The meat should be fresh, lean (all fat possible being removed), and juicy to make the best soup. It is put into cold, clear water, which should be heated only moderately for the first half-hour. The object is to extract the juices of the meat, and if it be boiled too soon, the surface will become coagulated, thereby imprisoning the juice within. After the first half-hour the pot should be placed at the back of the stove, allowing the soup to simmer for four or five hours.

Nothing is more disagreeable at table than greasy soup. As all particles of fat are taken off hot liquor with some difficulty, soup should be made the day before it is to be used, when the fat will rise to the top and harden. It can then be easily removed.

When vegetables are used, they should be added only in time to become thoroughly done: afterward they absorb a portion of the richness of the soup.

When onions are used, they impart better flavor by being fried or sautÉd in a little hot butter or other grease, before they are added to the soup. In fact, many professional cooks fry other vegetables also, such as carrots and turnips. Sometimes they even fry slightly the chickens, beef, etc., and then cut them into smaller pieces for boiling. Potatoes and cabbage should be boiled in separate water before they are added to a soup.

Amateur cooks seem to have a great aversion to making stock. They think it must be something troublesome, and too scientific to undertake; whereas, in truth, it saves the trouble of going through the process of soup-boiling every day, and it is as easy to make as any simple soup. One has only to increase the quantity of meat and bones to any desired proportion, adding pepper and salt, and also vegetables, if preferred.

The stock should be kept in a stone jar. It will form a jelly, and in cool weather will last at least a week.

Just before dinner each day, in order to prepare soup, it is only necessary to cut off some of the jelly and heat it. It is very good with nothing additional; but one can have a change of soup each day by adding different flavorings, such as onion, macaroni, vermicelli, tomato, tapioca, spring vegetables (which will make a julienne), poached eggs, fried bread, asparagus, celery, green pease, etc. I will be explicit about these additions in the receipts. Stock is also valuable for gravies, sauces, and stews, and for boiling many things, such as pigeons, chickens, etc.

Stock, or Pot au Feu.

In ordinary circumstances, beef alone, with some vegetables, will make a good broth or stock, in the proportion of two and a half pints of cold clear water to each pound of bones and meat; the bones and meat should be of about equal weight. It makes the soup more delicate to add chicken or veal. Chicken and veal together make a good soup, called blond de veau. Good soup can be made, also, by using the trimmings of fresh meat, bits of cold cooked beef, or the bones of any meat or fowl. In the choice of vegetables, onions (first fried or sautÉd, and a clove stuck in), parsley, and carrots are oftenest used: turnips, parsnips, and celery should be employed more sparingly. The soup bunch at market is generally a very good distribution of vegetables. Nothing is more simple than the process of making stock or broth. Remember not to let it boil for the first half-hour; then it should simmer slowly and steadily, partly covered, for four or five hours. In royal kitchens the stock is cooked by gas. Skim frequently; as scum, if allowed to remain, gives an unpleasant flavor to the soup. Use salt sparingly, putting in a little at first, and seasoning at the last moment. Many a good soup is spoiled by an injudicious use of seasoning. Some add a few drops of lemon-juice to a broth. If wine or catsup is added, it should only be done at the last moment. Always strain the soup through a sieve or soup-strainer. Small scraps of meat or sediment look slovenly in a soup. Or,

A Simple Stock.

If you have no vegetables (you should always have them, especially onions and carrots, as they will keep), a very good stock can be made by employing the meat and bones alone, seasoned with pepper and salt. If rich enough, it might be served in this manner. However, it is a simple thing, about fifteen minutes before dinner, each day, to add a little boiled macaroni, fried onions, etc., to vary the soup.

GouffÉ’s Receipt for Stock, or Bouillon.

Three pounds of beef; one pound of bone (about the quantity in that weight of meat); five and a half quarts of clear cold water; two ounces of salt; two carrots, say ten ounces; two large onions, say ten ounces, with two cloves stuck in them; six leeks, say fourteen ounces; one head of celery, say one ounce; two turnips, say ten ounces; one parsnip, say two ounces.

