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, and some bits of cold ham, cut off near the hock. If you have no ham, sprinkle in a table-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.
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 teacup-full 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 table-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 nasturtian 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.
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 tomatoes 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 six ears of young Indian corn, and having grated off all the grain, 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 tomatoes 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 fore-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; a dozen carrots sliced; the leaves stripped from a bunch of sweet-marjoram; and the leaves of a sprig of parsley minced fine. 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.
RABBIT SOUP.—Begin this soup six hours before dinner. Cut up three large, but young and tender rabbits, or four small ones, (scoring the backs,) and dredge them with flour. Slice six mild onions, and season them with half a grated nutmeg; or more, if you like it. Put some fresh butter into a hot frying pan, (you may substitute for the butter some cold roast-veal gravy that has been carefully cleared from the fat,) place it over the fire, and when it boils, put in the rabbits and onions, and fry them a light brown. Then transfer the whole to a soup-pot; season it with a very small tea-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful of whole pepper, a large tea-spoonful of sweet-marjoram leaves stripped from the stalks, and four or five blades of mace, adding three large carrots in slices. Pour on, slowly, four quarts of hot water from a kettle already boiling hard. Cover the soup-pot, and let it simmer slowly (skimming it well) till the meat of the rabbits is reduced to shreds, and drops from the bones, which will not be in less than five hours, if boiled as gently as it ought. When quite done, strain the soup into a tureen. Have ready the grated yolks of six hard boiled eggs, and stir them into the soup immediately after it is strained, and while it is very hot. Add, also, some bread cut into dice or small squares, and fried brown in fresh butter. Or substitute for the fried bread, buttered toast, with all the crust removed, and cut into very small bits or mouthfuls.
Hare soup may be made in this manner. It is also an excellent way of disposing of old fowls. A similar soup may be made of fresh-killed venison.
For hare or venison soup, add, (after straining it,) about half an hour before you take it up, two glasses of sherry or Madeira, and a lemon sliced thin.
CHICKEN SOUP.—Cut up two large fine fowls, as if carving them for the table, and wash the pieces in cold water. Take half a dozen thin slices of cold ham, and lay them in a soup-pot, mixed among the pieces of chicken. Season them with a very little cayenne, a little nutmeg, and a few blades of mace, but no salt, as the ham will make it salt enough. Add a head of celery, split and cut into long bits, a quarter of a pound of butter, divided in two, and rolled in flour. Pour on three quarts of milk. Set the soup-pot over the fire, and let it boil rather slowly, skimming it well. When it has boiled an hour, put in some small round dumplings, made of half a pound of flour mixed with a quarter of a pound of butter; divide this dough into equal portions, and roll them in your hands into little balls about the size of a large hickory nut. The soup must boil till the flesh of the fowls is loose on the bones, but not till it drops off. Stir in, at the last, the beaten yolks of three or four eggs; and let the soup remain about five minutes longer over the fire. Then take it up. Cut off from the bones the flesh of the fowls, and divide it into mouthfuls. Cut up the slices of ham in the same manner. Mince the livers and gizzards. Put the bits of fowl and ham in the bottom of a large tureen, and pour the soup upon it.
This soup will be found excellent, and may be made of large old fowls, that cannot be cooked in any other way. If they are so old that when the soup is finished they still continue tough, remove them entirely, and do not serve them up in it.
Similar soup may be made of a large old turkey. Also of four rabbits.
DUCK SOUP.—Half roast a pair of fine large tame ducks; keeping them half an hour at the fire, and saving the gravy, the fat of which must be carefully skimmed off. Then cut them up; season them with black pepper; and put them into a soup-pot with four or five small onions sliced thin, a small bunch of sage, a thin slice of cold ham cut into pieces, a grated nutmeg, and the yellow rind of a lemon pared thin, and cut into bits. Add the gravy of the ducks. Pour on, slowly, three quarts of boiling water from a kettle. Cover the soup-pot, and set it over a moderate fire. Simmer it slowly (skimming it well) for about four hours, or till the flesh of the ducks is dissolved into small shreds. When done, strain it through a sieve into a tureen over a quart of young green peas, that have been boiled by themselves. If peas are not in season, substitute half a dozen hard boiled eggs cut into round slices, white and yolk together.
If wild ducks are used for soup, three or four will be required for the above quantity. Before you put them on the spit to roast, place a large carrot in the body of each duck, to remove the sedgy or fishy taste. This taste will be all absorbed by the carrot, which, of course, must be thrown away.
PIGEON SOUP may be made as above. It will require one dozen tame pigeons, or two dozen wild ones.
Wild pigeons may be made very fat by catching them alive in nets, at the season when they abound; clipping their wings to prevent their flying away; putting them into a field where there is a stream of water convenient for them to drink, or into a large yard; and feeding them twice a day with corn. When fattened in this manner, they will be found profitable articles for sale; the objection to wild pigeons being that they are usually so poor and lean.
