you have the three Italian colours (red, white, and green) together, then put the custard into a soup tureen and pour a good clear soup over it.


Soup alla Modanese

Ingredients: Stock, spinach, butter, salt, eggs, Parmesan, nutmeg, croutons.
Wash one pound of spinach in five or six waters, then chop it very fine and mix it with three ounces of butter, salt it and warm it up. Then let it get cold, pass through a hair sieve, and add two eggs, a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, and very little nutmeg. Add this to some boiling stock in a copper saucepan, put on the lid, and on the top put some hot coals so that the eggs may curdle and help to thicken the soup. Serve with fried croutons.


Crotopo Soup

Ingredients: Clear soup, veal, ham, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, rolls.
Pound half a pound of lean veal in a mortar, then add three ounces of cooked ham with some fat in it, the yolk of an egg, salt, pepper, and very little nutmeg. Pass through a sieve, cut some small French rolls into slices, spread them with the above mixture, and colour them in the oven. Then cut them in halves or quarters, put them into a tureen, and just before serving pour a very good clear soup over them.


Soup allíImperatrice

Ingredients: Breast of fowl, eggs, salt, pepper, ground rice, nutmeg, clear stock.
Pound the breast of a fowl in a mortar, and add to it a teaspoonful of ground rice, the yolk of an egg, salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. Pass this through a sieve, form quenelles with it, and pour a good clear soup over them.

Neapolitan Soup

Ingredients: Fowl, potato flour, eggs, Bechamel sauce, peas, asparagus, spinach, clear soup.
Mix a quarter pound of forcemeat of fowl with a tablespoonful of potato flour, a tablespoonful of Bechamel sauce (No. 3), and the yolk of an egg; put this into a tube about the size round of an ordinary macaroni; twenty minutes before serving squirt the forcemeat into a saucepan with boiling stock, and nip off the forcemeat as it comes through the pipe into pieces about an inch and a half long. Let it simmer, and add boiled peas and asparagus tips. If you like to have the fowl macaroni white and green, you can colour half the forcemeat with a spoonful of spinach colouring. Serve in a good clear soup.

Soup with Risotto

Ingredients: Risotto (No. 189), eggs, bread crumbs, clear or brown soup.
If you have some good risotto left, you can use it up by making it into little balls the size of small nuts. Egg and bread crumb and fry them in butter; dry them and put them into a soup tureen with hot soup. The soup may be either clear or brown.

Soup alla Canavese

Ingredients: White stock, butter, onions, carrot, celery, tomato, cauliflower, fat bacon, parsley, sage, Parmesan, salt, pepper.
Chop up half an onion, half a carrot, half a stick of celery, a small bit of fat bacon, and fry them in two ounces of butter. Then cover them with good white stock, boil for a few minutes, pass through a sieve, and add two tablespoonsful of tomato puree. Then blanch half a cauliflower in salted water, let it get cold, drain all the water out of it, and break it up into little bunches and put them into a stock pot with the stock, a small leaf of dried sage, crumbled up, and a little chopped parsley, and let it all boil; add a pinch of grated cheese and some pepper. Serve with grated Parmesan handed separately.

Soup alla Maria Pia

Ingredients: White stock, eggs, butter, peas, white beans, carrot, onion, leeks, celery, cream croutons.
Soak one pound of white beans for twelve hours, then put them into a stock pot with a little salt, butter, and water, add a carrot, an onion, two leeks, and a stick of celery, and simmer until the vegetables are well cooked; then take out all the fresh vegetables, drain the beans and pass them through a sieve, but first dilute them with good stock. Put this puree into a stock pot with good white stock, and when it has boiled keep it hot in a bain-marie until you are about to serve; then mix the yolk of three eggs in a cup of cream, and add this to the soup. Pour the soup into a warm tureen, add some boiled green peas, and serve with fried croutons handed separately.

Zuppa dí Erbe (Lettuce Soup)

Ingredients: Stock, sorrel, endive, lettuce, chervil, celery, carrot, onion, French roll, Parmesan cheese.
Boil the following vegetables and herbs in very good stock for an hour: Two small bunches of sorrel, a bunch of endive, a lettuce, a small bunch of chervil, a stick of celery, a carrot and an onion, all well washed and cut up. Then put some slices of toasted French roll into a tureen and pour the above soup over them. Serve with grated Parmesan handed separately.

Zuppa Regina di Riso (Queenís Soup)

Ingredients: Fowl stock, ground rice, milk, butter.
Put a tablespoonful of ground rice into a saucepan and gradually add half a pint of milk, boil it gently for twelve minutes in a bainmarie, but stir the whole time, so as to get it very smooth. Just before serving add an ounce of butter, pass it through a sieve, and mix it with good fowl stock.


Minestre

Minestra is a thick broth, very much like hotch-potch, only thicker. In Italy it is often served at the beginning of dinner instead of soup; it also makes an excellent lunch dish. Two or three tablespoonsful of No. 35 will be found a great improvement to any of these minestre.

A Condiment for Seasoning Minestre

Ingredients: Onions, celery, carrots, butter, salt, stock, tomatoes, mushrooms.
Cut up an onion, a stick of celery, and a carrot; fry them in butter and salt; add a few bits of cooked ham and veal cut up, two mushrooms, and the pulp of a tomato. Cook for a quarter of an hour, and add a little stock occasionally to keep it moist. Pass through a sieve, and use for seasoning minestre, macaroni, rice, &c. It should be added when the dish is nearly cooked.

Minestra alla Casalinga

Ingredients: Rice, butter, stock, vegetables.
All sorts of vegetables will serve for this dish. Blanch them in boiling salted water, then drain and fry them in butter. Add plenty of good stock, and put them on a slow fire. Boil four ounces of rice in stock, and when it is well done add the stock with the vegetables. Season with two or three spoonsful of No. 35, and serve with grated cheese handed separately.