Bouillon Served at Luncheons, Germans, etc.

Purchase about six pounds of beef and bone (soup bones) for ten persons. Cut up the meat and break the bones; add two quarts of cold water, and simmer slowly until all the strength is extracted from the meat. It will take about five hours. Strain it through a fine sieve, removing every particle of fat; and if there is more than ten cupfuls, reduce it by boiling to that quantity. Season only with pepper and salt.

It is served in bouillon cups at luncheons, at evening companies, Germans, etc.

Sometimes it is served clear and transparent, after the receipt for Amber Soup.

Amber Soup, or Clear Broth.

This soup is served at almost all company dinners. There can be no better choice, as a heavy soup is not then desirable.

Ingredients: A large soup bone (say two pounds), a chicken, a small slice of ham, a soup bunch (or an onion, two sprigs of parsley, half a small carrot, half a small parsnip, half a stick of celery), three cloves, pepper, salt, a gallon of cold water, whites and shells of two eggs, and caramel for coloring.

Let the beef, chicken, and ham boil slowly for five hours; add the vegetables and cloves, to cook the last hour, having first fried the onion in a little hot fat, and then in it stuck the cloves. Strain the soup into an earthen bowl, and let it remain overnight. Next day remove the cake of fat on the top; take out the jelly, avoiding the settlings, and mix into it the beaten whites of the eggs with the shells. Boil quickly for half a minute; then, placing the kettle on the hearth, skim off carefully all the scum and whites of the eggs from the top, not stirring the soup itself. Pass this through the jelly bag, when it should be quite clear. The soup may then be put aside, and reheated just before serving. Add then a large table-spoonful of caramel, as it gives it a richer color, and also a slight flavor.

Of course, the brightest and cleanest of kettles should be used. I once saw this transparent soup served in Paris, without color, but made quite thick with tapioca. It looked very clear, and was exceedingly nice.

This soup may be made in one day. After it is strained, add the eggs and proceed as in receipt. However, if it is to be served at a company dinner, it is more convenient to make it the day before.

To make Caramel, or Burned Sugar, for coloring Broth.

The appearance of broth is improved by being of a rich amber color. The most innocent coloring substance, which does not impair the flavor of the broth, is caramel, prepared as follows:

Put into a porcelain saucepan, say half a pound of sugar, and a table-spoonful of water. Stir it constantly over the fire until it has a bright, dark-brown color, being very careful not to let it burn or blacken. Then add a tea-cupful of water and a little salt; let it boil a few moments longer; cool and strain it. Put it away in a close-corked bottle, and it is always ready for coloring soups.

Thickenings for Soup.

I have before recommended the making of soup the day before it is served, as this is the best means of having it entirely free from fat and settlings. Just before it is served, it may be thickened with corn starch, sago, tapioca, pearl barley, rice, etc. If a thickening of flour is used, let it be a roux, mixed according to directions, page 51. However, a rich stock jelly needs no thickening.

Additions To Beef Stock, to form Other Kinds of Soup.

It is well, just before the beef soup is sent to table, to drop into the tureen poached eggs, which have been cooked in salted water, and neatly trimmed. There may be an egg for each person at table. This is a favorite soup in Havana. Or, Put into the tureen, just before the soup is sent to table, slices of lemon—one slice for each plate. Or,

Yolks of hard-boiled eggs, one for each person. Or,

Put into the tureen croÛtons or dice of bread, say three-quarters of an inch square, fried in a little butter. When frying, or rather sautÉing, turn them, that all sides may be browned. They may be prepared several hours, if more convenient, before dinner; then left near the fire, to become crisp and dry. This makes a very good soup, and is also an excellent means of using dry bread. It is a favorite French soup, called potage aux croÛtons. Or,

Drop into the tureen force-meat balls.

Receipt for Force-meat Balls.

