cut to the size of peas; boil separately in salted water till done;
take as much rice boiled in salted water as there are peas and
carrots; put all into a saucepan with sufficient common stock free
from fat; add enough French tomato sauce to give the stock a rich
colour. Let the whole come to the boil, and serve. Grated Parmesan
cheese to be handed round with the soup.
_Julienne Soup._--Take about equal quantities carrots, turnips,
leeks, onions, and celery; cut them all in thin strips, not much
more than ⅛ in. square and about 1½ in. long; put them in a saucepan
with a lump of fresh butter, a good pinch of pounded loaf sugar, add
pepper and salt to taste; toss them lightly on the fire until they
begin to colour, then add one lettuce finely shredded, and a small
handful of chervil and sorrel, also finely shred; and, after giving
the whole a tossing on the fire for about 5 minutes, moisten with
some clear stock, and keep the soup hot by the side of the fire for 2
hours. When wanted, add as much more stock as is necessary, and serve.
_Kidney Soup._--Take 3 pints well-flavoured white stock, slice finely
one or two gherkins, have ready 6 small button mushrooms previously
cooked in a little lemon juice. Slice a small onion, and put it into
a saucepan with a little butter, let it just take colour, add to it a
veal kidney cut in small dice, season with pepper and salt, and toss
together for a few minutes, but do not overcook the kidney; drain
them from the butter, and put them into the soup tureen with the
gherkins and the mushroom. Make the soup hot, and add to it, off the
fire, the yolks of 2 eggs and a little milk or cream; pour it over
the kidney, &c., add a dash of cayenne, and serve very hot.
_Leek Soup._--Take the green leafy part of the leeks, rejecting any
leaves which may be otherwise than quite fresh and tender; soak them
in cold water so as to be quite crisp; cut them into lengths of about
1-1½ in., and boil them in as much good stock as may be required for
the size of the party. Let them boil until perfectly soft and tender,
season with a little salt and a slight shake of pepper stirred in,
and serve. This soup should be quite thick from the quantity of leeks
in it, and not just gravy soup with a few pieces of leek floating
about it.
_Lentil Soup (Conti)._--Well wash about 1 pint lentils, and soak
them for several hours; add to them 3 qt. water, some bones, which
can be purchased for 3_d._, or 2 lb. of shin of beef cut up, 3 or
4 good-sized onions, and the same of carrots and turnips, with
the outside leaves of a stick of celery if at hand; add a little
seasoning, but be careful not to put too much pepper, and let
the soup simmer gently on the side of the hob all day. When the
vegetables are quite soft they can be rubbed through a colander,
or many people prefer to leave them whole. The latter plan would
perhaps answer best for poor people, especially if there is meat in
the soup. You can make lentil soup with only the liquor in which meat
has been boiled, but if the meat is salted, the lentils, &c., must
be cooked first, or they will harden, and the liquor added when they
are nearly done, care being taken not to make it too salt. A cowheel
makes excellent stock for soup, and can be eaten separately, or cut
up and left in the soup. They can be bought for 8_d._ each, and are
most nutritious if poor people could only be taught the value of such
food. If eaten separately the cowheel should be allowed to simmer
gently for about 3 hours. The meat will then separate readily from
the bone, and can be fried in batter. The bones should be left to
boil up again in the soup, and thus two dinners may be provided at
a small cost; but as it is always very difficult to persuade poor
people to expend so much time on cookery, it would possibly be better
to cut up the meat and let it be eaten with the soup.
_Lettuce Soup (aux Laitues)._--Boil some lettuces in salted water,
when quite done drain them well, and pass through a hair sieve. Mix
a small piece of butter with a tablespoonful of flour in a saucepan,
add a little stock, then the purée of lettuce, let it boil for a
minute or so, season with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste,
add as much stock as is necessary to make the soup, and serve with
small dice of bread fried in butter.
