scalded and scraped, but not skinned; and put them into a soup-kettle
with six or seven blades of mace, and the yellow rind of a lemon grated.
Pour on a gallon of water; cover the kettle, and let it boil very slowly
(skimming it well) till the flesh is reduced to rags and has dropped
entirely from the bones. Then strain it into a broad white-ware pan, and
set it away to get cold. When it has congealed, scrape off the fat and
sediment, cut up the cake of jelly, (or stock,) and put it into a clean
porcelain or enameled kettle. Have ready half a pound of very finely
grated cocoa-nut. Mix it with a pint of cream. If you cannot obtain
cream, take rich unskimmed milk, and add to it three ounces of the best
fresh butter divided into three parts, each bit rolled in arrow-root or
rice-flour. Mix it, gradually, with the cocoa-nut, and add it to the
calves-feet-stock in the kettle, seasoned with a small nutmeg grated.
Set it over the fire, and boil it, slowly, about a quarter of an hour;
stirring it well. Then transfer it to a tureen, and serve it up. Have
ready small French rolls, or light milk biscuit to eat with it; also
powdered sugar in case any of the company should wish to sweeten it.
ALMOND SOUP is made in the above manner, substituting pounded almonds
for the grated cocoa-nut. You must have half a pound of shelled sweet
almonds, mixed with two ounces of shelled bitter almonds. After
blanching them in hot water, they must be pounded to a smooth paste (one
at a time) in a marble mortar; adding frequently a little rose-water to
prevent their oiling, and becoming heavy. Or you may use peach-water for
this purpose; in which case omit the bitter almonds, as the peach-water
will give the desired flavor. When the pounded almonds are ready, mix
them with the other ingredients, as above.
The calves' feet for these soups should be boiled either very early in
the morning, or the day before.
SPRING SOUP.--Unless your dinner hour is very late, the stock for this
soup should be made the day before it is wanted, and set away in a
stone pan, closely covered. To make the stock take a knuckle of veal,
break the bones, and cut it into several pieces. Allow a quart of water
to each pound of veal. Put it into a soup-pot, with a set of calves'
feet,[A] and some bits of cold ham, cut off near the hock. If you have
no ham, sprinkle in a tea-spoonful of salt, and a salt-spoon of cayenne.
Place the pot over a _moderate_ fire, and let it simmer slowly (skimming
it well) for several hours, till the veal is all to rags and the flesh
of the calves' feet has dropped in shreds from the bones. Then strain
the soup; and if not wanted that day, set it away in a stone pan, as
above mentioned.
[A] In buying calves' feet always get those that are singed, not
skinned. Much of the glutinous or jelly property resides in the skin.
Next day have, ready boiled, two quarts or more of green peas, (they
must on no account be old,) and a pint of the green tops cut off from
asparagus boiled for the purpose. Pound a handful of raw spinach till
you have extracted a tea-cupful of the juice. Set the soup or stock over
the fire; add the peas, asparagus, and spinach juice, stirring them well
in; also a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into four bits,
and rolled in flour. Let the whole come to a boil; and then take it off
and transfer it to a tureen. It will be found excellent.
In boiling the peas for this soup, you may put with them half a dozen
sprigs of green mint, to be afterwards taken out.
Late in the spring you may add to the other vegetables two cucumbers,
pared and sliced, and the whitest part or heart of a lettuce, boiled
together; then well drained, and put into the soup with the peas and
asparagus. It must be very thick with vegetables.
SUMMER SOUP.--Take a large neck of mutton, and hack it so as nearly to
cut it apart, but not quite. Allow a small quart of water to each pound
of meat, and sprinkle on a tea-spoonful of salt and a very little black
pepper. Put it into a soup-pot, and boil it _slowly_ (skimming it well)
till the meat is reduced to rags. Then strain the liquid, return it to
the soup-pot, and carefully remove all the fat from the surface. Have
ready half a dozen small turnips sliced thin, two young onions sliced, a
table-spoonful of sweet marjoram leaves picked from the stalks, and a
quart of shelled Lima beans. Put in the vegetables, and boil them in the
soup till they are thoroughly done. You may add to them two
table-spoonfuls of green nasturtion seeds, either fresh or pickled. Put
in also some little dumplings, (made of flour and butter,) about ten
minutes before the soup is done.
Instead of Lima beans, you may divide a cauliflower or two broccolis
into sprigs, and boil them in the soup with the other vegetables.
This soup may be made of a shoulder of mutton, cut into pieces and the
bones cracked. For a large potful add also the breast to the neck,
cutting the bones apart.