Take any kind of meat or chicken, or both (that used for making the soup will answer); chop it very fine; season it with pepper, salt, a little chopped parsley and thyme, or a little parsley and fried onion, or with thyme, or parsley alone, a little lemon-juice, and grated peel. Break in a raw egg, and sprinkle over some flour; roll them in balls the size of a pigeon’s egg. Fry or sautÉ them in a little butter, or they may be cooked in boiling water; or they may be egged and bread-crumbed, and fried in boiling lard. This is the most simple receipt. The French take much trouble in making quenelles, etc., for soup. Or,

A simple and delicious addition is that of four or five table-spoonfuls of stewed tomatoes.

Macaroni Soup

is only an addition of macaroni to the stock-jelly. However, boil the macaroni first in salted water. When done, drain it, and cut it into about two or three inch lengths. Put these pieces into the soup when it is simmering on the fire, then serve it a few minutes after. Many send, at the same time, a plate of grated cheese. This is passed, a spoon with it, after the plates of soup are served, each person adding a spoonful of it to their soup, if they choose. They probably will not choose it a second time.

Vermicelli Soup

is made exactly as macaroni soup, only the vermicelli is not cut, and, if very little of it is used, it may be boiled in the soup. Often the stock for vermicelli is preferred made of veal and chicken, instead of beef; however, either is very good. Grated cheese may also be served with it.

Noodles (Eleanore Bouillotat).

Three delicious dishes may be made from this simple and economical receipt for noodles:

To three eggs (slightly beaten), two table-spoonfuls of water, and a little salt, add enough flour to make a rather stiff dough; work it well for fifteen or twenty minutes, as you would dough for crackers, adding flour when necessary. When pliable, cut off a portion at a time, roll it thin as a wafer, sprinkle over flour, and, beginning at one side, roll it into a rather tight roll. With a sharp knife, cut it, from the end, into very thin slices (one-eighth inch), forming little wheels or curls. Let them dry an hour or so. Part may be used to serve as a vegetable, part for a noodle soup, and the rest should be dried, to put one side to use at any time for a beef soup.

To serve as a Vegetable.

Three cupfuls of fresh noodles, three quarts of salted boiling water, bread-crumbs, butter size of an egg.

Throw a few of the noodles at a time into the boiling salted water, and boil them until they are done, separating and shaking them with a large fork to prevent them from matting together. Skin them out when done, and keep them on a warm dish in a warm place until enough are cooked in a similar manner. Now mix the butter (in which the bread-crumbs were fried) evenly in them; put them on the platter on which they are to be served, and sprinkle over the top bread-crumbs fried or sautÉd in some hot butter until they are of a light-brown color. This is a very good dish to serve with a fish, or with almost any meat, or it can be served as a course by itself; or the noodles can be cooked as macaroni, with cheese.

Add to the water in which the noodles were boiled, as in last receipt, part of the butter in which the bread-crumbs were sautÉd, a table-spoonful of chopped parsley, and two or three table-spoonfuls of the cooked noodles. Season with more salt, if necessary. Serve.

Beef Noodle Soup.

Add to a beef stock a small handful of fresh or dried noodles about twenty minutes before serving, which will be long enough time to cook them.

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Many varieties of soups may be made by adding different kinds of vegetables to beef soup or stock. Cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, and asparagus are better boiled in separate water, and added to the soup-tureen at the last moment. Onions, leeks, turnips, and carrots are better fried to a light color in a sautÉ pan with a little butter or clarified grease, and added to the soup. In frying, it is better to accompany the vegetable or vegetables with a little onion.

If you add more onion, more turnip, or more carrot than any other vegetable, you have onion, turnip, or carrot soup. I will specify a few combinations of vegetables.

Spring Soup.

A stock with any spring vegetables added which have first been parboiled in other water. Those generally used are pease, asparagus-tops, or a few young onions or leeks. This soup is often colored with caramel. Or,

Here is Francatelli’s receipt for spring soup, a little simplified: Cut with a vegetable-cutter two carrots and two turnips into little round shapes; add the white part of a head of celery; twelve small young onions, sliced, without the green stalks; and one head of cauliflower, cut into flowerets. Parboil these vegetables for three minutes in boiling water. Drain, and add them to two quarts of stock, made of chicken or beef (chicken is better). Let the whole simmer gently for half an hour, then add the white leaves of a head-lettuce (cut the size of a half-dollar, with a cutter). As soon as tender, and when about to send the soup to the table, add half a gill of small green pease, and an equal quantity of asparagus-heads, which have been previously boiled in other water.