_Liebig’s Beef Tea._--This is rendered much more nourishing and
palatable by the addition of milk or cream. If with milk, make with
equal parts of milk and water; if cream, add a tablespoonful or two
to a breakfastcupful of beef tea. Season with salt. When milk cannot
be taken, thin pearl barley water is excellent with Liebig stirred in
it, and any approved flavouring. A little stock will also be found
very nice with a little Liebig and salt only. Either of these, while
containing nutriment, can be taken as simple beverages.
_Liver Soup._--Slice ½ lb. liver, dredge with flour, and fry brown
in butter, with an onion cut in slices. Then pound the liver quite
smooth, season with salt, black pepper, and a grate of nutmeg. Stir
in about 3 pints good brown soup, and boil 10 minutes with a French
roll sliced in, crust included. Strain, and again make hot, nearly
boiling. Pour it on 2 well-beaten eggs in the tureen. Offer lemon
juice and cayenne pepper at table.
_Lobster Soup (Bisque de Homard)._--Pick out all the meat from a
lobster, pound it in a mortar with an equal quantity of butter until
a fine orange-coloured pulp is obtained; to this add pepper, salt,
and grated nutmeg to taste; take as much breadcrumbs as there is
lobster pulp, soak them in stock, then melt a piece of butter in a
saucepan, amalgamate with it a heaped tablespoonful of flour, mix the
lobster pulp with the breadcrumbs, and put both in the saucepan on
the fire, stirring the contents until they thicken and boil, draw it
then on one side, and carefully skim off superfluous fat; then strain
the soup through a hair sieve, make boiling hot, and serve with small
dice of bread fried in butter.
_Macaroni Soup._--(_a_) Take 4 oz. macaroni, break into small pieces,
and simmer gently for ¼ hour in 1 pint water; then add a piece of
butter the size of a small nutmeg, pepper, salt, and 1½ pint stock.
A teaspoonful of chopped parsley or dried herbs can be added for
flavouring; simmer another ½ hour, and serve.
(_b_) Boil 2 oz. macaroni (broken up in convenient pieces) in a pint
of stock free from grease, to which add a good pinch of salt; when
cooked (10-15 minutes), drain them and put them into the soup tureen
containing 1 qt. well-flavoured clear stock boiling hot. Grated
Parmesan to be handed round with it.
_Milk Soup._--Peel 2 lb. potatoes and 2 leeks or onions (leeks are
the best). Boil them together in 2 qt. boiling water to become
tender. Pass all through a fine wire sieve and put it back as a purée
into the stewpan. Add to this 2 oz. butter, let it melt, and then
a pint milk; season to taste with a little pepper and salt; keep
stirring it over the fire, and, when boiling, sprinkle in gradually 3
dessertspoonfuls of crushed tapioca; keep it boiling for another 10
minutes to cook the tapioca, and serve.
_Mock Pea Soup._--Flavour some stock according to taste (a leaf or
two of mint should not be forgotten), and thicken to consistency of
thin cream, with some revalenta arabica; season with pepper and salt,
and serve with it dice of crisp toast and some finely powdered mint
on small dishes. A small piece of butter or a little thick cream may
be added to the soup, if approved. It will be found a fair imitation
of pea soup, is nutritious, easy of digestion, and may be acceptable
in not seeming like an invalid dish. If no stock be at hand, a
simpler edition of it may be made by making a cupful of revalenta,
either with water or equal parts of milk and water, in the usual way.
Stir to it Liebig to taste, and season with pepper and salt. Serve
with or without the accompaniments given above.
_Mock Turtle Soup (fausse tortue)._--(_a_) Boil half a calf’s head
with the skin on for ¾ hour. Remove eye, ear, and brains, cut the
meat into squares 1½ in., put it into a large stewpan, add to it 2
oz. butter, 1 pint old Madeira, 1 gill veal broth, a small bundle of
sweet herbs, a little sage, a small onion chopped very fine with one
teaspoonful of white pepper, a little salt, a little cayenne, also
a little allspice if liked. Stew gently till the meat is tender,
keeping well covered; then add 2 qt. good veal stock, make some
thickening with cold veal broth, flour, and herbs; boil, strain, and
add to the soup. Take out the meat, boil the soup about 10 minutes,
strain over the meat, add lemon juice and some forcemeat and egg
balls. This is the simplest to have it good, but it may be made far
richer.
