Collection of old British soup & broth recipes

Here you will find a huge collection of old British soup recipes many long-forgotten but so much fun to recreate and bring food history alive in our own kitchens!

You can use ordinary stock cubes, stock or bouillon powder, or bouillon paste for the following historical soup recipes. However, you can of course also try preparing one of the old stock recipes. Also, I have found that for many of the old vegetable based soup recipes all you may need is salt & pepper for seasoning as the vegetables, herbs, & spices provide all the flavour required, as the stock is formed while the soup cooks.

For a handy weights and measurement guide have a look at our Useful Advice For Baking and Cooking Old Recipes page.

Vintage Soup Recipes from A HANDBOOK OF COOKERY FOR A SMALL HOUSE BY JESSIE CONRAD [1923]
The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]
Victorian Soup Recipes from Fast Day Cookery or Meals Without Meat by Grace Johnston [1893]
Victorian Soup Recipes from New Vegetarian Dishes by Mrs Bowdich [1892] WITH PREFACE BY ERNEST BELL, M.A. TREASURER OF THE LONDON VEGETARIAN SOCIETY
MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]
Victorian Recipes from HIGH-CLASS COOKERY MADE EASY. [Economical Cookery] By Mrs. Hart. [1880]
Victorian Soup Making Advice & Stock recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]
- - FRUIT AND VEGETABLE SOUPS.
STOCKS FOR ALL KINDS OF SOUPS.
Victorian Soup Recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]
Victorian Soup Recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]
The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]
The Cook and Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families [1823] BY MRS. MARY EATON
The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined By John Mollard, Cook, [1802]
Georgian Soup Recipes from English Housewifry by Elizabeth Moxon [1764]
Stuart Era Soup Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery, by Robert May [1685]

Vintage Soup Recipes from A HANDBOOK OF COOKERY FOR A SMALL HOUSE BY JESSIE CONRAD [1923]

SOUPS, STOCKS – General Remarks

If the vegetables are used for flavouring only, they may remain in the soup all the time it is cooking. If, on the other hand, they are intended to be dished in the soup they should be put in only in time to be cooked thoroughly.

Every kitchen should contain in a cupboard always a bottle of cooking sherry, a bottle of mushroom catsup, one of Worcester sauce, one of tomato (bottled) sauce, some fresh lemons, vinegar, the best salad oil, a packet of sweet herbs, bovril, nutmeg, cloves, and spice.

The object in adding sugar is to clear the soup or stock and will be found as effective as eggshells.

In preserving stocks for soups, gravies, etc., care should be taken never to allow the receptacle containing it to be covered—after it is strained—except with a perforated meat cover.

Stock cannot be kept for more than two days without being reboiled. Never neglect to dash cold water into it while still boiling or the object of settling the solid particles and raising the fat will not be attained.

Beef Tea

Take one pound of leg of beef not fat. One pound makes about a pint of good beef tea. Cut the meat several times across, taking care not to cut it through. Sprinkle with a half teaspoonful of salt, put into a stone jar or saucepan with one piece of loaf sugar, add one and a half pints of cold water and place in a steady oven to cook for two hours.

Always put it into the oven as soon as it is prepared as the salt otherwise would draw the juice out of the meat. Directly it is cooked, dash about one tablespoonful of cold water into it. Place in a cold place for the fat to rise, remove with a sheet of white paper the fat which will have risen to the top and make hot as required.

Mutton Broth

This can apply to either the short ends of cutlet bones, the shank end of a leg of mutton, or the scrag end of the neck. Remove the fat and place, with an onion (not cut), into a saucepan a turnip cut into small pieces, a pinch of salt, one piece of loaf sugar, and if no fresh parsley is obtainable a pinch of mixed sweet herbs that have been rinsed in cold water.

(If herbs are used they must be added as soon as the broth boils; if fresh parsley it should never be added till it is within ten minutes of being ready to serve.)

More salt may be added to taste. Bring to a boil quickly and then put a quarter teacupful of washed pearl barley into it and boil gently for three and a half hours. Strain and serve.

It will be noticed that some of the soup will boil away and a little hot water will have to be added. This broth can be made with the remains of cold potatoes added instead of the barley, in which case it requires to be stirred through a cullender so as to avoid any pieces of potato remaining whole.

Chicken Broth

Take the remains of any cold chicken, giblets, feet, and put into an earthenware saucepan with one piece of loaf sugar, a pinch of salt, one small onion (whole), cover with cold water. Keep boiling gently for three hours adding from time to time a little water to keep the saucepan about half full. Strain through a cullender and put in the larder to get cool, after adding a little cold water to make the fat rise to the top.

Lentil or Split-Pea Soup

If for pea soup, take the bone of a ham, or the small bones of a piece of pickled pork and add about a quart of cold water and one onion. Have ready two large teacupfuls of split peas (that have soaked for two hours). Boil steadily for three or four hours, stirring from time to time to prevent burning. Strain through a cullender and serve with fried bread, very hot. Proceed in the same way for lentil soup, only in that case the bones of either beef or veal may be used instead of pork.