Minestra of Rice and Turnips

Ingredients: Rice, turnips, butter, gravy, tomatoes.
Cut three or four young turnips into slices and put them on a dish, strew a little salt over them, cover them with another dish, and let them stand for about two hours until the water has run out of them. Then drain the slices, put them in a frying-pan and fry them slightly in butter. Add some good gravy and mashed-up tomatoes, and after having cooked this for a few minutes pour it into good boiling stock. Add three ounces of well-washed rice, and boil for half-an-hour.
Minestra loses its flavour if it is boiled too long. In Lombardy, however, rice, macaroni, &c., are rarely boiled enough for English tastes.

Minestra alla Capucina

Ingredients: Rice, anchovies, butter, stock, and onions.
Scale an anchovy, pound it, and fry it in butter together with a small onion cut across, and four ounces of boiled rice. Add a little salt, and when the rice is a golden brown, take out the onion and gradually add some good stock until the dish is of the consistency of rice pudding.

Minestra of Semolina

Ingredients: Stock, semolina, Parmesan.
Put as much stock as you require into a saucepan, and when it begins to boil add semolina very gradually, and stir to keep it from getting lumpy Cook it until the semolina is soft, and serve with grated Parmesan handed separately. To one quart of soup use three ounces of semolina.

Minestrone alla Milanese

Ingredients: Rice or macaroni, ham, bacon, stock, all sorts of vegetables.
Minestrone is a favourite dish in Lombardy when vegetables are plentiful. Boil all sorts of vegetables in stock, and add bits of bacon, ham, onions braized in butter, chopped parsley, a clove of garlic with two cuts, and rice or macaroni. Put in those vegetables first which require most cooking, and do not make the broth too thin. Leave the garlic in for a quarter of an hour only.

Minestra of Rice and Cabbage

Ingredients: Rice, cabbage, stock, ham, tomato sauce.
Cut off the stalk and all the hard outside leaves of a cabbage, wash it and cut it up, but not too small, then drain and cook it in good stock and add two ounces of boiled rice. This minestre is improved by adding a little chopped ham and a few spoonsful of tomato sauce.

Minestra of Rice and Celery

Ingredients: Celery, rice, stock.
Cut up a head of celery and remove all the green parts, then boil it in good stock and add two ounces of rice, and boil till it is well cooked.

Italian Soup Recipes

BEEF SOUP STOCK

(_Brodo di Carne_)
1 pound of round of beef
2 quarts of water
2 small, new carrots, or _ of an old carrot
_ pound of beef bones
2 small potatoes
1 onion
1 tomato, fresh or canned
Parsley

Boil the beef, bones, and vegetables in two quarts of water over a slow fire—adding pepper and salt. Skim occasionally, and after two hours add two tablespoons of sherry; then strain through fine soup-strainer or cheese-cloth. This is the basis of all the following soups, except when otherwise stated.
To make this stock richer, add a turkey leg to above receipt; boil one and a half hours, then add one-half a pound of finely chopped beef. Cook for half an hour longer, then strain.
To make meat jelly, add a little gelatine to the soup stock five minutes before straining.
To give a good dark color to the stock, add a few drops of “caramel,” which is prepared in the following manner:
Put three tablespoons of granulated sugar into a saucepan with a little water, and until the sugar has become dark and reddish; then add a little more water and boil again until the sugar is melted. Strain and pour into a bottle when the caramel will keep perfectly for several weeks.

CHICKEN BROTH

(_Brodo di Capone_)
This is made like the meat stock, substituting a fowl in place of the beef and bones.

RICE SOUP

(_Minestra di Riso_)
Meat stock
2 tablespoons of rice

Cover the rice with water and boil for ten minutes; then drain and add to the stock (after it has been strained), and boil for five or ten minutes more.

STRACCIATELLA SOUP

(_Minestra di Stracciatella_)
1 egg
_ tablespoon of Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon bread crumbs

Beat the egg, yolk and white together; add salt and the cheese, grated, and the bread crumbs; mix well together and add to the boiling stock (strained). Stir well with a fork to prevent the egg from setting, and boil for four or five minutes.

VEGETABLE CHOWDER

(_Minestrone alla Milanese_)
_ quart of stock
2 slices of lean pork, or a ham bone
2 tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 cup of rice
2 tablespoons of dried beans
1 tablespoon of peas, fresh or canned
2 onions

Put into the stock the slices of pork, cut into small pieces; or, if desired, a ham bone may be substituted for the pork. Add the tomatoes, cut into small pieces also, the onions, in small pieces, and the rice. Boil all together until the rice is cooked. Then add the beans and the peas and cook a little longer. The soup is ready when it is thick. If desired, this chowder can be made with fish broth instead of the stock, and with the addition of shrimps which have been taken from their shells.
This dish can be served hot or cold.

FISH BROTH

(_Brodo di Pesce_)
1 liberal pound of fresh codfish, or any other lean fish for boiling
1 quart of water
1 onion
Parsley
Salt and pepper

Boil until fish is thoroughly cooked; strain and serve.

CODFISH SOUP

(_Zuppa di Merluzzo_)
Take one-half pound of salt codfish that has been soaked, cut it up into squares, but not small.
Prepare in a saucepan four tablespoons of good olive-oil, and one small onion cut into pieces. Cook the onion in the oil over a slow fire, without allowing the onion to become colored, then add a small bunch of parsley stems, a small piece of celery, a bay-leaf, and a small sprig of thyme. Cool for a few moments, then add two tomatoes, skinned and with the seeds removed, and cut into slices, two tablespoons of dry white wine, and one medium-sized potato, peeled and cut into slices, and, lastly, one cup of water.
When the potato is half cooked, add the codfish, then one-half tablespoon more of olive-oil. Remove the parsley stems, and put in instead one-half tablespoon of chopped-up parsley; add a good pinch of pepper, and some salt, if needed. When the vegetables are thoroughly cooked pour the soup over pieces of toasted or fried bread, and serve.