(_b_) Take an ox foot, cleaned and split, 2 onions with their skins
on to darken the soup, a few cloves, one tablespoonful of vinegar,
peppercorns and salt to taste, a little celery seed, and carrots, and
a small piece of turnip. Take out when the bones slip away easily,
about 6 hours, strain through a sieve, then mix 2 tablespoonfuls of
arrowroot, add a glass of sherry, let it boil, carefully stirring,
add some forcemeat balls, and send to table. _Forcemeat Balls._--One
teaspoonful of sage, pepper and salt, one egg slightly beaten, ¼ lb.
lean bacon or pork, a few breadcrumbs; mix altogether, the bacon to
be finely minced, shape all into balls the size of marbles, and fry
in boiling lard until a light brown; sufficient for 12 persons.
_Mulligatawny Soup (au kari)._--(_a_) Wash nicely a knuckle of veal
in lukewarm water, and put it in to stew gently in 7 pints water,
skim it carefully as it comes to the boil, and let it simmer for 1½
hour closely covered; take out the meat, strain the liquor into a
stewpan, and have ready 2 lb. best end of a breast of veal cut up
into pieces 1 in. square, without gristle or bone; slice 3 large
onions into the stewpan, and fry them both together with about a ¼
lb. butter till they are a delicate brown colour; now add the veal
liquor, and let it simmer 1 hour altogether, taking care to again
skim it carefully on its coming to the boil. Take a little of the
liquor and mix into it a good tablespoonful of curry powder, and
a tablespoonful of flour; keep stirring until both are well mixed
and quite smooth, adding to it a dust of cayenne, ½ teaspoonful of
salt, a pinch of ground ginger and a little mace; stir this mixture
gradually into the soup, keep it simmering (not boiling) ¼ hour
longer, strain off the onions, serve very hot, with the pieces of
meat in the soup; it should be perfectly smooth and the consistency
of good cream; serve with rice as for curry. The squeeze of a lemon
put into the tureen, and the soup poured on it, adds greatly to the
flavour.
(_b_) Melt 2 oz. butter in a saucepan; cut 2 large onions into fine
rings, and then stew them for 5 minutes in the butter, then add 2
qt. water, salt to taste, 2 slices of bacon cut into dice. Mix to a
smooth paste 2 tablespoonfuls of curry powder and one of flour. Stir
this into the soup, taking care that it is not lumpy, to prevent this
stir till it boils. Joint the rabbit neatly, then cut again into
medium-sized pieces; soak these thoroughly in salted water to get out
the blood. Put them into the soup and stew gently for ¾ hour. Serve
with boiled rice and mashed potatoes. If stock is used for this soup
the butter is unnecessary. (B. Tremaine.)
_Mussel Soup (de moules)._--This is made by mixing a good fish or
white veal stock with the half of the mussel liquor, and pouring this
over a _roux_ (made by rolling equal quantities of butter and flour
together and putting it on the fire for 3 minutes). Stir this well
together till it boils, and then let it simmer for ½ hour. Now put
the mussels into a tureen, pour the soup over them, and stir in a
_liaison_ of yolk of egg and lemon juice.