White Bean Soup

Have ready one pint of white beans boiled soft in water with a piece of common soda the size of a pea. Put them into a saucepan with remains of cold meat—beef, mutton, or veal—one uncut onion, one turnip, pepper and salt to taste, and if not objected to, a few cold potatoes. Boil gently about three hours, then pass the whole through a fine cullender to strain the skins from the beans. Replace in a saucepan and bring to a boil; then serve very hot.

Have ready some slices of stale bread about half an inch thick cut into dice. Have a little beef (or veal) dripping, bring to a boil in an enamel frying pan and drop the bread in while it boils, fry till a light brown and quite crisp. Serve in a hot dish with a strainer under. This bread is good for either pea, lentil, haricot, or potato soup.

Chicken Soup

Take the remains of any cold roast or boiled fowls, salt and pepper to taste; a whole onion, half a rasher of very lean bacon, one piece of loaf sugar, one quart of water. Put all together into a saucepan and bring to a boil, keeping the meat or bones covered. Boil two hours.

Take one and a half flat tablespoonfuls of flour, one ounce of fresh butter, and put the butter and flour into a smooth china or earthenware bowl (enamel bowl will do), work the two together with a tablespoon till a perfectly smooth paste is made, then pour the soup through a cullender on to the paste, stirring all the time; add a little milk and if possible a little fresh cream.

Replace the soup in the saucepan, put it back on the stove and stir one way till it boils, when it is ready to serve.

Game Soup

Take a rabbit and wash it in a little water with a pinch of salt, then cut it up. Put it into a stone saucepan with one quart to three pints cold water, salt and pepper to taste, one piece of loaf sugar, one onion whole (or three or four spring onions), one carrot, about half a pound of gravy beef, and the remains of any cold game.

Boil gently for three hours, strain, and place in the saucepan again, bring to a boil, thicken with flour and butter mixed as for chicken soup, bring to a boil while stirring. Strain and serve. If not dark enough add teaspoonful of bovril.

Asparagus Soup

Take the remains of cold veal, the bottom ends of asparagus, one onion, salt and pepper, one piece of loaf sugar, and two pints of cold water. Let it boil gently for three hours. Have ready, well mixed into a smooth paste, two tablespoonfuls of flour with one and a half ounces of fresh butter.

Strain the soup, while still boiling, through a strainer on to the paste, stir gently till perfectly smooth, add half a teacupful of cream and a little milk. Care should be taken that the soup is not too thick or thin.

Replace in the saucepan and stir gently over a clear fire till it boils. It is then ready to serve and should be perfectly smooth.

Tomato Soup

Take the remains of cold chicken, beef, or veal; add two pounds of fresh tomatoes cut into slices, one onion, pepper and salt, five pieces of sugar.

Put all into a stone saucepan and boil gently two hours (in about a quart of water); have ready the same mixture of butter and flour as for asparagus soup, strain the tomato soup on to it, add the half teacupful of cream and a little milk, put back into the saucepan and stir till it boils.

This should be about a quart of soup.

It will be noticed that most of these recipes are made with the remains of cold meat instead of buying especially to make the soup, and in this way most things can be used up without any waste.

Clear Ox Tail Soup

Soak a fresh ox tail in cold water for two hours. Then cut at each joint, remove all the fat, and lay in three pints of cold water in a saucepan with a pinch of salt, two pieces of loaf sugar, and a teaspoonful of mushroom catsup.

Boil for three hours, then add one sliced carrot and a finely cut onion; boil for another half hour. The soup is then ready to be served with the meat in it.

Thick Ox Tail Soup

Proceed in the same manner as for the clear soup, adding a good teacupful of strong beef stock. Put in whole an onion and a carrot with a teaspoonful of Worcester sauce. Boil for three hours, then dash in a cupful of cold water and remove from the fire to stand in a cool place.

Carefully remove all the fat and the vegetables. Bring the soup to a boil again and add a carrot cut into oblong pieces, boil for another half hour, thicken with a little carefully mixed flour and water, and serve with the meat in it.

Julienne Soup

Take one pound of lean gravy beef not cut up, put it into a saucepan with one piece of loaf sugar, an onion (whole), a little pepper and salt, and three pints of water. Boil for two hours. Dash a teacupful of cold water in to cause the fat to rise. Allow it to cool, skim the fat, and strain the soup into another saucepan.

Put in one carrot, cut into slices and then into tiny strips, half a turnip, in strips, and a few green peas. These last may be from a bottle if it is impossible to obtain the fresh. Boil for half an hour and serve the soup with the vegetables in it.

This soup will turn out perfectly clear if the directions are carefully followed.

To Use Roast Beef Bone for Soup

Remove all the fat; put the bone in a saucepan with about a quart of water, a piece of loaf sugar (to clear it), salt, pepper, one carrot cut into narrow strips, one onion sliced, and a little cut cabbage.

Boil steadily for an hour and a half. Remove the bone and then serve the soup with the vegetables in it.

The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]

SOUPS.

Soups are of three kinds—clear soups, thick soups, and purées. A clear soup is made by boiling fruit or vegetables (celery, for example) until all the nourishment is extracted, and then straining off the clear liquid. A little sago or macaroni is generally added and cooked in this. When carrots and turnips are used, a few small pieces are cut into dice or fancy shapes, cooked separately, and added to the strained soup. Thick soups always include some farinaceous ingredients for thickening (flour, pea-flour, potato, etc.). Purées are thick soups composed of any vegetable or vegetables boiled and rubbed through a sieve. This is done, a little at a time, with a wooden spoon. A little of the hot liquor is added to the vegetable from time to time to assist it through.