LENTIL SOUP

(_Brodo di Lenticchie_)
3 tablespoons of dried lentils
_ tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoons of cream
Meat stock

Cover the lentils with water and boil until they are quite soft. Pass them through a colander or a sieve. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the lentils and cream, mixing well, then add a ladleful of the stock, and boil for a few minutes; then add the rest of the desired amount of stock, a ladleful at a time.

VEGETABLE SOUP

(_Zuppa alla Primaverile_)
Take some cabbage, carrots, celery, onions, turnips, lettuce, squash, potatoes, beans, and peas. Chop each into very small pieces, wash and drain. Take a saucepan, put in a heaping tablespoon of butter; chop up another small piece of onion and add to butter and fry until onion is golden; then add all the vegetables, salt, and pepper, and cover the saucepan. When the vegetables are half cooked, and their juice has become absorbed, dissolve one tablespoon of tomato paste in one-third of a cup of hot water, and add. Instead of the tomato paste there may be added to the onion, before putting in the vegetables, one tomato, peeled and cut into small pieces. When the tomato is cooked add the vegetables. Then add water, a little at a time, until you have sufficient quantity for two persons. Take a slice of bread and cut into small squares or diamonds—toast or fry as desired—put these into the soup plates, and pour the soup (without straining) over them.

LETTUCE SOUP

(_Zuppa di Lattuga_)
1 small lettuce
Meat stock
2 potatoes
The leaves of a head of celery
2 tablespoons of peas, fresh or canned
1 heaping tablespoon of flour

Put the potatoes, cold boiled, into the stock when it boils, add the celery leaves, the lettuce chopped up, the peas, and the flour mixed well with a little cold stock or water. Boil for one hour and a half, and serve with little squares of fried bread.

PUMPKIN SOUP

(_Zuppa di Zucca_)
1 slice of pumpkin
2 tablespoons of butter
_ cup of water
1-1/2 cups of milk
1 tablespoon of sugar

Peel the pumpkin and remove the seeds, cut into small pieces, and put into a saucepan with the butter, the sugar, a pinch of salt, and the water. Boil for two hours, then drain and put back into the saucepan with the milk, which has been boiled. Allow it to come to a boil, and then serve it with squares of fried bread.

POTATO SOUP

(_Zuppa alla Provinciale_)

2 large potatoes
3 tablespoons of cream or milk
2 tablespoons of butter
2 yolks of eggs
Soup stock

Boil the potatoes, then rub them through a sieve. Put them into a saucepan with the butter, a little salt, and the cream or milk. Simmer until it is thick, then add the yolks of the two eggs to form it into a paste. Turn out onto the bread-board, cut into small dice, and throw them into the stock, which must be boiling. If desired, before serving sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese into the soup.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Australian Soups & Stocks

STOCK FROM BONES (FRESH BONES).

Beef bones are the best for this stock; break them up very small with a chopper, put them into a large saucepan and cover well with cold water, add two teaspoonsful of salt, and when it boils up remove the scum carefully, and put in one onion, one carrot, half a turnip, a little piece of the outside stalk of celery, and one dozen peppercorns. Boil steadily for six hours, or longer, then strain off through a colander or sieve, and stand in a cool place till the next day. Carefully remove the fat by directions given elsewhere, and it is ready for use.
This stock is a good foundation for all soups, gravies, and sauces. In very hot weather omit all the vegetables.


STOCK FROM BONES (NO. 2)
The bones from all joints of meat, whether roasted or boiled, make excellent stock. Beef bones are the best, but very good stock can be made from mutton and veal bones. The bones and trimmings of all kinds of poultry, game, and rabbits are also excellent, particularly for soups that require a special flavour. To make this stock successfully care must be taken to remove all pieces that may be burnt, as these give the stock an unpleasant flavour. The bones must be chopped very small, and well covered with cold water. When the pot boils put in a teaspoonful of salt and skim well, then boil steadily for six hours or longer; strain off and remove the fat, and it is ready for use, but it is much better to let it stand till the next day before converting it into soup or gravy.


FISH STOCK
Vegetables and Peppercorns--1d.
Fish for nearly all dishes is better if boned before cooking; it is also economy to do this, as the bones can then be used for stock for fish soups. These soups, although not well known here at present, are a valuable food; they are easy to make, wholesome, and nourishing. After the fillets of fish have been removed, directions for which are given amongst the fish recipes, take the bones, wash them well in cold water, and cut away any black substance that may be adhering to them. Break them up and put into a saucepan with a teaspoonful of salt; when it boils remove the scum and put in one dozen white peppercorns, a fagot of herbs, one onion, and one carrot; boil steadily for two hours or longer, strain through a sieve into a basin, and it is ready for use.


POT BOILINGS
Water in which meat of fish has been boiled should never be thrown away, as it forms an excellent foundation for many soups and sauces which might otherwise have to be made with water.
If a large quantity of water has been used, the boilings will be poor; therefore, when the meat has been taken up, leave the pot on the fire and let it boil quickly, without the lid, for an hour or so, then strain off for use.
The water in which corned beef or pork has been cooked is generally too salt for soups, but it should be stood away till cold, when a thick cake of fat will be found on the top. Put this into a basin and pour over it some boiling water; when it is cold again it can be used for cakes and pastry. It makes an excellent and wholesome substitute for butter in cooking.


VEAL STOCK
Knuckle of Veal
*
Peppercorns and Vegetables
*

*
The butcher should chop the bones very small. Cut the meat across in several places, lay it in a very clean stock pot, cover well with cold water, and bring to the boil slowly; put in a dessertspoonful of salt, and skim very carefully; draw away from the fire, place it where it will boil steadily, put in 2 dozen white peppercorns, one onion stuck with six cloves, and a fagot of herbs. This is made with a sprig each of parsley, marjoram, and thyme, tied up with a bay or peach leaf; boil steadily for six hours, and strain off.
This is the foundation for the best white soups and sauces; it is also a very nutritious broth for invalids. The meat can be made hot again in about half a pint of the stock and served with parsley butter sauce. A recipe for this is given with the sauces.