_Mutton Broth._--Fry 5 or 6 onions to a good brown colour in beef
dripping, set them in a sieve to let the fat drain off them; cut 6
turnips and 3 or 4 carrots into pieces, add a bundle of sweet herbs,
and a teaspoonful of salt. When these are all ready, take a large
scrag, or two small ones, of neck of mutton, cut off the best pieces
to fry, and make stock of the bones. Take the vegetables (fried),
put them at the bottom of your pan, then add a layer of mutton, then
vegetables, then mutton, till all is in; then put your stewpan shut
close over a moderate fire, and let it stew ¾ hour, shaking it often
to keep it from burning; then pour in 2 qt. stock, and let it stew as
slowly as possible--scarcely to seem to stew. Put the best pieces of
the meat and vegetables into the tureen, and then pour all the rest
upon them through the sieve, so as to have a purée with the pieces
floating in it.
_Nouilles Soup._--Make a paste with the yolks of 4 eggs, the white
of 1, a pinch of salt, the least drop of water, and as much of the
finest flour as will give a very stiff paste. When worked quite
smooth, roll it out as thinly as possible without breaking it; then
cut out each sheet of paste into strips or lozenges, and spread them
out to dry on a cloth. In 2-3 hours’ time throw the nouilles into
some fast-boiling, well-flavoured clear stock, and serve as soon as
sufficiently done, grated Parmesan cheese being handed round with the
soup.
_Okra Soup._--Soak ½ pint dried okra in 3 pints cold water all night.
Make some stock with a fresh shin of beef, and after adding the okra
with the water in which it was soaked, let it boil at least 7 hours.
After 4 or 5 hours add some tomatoes or tomato sauce. Season to taste.
_Onion Soup (Cussy, à l’oignon)._--(_a_) Boil some Spanish onions in
water until nearly tender, strain off the water, and finish cooking
them in milk, or in milk and water. When quite tender pass them
through a sieve, and add sufficient well-flavoured stock to make the
soup of the right consistency. Make the soup quite hot, add pepper
and salt to taste, and just at the last stir in a small piece of
fresh butter, and serve with small dice of bread fried in butter.
This is very suitable for catch-cold weather.
(_b_) Slice 2 Spanish onions, roll them in flour, and let them take a
turn or two in a saucepan, with plenty of butter. Before they begin
to take colour, add as much water as you want soup, with pepper and
salt to taste; let the whole boil till the onions are thoroughly
done, then pour the soup into a tureen, over some small slices of
stale bread; add a good sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese, and
serve.
_Ox-tail Soup (hochepot)._--Take 2 ox tails, divide them at the
joints, and put them into a saucepan with 3 qt. cold water, and salt
to taste. Let it come gently to the boil, removing carefully the
while any scum that rises. Add gradually the following vegetables,
cut into convenient pieces: 3 or 4 carrots (according to size), 1
small turnip, 2 onions stuck with 6 cloves, about 20 peppercorns,
half a head of celery, a bay leaf, and some parsley. Put in a few
drops of sue colorant, and let the soup boil very gently 4-5 hours.
Strain the liquor, and remove all fat. Serve with the pieces of
ox-tail, omitting the largest ones.
_Oyster Soup (aux huîtres)._--Put 24 oysters into a stewpan in their
own liquor just to get hot through, but not to boil; take off the
beards, and put the oysters into the soup tureen, letting the beards
remain with the liquor in a small basin till wanted. The stock for
the soup should be prepared the preceding day, by placing a cowheel
on the fire in a stewpan of water; when it boils, take it out, cut
off the best part of the meat, and throw it into a basin of cold
water to remain all night. Put the remainder of the heel back into
the stewpan, both meat and bones, with a sliced carrot, some outer
leaves of celery, a sprig of thyme, a blade of mace, and some parsley
root; let these boil up and then simmer by the fire for 2-3 hours,
or until the meat is completely separated from the bones. Then pour
it off through a sieve to remain also all night. Next day prepare
the oysters as described, remove the fat from the stock, and, having
made a thickening of flour and butter, gradually stir the stock into
it; add 2 glasses light white wine, cut the meat from the cowheel
which has remained in cold water, into small pieces about the size
of a bearded oyster, put them into the soup, and let all stew very
gradually for 2 hours. Then stir in the strained liquor from the
oysters, let it boil up once, add a little lemon juice and a very
little cayenne pepper; pour it into the tureen over the oysters, and
serve.