BARLEY BROTH.

1 carrot, 1 turnip, 4 leeks or 3 small onions, 4 sprigs parsley, 4 sticks celery, 1 tea-cup pearl barley, 3 qts. water. (The celery may be omitted if desired, or, when in season, 1 tea-cup green peas may be substituted.)

Scrub clean (but do not peel) the carrot and turnip. Wash celery, parsley, and barley. Shred all the vegetables finely; put in saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil and slowly simmer for 5 hours. Add the chopped parsley and serve.

CREAM OF BARLEY SOUP.

Make barley broth as in No. 1. [see recipe above]Then strain it through a wire strainer. Squeeze it well, so as to get the soup as thick as possible, but do not rub the barley through. Skin 1/2 lb. tomatoes, break in halves, and cook to a pulp very gently in a closed saucepan (don’t add water). Add to the barley soup, boil up once, and serve.

In cases of illness, especially where the patient is suffering from intestinal trouble, after preparing as above, strain through a fine muslin. It should also be prepared with distilled, or clean boiled rain-water.

CLEAR CELERY SOUP.

1 head celery, 2 tablespoons sago, 2 qts. water.

Wash the celery, chop into small pieces, and stew in the water for 2 hours. Strain. Wash the sago, add it to the clear liquid, and cook for 1 hour.

For those who prefer a thick soup, pea-flour may be added. Allow 1 level tablespoon to each pint of soup. Mix with a little cold water, and add to the boiling soup. One or two onions may also be cooked with the celery, if liked.

CHESTNUT SOUP.

1 lb. chestnuts, 1-1/2 oz. nutter or butter, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon wholemeal flour, 1-1/2 pints water.

First put on the chestnuts (without shelling or pricking) in cold water, and boil for an hour. Then remove shells and put the nuts in an enamelled saucepan with the fat. Fry for 10 minutes. Add the flour gradually, stirring all the time, then add the water. Cook gently for half an hour. Lastly, add the parsley, boil up, and serve.

It is rather nicer if the flour is omitted, the necessary thickness being obtained by rubbing the soup through a sieve before adding the parsley. Those who do not object to milk may use 1 pint milk and 1 pint water in place of the 1-1/2 pints water.

FRUIT SOUP.

Fruit soups are used extensively abroad, although not much heard of in England. But they might be taken at breakfast with advantage by those vegetarians who have given up the use of tea, coffee and cocoa, and object to, or dislike, milk. The recipe given here is for apple soup, but pears, plums, etc., may be cooked in exactly the same way.

1 lb. apples, 1 qt. water, sugar and flavouring, 1 tablespoon sago.

Wash the apples and cut into quarters, but do not peel or core. Put into a saucepan with the water and sugar and flavouring to taste. When sweet, ripe apples can be obtained, people with natural tastes will prefer no addition of any kind. Otherwise, a little cinnamon, cloves, or the yellow part of lemon rind may be added. Stew until the apples are soft. Strain through a sieve, rubbing the apple pulp through, but leaving cores, etc., behind. Wash the sago, add to the strained soup, and boil gently for 1 hour. Stir now and then, as the sago is apt to stick to the pan.

HARICOT BEAN SOUP.

2 heaped breakfast-cups beans, 2 qts. water, 3 tablespoons chopped parsley or 1/2 lb. tomatoes, nut or dairy butter size of walnut, 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

For this soup use the small white or brown haricots. Soak overnight in 1 qt. of the water. In the morning add the rest of the water, and boil until soft. It may then be rubbed through a sieve, but this is not imperative. Add the chopped parsley, the lemon juice, and the butter. Boil up and serve. If tomato pulp is preferred for flavouring instead of parsley, skin the tomatoes and cook slowly to pulp (without water) before adding.

LENTIL SOUP.

4 breakfast-cups lentils, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 2 onions, 4 qts. water, 4 sticks celery, 2 teaspoons herb powder, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 oz. butter.

Either the red, Egyptian lentils, or the green German lentils may be used for this soup. If the latter, soak overnight. Stew the lentils very gently in the water for 2 hours, taking off any scum that rises. Well wash the vegetables, slice them, and add to the soup. Stew for 2 hours more. Then rub through a sieve, or not, as preferred. Add the lemon juice, herb powder, and butter (nut or dairy), and serve.

PEA SOUP.

Use split peas, soak overnight, and prepare according to recipe given for lentil soup [see recipe above].

MACARONI SOUP.

1/2 lb. small macaroni, 2 qts. water or vegetable stock, 3/4 lb. onions or 1 lb. tomatoes.

Break the macaroni into small pieces and add to the stock when nearly boiling. Cook with the lid off the saucepan until the macaroni is swollen and very tender. (This will take about an hour.) If onions are used for flavouring, steam separately until tender, and add to soup just before serving. If tomatoes are used, skin and cook slowly to pulp (without water) before adding. If the vegetable stock is already strong and well-flavoured, no addition of any kind will be needed.

POTATO SOUP.