AUTUMN SOUP.--Begin this soup as early in the day as possible. Take six
pounds of the lean of fine fresh beef; cut it into small pieces;
sprinkle it with a tea-spoonful of salt, (not more); put it into a
soup-pot, and pour on six quarts of water. The hock of a cold ham will
greatly improve it. Set it over a moderate fire, and let it boil slowly.
After it comes to a boil, skim it well. Have ready a quarter of a peck
of ochras cut into very thin round slices, and a quarter of a peck of
tomatos cut into pieces; also a quart of shelled Lima beans. Season them
with pepper. Put them in; and after the whole has boiled three hours _at
least_, take four ears of young Indian corn, and having grated off all
the grains, add them to the soup and boil it an hour longer. Before you
serve up the soup remove from it all the bits of meat, which, if the
soup is sufficiently cooked, will be reduced to shreds.
You may put in with the ochras and tomatos one or two sliced onions. The
soup, when done, should be as thick as a jelly.
Ochras for soup may be kept all winter, by tying them separately to a
line stretched high across the store room.
WINTER SOUP.--The day before you make the soup, get a leg or shin of
beef. Have the bone sawed through in several places, and the meat
notched or scored down to the bone. This will cause the juice or essence
to come out more freely, when cooked. Rub it slightly with salt; cover
it, and set it away. Next morning, early as possible, as soon as the
fire is well made up, put the beef into a large soup-pot, allowing to
each pound a small quart of water. Then taste the water, and if the salt
that has been rubbed on the meat is not sufficient, add a very little
more. Throw in also a tea-spoonful of whole pepper-corns; and you may
add half a dozen blades of mace. Let it simmer slowly till it comes to a
boil; then skim it well. After it boils, you may quicken the fire. At
nine o'clock put in a large head of cabbage cut fine as for cold-slaw;
six carrots grated; the leaves stripped from a bunch of sweet marjoram;
and the leaves of a sprig of parsley. An hour afterwards, add six
turnips, and three potatoes, all cut into four or eight pieces. Also two
onions, which will be better if previously roasted brown, and then
sliced. Keep the soup boiling steadily, but not hard, unless the dinner
hour is very early. For a late dinner, there will be time to boil it
slowly all the while; and all soups are the better for long and slow
boiling. See that it is well skimmed, so that, when done, there will be
not a particle of fat or scum on the surface. At dinner-time take it up
with a large ladle, and transfer it to a tureen. In doing so, carefully
avoid the shreds of meat and bone. Leave them all in the bottom of the
pot, pressing them down with the ladle. A mass of shreds in the tureen
or soup-plate looks slovenly and disgusting, and should never be seen at
the table; also, they absorb too much of the liquid. Let the vegetables
remain in the soup when it is served up, but pick out every shred of
meat or bone that may be found in the tureen when ready to go to table.
In very cold weather, what is left of this soup will keep till the
second day; when it must be simmered again over the fire, till it just
comes to a boil. Put it away in a tin or stone vessel. The lead which is
used in glazing earthen jars frequently communicates its poison to
liquids that are kept in them.
VEGETABLE SOUP--(_very good_.)--Soak all night, in cold water, either
two quarts of yellow split peas, or two quarts of dried white beans. In
the morning drain them, and season them with a very little salt and
cayenne, and a head of minced celery, or else a heaped table-spoonful of
celery seed. Put them into a soup-pot with four quarts of water, and
boil them slowly till they are all dissolved and undistinguishable. Stir
them frequently. Have ready a profuse quantity of fresh vegetables, such
as turnips, carrots, parsnips, potatos, onions, and cauliflowers; also,
salsify, and asparagus tops. Put in, first, the vegetables that require
the longest boiling. They should all be cut into small pieces. Enrich
the whole with some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Boil these
vegetables in the soup till they are all quite tender. Then transfer it
to a tureen, and serve it up hot.
The foundation being of dried peas or beans, makes it very thick and
smooth, and the fresh vegetables improve its flavor. It is a good soup
for Lent, or for any time, if properly and liberally made.
All vegetable soups can be made in Lent without meat, if milk is
substituted for water, and with butter, beaten eggs and spice, to flavor
and enrich it.
FRENCH POT AU FEU.--This is one of the national dishes of France. The
following is a genuine French receipt, and it would be found very
palatable and very convenient if tried in our own land of plenty. The
true French way to cook it is in an earthen pipkin, such as can be had
in any pottery shop. The French vessel has a wide mouth, and
close-fitting lid, with a handle at each side, in the form of circular
ears. It is large and swelling in the middle, and narrows down towards
the bottom. The American pipkin has a short thick spout at one side, and
stands on three or four low feet. No kitchen should be without these
vessels, which are cheap, very strong, and easily kept clean. They can
sit on a stove, or in the corner of the fire, and are excellent for slow
cooking.
