consistency than broth by the addition of minced meat and crumbs. When
well made, they are popular at family dinners, and some kinds—such as
oyster and lobster bisque—are admirable at dinner parties.
Care must be observed to keep the ingredients well together, and to
season judiciously. Insipid panada is not a bisque. Still less is
a “mess” compounded, not wisely, but so well as to remind one of a
poultice.
Oyster bisque
Drain the liquor from a quart of oysters and make of it a quart of
liquid by adding cold water. Into this stir the oysters, chopped fine,
and put all into a porcelain-lined saucepan over the fire. Cook very
gently for twenty minutes. Have heated a quart of milk, in which a
pinch of soda has been dissolved, and half a cupful of cracker-crumbs,
soaked. Cook together in a saucepan two tablespoonfuls of butter and
two of flour. When they are perfectly blended pour upon them the quart
of thickened boiling milk and stir until as smooth and thick as cream.
Turn into this the oyster soup and season to taste with salt and
pepper. Slowly pour a cupful of the soup upon the beaten yolks of two
eggs, stirring constantly. When mixed, return the soup with the blended
yolks to the saucepan, stir and pour at once into a heated tureen.
Lobster bisque
Two cupfuls of lobster meat, minced fine; one quart of boiling water
and the same of milk; half a cupful of butter and a cupful of fine
cracker-crumbs; paprika or cayenne and salt to taste; a teaspoonful of
flour.
Rub the coral and a quarter of the meat to a paste; leave this in
enough boiling water to cover it for half an hour. Then put the
reserved chopped lobster into a saucepan, with the cracker-crumbs and
half the butter; stir in the hot water and coral, etc., with the rest
of the quart of boiling water. Cook gently half an hour in a double
boiler after the water in the outer vessel begins to boil hard. Stir
often. In another saucepan heat the milk (with a bit of soda) and the
rest of the butter worked up with the flour. Boil one minute. Turn the
lobster into the tureen; stir in the hot milk and serve at once.
Crab bisque
Is made in the same way.
Clam bisque
Thirty clams; one cupful of milk and half as much cream, or two cupfuls
of milk; two tablespoonfuls of butter and one of flour; three eggs; a
tablespoonful of onion juice; one cupful of boiling water; a pinch of
soda in the milk; one cupful of cracker-crumbs.
Chop the clams and put over the fire in the boiling water. Simmer half
an hour. Heat milk and cream in another saucepan with the soda and
crumbs. Stir in the roux, boil one minute and pour gradually, beating
all the time, upon the yolks, previously whipped smooth. Heat in a
double boiler for two minutes, or until the water in the outer vessel
boils hard, and turn into the tureen. Season the boiling mince of clams
with salt, cayenne and minced parsley, add to the milk in tureen and
cover the surface with the whites of the eggs beaten to a standing
froth.
In serving, dip the ladle deep into the bisque, but see that each plate
is mantled by the meringue.
Chicken bisque
Joint the fowl and cover with cold water, a quart for each pound. Put
in a large minced onion and three stalks of celery, minced fine. Cover
and cook slowly until you can slip the flesh from the bones. Let all
get cold together; skim, take out bones and meat, and chop the latter
fine. Return the soup to the fire and heat in another vessel a cupful
of milk (dropping in a bit of soda). Thicken this with a tablespoonful
of butter rubbed into a teaspoonful of flour, and add a tablespoonful
of minced parsley. When the soup has reached a fast boil, stir into
it the chopped chicken with a cupful of cracker-crumbs soaked in warm
milk; boil one minute, beat in the milk and butter and pour out.
Corn bisque
Drain the liquor from a can of corn. Chop the corn very fine, put it
over the fire in a quart of salted water and simmer gently for an
hour. Rub through a colander, return to the fire with the water, add a
teaspoonful of sugar, and when this melts, two tablespoonfuls of flour
rubbed into two of butter. Stir until smooth and pour slowly upon a
pint of heated milk. Season with salt and pour the soup gradually upon
two beaten eggs. Send immediately to the table.
Cheese bisque
Into a pint of milk put a pinch of soda, and bring to the scalding
point. To this add a cupful of stock (chicken or mutton or lamb) in
which an onion has been boiled, and a cupful of water in which rice has
been cooked until you can run it through a strainer. Cook together in
a good-sized saucepan two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour.
When they are thoroughly blended and bubble pour on them the white soup
and stir until it thickens to the consistency of cream. Now beat in a
half cupful of grated cheese. Have ready in a bowl two well-whipped
eggs, and on these pour, a little at a time, a cupful of hot soup,
beating steadily to prevent curdling. Return the cupful of soup with
the eggs to the soup on the fire, beat for half a minute, season with
salt and pepper, and serve. Odd, but very good when properly made.