Peel thinly 2 lbs. potatoes. (A floury kind should be used for this soup.) Cut into small pieces, and put into a saucepan with enough water to cover them. Add three large onions (sliced), unless tomatoes are preferred for flavouring. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are cooked to a mash. Rub through a sieve or beat with a fork. Now add 3/4 pint water or 1 pint milk, and a little nutmeg if liked. Boil up and serve.

If the milk is omitted, the juice and pulp of two or three tomatoes may be added, and the onions may be left out also.

P.R. SOUP. [ Physical Regenerationists]

1 head celery, 4 large tomatoes, 4 qts. water, 4 large English onions, 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley.

This soup figures often in the diet sheet of the Physical Regenerationists for gouty and rheumatic patients, but in addition to being a valuable medicine on account of its salts, it is the most delicious clear soup that I know of. To make: chop the ingredients to dice, cover closely, and simmer until the quantity of liquid is reduced to one half.

P.R. BEEF TEA SUBSTITUTE.

1/4 pint pearl barley, 1/4 pint red lentils, 2 qts. cold bran water, flavouring.

To make the bran water, boil 1 measure of bran with 4 measures of water for not less than 30 minutes. Simmer together the barley, lentils, and bran water for 3 hours. To flavour, put 4 ozs. butter or 3 ozs. nutter into a pan with 1 lb. sliced onions. Shake over fire until brown, but do not let them burn or the flavour of the soup will be spoilt. Add these to the stock at the end of the first hour. Any other vegetable liked may be chopped to dice and added.

Tomato may be substituted for the onion if preferred and no fat used.
Strain through a hair sieve, and serve the clear liquid after boiling up.

SAGO SOUP.

6 ozs. sago, 2 qts. stock, juice of 1 lemon.

Wash the sago and soak it for 1 hour. Put it in a saucepan with the lemon juice and stock, and stew for 1 hour.

TOMATO SOUP.

1 qt. water or white stock, 1 lb. tomatoes.

Slice the tomatoes, and simmer very gently in the water until tender. Rub through a sieve. Boil up and serve.

VEGETABLE STOCK.

To 4 qts. water allow 1 pint lentils, or rather less than 1 pint haricots. In addition allow 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 onion, and 1/4 head of celery. Clean apple peelings and cores, and any fresh vegetable cuttings may also be added with advantage. For white stock, use the white haricot beans, rice, or macaroni in place of lentils or brown haricots. Soak the pulse overnight, and simmer with the vegetables for 4 hours. Any stock not used should be emptied out of the stock pot, and boiled up afresh each day.

CONVALESCENTS’ SOUP.

1 small head celery, 1 large onion, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley, P.R. Barley malt meal, Mapleton’s or P.R. almond or pine-kernel cream, 3 pints boiling water.

Well wash the vegetables and slice them, and add them with the parsley to the boiling water. (The water should be distilled, if possible, and the cooking done in a large earthenware jar or casserole. See notes re casseroles in Chap. IV.) Simmer gently for 2 hours, or until quite soft. Then strain through a hair sieve. Do not rub the vegetables through the sieve to make a purée, simply strain and press all the juices out. The vegetable juices are all wanted, but not the fibre. To each pint of this vegetable broth allow 1 heaped tablespoon barley malt meal, 1 tablespoon nut cream, and 1/2 lb. tomatoes.

Mix the meal to a thin paste with some of the cooled broth (from the pint). Put the rest of the pint in a saucepan or casserole and bring to the boil. Add the meal and boil for 10 minutes. Break up the tomatoes and cook slowly to a pulp (without water). Rub through a sieve. (The skin and pips are not to be forced through.) Add this pulp to the soup. Lastly mix the nut-cream to a thin cream by dripping slowly a little water or cool broth into it, stirring hard with a teaspoon all the time. Add this to the soup, re-heat, but do not boil, serve.

This soup is rather irksome to make, but is intensely nourishing and easy of digestion. The pine-kernel cream is the more digestible of the two creams. Care should be taken not to cook these nut creams. If the soup is for an invalid care should also be taken that, while getting all the valuable vegetable juices, no skin or pips, etc., are included.

The vegetable broth may be prepared a day in advance, but it will not keep for three days except in very cold weather. (When it is desired to keep soup it should be brought to the boil with the lid of the stockpot or casserole on, and put away without the lid being removed or the contents stirred.)

Victorian Soup Recipes from Fast Day Cookery or Meals Without Meat by Grace Johnston [1893]

1. Oyster Soup.

Open one dozen oysters, preserve the liquor.

Put into a pan two ounces of butter, with an onion and one bead of garlic chopped very fine; let these cook till they are a golden colour, then add one and a half pints of milk, and one and a half pints of water, and the liquor of the oysters, twelve cloves, twelve peppercorns, three bay-leaves, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in a bowl three ounces of fine florador to the consistence of cream, and when the soup comes to a boil, stir it in, and then let it boil for about ten minutes. Let it simmer after this very gently for half an hour, strain through a wire sieve, then add the oysters, a grate of nutmeg, the peel of a lemon grated; let it simmer for twenty minutes. Serve hot.