_Palestine Soup (aux topinambours)._--Boil till tender 40 Jerusalem
artichokes in milk and a little salt; boil in milk till quite tender
½ lb. fine picked rice, pound them both together, wet with a good
strong chicken or veal broth; rub through the strainer, and add more
stock if not thin enough; strain the yolks of 5 eggs and ½ pint cream
into the soup tureen; pour the soup in boiling hot, season with salt
and pepper, and serve with fried sippets.
_Parmesan Cheese Soup._--Grate 2 oz. cheese; toast thin slices of
rolls; dip them in cream, cover them with the cheese on both sides;
lay them in a tureen, and pour good soup over them; or, instead of
the toasted roll, use thin slices of brown bread soaked in milk or
cream, and covered with the grated cheese.
_Pea Soup (de pois)._--(_a_) 1 gal. any weak stock, obtained from
bones or boiled meat, salt or fresh; 1½ pint split peas (previously
soaked), 3 onions, 2 carrots, 3 turnips, a little salt. Simmer all
well together for 2 hours, then pass once through the hair sieve, and
it is ready. This makes enough for 8 people. Double the quantity in
the same proportion for 16; costs 6_d._ per gal. This is almost the
cheapest soup that can be made, as any stock does for it (even the
water in which vegetables have been boiled) as a foundation.
(_b_) Take 1½ pint green peas, boil them in salt and water with a
little mint; when thoroughly cooked, pound them and pass them through
a hair sieve; put a piece of butter into a stewpan, when melted put
in an onion and a carrot, cut in thin slices, fry until they begin to
colour; add 1 qt. stock, a little salt, pepper, and a pinch of white
sugar; leave it to boil for ¼ hour; stir in the purée of peas, let
it come to the boil, strain, and serve with small croûtons of bread.
(Jane Burtenshaw.)
(_c_) Boil the day before it is wanted 1½ pint split peas in 3
qt. stock, from which every atom of fat has been removed; put in
¼ teaspoonful baking soda, and boil till the peas are thoroughly
dissolved; strain the soup. Next day take 2 large tablespoonfuls
corn-flour, ½ teaspoonful curry powder, well mixed in ½ pint cream,
and 2 lumps sugar; boil 5 minutes, and serve with toasted bread cut
into dice, handed round. Or rub as much butter into 2 tablespoonfuls
of flour as you can, form into balls, and with 2 lumps of sugar and
1 pint milk, add to the soup; boil ¼ hour; have some chopped mint in
the tureen; pour boiling soup over, and serve, either with or without
toasted bread. The soup may be varied also by adding different
spices, such as Jamaica pepper or cloves; and a little made mustard
is a great improvement stirred into your plate of peasoup. Salt
stock, such as that in which salt meat, or tongue, or a piece of ham,
has been boiled (if not too salt) is best for peasoup.
(_d_) Soak a quantity of peas in water for 24 hours. Throw the water
away, and put the peas in a saucepan with 2 onions stuck with cloves,
a bunch of thyme and parsley, 2 bay leaves, whole pepper, and salt to
taste. Fill up the saucepan with cold water, and set the contents to
boil until the peas are thoroughly done. Drain off the water, pass
the peas through a hair sieve, and work them in a saucepan on the
fire with a piece of butter, until the purée is quite hot, moistening
with a little stock if too stiff. A piece of bacon boiled with the
peas is an improvement.
_Pear Soup._--Peel and slice 6 pears, boil them soft in 3 pints
water, with a few cloves and a sliced roll. Strain through a coarse
sieve, and reboil with sugar, a glass or two of wine, and the juice
of a lemon. Serve with sponge cake.
_Plum Soup._--Brown some flour in butter; stir in water to thin it.