Salmon bisque
Open a can of salmon and turn out the contents several hours before
making the soup. With a silver fork pick the fish to pieces and take
out all bits of bone and skin. Put the fish into an agate saucepan, put
on it enough boiling water to cover it, and let it simmer gently for
half an hour. Drain off the water and break the fish to a soft mass.
Dissolve a pinch of soda in a pint of milk and heat in a double
boiler with a half cupful of cracker-crumbs. Stir into it a pint of
well-seasoned veal stock, and thicken with two tablespoonfuls of flour
rubbed into two of butter. When thick and smooth, stir in the minced
fish, season with salt and paprika, and serve. This is very good when
made of boiled fresh salmon.
Bisque of halibut or cod
Boil a pound of firm fresh fish in two waters, and mince it fine,
freeing it from all bits of skin or bone. Have ready a quart of
white stock, stir the fish into it and season with salt, pepper and
a spoonful of minced parsley. Cook together two tablespoonfuls of
butter and one of flour, pour upon this a cupful of milk, stir until it
thickens, and put with the fish and stock. Boil up once and put into
the tureen. A half cupful of powdered cracker-crumbs should be added
just before the soup is mixed with the milk.
Tomato bisque (No. 1)
Two cupfuls of fresh tomatoes, chopped fine; one pint of strong stock
or skimmed gravy; one cupful of fine crumbs soaked for half an hour in
hot milk; one teaspoonful of white sugar; one tablespoonful of onion
juice; pepper and salt to taste; one tablespoonful of butter cooked to
a roux with one of flour; chopped parsley; cook together five minutes,
run through a vegetable press, stir in the stock and seasoning, and
return to the fire. Simmer twenty minutes and add the soaked crumbs and
parsley; cook together five minutes, stir in as much baking-soda as
will lie upon a dime and send in at once.
You may use canned tomatoes for this recipe if you have not fresh.
Tomato bisque (No. 2)
Stir one quart can of tomatoes with a half-teaspoonful of soda for
half an hour. Boil half a gallon of fresh milk; add to it a quarter
of a pound of butter, pepper and salt. Mash the tomatoes through a
colander and stir them into the boiling milk; add a teacupful of rolled
crackers; serve immediately. If the milk is put into the tomatoes it
will curdle.
CREAM SOUPS
N. B.—See to it that the milk of which they are made is fresh, and
always drop in it before heating a pinch of baking-soda to avoid the
danger of curdling. A curdled cream soup is a culinary solecism, and
should never be put into delicate stomachs. After the soup is ready for
the table do not allow it to stand on the part of the range where it
may come to a boil.
Cream of spinach soup
Wash a half peck of spinach and put it into a saucepan with a scant
quart of water. Boil until tender, then chop very, _very_ fine, and run
through a sieve. It should be like a soft green paste. Cook together a
tablespoonful of flour and one of butter and pour upon them a quart of
hot milk. Stir until smooth, add the spinach, boil up once, season and
serve.
Cream of beet soup
Boil the young beets in salted water for an hour. Lay in cold water
until cool enough to handle. Scrape off all the skin and chop the beets
very fine. Turn the beets and the juice which has exuded from them into
a pint of mutton stock, and simmer for fifteen minutes. Rub through a
fine colander or a coarse soup-strainer and keep hot at the side of the
range. Cook together two teaspoonfuls of butter and two of flour, and
pour upon them a pint of milk. Stir until thick and smooth, then add
slowly the beet and mutton purée. When very hot, season with salt and
white pepper and serve.
Tomato cream soup (No. 1)
Cut up a dozen ripe tomatoes and stew tender in a pint of water. Rub
through a strainer and thicken with three teaspoonfuls of corn-starch
rubbed to a paste with a tablespoonful of butter. Season with salt,
pepper and sugar, and pour slowly upon the mixture a quart of scalding
milk, to which a pinch of soda has been added.
Tomato cream soup (No. 2)
Cook a quart of tomatoes soft and rub them through a colander, or drain
the liquid from a can of tomatoes. Heat it over the fire, cooking with
it a pinch of soda and a teaspoonful of onion juice. Cook together
in another saucepan a tablespoonful, each, of butter and flour until
they bubble, and then pour upon them a pint of hot milk. Stir until
it thickens, salt and pepper the tomato to taste, and mix with it the
thickened milk. Add half a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce and
serve at once.