2. Lobster Soup.

Cut up an onion into thin rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry these a golden brown in two ounces of butter, with twenty-four cloves, twelve peppercorns, and three bay-leaves. Add one and a half pints of water, let it simmer gently for half an hour, then add two packets of Edwards’ Desiccated White Soup; let it simmer half an hour longer, and strain. Then add either one pint of milk, or sixpence worth of cream, the rind of a lemon grated, quarter of a nutmeg grated, salt and pepper to taste; put it on the fire to warm through. Well pound the flesh of a fresh lobster, or the very best brand of tinned lobster, and pass it through a wire sieve into the soup, stir well, and thoroughly heat it. Serve with fried bread cut into small dice shape.

3. Scallop Soup.

Cut up an onion into rings, two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter a golden colour. Add one and a half pints of water, the same of milk, twenty-four cloves, twelve peppercorns, a sprig of tarragon, three bay-leaves, a stick of celery, two-penny packet of Edwards’ White Soup; let them simmer for one hour.

Chop up about half a dozen scallops, strain the soup through a wire sieve, add the scallops, pepper and salt to taste, and a grate of lemon peel. Serve very hot with fried bread cut into little dice.

4. Cockle Soup.

Cut up an onion into thin rings, and chop two beads of garlic, fry in two ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves a delicate brown, then add two tablespoons of tarragon vinegar, two tablespoons mushroom ketchup, two teaspoons of Chili vinegar, and three pints of water; thicken with two ounces of flour that has been rubbed smooth in a bowl to the consistence of cream; then add a stick of celery, a pinch of thyme, parsley, basil and sage. Let these simmer for one hour; add pepper and salt to taste, and strain through a sieve. Lastly, add one pint of picked cockles, with their liquor. Serve hot.

5. Eel Soup.

Boil two pounds of eels, that have been skinned and cleaned, in two quarts of water. Add a bunch of sweet herbs, two-penny packet of Edwards’ White Soup, one onion stuck with cloves, two beads of garlic, two ounces of butter, pepper and salt to taste, one small tea-cup of tomato conserve. Let it simmer gently for one hour, strain through a sieve, take the flesh of the fish off the bones, pass it through a sieve into the soup. Serve hot, with nicely toasted bread cut into neat pieces.

6. Haddock Soup.

Boil a smoked haddock in about three pints of water, add to it an onion cut into quarters, two beads of garlic, twenty-four cloves, a stick of cinnamon, a blade of maize, a bunch of sweet herbs, twelve peppercorns; boil gently for one hour; strain through a wire sieve, bone the fish, and remove the skin, pass the flesh through the sieve into the soup, thicken with half a penny packet of pea flour, rubbed smooth in a little water, add a little tomato pulp if liked, and two ounces of butter. Serve hot with fried bread cut into dice.

7. Skate Soup.

Well skin and wash two pounds of skate—the cheaper parts are the best for soup—boil in three pints of water for about two hours very gently.

Cut up an onion into thin rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter a delicate golden colour; now add the soup to this with one pint of milk, three bay-leaves, twelve cloves, a blade of mace, and a stick of cinnamon, pepper and salt to taste. Let it simmer for half an hour, strain through a wire sieve, take the meat of the fish, and put neat pieces of it in the soup. Serve hot with toasted bread cut into neat pieces.

8. Cod Soup.

Take a cod’s head and shoulders, boil it gently in two quarts of water for one and a half hours.

Cut up an onion into rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter and twenty-four cloves a nice brown, then add the fish liquor, three bay-leaves, a bunch of sweet herbs, pepper and salt to taste; thicken the soup with one packet of pea flour rubbed smooth in a bowl with a little water, stir well, then add one teaspoon of Chili vinegar, one tablespoon of tarragon vinegar, and one tablespoon of mushroom ketchup; strain, and serve with fried bread cut into dice.

9. Salt Herring Mullagatawny.

Cut up an onion into rings, chop three beads of garlic, fry in two ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves a nice brown, then add one tablespoon of the best currie powder, stir, then put in two quarts of water. Cut up three red herrings, salted ones, into pieces, add it to the rest; let it simmer gently one hour; strain, put it back into the pan, and add two packets of Edwards’ Tomato Soup, and three bay-leaves. Take the nicest bits of the fish, free from skin and bone, and put them in the soup; let it simmer an hour longer, take out the bay-leaves, and serve with a separate dish of boiled rice.

10. Welk Soup.

Cut up an onion into thin rings, chop two beads of garlic, fry in two ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves a nice brown, add two quarts of water and one quart of welks, picked, three bay-leaves, a bunch of sweet herbs, a carrot cut into thin slices, a turnip cut into thin slices, and a few sticks of celery chopped small. Boil gently for two hours; strain, pulp the vegetables through a sieve, and return the soup and vegetables into the pan. Add one packet of Edwards’ Tomato Soup, pepper and salt to taste; simmer for half an hour. Serve hot with toasted bread cut into dice. The welks can be eaten with vinegar, pepper, and salt, separately, if liked.

11. Bread Soup.

Boil two large onions in one pint of water, with twenty-four cloves, and a blade of mace, and twenty-four peppercorns. Let it boil till the onions are quite soft, then pass it through a sieve. Add two pints of milk, half a pound of bread crumbs passed through a sieve, pepper and salt to taste, and two ounces of butter; stir, let it come to the boil, and serve.

12. Onion Soup.

Boil one pound of onions till quite soft. Pass them through a sieve, mix with them two ounces of butter, three pints of milk, and pepper and salt to taste.