FINE CLAM SOUP.—Take half a hundred or more small sand clams, and put them into a pot of hard-boiling water. Boil them about a quarter of an hour, or till all the shells have opened wide. Then take them out, and having removed them from the shells, chop them small and put them with their liquor into a pitcher. Strain a pint of the liquor into a bowl, and reserve it for the soup. Put the clams into a soup-pot, with a gallon of water, and a half pint of the liquor; a dozen whole pepper-corns, half a dozen blades of mace; but no salt, as the clam-liquor will be salt enough; add a pint of grated bread-crumbs, and the crusts of the bread cut very small; also a tea-spoonful of sweet-marjoram leaves. Let the soup boil two hours. Then add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into half a dozen pieces, and each piece rolled slightly in flour. Boil it half an hour longer, and then about five minutes before you take up the soup, stir in the beaten yolks of three eggs.
As the flavour will be all boiled out of the chopped clams, it will be best to leave them in the bottom of the soup-pot, and not serve them up in the tureen. Press them down with a broad wooden ladle, so as to get as much liquor out of them as possible, while you are taking up the soup.
This soup will be better still, if made with milk instead of water; milk being an improvement to all fish-soups.
EXCELLENT CLAM SOUP.—Take forty or fifty clams, and wash and scrub the outsides of the shells till they are perfectly clean. Then put them into a pot with just sufficient water to keep them from burning. The water must boil hard when you put in the clams. In about a quarter of an hour the shells will open, and the liquor run out and mix with the water, which must be saved for the soup, and strained into a soup-pot, after the clams are taken out. Extract the clams from their shells, and cut them up small. Then put them into the soup-pot, adding a minced onion, a saucer of finely chopped celery, or a table-spoonful of celery seed, and a dozen blades of mace, with a dozen whole pepper-corns. No salt, as the clam-liquor will be quite salt enough. If the liquid is not in sufficient quantity to fill a large tureen, add some milk. Thicken the soup with two large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter rolled in flour. Let it boil a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Just before you take it from the fire, stir in, gradually, the beaten yolks of five eggs; and then take up the soup, and pour it into a tureen, the bottom of which is covered with toasted bread, cut into square dice about an inch in size.
FRENCH WHITE SOUP.—Boil a knuckle of veal and four calves’ feet in five quarts of water, with three onions sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, four heads of white celery cut small, a table-spoonful of whole pepper, and a small tea-spoonful of salt, adding five or six large blades of mace. Let it boil very slowly, till the meat is in rags and has dropped from the bone, and till the gristle has quite dissolved. Skim it well while boiling. When done, strain it through a sieve into a tureen, or a deep white-ware pan. Next day, take off all the fat, and put the jelly (for such it ought to be) into a clean soup-pot with two ounces of vermicelli, and set it over the fire. When the vermicelli is dissolved, stir in, gradually, a pint of thick cream, while the soup is quite hot; but do not let it come to a boil after the cream is in, lest it should curdle. Cut up one or two French rolls in the bottom of a tureen, pour in the soup, and send it to table.
COCOA-NUT SOUP.—Take eight calves’ feet (two sets) that have been 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 pared thin. 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 enamelled 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 half a grated nutmeg. 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 flavour. 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.
SOUP-MEAT.—To make the soup very good, the meat (of which there should be a large proportion, rather more than a pound to a quart of water) must remain in, till it drops entirely from the bones and is boiled to rags. But none of these fragments and shreds should be found in the tureen when the soup is sent to table. They should all be kept at the bottom of the pot, pressing down the ladle hard upon them when you are dipping out the soup. If any are seen in the soup after it is taken up, let them be carefully removed with a spoon. To send the soup to table with bits of bone and shreds of meat in it, is a slovenly, disgusting, and vulgar practice, and should be strictly forbidden; as some indifferent cooks will do so to save themselves the trouble of removing it. A mass of shreds left at the bottom of the tureen, absorbs so much of the liquid as to diminish the quantity of the soup; and if eaten is very unwholesome, all the nourishment being boiled out of it.
Mutton, however, need not be boiled to pieces in the soup, which will have sufficient strength if the meat is left whole. A piece of loin of mutton, that has been cooked in soup, is to many persons very palatable. It is well worth sending to table.
SAUCE FOR MUTTON THAT HAS BEEN BOILED IN SOUP.—Mutton that has been boiled in soup is very generally liked, particularly the loin. Take two large boiled onions; cut them up, and put them into a saucepan with a piece of fresh butter, slightly rolled in flour; a table-spoonful of mustard, (French or tarragon mustard will be best); a very little salt and cayenne; and some pickled cucumbers, chopped small; green nasturtian seeds will be still better than cucumbers. Put all these ingredients into a small saucepan, and add to them a little of the soup. Set the sauce over the fire, and when it has come to a boil, take it off, and keep it warm till the meat goes to table; then send it in a sauce-boat.
SUBSTITUTES FOR CAPER-SAUCE.—Take some pickled string-beans, or pickled cucumbers, or gherkins; cut them into small bits, and put them thickly into a sauce-tureen of melted butter, adding a spoonful of vinegar; or, what is still better, the juice of a lemon Serve it up as sauce to boiled mutton.
A still better substitute will be found in nasturtian seeds plucked from the stems, and pickled by simply putting them (when green, but full-grown) into a jar of cider-vinegar. Add a few table-spoonfuls of these to the melted butter before it goes to table. Their flavour is superior to that of capers.