Julienne Soup, with Poached Eggs (Dubois).

Take two medium-sized carrots, a medium-sized turnip, a piece of celery, the core of a lettuce, and an onion. Cut them into thin fillets about an inch long. Fry the onion in butter over a moderate fire, without allowing it to take color; add the carrots, turnips, and celery—raw, if tender; if not, boil them separately for a few minutes. After frying all slowly for a few moments, season with a pinch of salt and a tea-spoonful of powdered-sugar. Then moisten them with a gill of broth, and boil until reduced to a glaze. Now add nearly two quarts of good stock, which has been skimmed and passed through a sieve, and remove the stew-pan to the back of the stove, so that the soup may boil only partially. A quarter of an hour after add the lettuce (which has been boiled in other water), and a few raw sorrel leaves, if they can be procured. This soup is quite good enough without eggs, yet they are a pleasant addition. Poach them in salted water, trim them, and drop into the soup-tureen just as it is ready to send to the table. Many color this soup with caramel. In that case, the sugar should be omitted.

Asparagus Soup.

Ingredients: Three pints of beef soup or stock, thirty heads of asparagus, a little cream, butter, flour, and a little spinach.

Cut the tops off the asparagus, about half an inch long, and boil the rest. Cut off all the tender portions, and rub them through a sieve, adding a little salt. Warm three pints of stock, add a roux made of a small piece of butter and a heaping tea-spoonful of flour; then add the asparagus pulp. Boil it slowly a quarter of an hour, stirring in two or three table-spoonfuls of cream. Color the soup with a tea-spoonful of spinach green, and, just before serving it, add the asparagus-tops, which have been separately boiled.

Many like this soup, but I prefer simply boiled asparagus-points added to stock or beef soup, just before serving.

Spinach Green.

Pound some spinach well, adding a few drops of water; squeeze the juice through a cloth, and put it on a strong fire. As soon as it looks curdy, take it off, and strain the liquor through a sieve. What remains on the sieve will be the coloring matter.

Ox-tail Soup.

Ox-tails make an especially good soup, on account of the gelatinous matter they contain.

Ingredients: Two ox-tails, a soup bunch, or a good-sized onion, two carrots, one stalk of celery, a little parsley, and a small cut of pork.

Cut the ox-tails at the joints, slice the vegetables, and mince the pork. Put the pork into a stew-pan. When hot, add first the onions; when they begin to color, add the ox-tails. Let them fry or sautÉ a very short time. Now cut them to the bone, that the juice may run out in boiling. Put both the ox-tails and fried onions into a soup kettle, with four quarts of cold water. Let them simmer for about four hours; then add the other vegetables, with three cloves stuck in a little piece of onion, and pepper and salt. As soon as the vegetables are well cooked, the soup is done. Strain it. Select some of the joints (one for each plate), trim them, and serve them with the soup. Or, if preferred, the joints may be left out.

Chicken Soup (Potage À la Reine).—Francatelli.

Roast a large chicken. Clear all the meat from the bones, chop, and pound it thoroughly with a quarter of a pound of boiled rice. Put the bones (broken) and the skin into two quarts of cold water. Let it simmer for some time, when it will make a weak broth. Strain it, and add it to the chicken and rice. Now press this all through a sieve, and put it away until dinner-time. Take off the grease on top; heat it without boiling, and, just before sending to table, mix into it a gill of boiling cream. Season carefully with pepper and salt.

PurÉe of Chicken (Giuseppe Romanii).

Chef de Cuisine of the Cooking-school in New York.

Ingredients: One and a half pounds of chicken, one and a half quarts of white stock (made with veal), half a sprig of thyme, two sprigs of parsley, half a blade of mace, one shallot, a quarter of a pound of rice, and half a pint of cream.