The wife of a French artisan commences her pot au feu soon after
breakfast, prepares the ingredients, puts them, by degrees, into the
pot, attends to it during the day; and when her husband has done his
work she has ready for him an excellent and substantial repast, far
superior to what in our country is called a _tea-dinner_. Men frequently
indemnify themselves for the poorness of a tea-dinner by taking a dram
of whiskey afterwards. A Frenchman is satisfied with his excellent pot
au feu and some fruit afterwards. The French are noted as a temperate
nation. If they have eaten to their satisfaction they have little
craving for drink. Yet there is no country in the world where so much
good eating might be had as in America. But to live well, and
wholesomely, there should also be good cooking, and the wives of our
artisans must learn to think more of the comfort, health, and
cheerfulness of him who in Scotland is called the _bread-winner_, than
of their own finery, and their children's uncomfortable frippery.
_Receipt._--For a large pot au feu, put into the pipkin six pounds of
good fresh beef cut up, and pour on it four quarts of water. Set it near
the fire, skim it when it simmers, and when nearly boiling, add a
tea-spoonful of salt, half a pound of liver cut in pieces, and some
black pepper. Then add two or three large carrots, sliced or grated on a
coarse grater; four turnips, pared and quartered; eight young onions
peeled and sliced thick, two of the onions roasted whole; a head of
celery cut up; a parsnip split and cut up; and six potatos, pared,
sliced, or quartered. In short any good vegetables now in season,
including tomatos in summer and autumn. Also a bunch of sweet herbs,
chopped small. Let the whole continue to boil slowly and _steadily_;
remembering to skim well. Let it simmer slowly five or six hours. Then,
having laid some large slices of bread in the bottom of a tureen, or a
very large pan or bowl, pour the stew or soup upon it; all the meat, and
all the vegetables. If you have any left, recook it the next morning for
breakfast, and _that day_ you may prepare something else for dinner.
For beef you may substitute mutton, or fresh venison, if you live in a
venison country, and can get it newly killed.
WILD DUCK SOUP.--This is a company soup. If you live where wild ducks
are abundant, it will afford an agreeable variety occasionally to make
soup of some of them. If you suspect them to be sedgy or fishy, (you can
ascertain by the smell when drawing or cleaning them,) parboil each
duck, with a carrot put into his body. Then take out the carrot and
throw it away. You will find that the unpleasant flavor has left the
ducks, and been entirely absorbed by the carrots. To make the soup--cut
up the ducks, season the pieces with a little salt and pepper, and lay
them in a soup-pot. For a good pot of soup you should have four wild
ducks. Add two or three sliced onions, and a table-spoonful of minced
sage. Also a quarter of a pound of butter divided into four, and each
piece rolled in flour. Pour in water enough to make a rich soup, and
let it boil slowly till all the flesh has left the bones,--skim it well.
Thicken it with boiled or roasted chestnuts, peeled, and then mashed
with a potato beetle. A glass of Madeira or sherry will be found an
improvement, stirred in at the last, or the juice and grated peel of a
lemon. In taking it up for the tureen, be careful to leave all the bones
and bits of meat in the bottom of the pot.
VENISON SOUP.--Take a large fine piece of freshly killed venison. It is
best at the season when the deer are fat and juicy, from having plenty
of wild berries to feed on. I do not consider winter-venison worth
eating, when the meat is poor and hard, and affords no gravy, and also
is black from being kept too long. When venison is fresh and in good
order it yields a fine soup, allowing a small quart of water to each
pound of meat. When it has boiled well, and been skimmed, put in some
small dumplings made of flour and minced suet, or drippings. Also,
boiled sweet potatos, cut into round thick slices. You may add boiled
sweet corn cut off the cob; and, indeed, whatever vegetables are in
season. The soup-meat should boil till all the flesh is loose on the
bones, and the bits and shreds should not be served up.
The best pieces of buffalo make good soup.
GAME SOUP.--Take partridges, pheasants, grouse, quails, or any of the
birds considered as game. You may put in here as many different sorts as
you can procure. They must all be fresh killed. When they are cleaned
and plucked, cut them in pieces as for carving, and put them into a
soup-pot, with four calves' feet and some slices of ham, two sticks of
celery, and a bundle of sweet herbs chopped small, and water enough to
cover the whole well. Boil and skim well, till all the flesh is loose
from the bones. Strain the liquid through a sieve into a clean pot, then
thicken it with fresh butter rolled in flour. Add some force-meat balls
that have been already fried; or else some hard-boiled yolks of eggs;
some currant jelly, or some good wine into which a half-nutmeg has been
grated; the juice of two oranges or lemons, and the grated yellow peel
of one lemon. Give the soup another boil up, and then send it to table,
having bread rolls to eat with it.
