This soup is a great success. It is very inexpensive, a plate of giblets
only costing at market five cents. It is a very good imitation of
mock-turtle soup, and, after the first experience in making, it will be
found very easy to manage.
Ingredients: The giblets of four chickens or two turkeys, one
medium-sized onion, one small carrot, half a turnip, two sprigs of
parsley, a leaf of sage, eggs, a little lemon-juice, Port or Madeira
wine, and one or two cupfuls of chicken or beef stock, quite strong.
Cut up the vegetables. Put a piece of butter the size of a small egg
into a stew-pan. When quite hot, throw in the sliced onion. When they
begin to brown, add the carrot and turnip, a table-spoonful of flour,
and the giblets. Fry them all quickly for a minute, watching them
constantly, that the flour may brown, and not burn. Now cut the giblets
(that the juice may escape), and put all into the soup-kettle, with a
little pepper and salt, and three quarts of water--of course, stock
would be much better, and for extra occasions I would recommend it; or
without stock, one could add any fresh bones or scraps of lean meat one
might happen to have. Pieces of chicken are especially well adapted to
this soup; yet, for ordinary occasions, giblets alone answer very well.
Let the soup simmer for five hours; then strain it. Thicken it a little
with _roux_ (page 51), letting the flour brown, and add to it also one
of the livers mashed. Season with the additional pepper and salt it
needs, a little lemon-juice, and two table-spoonfuls of Port or Madeira
wine. Put into the soup tureen yolks of hard-boiled eggs, one for each
person at table. Pour over the soup, and serve.
MOCK-TURTLE SOUP (_New York Cooking-school_).
Let some one beside yourself remove the flesh from a calf’s head, viz.,
cut from between the ears to the nose, touching the bone; then, cutting
close to it, take off all the flesh. Turn over the head, cut open the
jaw-bone from underneath, and take out the tongue whole. Turn the head
back again, crack the top of the skull between the ears, and take out
the brains whole; they may be saved for a separate dish. Soak all
separately for a few moments in salt and water. Cut the skull all to
pieces, wash it quickly, and put it on the fire in four quarts of cold
water, together with the flesh, tongue, half a bunch of parsley, half a
stalk of celery, one large bay-leaf, three cloves, half an inch of a
stick of cinnamon, six whole allspice, six pepper-corns, half of a large
carrot, and one turnip. When the tongue is tender, take it out, to be
served as a separate dish (with spinach or with _sauce Tartare_). Leave
in the flesh for about two hours, when it will be perfectly tender. Let
the bones, etc., simmer for six hours, then strain, and put it away
until the next day.
At the same time that the calf’s head is cooking in one vessel, make a
stock in another, with a beef or veal soup-bone (two or three pounds),
and any scraps of poultry (it would be improved with a chicken added;
and one might take this opportunity to have a boiled chicken for dinner,
cooking it in the stock), put into two or three quarts of water, and
simmered until reduced to a pint.
The next day, remove the fat and settlings from the two stocks.
Put into a two-quart stew-pan two ounces of butter (size of an egg),
and, when it bubbles, stir in an ounce of ham cut in strips, and one
heaping table-spoonful of flour (one and a half ounces). Stir it
constantly until it gets quite brown, pour the reduced stock over it,
mix it well, and strain it.
Now to half a pound of the calf’s head cut in dice add one quart of the
calf’s-head stock boiling hot, and the pint of reduced and thickened
stock, the juice of half a lemon, and one glassful of sherry. When it is
about to boil, set it one side, and skim it very carefully. Add the
flesh cut from the head, cut in dice, and two hard-boiled eggs cut in
dice, and salt. Or,
_Receipt for Egg-balls._--If, instead of the egg-dice, egg-balls should
be preferred, add to the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs the raw yolk of
one egg, one table-spoonful of melted butter, a little salt and pepper,
and enough sifted flour to make it consistent enough to handle. Sprinkle
flour on the board, roll it out about half an inch thick, cut it into
dice, and roll each one into little balls in the palm of the hand. Put
these into the soup five minutes before it is served, to cook. Or,
_Receipt for Meat-balls._--If, instead of meat-dice, meat-balls should
be preferred, to three-fourths of a cupful of the head-meat, chopped
very fine, add a pinch of thyme, the grated peel of half a lemon, one
raw egg, and flour enough to bind all together. Form into little balls
the size of a hickory-nut; _sauté_ them in a little hot butter. Or, It
is very nice to add, instead of egg-balls, whole yolks of hard-boiled
eggs, one for each plate.
The brains may be used for making croquettes (page 176), or as in
receipt (page 151).