Cream of celery soup
Cut a bunch of celery into small bits and put it over the fire in
enough water to cover it. Stew until very tender; rub through a
colander, and stir into it a pint of hot veal or other white stock.
Cook together two tablespoonfuls of butter and the same of flour, and
pour slowly upon them a pint of hot milk in which a pinch of soda
has been dissolved. When thick and smooth, add gradually, stirring
constantly, the celery and stock. Season with pepper and celery salt,
and serve.
Onion cream soup
Into a quart of mutton stock slice six large onions and simmer for an
hour. Rub through a colander, return to the fire, and thicken with two
tablespoonfuls of flour, rubbed to a paste with two of butter. Bring
a half pint of milk to the boiling point and stir it into the soup.
Season with salt, white pepper and a tablespoonful of minced parsley.
Potato cream soup (No. 1)
Mash ten large boiled potatoes, beat them to a soft mass with a half
pint of cream, and season to taste with salt, pepper and a teaspoonful
of onion juice. Heat a pint of milk to scalding, stir it into a quart
of heated veal stock and thicken with a white roux. Now beat in the
mashed potato, boil up once, stirring constantly, add a handful of
chopped parsley, and serve.
Potato cream soup (No. 2)
Boil and mash six good-sized potatoes. Heat a pint of milk to the
boiling point and stir into it a tablespoonful of butter, rubbed into
the same quantity of flour. When the milk is smooth and thick beat into
it slowly the mashed potatoes and stir to a cream-like soup. Season to
taste with pepper, salt and onion juice, and just before removing from
the fire add a teaspoonful of finely minced parsley.
Cream of corn soup
Grate the corn from a dozen ears and put over the fire in a quart of
water. Simmer for three-quarters of an hour. Now add salt and pepper
to taste and a teaspoonful of granulated sugar. Rub to a paste two
tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour and thicken the corn soup
with this. Have ready heated a quart of milk, pour this gradually upon
a beaten egg, turn into a heated tureen and stir in the corn purée.
Cream of asparagus soup
Cut the stalks of a bunch of asparagus into half-inch lengths, and boil
slowly for an hour in three cups of salted water. When the stalks are
tender, drain through a colander, pressing and rubbing the asparagus
that all the juice may exude. Return the liquid to the fire and keep it
hot while you cook together in a saucepan a tablespoonful of butter and
one of flour, and pour upon them a quart of milk. Stir until smooth,
and add the asparagus liquor slowly with a cupful of asparagus tips,
already boiled tender. Have ready beaten the yolks of two eggs, pour
the hot soup gradually upon these, stirring all the time; return to the
fire for just a half minute, season to taste and serve.
Cream of pea soup
Open a can of peas, turn off the liquor and pour over them enough
cold water to cover them. At the end of half an hour drain the peas,
put them into a saucepan with a pint of water and boil until they are
reduced to a pulp. Rub through a colander and add a teaspoonful of
granulated sugar. Thicken a pint of rich milk with a teaspoonful of
flour rubbed into one of butter, and stir the pea purée into this. Cook
for a minute, season to taste, and turn into a heated tureen. Have
ready a handful of dice of fried bread to throw upon the surface of the
soup just before it is sent to the table.
Tapioca cream soup
Soak two tablespoonfuls of tapioca in a gill of cold water for six
or eight hours. Heat a pint of well-seasoned mutton stock to boiling
and stir the tapioca into this. Boil until the tapioca is clear, then
slowly add a pint of scalding milk, in which a pinch of soda has been
dissolved. Season to taste, and pour the soup very gradually upon the
beaten yolks of three eggs. Turn into a heated tureen and serve.
Cream cheese soup
Boil an onion for fifteen minutes in a pint of veal stock, then
strain it out and return the stock to the fire. Heat a pint of milk
to scalding, thicken with two tablespoonfuls of flour rubbed into one
of butter, season with white pepper and celery salt, and add to the
veal stock. Stir in slowly the beaten yolks of two eggs, then four
tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese and serve.
Cream of lettuce soup
Make as you would cream of spinach soup, but boil ten minutes only. It
is very good and more delicate than spinach.
Cream of sago soup
Soak half a cupful of sago for three hours in enough tepid water to
cover it. Pour a cupful of boiling water upon it, and simmer in an
inner boiler until very soft. Now add three cupfuls of hot milk, into
which two tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in flour have been stirred.
Beat up well, put in celery salt, pepper and a little onion juice; stir
up and beat from the bottom for two minutes; pour gradually upon two
beaten eggs; set in boiling water for two minutes, and pour out.