13. Pea Soup.

Boil one pint of the best peas in two quarts of water and a mite of soda till they are quite soft. If the peas get too thick add a little more water; when quite soft, pass them through a sieve into a nice purée. Cut up an onion in thin rings, then chop it very small, also two beads of garlic, fry in two ounces of butter a golden brown. Then add twenty-four cloves, a carrot cut into thin slices, and a turnip cut into thin slices, and the purée; let it simmer gently till the carrot and turnip are soft, and then again strain it. Add pepper and salt to taste. Serve with dried powdered mint, and fried bread cut into dice.

14. Green Pea Soup.

Boil one pint of dried green peas in two quarts of water with a mite of soda till the peas are quite soft. If the water evaporates add a little more; pass the peas through a wire sieve. Now chop up an onion very small, also two beads of garlic, fry in two ounces of butter a golden colour. Add your peas, then a whole carrot, a whole turnip, and two sticks of celery; simmer gently till the vegetables are soft, remove the vegetables, add pepper and salt to taste, and serve the purée with dry powdered mint and fried bread cut into dice.

15. Turnip Soup.

Boil four large turnips till quite tender. Pass them through a sieve, add three pints of milk and put them on one side, cut up an onion into rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter a gold colour. Add twelve cloves, twelve peppercorns, a piece of green ginger, and three bay-leaves. Then put in your turnip purée, pepper and salt to taste. Simmer gently for half an hour; strain and serve.

16. Vegetable Marrow Soup.

Boil a vegetable marrow till quite tender. Pass it through a sieve, add pepper and salt to taste, and three pints of milk. Warm it up thoroughly and melt into it two ounces of butter. Serve with toast cut into nice shapes.

17. Potato Soup.

Cut up an onion into rings, chop two beads of garlic, fry and add two ounces of butter a nice golden colour, add twelve cloves, twelve peppercorns, three bay-leaves, one carrot cut into slices, one turnip cut into slices, a stick or two of celery chopped, one pound of potatoes peeled and cut into slices, and one quart of water and one quart of milk. Boil gently till all the vegetables are tender enough; pass them through a sieve; if the purée is too thick add a little more milk; warm up thoroughly. Add pepper and salt to taste, and serve with fried bread cut into dice.

18. Haricot Bean Soup.

Boil a half pint of haricots in two quarts of water, with a mite of soda, one onion, one carrot, one turnip, two sticks of celery chopped. When quite tender pass all through a sieve. Add two ounces of butter, pepper and salt to taste, and two tablespoons of tomato conserve. Serve with fried bread cut in dice.

19. Lentil Soup.

Boil one pint of lentils in two quarts of water to a pulp. Cut up an onion, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves a nice gold colour. Add the lentils to this, put in salt to taste, and just before serving a squeeze of lemon juice.

20. German Lentil Soup.

Boil one pint of German lentils in two quarts of water, with a mite of soda. When quite soft pass through a wire sieve; stir into the purée two ounces of butter, pepper and salt to taste. Serve with fried bread cut into dice.

21. Tomato Puree.

Cut up an onion into rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry a pale brown in two ounces of butter. Add twenty-four cloves, and two pounds of tomatoes cut up in quarters. Let it simmer gently till the tomatoes are quite soft; strain through a sieve. Add one pint of water, pepper and salt to taste; let it boil up, and put in a tablespoon of butter rolled in as much flour as it will take up; stir well. A few drops of tarragon vinegar are a great improvement.

22. Mixed Vegetable Soup.

Boil in two quarts of water a turnip cut up, a carrot cut up, three sticks of celery cut up, two leeks, and a small cauliflower cut into sprigs. Boil till quite soft. Pass it all through a sieve. Cut up an onion, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter a pale golden colour. Add your vegetable purée, and pepper and salt to taste. Serve with fried bread cut into dice.

23. Florador Soup.

Cut up an onion into rings, chop up two beads of garlic, fry in two ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves a nice gold colour. Add three pints of milk; let it boil up very slowly. Have ready a quarter of a pound of fine florador, mixed with almost one pint of cold milk, nice and smooth like cream. Add this to the boiling milk; stir all the time, so that it does not stick or get lumpy. Let it get thick, and strain. Just before serving add a few drops of tarragon vinegar.

24. Barley Soup.

Cut up an onion into rings and chop fine, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter a golden brown. Add two quarts of water, three ounces of pearl barley, one carrot cut into slices, a turnip cut into slices, three sticks of celery chopped; boil till the barley is quite tender. Add pepper and salt to taste, a few drops of tarragon[20] vinegar, a few drops of clove vinegar, and a tablespoon of mushroom ketchup. Serve with toast cut into neat pieces.

25. Mullagatawny Soup.

Cut up an onion into thin rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter a golden brown, with twenty-four cloves; then add one tablespoon of the best of currie powder; fry a minute; add three pints of water. Rub smooth with a little water one packet of pea flour; add this to the boiling soup. Now add one penny packet of Edwards’ Tomato Soup; let it simmer gently for half an hour; just before serving add the juice of half a lemon, and salt to taste. Serve with a separate dish of boiled rice.

26. Spinach Puree.

Clean, wash, and pick two pounds of spinach. Put it in a pan with one pint of water, boil till it is quite soft, pass it all through a sieve, add three ounces of butter, and pepper and salt to taste. If the purée is too thick, add a little more warm water. Serve with fried bread cut into dice. This is a very simple but delicious purée.