BEEF STOCK
Leg of Beef
*
Vegetables
*

*
The bone in this meat should be chopped small by the butcher. Remove the marrow from the bones, and cut the meat into small pieces; put all together into a stock pot or digester, cover well with cold water, and bring it to the boil; add a dessertspoonful of salt; this will throw up the scum, which must be carefully removed. When this has been done put in 2 dozen peppercorns, an onion, and two carrots, draw away from the fire and let it boil steadily for five or six hours or longer, then strain off through a colander and stand away in a cool place.
This is the foundation for nearly all good brown soups. The bones boiled again will make second stock, and the meat does very well for brawn, a recipe for which is given amongst the meat dishes.


BEEF TEA—NO. 1
1 lb. Gravy Beef
*
1 pint water
*

*
Remove all fat and skin from the meat and put it twice through a sausage machine or scrape it into a pulp with a sharp knife, pour over the cold water, and let it stand for an hour. Pour it into a brown baking jar and put it into a cool oven, and keep it below boiling point for an hour or longer, according to the heat of the oven. It should look brown, thick, and rich, when sufficiently cooked. Strain through a colander, add salt to taste, and it is ready to serve.


QUICK BEEF TEA—NO. 2
1 lb Gravy Beef
*
1 pint water
*

*
Pass the meat twice through a sausage machine, put it into a saucepan, pour over the cold water, and stand on the stove; stir constantly until it comes to boiling point, but do not allow it to boil. As soon as it changes colour from red to brown strain through a colander, add salt to taste, and it is ready to serve.


RAW BEEF TEA.
lb Gravy Beef and 1 gill of Water
Scrape the meat to a pulp with a sharp knife, pour over it with water; cover over and stand away for an hour. Strain off, and it is ready. As this is given to an invalid in small quantities, very little should be made at a time.


BEEF ESSENCE.
1 lb Gravy Beef
Mince the meat very small, put it into a brown baking jar, and cover down with a closely-fitting lid or with brown paper. Stand in a saucepan of boiling water for one hour, pour off the essence, add a little salt, and it is ready.


MUTTON BROTH
4 or 5 scrags of Mutton and Shank Bones
Carefully trim the scrags of mutton, remove the pith from the bones, and wipe with a damp cloth; break these and the shank bones into very small pieces; put them into an enamelled saucepan, well covered with cold water; add a teaspoonful of salt, stand on the stove, and when it boils up remove the scum very carefully. Add 1 dozen peppercorns, and an onion and carrot, if vegetables are allowed the patient. Boil steadily for eight or nine hours; the liquor should then be reduced to one quart. Strain off, and, if possible, let it stand till quite cold; it should then be in a jelly, and can be made hot as required. When serving this to a convalescent a spoonful of rice or pearl barley well washed in cold water and boiled in either stock or milk may be added.


COCK-A-LEEKIE SOUP
9 Leeks
*
1 set of Giblets
*
2 oz. Beef Dripping
*
3 quarts Water or Pot Boilings
*
Salt and Peppercorns.
*

*
Wash and slice up the leeks into pieces about one inch long, put them into a saucepan with the butter or dripping made thoroughly hot; cover over and let them cook for half an hour, stirring occasionally. While they are cooking clean the giblets thoroughly, washing them first in hot and then in cold water. Cut open the gizzard, remove the stones, and cleanse well. Cut them all up into small pieces and put them into the saucepan with the leeks, pour over the boiling water or liquor, put in the peppercorns tied in a piece of muslin, and a piece of bacon rind if there is any in the larder. Let it simmer slowly for three hours; if not brown enough add a few drops of caramel, take out the peppercorns and bacon rind, season to taste, pour into a hot tureen and serve.


CABBAGE AND BACON SOUP
1 Cabbage.
*
1 lb. Bacon
*
1 doz. Peppercorns
*
2 Turnips
*
1 Carrot
*
1 Onion
*
Pieces of Stale Bread
*

Time—Three Hours and a Half
*
This soup is not as expensive as it appears, for the bacon is served as a dish of meat, either after the soup or cold for breakfast or tea. Put two quarts of water into a saucepan; when it boils put in a pound of bacon neither too lean nor too fat. Let it boil slowly for one hour. The bacon must be well washed and scraped before cooking, and when it boils skim the pot thoroughly. Well wash the cabbage and soak it in hot water for half an hour. Take all the water away and put the cabbage into the saucepan with the bacon and vegetables cut up, and the peppercorns tied in a piece of muslin; let them simmer together for two and a half hours, take up the cabbage, and cut it into quarters. Take one quarter and cut it into small pieces and put it into a soup tureen. Cut some stale pieces of bread into thin slices and lay on the top, pour over the boiling liquor, and serve. Dish the bacon, pull off the rind, and put the rest of the cabbage round the dish.


ITALIAN SOUP
2 oz. Macaroni
*
2 quarts Water or Pot Boilings
*
2 Tomatoes
*
1 oz. Butter
*
2 oz. Cheese Rind
*

*
Time—Half an Hour.
*
Put the water or stock on to boil, and when it boils put in the macaroni and boil from twenty-five to thirty minutes. While it is boiling grate up a dry piece of cheese. Put the tomatoes into boiling water and remove the skin, slice them up and put them into a saucepan with the butter and some pepper and salt, and cook them for a few minutes. When the macaroni is soft, cut it into pieces one inch long, put a layer of tomatoes at the bottom of the soup tureen, then a layer of grated cheese, then one of macaroni; repeat this until all the materials are used up, pour over it boiling the liquor in which the macaroni has been cooked, cover down for a few minutes, and serve.