VEGETABLE SOUPS WITH MEAT
Potato purée
Peel and slice a quart of good “old” potatoes. Put them into the soup
kettle with a large sliced onion, three stalks of celery cut into inch
pieces, a quarter of a pound of butter, and pepper and salt to taste;
stew slowly until reduced to a pulp, add a quart of good stock; simmer
a few minutes longer, run through a colander into another saucepan and
let it boil gently for five minutes. Just before ready to serve add
a pint of hot cream, a piece of butter and a tablespoonful of minced
parsley.
Bean soup
Soak three cupfuls of dried white beans for eight hours. Drain, cover
them with two quarts of boiling water, and boil until the beans are
tender and broken to pieces. Rub them and the water in which they have
been boiled through a sieve and return to the fire. Add a quart of
stock, in which a ham or a piece of corn beef has been boiled. If this
is too salt, add other soup stock with it. Boil for an hour, season to
taste; stir in a tablespoonful of butter rolled in one of flour and put
into the tureen. Put a handful of croutons or dice of fried bread on
the surface of the soup.
Mock-turtle bean soup
Make as you would white bean soup, adding, at the last, a tablespoonful
of butter rolled in one of _browned_ flour, and when it has boiled one
minute, a glass of sherry.
Have in the tureen three tablespoonfuls of hard-boiled egg, cut
into dice, and a lemon, peeled and sliced as thin as paper. It is a
surprisingly good imitation of mock turtle soup.
Bean and tomato soup
Soak a quart of beans for eight hours. Drain and soak an hour longer in
warm water. Drain and put into a soup pot with a gallon of cold water,
and bring slowly to a boil. Add a half pound of fat salt pork, chopped,
two sliced onions and a bay leaf. Let all simmer gently for four hours.
At the end of that time run and press the soup through a sieve, and
return it to the pot with a quart of canned tomatoes seasoned, and
sweetened with two teaspoonfuls of granulated sugar. Boil for half an
hour, strain the soup through a colander and return to the fire, while
you thicken it with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed into the same
quantity of butter. Boil up once and serve.
Split pea soup
This soup may be made of dried split green or yellow peas. Soak a large
cupful of the peas all night, drain, cover with two quarts of water
and bring to a boil. Simmer gently until the peas are soft, then rub
through a colander and return to the fire, thicken with a tablespoonful
of flour rubbed into one of butter and season with pepper, celery, salt
and onion juice. Stir until very smooth, turn into a heated tureen,
throw in a handful of dice of fried bread and serve.
Celery soup
Wash the celery, cut it into inch lengths and boil it in enough water
to cover it until so soft that it can be rubbed through a colander.
After passing it through the colander, return to the fire with a pint
of white stock. Scald a pint of milk, stir into it a tablespoonful,
each, of butter and flour, and when thick and smooth, add slowly
the stock seasoned with white pepper and celery salt. Beat for a
half-minute and serve.
Green pea purée (No. 1)
Shell two quarts of peas and leave in cold water. Wash the pods and put
them over the fire to boil in a quart of veal or mutton stock. Boil for
twenty minutes, then drain out the pods and return the stock to the
fire. Drain the water from the peas, and when the stock boils again,
turn them into this. Add a pinch of soda and boil until the green
pellets are reduced to a soft mass. Rub the pulp and liquid through a
colander, return to the fire and thicken with a tablespoonful of flour
rubbed into one of butter. Have heated in another saucepan a half pint
of rich milk. Pour this slowly into a bowl containing a beaten egg;
whip all together, and gradually add the peas-purée. Do not return the
soup to the fire after it has been poured upon the milk and egg, or it
may curdle.
Green pea purée (No. 2)
Boil a quart of shelled peas tender in salted hot water with a young
onion, a few sprigs of parsley and six mint leaves. Rub through a
colander and return to the fire, adding half a cupful of good stock,
salt, pepper and a lump of sugar. When it has boiled two minutes stir
in a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, cook one minute longer
and pour upon croutons of fried bread-dice in the tureen.
Savory potato soup
Crack a good marrow-bone well and put over the fire with three pints
of cold water, a small sliced carrot, a stalk or two of celery and a
grated onion. Cook slowly until boiled down to one-half the original
quantity. Set aside until cold; remove the fat, take out the bones,
and rub the vegetables through a colander back into the soup. Heat
quickly to a boil, and pour upon your mashed potato, gradually, working
in smoothly as you go on. Turn into a double boiler and when again
hot put in a great spoonful of chopped parsley. Have ready in another
saucepan a good cupful of hot water, in which has been dropped a pinch
of soda. Stir into this a teaspoonful of butter, rubbed up in one of
corn-starch. Cook three minutes, add to the potato soup, stir briskly
for half a minute and put into the tureen. If properly seasoned this is
a delicious family broth.