Roast the chicken, and when cold cut off all the flesh; put the bones into the white stock, together with the thyme, mace, parsley, shallot, and washed rice; boil it until the rice is very thoroughly cooked. In the mean time, chop the chicken; pound it in a mortar; then pass it through a sieve or colander, helping the operation by moistening it with a little of the stock. Strain the balance of the stock, allowing the rice to pass through the sieve.

Half an hour before dinner, add the chicken to the stock and heat it without boiling. Just before serving, add to it half a pint of boiling cream. Season with pepper and salt.

Plain Chicken Soup.

Cut up the chicken, and break all the bones; put it in a gallon of cold water; let it simmer for five hours, skimming it well. The last hour add, to cook with the soup, a cupful of rice and a sprig of parsley. When done, let the kettle remain quiet a few moments on the kitchen table, when skim off every particle of fat with a spoon. Then pour all on a sieve placed over some deep dish. Take out all the bones, pieces of meat, and parsley. Press the rice through the sieve. Now mix the rice, by stirring it with the soup, until it resembles a smooth purÉe. Season with pepper and salt.

Giblet Soup.

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).

A simple Mock-turtle Soup.

Put four pig’s feet, or calf’s feet, and one pound of veal into four quarts of cold water, and let it simmer for five hours, reducing it to two quarts. Strain it, and let it remain overnight. The next day skim off the fat from the top, and remove the settlings from the bottom.

About half an hour before dinner put the soup on the fire, and season it with half a tea-spoonful of powdered thyme, a salt-spoonful of mace, a salt-spoonful of ground cloves. Simmer it for ten minutes. Now make a roux in a saucepan, viz.: put in one ounce of butter (size of a walnut), and, when it bubbles, sprinkle in one and a half ounces of flour (one table-spoonful). Stir it until the flour assumes a light-brown color; add the soup, and stir all together with the egg-whisk.

Make force-meat balls as follows: Chop some of the veal (used to make the soup), and about a quarter as much suet, very fine; season it with salt and pepper, and a few drops of lemon-juice; bind all together with some raw yolks of eggs and some cracker or bread crumbs; mold them into little balls about the size of a pigeon’s egg, or smaller, if preferred. Fry them in boiling lard, or boil them two or three minutes in water. Cut up also some of the meat, or rather skin and cartilaginous substance, from the cold feet, which resembles turtle meat. Now put into the soup-tureen these meat-balls, pieces of calf’s feet, and some yolks entire, or slices of hard-boiled eggs. Season the soup the last minute with a little lemon-juice and one or two table-spoonfuls of sherry.

For a small family, this will make soup enough for two dinners.

Gumbo Soup.

Ingredients: One large chicken; one and a half pints of green gumbo, or one pint of dried gumbo; three pints of water; pepper and salt.

Cut the chickens into joints, roll them in flour, and fry or sautÉ them in a little lard. Take out the pieces of chicken, and put in the sliced gumbo (either the green or the dried), and sautÉ that also until it is brown. Drain well the chickens and gumbo. There should be about a table-spoonful of brown fat left in the sautÉ pan; to this add a large table-spoonful of browned flour; then add the three pints of water, the chicken, cut into small pieces, and the gumbo. Simmer all together two hours. Strain through a colander. Serve boiled rice in another dish by the side of the soup-tureen. Having put a ladleful of the soup in the soup-plate, place a table-spoonful of rice in the centre.

Gumbo and Tomato Soup.

If canned gumbo and tomatoes mixed are used, merely add to them a pint or more of stock or strong beef broth. Bring them to the boiling-point, and season with pepper and salt.

If the fresh vegetables are used, boil the tomatoes and gumbo together for about half an hour, first frying the gumbo in a little hot lard. Many, however, boil the gumbo without frying.

Mullagatawny Soup (an Indian soup).