POT-AU-FEU
3 lbs. Leg of Beef.
*
2 quarts Water
*
1 fagot of Herbs
*
Salt and Pepper
*
2 Onions
*
2 Carrots
*
2 Turnips
*
1 doz. Peppercorns
*
Time—Five Hours
*
Pot-au-feu is the national dish of France; it is cheap, nourishing and palatable, and very simple to make. The slower it is cooked the better it is; in fact, in this lies the whole secret of success, for if it boils instead of simmering it is spoilt. Tie the meat up into a nice shape with a piece of tape, put it into cold water, bring slowly to the boil, and very carefully remove the scum; peel and slice up the vegetables, and put them in with the fagot of herbs and the peppercorns tied in a piece of muslin; bring to simmering point, and keep it so for five hours. The liquor can then be served as a soup with part of the vegetables and some sippets of toast. Take the tapes off the meat, and serve with the rest of the vegetables round the dish as a border or garnish. The remains of the beef can be pressed between heavy weights till cold, or put into a brawn tin and served cold with a salad.


VERMICELLI SOUP
1 oz. Vermicelli
*
Vegetables and Saffron
*
2 quarts Bone Stock
*
Time—One Hour
*
The stock for this soup should be good and in a strong jelly when cold. Put it into a saucepan with three or four threads of saffron, an onion or leek stuck with six cloves, 1 dozen white peppercorns and some salt, and boil all together for half an hour; then strain out the vegetables and put it back into the saucepan. It should be of a bright straw colour; if it is not, a thread more saffron may be added before straining. Put in the vermicelli broken small, and simmer for twenty minutes; it is then ready to serve.


MULLIGATAWNY SOUP
2 quarts Stock
*
1 Apple
*
1 Onion
*
1 Carrot
*
1 oz. Curry Powder
*
1 oz. Flour
*
1 oz. Butter
*
Time—One Hour
*
The liquor in which poultry or a rabbit has been boiled is the best for this soup. Slice up the apple, onion, and carrot, and fry them in the butter; sprinkle over the curry powder and flour and brown that too; pour over the boiling stock and stir until it boils up, simmer gently for one hour, then rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan. Bring to the boil, flavour with salt and lemon juice. Pour into a warm tureen and serve. Send well-boiled rice to the table with this soup.


FRENCH SOUP
3 Potatoes
*
3 Carrots
*
2 Turnips
*
2 quarts Bone Stock
*
Pepper
*
2 Onions
*
1 stalk Celery
*
1 oz. Butter.
*
1 teaspoonful Sugar
*
a Pinch of Salt
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Peel and slice up the vegetables and sprinkle them with the sugar and salt, and put them into a saucepan with the butter, and sweat for five minutes. Pour over the boiling stock and stir until it boils; boil slowly for an hour, then rub through a sieve. If it is too thick, reduce it with a little more stock or milk, return to a saucepan, and bring to the boil. When tomatoes are in season slice up two with the other vegetables; these will make the soup a good colour and improve the flavour.


SAGO SOUP
3 oz. Sago
*
1 pint Milk.
*
2 quarts Bone Stock
*
1 Leek
*
Salt and Pepper to taste
*
Time—Half an Hour.
*
Wash the sago in cold water, boil the leek in the stock for ten minutes, take it out and stir in the sago; continue stirring until the sago is transparent and the stock quite thick, then pour in the milk and bring up to the boil. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.


CELERY SOUP
2 heads of Celery
*
2 quarts Pot Boilings
*
1 pint of Milk
*
1 oz. Sago
*
Time—One Hour
*
If vegetables have been boiled with the meat the stock will be sufficiently flavoured; if not, boil an onion and carrot in it and strain out. Wash the celery thoroughly and cut it into pieces one inch long, put it into the boiling stock and boil for half an hour, then sprinkle in 1 oz of sago and stir until it is transparent. Pour in the milk and bring to boiling point; it is then ready to serve. This is an excellent soup for any one suffering from or subject to rheumatism or gout.


TURNIP AND RICE SOUP
4 Turnips
*
Qtr lb. Rice or less pending consistency required
*
2 quarts Water
*
1 pint Milk
*
Onion and Salt
*
Time—One Hour and a Quarter
*
Peel and slice up the turnips, wash the rice and put into a saucepan with the onion and 1 dozen white peppercorns. Pour over the water and boil for an hour, rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan, with the milk and a seasoning of salt and pepper; stir until it boils, then pour into a warm tureen and sprinkle some chopped parsley on top. This soup is much improved by putting one ounce of butter into the water in which the rice and turnips are boiled.


TAPIOCA SOUP
2 oz. Tapioca
*
1 Onion
*
1 Carrot
*
3 quarts Bone Stock.
*
Boil the onion and carrot in the stock for twenty minutes. If the stock is not a good colour put in half a teaspoonful of burnt sugar. Strain out the vegetables, wash the tapioca in cold water and stir it in; continue stirring until the tapioca is quite clear, flavour with salt and lemon juice, and serve very hot. This soup should be quite transparent and of a bright brown colour.


WATER SOUCHET

6 Small Fish- Whiting, Snapper, Bream, Flathead
*
Vegetables
*
Salt and Pepper
*
Lemon Juice
*
Time—One Hour and a Half.
*
Choose small fish of different kinds and fillet them. As only half the fillets are wanted for the souchet, the rest may be dressed in another way. Wash the bones in cold water and remove the black substance from them, put them into two quarts of cold water with a teaspoonful of salt, and when it boils remove the scum and add 1 dozen peppercorns, one carrot, one small turnip, one onion, a small piece of celery, and a fagot of herbs. Put the vegetables in whole. Boil this together for one hour, then strain off through a hair sieve and return to the saucepan; wash the vegetables that have been boiled in it, slice them up and put them into the liquor. Cut the fillets of fish into small pieces and put them in; simmer for half an hour, then put in a little lemon juice, pour into a tureen, and sprinkle a little chopped parsley on the top. Send brown bread and butter to table with it and a lemon.