This is a fine soup for company. Venison soup may be made in this
manner. Hare soup also.
SQUATTER'S SOUP.--Take plenty of _fresh-killed_ venison, as fat and
juicy as you can get it. Cut the meat off the bones and put it (with the
bones) into a large pot. Season it with pepper and salt, and pour on
sufficient water to make a good rich soup. Boil it slowly (remembering
to skim it well) till the meat is all in rags. Have ready some ears of
young sweet corn. Boil them in a pot by themselves till they are quite
soft. Cut the grains off the cob into a deep dish. Having cleared the
soup from shreds and bits of bone left at the bottom of the pot, stir in
a thickening made of indian meal mixed to a paste with a little fresh
lard, or venison gravy. And afterwards throw in, by degrees, the cut
corn. Let all boil together, till the corn is soft, or for about half an
hour. Then take it up in a large pan. It will be found very good by
persons who never were squatters. This soup, with a wild turkey or a
buffalo hump roasted, and stewed grapes sweetened well with maple sugar,
will make a good backwoods dinner.
MOCK TURTLE SOUP.--Boil together a knuckle of veal (cut up) and a set of
calves' feet, split. Also the hock of a cold boiled ham. Season it with
cayenne pepper; but the ham will render it salt enough. You may add a
smoked tongue. Allow, to each pound of meat, a small quart of water.
After the meat has come to a boil and been well skimmed, add half a
dozen sliced parsnips, three sliced onions, and a head of celery cut
small, with a large bunch of sweet marjoram, and two large carrots
sliced. Boil all together till the vegetables are nearly dissolved and
the meat falls from the bone. Then strain the whole through a cullender,
and transfer the liquid to a clean pot. Have ready some fine large
sweetbreads that have been soaked in warm water for an hour till all
the blood was disgorged; then transferred to boiling water for ten
minutes, and then taken out and laid in very cold water. This will
blanch them, and all sweetbreads should look white. Take them out; and
remove carefully all the pipe or gristle. Cut the sweetbreads in pieces
or mouthfuls, and put them into the pot of strained soup. Have ready
about two or three dozen (or more) of force-meat balls, made of cold
minced veal and ham seasoned with nutmeg and mace, enriched with butter,
and mixed with grated lemon-peel, bread-crumbs, chopped marjoram and
beaten eggs, to make the whole into smooth balls about the size of a
hickory nut. Throw the balls into the soup, and add a fresh lemon,
sliced thin, and a pint of Madeira wine. Give it one more boil up; then
put it into a tureen and send it to table.
This ought to be a rich soup, and is seldom made except for dinner
company.
If the above method is _exactly_ followed, there will be found no
necessity for taking the trouble and enduring the disgust and
tediousness of cleaning and preparing a calf's head for mock turtle
soup--a very unpleasant process, which too much resembles the horrors of
a dissecting room. And when all is done a calf's head is a very insipid
article.
It will be found that the above is superior to any mock turtle. Made of
shin beef, with all these ingredients, it is very rich and fine.
FISH SOUP.--All fish soups should be made with milk, (if unskimmed so
much the better,) using no water whatever. The best fish for soup are
the small sort of cat-fish; also tutaug, porgie, blue fish, white fish,
black fish or sea-bass. Cut off their heads, tails, and fins, and remove
the skin, and the backbone, and cut the fish into pieces. To each pound
of fish allow a quart of rich milk. Put into the soup-pot some pieces of
cold boiled ham. No salt will then be required; but season with cayenne
pepper, and a few blades of mace and some grated nutmeg. Add a bunch of
sweet marjoram, the leaves stripped from the stalks and chopped. Make
some little dumplings of flour and butter, and put them in when the soup
is about half done. Half an hour's steady boiling will be sufficient.
Serve up in the tureen the pieces of fish and ham. Also some toast cut
in dice.
Soup may be made in this manner, of chickens or rabbits, using always
milk enriched with bits of butter rolled in flour and flavored with bits
of cold ham.
LOBSTER SOUP.--This is a fine soup for company. Take two or three fine
fresh lobsters, (the middle sized are the best.) Heat a large pot of
water, throwing in a large handful of salt. When it is boiling hard put
in the lobsters, head foremost, that they may die immediately. They will
require at least half an hour's fast boiling; if large, three quarters.