Cut up a chicken; put it into a soup-kettle, with a little sliced onion, carrot, celery, parsley, and three or four cloves. Cover it with four quarts of water. Add any pieces of veal, with the bones, you may have; of course, a knuckle of veal would be the proper thing. When the pieces of chicken are nearly done, take them out, and trim them neatly, to serve with the soup. Let the veal continue to simmer for three hours.

Now fry an onion, a small carrot, and a stick of celery sliced, in a little butter. When they are a light brown, throw in a table-spoonful of flour; stir it on the fire one or two minutes; then add a good tea-spoonful of curry powder, and the chicken and veal broth. Place this on the fire to simmer the usual way for an hour. Half an hour before dinner, strain the soup, skim off all the fat, return it to the fire with the pieces of chicken, and two or three table-spoonfuls of boiled rice. This will give time enough to cook the chickens thoroughly.

Oyster Soup.

To one quart, or twenty-five oysters, add a half pint of water. Put the oysters on the fire in the liquor. The moment it begins to simmer (not boil, for that would shrivel the oysters), pour it through a colander into a hot dish, leaving the oysters in the colander. Now put into the saucepan two ounces of butter (size of an egg); when it bubbles, sprinkle in a table-spoonful (one ounce) of sifted flour; let the roux cook a few moments, stirring it well with the egg-whisk; then add to it gradually the oyster-juice, and half a pint of good cream (which has been brought to a boil in another vessel); season carefully with Cayenne pepper and salt; skim well, then add the oysters. Do not let it boil, but serve immediately. An oyster soup is made with thickening; an oyster stew is made without it (see receipt).

Oyster crackers and pickles are often served with an oyster soup.

Clam Soup.

To extract the clams from the shells, wash them in cold water, and put them all into a large pot over the fire, containing half a cupful of boiling water; cover closely, and the steam will cause the clams to open; pour all into a colander over a pan, and extract the meat from the shells.

Put a quart of the clams with their liquor on the fire, with a pint of water; boil them about three minutes, during which time skim them well, then strain them. Beard them, and return the liquor to the fire, with the hard portions of the clams (keeping the soft portions aside in a warm place), half an onion (one ounce), a sprig of thyme, three or four sprigs of parsley, and one large blade of mace; cover it, and let it simmer for half an hour.

In the mean time make a roux, i. e., put three ounces of butter (size of an egg) into a stew-pan, and when it bubbles sprinkle in two ounces of flour (one heaping table-spoonful); stir it on the fire until cooked, and then stir in gradually a pint of hot cream; add this to the clam liquor (strained), with a seasoning of salt and a little Cayenne pepper; also the soft clams, without chopping them. When well mixed, and thoroughly hot (without boiling), serve immediately.

Bean Soup.

Soak a quart of navy beans overnight. Then put them on the fire, with three quarts of water; three onions, fried or sautÉd in a little butter; one little carrot; two potatoes, partly boiled in other water; a small cut of pork; a little red pepper, and salt. Let it all boil slowly for five or six hours. Pass it then through a colander or sieve. Return the pulp to the fire; season properly with salt and Cayenne pepper. Put into the tureen croÛtons, or bread, cut in half-inch squares, and fried brown on all sides in a little butter or in boiling fat. Professor Blot adds broth, bacon, onions, celery, one or two cloves, and carrot to his bean soup. A French cook I once had added a little mustard to her bean soup, which made a pleasant change. Another cook adds cream at the last moment. Or,

A very good bean soup can be made from the remains of baked beans; the brown baked beans giving it a good color. Merely add water and a bit of onion; boil it to a pulp, and pass it through the colander.

If a little stock, or some bones or pieces of fresh meat are at hand, they add also to the flavor of bean soup.

Bean and Tomato Soup.

A pint of canned tomatoes, boiled, and passed through the sieve, with a quart of bean soup, makes a very pleasant change.

Onion Soup (Soupe À l’Ognon).

A soup without meat, and delicious.

I was taught how to make this soup by a Frenchwoman; and it will be found a valuable addition to one’s culinary knowledge. It is a good Friday soup.

