SOUPS

Soups used for luncheon are served in cups. Any kind of soup can be used, but those given below are the ones generally employed. For other soups, see “Century Cook Book,” page 97.

CONSOMMÉ OF BEEF

Cut into pieces four pounds of beef taken from the under part of the round, and the meat cut from a knuckle of veal. Put them into a soup pot with two tablespoonfuls of butter and let them brown on all sides. Then add a cupful of water and let it fall to a glaze. This is to give color to the soup. Add five and a half quarts of cold water. Let it boil slowly for five to six hours. An hour before removing it add soup vegetables, a tablespoonful of salt, fifteen peppercorns, three cloves, two bay-leaves, a little thyme, marjoram, and summer savory.

Strain the soup through a cloth and let it cool without covering. When it is cold take off the grease. As no bones were boiled with the soup, it will be clear; and as the meat was browned, it will have a good color.

It can be made perfectly clear as follows: Pour the soup off the sediment which has fallen to the bottom of the dish. Stir into it while it is cold the whites of two eggs beaten enough to break them. Place it on the fire and stir it until it comes to the boiling-point; the egg will then be cooked and have imprisoned any particles which clouded the soup. Let it boil violently for a few minutes, then draw it to the side of the range. Strain it again through a cloth. Heat it again before serving it.

In summer this soup is sometimes served cold in the form of jelly. In this case the bone of the knuckle of veal must be cooked with it in order to make it jelly. Care must be taken that during the cooking the water only simmers, for if it boils lime will be extracted from the bone and it will be impossible to have a clear soup.

CONSOMMÉ OF CHICKEN

Place a fowl in a soup pot with four quarts of cold water and let it come slowly to the boiling-point, then draw it to the side of the range and let it simmer for five or six hours. If it is allowed to boil the soup will be clouded by lime extracted from the bones.

An hour before removing it add an onion, a branch of celery, a tablespoon of salt, and six peppercorns. Strain it through a cloth, and when cold remove the grease. Clear it the same as the beef consommÉ.

A knuckle of veal may also be used with this soup if a jellied stock is wanted to serve cold.

CLAM BROTH

Boil clams in their own liquor for twenty minutes. Let the liquid settle before pouring it off. Season it with pepper and serve it very hot in cups, with a teaspoonful of whipped cream on the top of each cupful. About two dozen clams will give a quart of liquor.

CLAM BISQUE

Boil a pint of clams in their own liquor. Chop the clams very fine and return them to the fire with the clam liquor, a quart of soup stock (chicken or veal stock preferred), half a cupful of uncooked rice, a sprig of parsley, and a bay-leaf. Boil until the rice is tender, then strain the soup through a purÉe sieve, pressing through as much of the clams and rice as possible. Strain a second time. Just before serving, heat it, add a cupful of cream, and beat the whole with an egg-whip.

CREAM OF CLAMS

Steam twenty-five clams and as soon as they open remove them from the shells and strain off the liquor. Chop the clams, pound them in a mortar, and rub as much of them as possible through a purÉe sieve. Put three cupfuls of milk into a double boiler, cook two tablespoonfuls of butter and two tablespoonfuls of flour together, but do not let them brown, then add to the cooked butter and flour a little of the milk from the boiler to make a smooth paste, put the paste into the milk in the double boiler, and stir the mixture until it is a little thickened. When ready to serve add two cupfuls of clam liquor and the pulp which has passed through the sieve. Let it get hot, but do not let it boil or it will curdle. Season with salt, if necessary, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. At the moment of serving add a cupful of cream and beat the whole well with an egg-whip. This receipt makes a quart and a half of soup.

CREAM OF OYSTERS

Prepare the same as the Cream of Clams.

CREAM SOUPS

Any vegetable pulp can be used for creamed soups after the rule given for Cream of Spinach.

Boil spinach until tender, then drain it. Chop it and rub it through a purÉe sieve. To two cupfuls of vegetable pulp add a quart of soup stock, or a quart of milk, or half stock and half milk. Rub together a tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoonfuls of flour. Put this into the soup on the fire and stir all together until the soup is a little thickened. Season it with pepper and salt and add a half or a whole cupful of cream. Beat it well with an egg-whip and serve at once. If the soup is too thick dilute it with a little stock or milk. It should have the consistency of cream.

CREAM OF CELERY

This is prepared in the same manner as the Cream of Spinach, using celery pulp instead of spinach. The roots of the celery as well as the stalks should be boiled to make the pulp.