27. Sorrel Puree.

Clean, pick, and wash two pounds of sorrel. Cut up an onion into rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in three ounces of butter a golden colour. Now add the sorrel. Let it get quite soft, and pass it through a wire sieve, liquor and all; add as much hot water as will make the purée a nice consistence for soup. Pepper and salt to taste. Serve with fried bread cut into dice.

28. Artichoke Puree.

Peel two pounds of Jerusalem artichokes, and boil them till quite soft. Pass them through a wire sieve; add three pints of milk; let it come to the boil, then add three ounces of butter. Pepper and salt to taste. Serve with fried bread. This is a delicious soup, and very nutritious.

29. Carrot Puree.

Scrape and wash four large carrots; cut them into quarters, and boil till quite soft; pass them through a sieve; cut up an onion into rings; chop up two beads of garlic, and fry these with twenty-four cloves a nice brown in two ounces of butter; then add the carrot purée, two and a half pints of water, three bay-leaves, a stick of cinnamon, a blade of mace, one packet of Edwards’ White Soup. Pepper and salt to taste. Let it simmer gently for an hour. Strain again, and serve with fried bread cut into dice. A few drops of tarragon is an improvement.

30. Pearl Sago Soup.

Boil a quarter pound of pearl sago in two quarts of water till quite clear, and as thick as possible; then add two packets of Edwards’ Tomato Soup, one onion stuck with cloves, a roll of lemon peel, two white beads of garlic, three bay-leaves, and three ounces of butter. Simmer gently for one hour. Before serving remove the onion, garlic, peel, and bay-leaves. Add a few drops of tarragon vinegar, one tablespoon of Worcester sauce, and two of mushroom ketchup, salt and pepper to taste.

N.B.—I have made some of these soups very thick on purpose, so that there may be more substance in them. They can, moreover, be made thinner or thicker as desired by either omitting or adding hot water.

Victorian Soup Recipes from New Vegetarian Dishes by Mrs Bowdich [1892] WITH PREFACE BY ERNEST BELL, M.A. TREASURER OF THE LONDON VEGETARIAN SOCIETY

Artichoke Soup.

3 pounds Jerusalem artichokes after peeling.
2 pints water.
1 pint milk.
2 ounces butter.
2 teaspoons salt.
2 shalots.
2 teaspoons chopped celery.
1 tablespoon sago.
1 dozen peppercorns, with a suspicion of mace and cinnamon tied in muslin.

Peel the artichokes and throw them into cold water. Dissolve the butter in a large enamelled saucepan, slice the artichokes and fry for five minutes in the butter, then add the water, shalots and celery chopped, and the seasonings. Boil for three-quarters of an hour, removing the scum as it rises. Add milk and sago, and stir frequently for twenty minutes. Rub through a hair sieve into a tureen.

Note.—Cream is often recommended for this soup, but when sago and milk are used as above, the result will be found extremely satisfactory, and the expense considerably lessened.

Asparagus Soup.

60 heads of asparagus.
1 cabbage lettuce.
2 quarts of water.
1 ounce of butter.
6 medium-sized onions.
A sprig of mint.
1 tablespoon of sago.
2 teaspoons of salt.
½ teaspoon of pepper.
2 or 3 drops of spinach extract.

Dissolve the butter in a large saucepan, place in the lettuce finely shredded, the salt, pepper, mint, onions sliced, water, and the green portion of the asparagus, but reserving thirty tops. Boil one hour. Stir in the sago and boil again, stirring frequently for half an hour without the lid. Boil the thirty tops separately in a little salted water until tender. Strain the soup through a hair sieve (rubbing the pulp through with a wooden spoon) into a hot tureen, add the tops and the colouring, and serve.

Note.—If the soup be made some time before required, do not cook the tops until it is being re-heated.

Brown Soup.

6 cold boiled potatoes.
2 onions stuck with cloves.
1 tomato.
2½ pints stock.
2 ounces butter.
1 strip of lemon peel.
3 whole allspice.
1 dozen peppercorns.
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce.
Pepper and salt to taste.
1 dozen forcemeat balls [see recipe below]

Slice the potatoes and fry them very carefully in the butter, so as to thoroughly brown without burning them. Place them in a saucepan with the stock and simmer five minutes; by this time the brown colour will have boiled off the potatoes into the soup. Strain away the potatoes, return the soup to the saucepan, add onions (each stuck with three cloves), lemon peel, sauce, spices, pepper and salt, and the tomato sliced and fried. Simmer one hour, strain into a hot tureen, place in the forcemeat balls, which have been previously fried, and serve quickly.

Forcemeat Balls. [for recipe above]

2 ounces bread crumbs.
3 teaspoons chopped parsley.
1½ teaspoons mixed sweet herbs.
1½ teaspoons grated lemon rind.
½ teaspoon pepper.
½ teaspoon salt.
1 egg.
1 ounce butter.
¼ teaspoon powdered mace.
1 ounce butter for frying.

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly, then add the butter, and lastly the egg beaten. Stir all well together, form into balls about the size of a large cherry, and fry in the butter until nicely brown. The above quantity will make sufficient balls for the brown soup

Carrot Soup.