Put in plums with some cinnamon or cloves. Let them boil to a mash,
strain them, and add sugar, with equal parts wine and water--about
1 pint each to 1 qt. plums. Throw in a few whole plums, and simmer
again till these are softened, but not broken. Add slices of toast a
minute or two before serving.
_Polish Soup (barszcz)._--Fill a good-sized jar with slices of
beetroot cut in pieces, and cover them with cold water, to which
should be added a slice of bread. The jar should then be covered,
and left until the juice, which becomes a deep vermilion colour, is
fermented and has a sour taste. In warm weather 3 days will suffice
for this, in winter it takes 5-6. The ferment which rises to the top
must be removed, and the juice passed through a sieve. It is then
boiled with an equal proportion of strong beef stock, to which is
added small pieces of ham. The soup comes to table looking clear and
red, and for variety may be made pink by adding a pint of sour cream.
(H.) See also p. 506.
_Pomeranian Soup._--1 qt. white beans must be boiled soft in water;
mash half of them, thin with broth, and work through a sieve. Let
boil with the broth to a smooth soup, in which has been boiled a head
of celery cut small. Add the whole beans, a mild seasoning of sweet
herbs, some parsley, salt and pepper. Let all boil ¼ hour, and serve.
_Poor Man’s Soup._--See Potato Soup.
_Potato Soup (Parmentier, pauvre homme)._--(_a_) Put 1 oz. butter
into a saucepan with 3 large onions, shred fine, and fry them a
pale brown colour; add 1 teaspoonful flour, stir for a few minutes,
but do not allow the mixture to darken; then add 1 qt. common stock
previously flavoured with carrots, turnips, celery, leeks, and
parsley boiled in it; stir until soup boils, and season to taste with
pepper and salt. Peel 1 or 2 potatoes, cut them into small dice, and
put to boil with the soup. Cut some crust of bread in long pieces the
size, and half the length of, French beans, dry them in the oven, and
at the time of serving throw them into the soup; then stir into it
off the fire the yolks of 2 eggs, beaten up with a little milk, and
strained.
(_b_) Peel 8-10 large potatoes, 3 onions, 2 heads of celery, 1
turnip, 1 carrot, a slice of ham or lean bacon, cut all in small
squares; boil them with some broth; when done, rub all through the
sieve, and season with pepper and salt.
(_c_) Boil some potatoes in water with an onion, a head of celery,
and salt to taste; when done pass them through a hair sieve, and put
them into a saucepan with a lump of butter, adding sufficient stock
to bring them to the consistency of soup. Let it boil up, season with
pepper and salt, and at the time of serving throw in either minced
parsley or small sprigs of chervil. Small dice of bread, fried in
butter, to be served in or with the soup.
(_d_) Use milk instead of stock, and add, besides pepper and salt,
just a small grate of nutmeg.
_Pot au feu._--(_a_) Take 6 lb. round of beef, put it in a large
earthenware pot, with any stray bones, and 14 qt. cold water; add 3
handfuls of salt, some whole pepper, and a few cloves; let simmer,
without allowing to boil, until you can skim; after skimming add 4
turnips, 5 or 6 carrots, 2 parsnips, 1 stick celery, 2 large onions,
and a clove of garlic; take a bunch of leeks, and tie up with them a
leaf of bay laurel, and a root of parsley (if you have not the whole
plant, some leaves alone), and put this into the pot with the other
things. Let boil very slowly for 4 hours. Cook apart in a saucepan
2 fine cabbages; do not put any water with them, but when the _pot
au feu_ is nearly cooked, take off the top of the soup, put it over
the cabbages, and let them cook in it for ½-1 hour. When the soup is
ready, take some crusts of bread which have been well browned in the
oven, cut them in pieces, let them soak for a few minutes in boiling
water, then put them into the soup tureen, and, after skimming the
soup, pour it over them. Serve the meat on a dish, arranging the
cabbages, carrots, turnips, onions, and parsnips all round.