Put into a saucepan butter size of a pigeon’s egg. Clarified grease, or the cakes of fat saved from the top of stock, or soup (I always use the latter), answer about as well. When very hot, add two or three large onions, sliced thin; stir, and cook them well until they are red; then add a full half-tea-cupful of flour. Stir this also until it is red, watching it constantly, that it does not burn. Now pour in about a pint of boiling water, and add pepper and salt. Mix it well, and let it boil a minute; then pour it into the soup-kettle, and place it at the back of the range until almost ready to serve. Add then one and a half pints or a quart of boiling milk, and two or three well-mashed boiled potatoes. Add to the potatoes a little of the soup at first, then more, until they are smooth, and thin enough to put into the soup-kettle. Stir all well and smoothly together; taste, to see if the soup is properly seasoned with pepper and salt, as it requires plenty, especially of the latter. Let it simmer a few moments. Put pieces of toasted bread (a good way of using dry bread), cut in diamond shape, in the bottom of the tureen. Pour over the soup, and serve very hot. Or,

This soup might be made without potatoes, if more convenient, using more flour, and all milk instead of a little water. However, it is better with the potato addition; or it is much improved by adding stock instead of water; or, if one should chance to have a boiled chicken, the water in which it was boiled might be saved to make this soup.

Vegetable Soup without Meat (PurÉe aux LÉgumes).

Cut up a large plateful of any and all kinds of vegetables one happens to have; for example, onions, carrots, potatoes (boiled in other water), beans (of any kind), parsnips, celery, pease, parsley, leeks, turnips, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, etc., always having either potatoes or beans for a thickening. First put into a saucepan half a tea-cupful of butter (clarified suet or stock-pot fat is just as good). When it is very hot, put in first the cut-up onions. Stir them well, to prevent from burning. When they assume a fine red color, stir in a large table-spoonful of flour until it has the same color. Now stir in a pint of hot water, and some pepper and salt. Mind not to add pepper and salt at first, as the onions and flour would then more readily burn. Add, also, all the other vegetables. Let them simmer (adding more hot water when necessary) for two hours; then press them through a colander. Return them to the range in a soup-kettle, and let them simmer until the moment of serving.

Corn Soup.

This is a very good soup, made with either fresh or canned corn. When it is fresh, cut the corn from the cob, and scrape off well all that sweetest part of the corn which remains on the cob. To a pint of corn add a quart of hot water. Boil it for an hour or longer; then press it through the colander. Put into the saucepan butter the size of a small egg, and when it bubbles sprinkle in a heaping table-spoonful of sifted flour, which cook a minute, stirring it well. Now add half of the corn pulp, and, when smoothly mixed, stir in the remainder of the corn: add Cayenne pepper, salt, a scant pint of boiling milk, and a cupful of cream.

This soup is very nice with no more addition, as it will have the pure taste of the corn; yet many add the yolks of two eggs just before serving, mixed with a little milk or cream, and not allowed to boil. Others add a table-spoonful of tomato catsup.

Tomato Soup, with Rice.

Cut half a small onion into rather coarse slices, and fry them in a little hot butter in a sautÉ pan. Add to them then a quart can, or ten or eleven large tomatoes cut in pieces, after having skinned them, and also two sprigs of parsley. Let it cook about ten minutes, when remove the pieces of onion and parsley. Pass the tomato through a sieve. Put into the stew-pan butter the size of a pigeon’s egg, and when it bubbles sprinkle in a tea-spoonful of flour; when it has cooked a minute, stir in the tomato pulp: season with pepper and salt. It is an improvement to add a cupful or more of stock; however, if it is not at hand, it may be omitted.

Return the soup to the fire, and, when quite hot, add a cupful of fresh-boiled rice and half a tea-spoonful of soda.

Tomato Soup (PurÉe aux Tomates).—Mrs. Corbett.

