Cut up four flounders, or half a dozen perch, two onions, and a
bunch of parsley. Put them into three quarts of water, and boil
them till the fish go entirely to pieces, and dissolve in the
water. Then strain the liquor through a sieve, and put it into a
kettle or stew-pan. Have ready a few more fish with the heads,
tails, and fins removed, and the brown skin taken off. Cut little
notches in them, and lay them for a short time in very cold water.
Then put them into the stew-pan with the liquor or soup-stock of
the first fish. Season with pepper, salt, and mace, and add half a
pint of white wine or two table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Boil it
gently for a quarter of an hour, and skim it well.
Provide some parsley roots, cut into slices and boiled till very
tender; and also a quantity of parsley leaves boiled nice and
green. After the fish-pan has boiled moderately fifteen minutes,
take it off the fire, and put in the parsley roots; also a little
mushroom catchup.
Take out the fish and lay them in a broad deep dish, or in a
tureen, and then pour on the soup very gently for fear of breaking
them. Strew the green parsley leaves over the top. Have ready
plates of bread and butter, which it is customary to eat with
water souchy.
You may omit the wine or vinegar, and flavour the soup just before
you take it from the fire with essence of anchovy, or with any
other of the essences and compound fish-sauces that are in general
use.
Water souchy (commonly pronounced _sookey_) is a Dutch soup.
It may be made of any sort of small fish; but flounders and perch
are generally used for it. It is very good made of carp.