Browned potato soup
Peel and cut into quarters twelve potatoes, put three tablespoonfuls
of beef dripping in a soup pot and fry in it the potatoes and a sliced
onion. When brown, add two quarts of water and simmer until the
potatoes are soft and broken. Rub through a colander, return the purée
to the pot, thicken with two tablespoonfuls of browned flour rubbed
to a paste with a great spoonful of butter, stir until smooth, add a
tablespoonful of chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste and serve.
It is very good.
Savory rice soup
Boil half a cupful of well-washed rice in boiling water for twelve
minutes; drain off the water, pour over it one quart of stock and cook
until the rice is tender; then rub through a strainer and return to the
fire; beat the yolks of two eggs, add to them half a cup of cream, and
this to the soup and stir for one minute; do not allow it to boil; add
more seasoning if necessary, and serve.
Okra soup
Into a quart of chicken stock stir two slices of corned ham, minced, a
chopped onion and two dozen okra. Add a pint of strained tomatoes and
boil all until the okra is tender. Season to taste and serve.
Red tomato soup
Skim all grease from a quart of beef stock and turn into it a can of
tomatoes, or a quart of fresh tomatoes, peeled and sliced. Bring to a
boil and simmer steadily for an hour. At the end of this time rub the
soup through a sieve and return to the fire with a heaping teaspoonful
of sugar, a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, a teaspoonful of
onion juice, the same quantity of kitchen bouquet, and pepper and salt
to taste. Add a half-cupful of boiled rice, simmer five minutes and
serve with squares of toasted bread.
Tomato and bean soup
Put beef-bones over the fire with half a sliced carrot, two stalks of
refuse celery and a grated onion. Pour in three pints of cold water;
simmer slowly in a covered pot four hours, until the liquid is reduced
to one-half. Turn bones and soup into a bowl and let all get perfectly
cold. Skim off the fat, strain out the bones and rub the vegetables
through a colander back into the liquor. Season this to your taste with
salt and pepper, bring to a boil, add a cupful of stewed tomato and one
of baked beans and cook half an hour longer before rubbing all hard
through the colander into another saucepan. Stir in a teaspoonful of
butter rubbed up with one of flour, to prevent wateriness in the soup,
also a little chopped parsley. Boil up sharply for one minute and turn
upon tiny squares of fried or toasted bread laid in the bottom of the
tureen.
This is an excellent way of using up left-overs of stewed tomatoes and
baked beans.
Carrot soup
Wash and clean one dozen half-grown carrots. Slice thin, then place
them in a saucepan with two tablespoonfuls of butter, a little salt and
sugar and cook slowly, turning often until the carrots begin to color.
Add a pint of rich broth and allow them to boil gently to a glaze; then
put the carrots through your vegetable press; return to the saucepan,
simmer until smoking-hot and serve.
Sorrel soup
Chop the sorrel into bits and boil tender in a quart of mutton stock.
Rub through a colander and return to the fire. Thicken a pint of hot
milk with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed into one of butter. Cook one
minute, or until it is smooth and free from lumps, when stir in slowly
the sorrel soup. Season to taste and serve. The French are particularly
fond of sorrel soups.
Succotash soup
Remove the strings from string beans, cut the beans into inch lengths
and shred each inch into thin strips. Grate the kernels from six ears
of corn, and boil the cobs for twenty minutes in a quart of cleared
beef stock. Remove the cobs and boil the grated corn and shredded beans
in the stock for twenty-five minutes. Now make a pint of tomato sauce,
thickening it and seasoning it as usual, and pour the stock, corn and
beans gradually upon this. Season all to taste, and serve very hot,
without straining.
You may make this soup in winter from canned corn and string beans.
Spinach soup
Pick over, wash and stem half a peck of spinach, and put over the fire
in the inner vessel of a double boiler, with boiling water in the
outer, and cook tender. Rub through your vegetable press back into
the saucepan; add a pint of good stock; season with salt, pepper, a
teaspoonful of sugar and a pinch of mace; bring to a quick boil to keep
the color, stir in a tablespoonful of butter rolled in a teaspoonful of
flour, and cook one minute.
Celery soup
Is good made in the same way, also cauliflower.
Lettuce soup
Treat as directed in spinach soup. Cook very quickly and add a dash of
lemon juice.
Farmer’s chowder