Boil a dozen or a can of tomatoes until they are very thoroughly cooked, and press them through a sieve. To a quart of tomato pulp add a tea-spoonful of soda. Put into a saucepan butter the size of a pigeon’s egg, and when it bubbles sprinkle and stir in a heaping tea-spoonful of flour. When it is cooked, stir into this a pint of hot milk, a little Cayenne pepper, salt, and a handful of cracker crumbs. When it boils, add the tomato pulp. Heat it well without boiling, and serve immediately.

The soda mixed with the tomatoes prevents the milk from curdling.

Sorrel Soup (Soupe À la Bonne Femme).

This is a most wholesome soup, which would be popular in America if it were better known. It is much used in France. Sorrel can be obtained, in season, at all the French markets in America.

For four quarts of soup, put into a saucepan a piece of butter the size of an egg, two or three sprigs of parsley, two or three leaves of lettuce, one onion, and a pint of sorrel (all finely chopped), a little nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Cover, and let them cook or sweat ten minutes; then add about two table-spoonfuls of flour. Mix well, and gradually add three quarts of boiling water (stock would be better). Make a liaison, i. e., beat the yolks of four eggs (one egg to a quart of soup), and mix with them a cupful of cream or rich milk.

Add a little chevril (if you have it) to the soup; let it boil ten minutes; then stir in the eggs, or liaison, when the soup is quite ready.

Potato Soup (No. 1).

Fry seven or eight potatoes and a small sliced onion in a sautÉ pan in some butter or drippings—stock-pot fat is most excellent for this purpose. When they are a little colored, put them into two or three pints of hot water (stock would, of course, be better; yet hot water is oftenest used); add also a large heaping table-spoonful of chopped parsley. Let it boil until the potatoes are quite soft. Put all through the colander. Return the purÉe to the fire, and let it simmer two or three minutes. When just ready to serve, take the kettle off the fire; add plenty of salt and pepper, and the beaten yolks of two or three eggs. Do not let the soup boil when the eggs are in, as they would curdle.

Potato Soup (No. 2).

A very good soup for one which seems to have nothing in it.

Peel and cut up four rather large potatoes. When they are nearly done, pour off the water, and add one quart of hot water. Boil two hours, or until the potatoes are thoroughly dissolved in the water. Add fresh boiling water as it boils away. When done, run it through the colander, adding three-fourths of a cupful of hot cream, a large table-spoonful of finely cut parsley, salt, and pepper. Bring it to the boiling-point, and serve.

PurÉe of String-beans.

Make a strong stock as follows: Add to a knuckle of veal three quarts of water, a generous slice of salt pork, and two or three slices of onion. Let it simmer for five hours, then pour it through a sieve or colander into a jar. It is better to make this stock the day before it is served, as then every particle of fat may be easily scraped off the jelly.

Ten minutes before dinner, put into a saucepan two ounces of butter, and when it bubbles sprinkle in four ounces of flour (two heaping table-spoonfuls); let it cook without taking color; then add a cupful of hot cream, a pint of the heated stock, and about a pint of green string-bean pulp, i. e., either fresh or canned string-beans boiled tender with a little pork, then pressed through a colander, and freed from juice. After mixing all together, do not let the soup boil, or it will curdle and spoil. Stir it constantly while it is on the fire.

Just before it is sent to table, sprinkle over the top a handful of little fried fritter-beans. They are made by dropping drops of fritter batter into boiling lard. They will resemble navy-beans, and give a very pleasant flavor and appearance to the soup.

If this pretty addition be considered too much trouble, little dice of fried bread (croÛtons) may be added instead. The soup should be rather thick, and served quite hot.

Bisque of Lobsters.

This soup is made exactly like the purÉe of string-beans, with the veal stock and thickened cream, except that, in place of the string-bean pulp, the soup is now flavored and colored with the coral of lobster, dried in the oven, and pounded fine. This gives it a beautiful pink color. Little dice of the boiled lobster are then to be added. The lobster-dice may or may not be marinated before they are added to the soup, i. e., sprinkled with a mixture of one table-spoonful of oil, three table-spoonfuls of vinegar, pepper, and salt, and left for two or three hours in the marinade. Season the soup with pepper and salt.

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