When done, take them out, wipe off the scum that has collected on the
shell, and drain the lobster. First break off the large claws, and crack
them, then split the body, and extract all the white meat, and the red
coral--nothing else--and cut it into small pieces. Mash the coral into
smooth bits with the back of a large spoon, mixing with it plenty of
sweet oil; and, gradually, adding it to the bits of chopped lobster. Put
into a clear soup-pot two quarts, or more, of good milk, and thicken it
with half a dozen crackers or butter-biscuit, pounded fine; or the
grated crumbs of two or three small rolls, and stir in a quarter of a
pound of fresh butter made into a paste with two spoonfuls of flour. Put
in the chopped lobster, seasoned with nutmeg, a few blades of mace
powdered, and a little cayenne. Let all boil together, slowly, for half
an hour, keeping it closely covered. Towards the last, stir in two
beaten eggs. Lay some very small soda biscuit in the bottom of a tureen,
and pour the soup upon them. Nasturtion flowers strewed at the last
thickly over the surface of this soup, when in the tureen, are an
improvement both to its appearance and flavor. So is peppergrass.
CRAB SOUP.--Take the meat of two dozen boiled crabs, cut it small, and
give it a boil in two quarts of milk. Season it with powdered mace,
nutmeg, and a little cayenne, and thicken it with butter mixed in flour;
or, make the flour and butter into little dumplings. Have ready half a
dozen yolks of hard-boiled eggs, and crumble them into the soup just
before you take it from the fire. Add the heart of a fresh green
lettuce, cut small and strewed over the surface of the soup, after it is
poured into the tureen.
OYSTER SOUP.--Strain the liquor from one hundred oysters, and carefully
remove any bits of shell or particles of sea-weed. To every pint of
oyster liquor allow an equal quantity of rich milk. Season it with whole
pepper and some blades of mace. Add a head of celery, washed, scraped,
and minced small. Put the whole into a soup-pot, and boil and skim it
well. When it boils put in the oysters. Also, a quarter of a pound of
fresh butter; divide into four pieces, each piece rolled in flour. If
you can procure cream, add a half-pint, otherwise boil some six eggs
hard, and crumble the yolks into the soup. After the oysters are in give
them but one boil up, just sufficient to plump them. If boiled longer
they will shrink and shrivel and lose their taste. Take them all out and
set them away to cool. When the soup is done, place in the bottom of the
tureen some small square pieces of nicely toasted bread cut into dice,
and pour on the soup; grate in a nutmeg and then add the oysters. Serve
it up very hot.
Another way is to chop or cut small the oysters, omitting the hard part.
Make the soup as above, and put in the minced oysters at the last,
letting them boil but five minutes. Mix the powdered nutmeg with them.
This is a good way, if you make but a small quantity of soup.
CLAM SOUP.--Having washed clean the outside shells of a hundred small
sand clams, (or scrubbed them with a brush,) put them into a large pot
of boiling water. When they open their shells take them out with a
ladle, and as you do so, put them into a cullender to drain off the
liquor. Then extract the clams from the shells with a knife. Save a
quart of the liquor, putting the clams in a pitcher by themselves. Mix
with the quart of liquor, in a clean pot, two quarts of rich milk. Put
in the clams, and add some pepper-corns and some blades of mace. Also, a
bunch of sweet marjoram, the leaves stripped off and minced. After all
has boiled well for an hour, add half a pound, or more, of nice fresh
butter, made into little dumplings with flour; also a pint of grated
bread-crumbs. Let it boil a quarter of an hour longer. Then pour the
soup off from the clams and leave them in the bottom of the pot. They
will not now be worth eating. If you cannot obtain small clams, you may
cut large ones in pieces, but they are very coarse and tough.
FAST-DAY SOUP.--_For winter._--Having soaked all night two quarts of
split peas, put them into a soup-pot, adding a sliced onion, two heads
of celery, the stalks split and cut small; a table-spoonful of chopped
mint, another of marjoram, and two beets, that have been previously
boiled and sliced. Mix all these with half a pound of fresh butter cut
into pieces and dredged with flour. Season with a little salt and
pepper. Pour on rather more than water enough to cover the whole. Let
them boil till all the things are quite tender, and the peas dissolved.
When done, cover the bottom of a tureen with small square bits of toast,
and pour in the contents of the soup-pot.
It is a good way to boil the split peas in a pot by themselves, till
they are quite dissolved, and then add them to the ingredients in the
other pot.
Vegetable soups require a large portion of vegetables, and butter
always, as a substitute for meat.