OYSTER SOUP

1 bottle Oysters
*
1 pint of Milk
*
Cornflour and Vegetables
*
2 quarts Fish Stock
*
Time—One Hour.
*
If there is no fish stock, use pot boilings. As this is a white soup a special saucepan must be used. Put the stock and the liquor from the bottle of oysters into this stewpan with an onion stuck with six cloves, 2 dozen white peppercorns, and a fagot of herbs, and boil together for half an hour, then strain off and return to the saucepan with the milk. When nearly boiling thicken with a tablespoonful of cornflour and boil two or three minutes; put in the oysters and simmer for five minutes. Flavour with a little lemon juice, nutmeg, and salt. Pour into a warm tureen, and send fried bread to table with it.


BROWN MACARONI SOUP

1 oz. Macaroni
*
1 oz. Butter
*
Vegetables
*
Cornflour
*
2 quarts Bone Stock
*
Time—One Hour and a Quarter.
*
Slice up the onions or leeks, one carrot, and make a fagot of herbs; fry them in the butter with 1 dozen peppercorns till they are quite brown, but not burnt. Sprinkle over a tablespoonful of cornflour, and when brown pour over the boiling stock and stir till it boils up; let it simmer for an hour. If it is not brown enough, burn a little sugar in a spoon and stir it in. If half a teaspoonful of sugar is sprinkled over the vegetables when they are frying they will brown much quicker. When the vegetables are soft rub the soup through a wire sieve and return to the saucepan. Boil the macaroni in salt and water for twenty minutes, strain off, and cut into pieces one inch long; put these into the soup and simmer for a quarter of an hour. Flavour with a little salt and pepper if necessary, and pour into a hot tureen.


HARICOT BEAN SOUP

1 lb. Haricot Beans
*
2 Onions
*
1 pint of Milk
*
2 quarts Bone Stock
*
Time—Four Hours
*
Soak the haricot beans for an hour or two, then put them into a saucepan with the stock or water, the onions, and 1 dozen white peppercorns; boil for four hours and then rub through a sieve, return to the saucepan with the milk and seasoning of pepper and salt, stir until it boils. It is then ready to serve. An ounce of butter stirred in just before it is finished is a great improvement.
This is one of the most nourishing soups that can be made. It is an excellent food for outdoor workers. When butter is dear, sweat the haricots in 1 oz. of beef dripping.


MILK SOUP

2 lbs. Potatoes
*
1 oz. Butter
*
1 Onion
*
half pint of Milk
*
3 pints of Water
*
Time—Half an Hour
*
Peel, wash, and slice up the potatoes and onions and put them into a saucepan with the butter, and stir them about till all the butter is dissolved and worked into the potatoes, but they must not get brown. Pour over the boiling water and boil until they are of a pulp, then rub them through a sieve, return to the saucepan, add the milk and seasoning, and stir till it boils. Pour into a hot tureen, and serve with fried bread.


ONION SOUP

4 Onions
*
1 oz. Butter
*
1 oz. Flour
*
1 gill of Milk
*
2 quarts of Stock
*
Salt and Pepper
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Peel and slice up the onions and fry them in the butter till they are a good brown colour. Sprinkle over the flour and brown that too. Pour on the boiling stock and boil steadily till the onions are very soft, then rub through a sieve. If there is any fat on it remove it carefully, pour back into the saucepan, add the milk, pepper, and salt, and boil up.
Just before serving put in a few drops of lemon juice. Send fried bread to table with it.


PUMPKIN SOUP

1 small Pumpkin
*
2 oz. Butter
*
half pint of Milk
*
2 Onions, 1 Carrot
*
2 quarts of Water
*
Time—One Hour and a Half.
*
Peel and slice up the pumpkin, onions, and carrot, put them into a saucepan with half the butter, and sweat the vegetables in it for five minutes, then pour over the boiling water and boil until the vegetables are very soft. Rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan with the milk and some pepper and salt; stir until it boils up.
Just before serving, stir in, in tiny pieces, the rest of the butter and a little lemon juice.


VEGETABLE SOUP

2 lbs. Mixed Vegetables.
*
2 oz. Butter
*
1 lb Haricot Beans
*
Peppercorns, Salt, and Sugar
*
4 quarts of Water
*
Time—One Hour and a Half.
*
Take any vegetables that may be in season, such as carrots, turnips, leeks, onions, and celery, and slice them up; put them into a saucepan with the haricot beans and the butter, and turn them all about till the butter is all absorbed; sprinkle over them a teaspoonful each of salt and sugar, add the peppercorns and the water, and boil until the vegetables are very soft.
Rub them through a sieve, return to the saucepan and make thoroughly hot, and it is ready to serve.


SEMOLINA SOUP

2 oz. Semolina
*
1 pint of Milk
*
3 pints Bone Stock
*
Salt and Pepper
*
Time—One Hour.
*
If the stock has been made without vegetables, as it must often be in hot weather, boil an onion, carrot, fagot of herbs, and a dozen peppercorns in it for half an hour, then strain the stock and put it back in the saucepan. Sprinkle in the semolina and stir until it boils; simmer till the semolina thickens, then add the milk, pepper, and salt, and boil up. Pour into a warm tureen, and send fried bread to table with it.


CARROT SOUP

6 Carrots
*
1 oz. Butter
*
Sugar, Salt, and Pepper
*
3 quarts Bone Stock
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Scrape and slice up the carrots and put them into a saucepan with the butter. Sprinkle over a teaspoonful each of salt and sugar and a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper; turn them about in butter for five minutes, pour over the boiling stock and boil for an our. Rub through a sieve, return to the saucepan and boil up, season to taste, and serve very hot.


TOMATO SOUP

1 doz. Tomatoes
*
1 oz. Butter
*
2 Onions, 1 Carrot
*
2 oz. Flour
*
Salt and 1 teaspoonful Sugar
*
2 doz. Peppercorns
*
3 quarts Bone Stock
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Slice up the onions and carrot, and fry them in the butter with the peppercorns and sugar. Sprinkle over the flour and mix well together. Cut up the tomatoes and put them in, then pour over the boiling stock and stir until it boils. Simmer slowly for an hour. Rub through a sieve, return to the saucepan and make thoroughly hot, pour into a warm tureen, and serve with fried bread.


JERSEY SOUP

2 quarts White Stock
*
1 pint Milk

1 oz. Sage
*
1 Leek
*
1 Fagot of Herbs
*
1 doz. White Peppercorn
*
Salt--1 1/2d.
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Put the stock into a stewpan; slice in the leek and add the fagot of herbs and the peppercorns. Boil them together for half an hour, strain out the vegetables and return to the saucepan; stir in the sage and continue stirring until it is clear and the soup is thick; pour in the boiling milk, boil up and pour into a tureen. Sprinkle finely chopped parsley on the top before serving.


SCOTCH BROTH

2 quarts of the Liquor in which Mutton has been cooked
*
Salt to taste
*
1 oz. Rice
*
1 Carrot
*
1Turnip, and Stalk of Celery
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Carefully remove all the fat from the liquor; put it into a saucepan. Wash the rice and cut all the vegetables into dice; stir them in, and simmer by the side of the fire for an hour. It must be cooked very slowly and without the lid. Add salt to taste, and pour it into a tureen. Pearl barley may be used instead of rice.


LENTIL SOUP

1 lb. Split Lentils
*
1 oz. Butter
*
3 Onions and 2 doz. Peppercorns
*
1 teaspoonful Sugar
*
3 quarts Water
*
Salt to taste
*
Time—Four Hours.
*
Wash the lentils well in two or three waters and put them into a saucepan with the onions, peppercorns, sugar, salt, and half the butter, and sweat them for five minutes. Pour over the boiling water and boil steadily for four hours. If the soup gets too thick, pour in a little more water or stock. Rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan; stir in the butter, salt, and pepper to taste. Boil up and serve.
Lentil soup is one of the most nourishing of all soups, and particularly nice during the winter months.


PEA SOUP
1 lb. Split Peas
*
2 Onions and 1` Head of Celery
*
1 oz. Butter or Dripping
*
2 Carrots
*
2 doz. Peppercorns
*
3 quarts Water
*
Time—Four Hours.
*
Wash the peas well in cold water, and put them into a saucepan with the vegetables sliced up, the peppercorns and the water. Bring to the boil and boil steadily for four hours, then rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan. Season well with salt, and stir in 1 oz butter or dripping. Bring to the boil and pour into a warm tureen. Send some dried mint and fried bread to table with it. This is a very nourishing soup, particularly if it is made with stock instead of water; it is very suitable for the cold season.


VEGETABLE MARROW AND TOMATO SOUP

1 doz. Tomatoes
*
1 Vegetable Marrow
*
9 Onions
*
1 oz. Butter
*
2 doz. Peppercorns
*
1 teaspoonful Sugar
*
3 pints Stock
*
Salt
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Peel the vegetable marrow, slice it up, and take out the seeds; slice up the tomatoes and put them, with the marrow, into the saucepan with the butter, sugar, salt, and peppercorns; sweat them for five minutes. Pour over the boiling water or stock, and simmer for one hour. Rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan. Add more salt, if necessary, bring it to the boil, pour into a tureen, and serve.


KIDNEY SOUP

1 Ox Kidney
*
2 Onions
*
1 oz. Butter
*
1 oz. Cornflour

Salt, Lemon Juice, and parsley
*
2 quarts Stock.
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Slice up the onions and fry them in the butter, strain them out and return the butter to the saucepan. Stir in the cornflour, and when well mixed pour over the stock and stir until it boils. Slice the kidney up into small pieces, and put it in; simmer very gently for one hour. Just before serving, season with salt and a little lemon juice; pour into a tureen and sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top.
This soup must be cooked very slowly, or the kidney will be hard and tough.


EGG SOUP

1 quart White Stock
*
1 pint of Milk
*
3 Yolks of Eggs
*
1 oz. Sago
*
1 Onion
*
Salt and Pepper
*
Time—Half an Hour
*
Boil the sago, stock, and onion together till the sago is clear; then take out the onion and season the soup with salt and pepper.
Beat the yolks of the eggs in a basin, pour over the boiling milk, strain into the stock. Put over the fire and whisk till it comes to boiling point, but do not let it boil, or it may curdle. Pour into a tureen, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and send some fried bread to table with it.


WHITE MACARONI SOUP

1 oz. Macaroni
*
1 pint Milk
*
1 oz. Butter.
*
3 pints Bone Stock
*
Vegetables and Flour
.
Time—One Hour.
*
The stock made from veal or mutton bones is the best for this soup, as it must be white. Nothing is nicer than the liquor in which a piece of veal has been stewed. If plenty of vegetables have been boiled in it none need be added when the soup is made. If not, boil an onion or leek, a slice of turnip, and a small piece of celery stalk in the stock for twenty minuets, and strain them out. Put the butter into a stewpan, and when it is melted stir in a tablespoonful of cornflour, pour over the milk and stock, and stir until it boils. Boil the macaroni in salt and water for twenty minutes, strain off the water, and cut it into pieces about 1 inch long; put these into the soup, and simmer for ten minutes. Just before serving, flavour with salt, a dust of white pepper, and a few drops of lemon juice.


LOBSTER SOUP

1 Lobster, Crayfish, or Tin of Lobster
*
2 quarts Fish Stock
*
1 pint of Milk
*
1 oz. Cornflour
*
Lemon Juice, Salt, and Pepper
*
Time—One Hour
*
The fish stock for this soup should be well flavoured with vegetables. If a crayfish be used, remove all the white meat and boil the shells in the stock for half an hour and strain them out; thicken with the cornflour, pour in the milk, and boil up. Cut the lobster into small pieces and put into the soup; simmer for ten minutes. Flavour with lemon juice and salt, pour into a warm tureen, and serve with fried bread. Wash the shells well in cold water before putting them into the soup.


FISH SOUP

3 pints Fish Stock
*
1 pint Milk
*
Cornflour
*
Vegetables
*
Fish
*
Time—Half an Hour
*
Remove all the fat from the fish stock and put it into a saucepan with six white peppercorns, an onion, one slice of turnip, a fagot of herbs, and some carrot. Boil this together for twenty minutes, then strain out the vegetables and pour back into the saucepan. Mix a tablespoonful of cornflour smoothly with the milk and stir it in; continue stirring till it boils. Skin and fillet the fish and cut it into dice, put these pieces of fish into the soup, and simmer for ten minutes. Just before serving add a few drops of lemon juice, and salt to taste. Pour into a tureen and sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top.


CABBAGE SOUP

1 Cabbage
*
2 oz. Butter
*
1 pint Milk
*
Pepper, Salt, and Bread
*
Time—One Hour
*
Wash and strain the cabbage well, and cut it up into slices; throw it into boiling salt and water, and cook for five minutes; strain all the water off and put it into a saucepan with the salt, pepper, and two quarts of boiling water, and boil for one hour. Add the milk and let it boil up again, toast the slice of bread and cut it up into dice. Put it into a warm soup tureen and pour the boiling soup over it.


SYDNEY SOUP

1 doz. Tomatoes
*
1 Carrot
*
2 Small Onions
*
12 Peppercorns
*
1 fagot Herbs
*
1 teaspoon Salt
*
2 quarts Stock
*
1 oz. Butter
*
1 oz. Cornflour and 1 oz. Tapioca
*
1 cup of Green Peas
*
Curry Powder
*
1 teaspoonful of Sugar
*
Time—One Hour.
*
Put the butter into a saucepan, slice up the onions and carrot and fry them in it with the herbs, peppercorns, and a good pinch of curry powder. Mix the cornflour with a little stock and pour it over. Slice up the tomatoes and add them to the boiling stock; stir until it boils, and then simmer slowly for an hour. Rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan. Add the salt, sugar, and the tapioca; stir until this becomes transparent and thickens the soup. Put in a cupful of cold boiled peas; boil up and serve.


WHITE ONION SOUP

(SOUBISE BLANCHE.)

1 pint of Milk
*
1 oz. Butter
*
4 Onions
*
Salt and Pepper
*
1 pint White Bone Stock
*
Dry Crusts

Time—One Hour.
*
Peel and slice up the onions and put them into a saucepan with the butter; make them very hot, and then cover them down and leave them to cook by the side of the fire for an hour, but they must not get any colour. Break in some dry, hard pieces of bread; it should be crust only for this soup. Boil the milk and stock together, pour it over the onions and bread, and let it simmer very slowly, closely covered, for an hour; rub through a sieve, season with salt and pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Boil up and serve with fried bread.


CRECY SOUP

6 Carrots
*
2 oz. Butter
*
1 Onion
*
1 teaspoonful Sugar
*
1 teaspoonful Salt
*
1 Turnip
*
1 stalk of Celery
*
3 pints of Boiling Water
*
Time—Two Hours.
*
Slice up the carrots and vegetables, put them into boiling water, and cook for half-an-hour; strain them out of the water, which must be saved, and put them into a saucepan with the butter and a few scraps of bacon, if any are in the larder. Sprinkle over the sugar, make very hot, and cover down closely until the vegetables are very soft. Rub them through a sieve and pour on by degrees the water in which the vegetables were boiled; mix well together, return to a saucepan, and boil slowly for an hour. Stir in a small piece of butter and it is ready to serve. This soup should be perfectly smooth if properly made. A hair sieve should be used for the vegetables, and the soup should be cooked very slowly.


LENTEN SOUP

6 Onions
*
2 oz. Butter or Beef Dripping
*
2 quarts of Water or Pot Liquor
*
Crusts of Bread
*
Salt and Pepper

Time—Two Hours.
*
Peel and slice up the onions and put them into a sauce—pan with the butter or dripping, and brown them. Then let them cook, covered over, for an hour. Break in some brown dry crusts of bread. Pour over the boiling liquor the water in which some vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, or cauliflowers, have been boiled, stir it well and boil for an hour; rub through a sieve. If it is not thick enough, let it boil again without the lid for ten minutes. Season well with pepper and salt, and serve.


SOUP MAIGRE

1 lb. Rice
*
2 oz. Butter
*
1 gill Milk
*
Salt to taste
*
2 Eggs
*
1 Carrot
*
1 Onion
*
Time—Half an Hour
*
Wash the rice well in two waters, put into a saucepan with 2 _ pints of cold water and the onion and carrot whole. As the rice begins to swell add some more boiling water, until it is about the right consistency. Take out the onion and carrot and stir in the butter, a small piece at a time. Beat the yolks of the eggs in a basin, stir them quickly in, and bring again to boiling point, but do not let it boil; season with salt, and serve at once, with tiny rusks of bread. Make these by cutting up a dry crust into small pieces, dipping them in water, and baking until crisp in a moderate oven.


ARTICHOKE SOUP

2 lbs. Artichokes
*
2 Onions
*
1.5 pints Milk
*
2 quarts Bone Stock (White)
*
1 tablespoonful Vinegar
*
1 tablespoonful Lemon Juice
*
1 doz. White Peppercorns
*
Time—One Hour and a Quarter.
*
Peel the artichokes and lay them in vinegar and water for an hour; this will make them a good colour. Mix up half a pint of the milk with the stock, and boil the artichokes, onions, and peppercorns in this for an hour. Rub through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon. Stir in the milk and some salt, pour back into the saucepan and stir until it boils. If the artichokes do not thicken the soup sufficiently, sprinkle in a little sago or semolina when it is returned to the saucepan. Serve with fried bread.