1 pint haricot beans.
5 pints water.
2 ounces butter.
1 ounce salt.
6 large carrots.
2 large onions.
1 small head of celery.
1 teaspoon peppercorns.

Dissolve the butter in a large saucepan. Slice the vegetables, and place them in the saucepan together with the water and peppercorns, and simmer for one hour. Add salt, and simmer for another hour and a half. Strain.

Celery Soup.

3 large heads of celery.
1 large onion.
1 potato.
3 pints water.
1 dozen peppercorns.
2 ounces butter.
¾ ounce flour.
1½ teaspoons salt.
½ pint milk.
1 pinch of mace.

Dissolve one ounce of butter in a good-sized saucepan, then add the vegetables sliced, and all the other ingredients, except flour, milk, and the other ounce of butter. Simmer for one and a half hours. Strain, thicken with flour and butter. Add milk, and serve very hot.

Chestnut Soup.

1 pound chestnuts.
1½ pints water.
Yolk of one egg, or 1 teaspoon cream.
1 onion.
1 small turnip.
1 ounce butter.
½ teaspoon salt.
6 peppercorns, and a very small pinch of mixed herbs.

Boil the chestnuts for half an hour. In the meantime dissolve the butter in a stewpan; then fry in it the onion and turnip sliced, add the water flavourings, and chestnuts after removing the shells and skins. Boil one hour. Place the cream or yolk in a basin, strain the soup on to it and stir, then strain it back into the saucepan; re-warm, but do not allow to boil. Pour into the tureen and serve.

French Bean Soup.

3 pints water.
1 pint soaked haricot beans.
2 potatoes.
1 ounce butter.
1 onion.
1 pound French beans.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 dozen peppercorns.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan and fry in it the potatoes and onion sliced for five minutes, then add the haricot beans and water and boil for two hours. Add the salt, rub through a wire sieve, replace in the pan, add the French beans cut fine, and simmer until tender. Tinned beans do equally well, and only require to be made thoroughly hot.

Green Kale Soup.

2 pounds green kale.
1 onion.
1 Spanish ditto.
2 potatoes.
1 ounce butter.
2 teaspoons sago.
1 quart water.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 dozen peppercorns, and a suspicion each of mace and sweet herbs.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, and place in it the onions and potatoes sliced; then add water, salt and flavourings, and boil for one hour. In the meantime prepare the kale by picking off all but the tender middle shoots, trim the stalks and throw the kale into salt and water; rinse well and see that it is all quite free from insects, and boil separately in salted water for ten minutes. When the soup has boiled an hour, thicken with the sago and continue stirring ten minutes, strain, return to the saucepan. Strain also the kale, place it on a chopping board and cut small; add it to the soup, boil up and serve.

Note.—Any kind of greens may be treated in the above manner.

Haricot Bean Soup.

1 pint soaked haricot beans.
1 good-sized carrot.
1 good-sized turnip.
2 onions.
1 small head of celery.
2 ounces butter.
1 teaspoon salt.
2 quarts water.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, place in the onions sliced and fry five minutes; then add the other vegetables sliced, the beans, and water. Boil one and a half hours, add salt, and simmer half an hour longer. Strain before serving.

Lentil Soup.

1 pint lentils.
2 quarts water.
1½ ounces butter.
1 carrot.
1 onion.
1 turnip.
1 potato.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 tablespoon minced parsley.

Slice the vegetables and fry in the butter for five minutes, place them in a saucepan with the lentils and water and boil one and a half hours; add salt and a little pepper if liked. Strain, replace in the saucepan, add the parsley, boil for three minutes, and serve.

Note.—The solid part which is strained away should on no account be wasted, but will be found excellent for making lentil puddings, pies, stews, etc.

Lentil Broth.

½ pint soaked lentils.
1 tablespoon pearl barley.
1 quart water.
1 ounce butter.
1 shalot sliced.
1 flat teaspoon salt.
{ 3 peppercorns.
3 allspice, and a small strip of lemon peel, tied in muslin.

Place altogether in a saucepan with the exception of the salt, which should be added later, and boil gently for two hours, removing the scum as it rises. Strain and serve with sippets of freshly-made toast.

Note.—The above will be found a very excellent substitute for mutton broth, being very nourishing, and tasty; when liked a turnip maybe added, and will give additional flavour. The lentils and barley, which have been strained, may be used in many ways.

Lentil Tea. (A substitute for Beef Tea.)

1 pint soaked lentils.
1 pint water.
2 ounces butter.
½ teaspoon salt.
2 cloves.
6 peppercorns.
A very small piece of mace.
A little pepper if liked.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, place in all the ingredients except salt and pepper. Boil half an hour, removing the scum as it rises. Add salt, boil another half hour. Strain carefully and serve with toast or bread.

Note.—The lentils should be re-boiled, and will make a very useful stock.

Mulligatawny Soup.

1½ pints soaked haricot beans.
3 quarts water.
2 large carrots.
2 large turnips.
1 large onion.
1 leek.
2 ounces butter.
2 teaspoons salt.
2 dozen peppercorns.
½ ounce curry powder.
½ ounce flour.

Place the beans, water, onion and leek in a large saucepan and place on the fire. Slice the carrots and turnips and fry in one ounce of butter until slightly brown. Add them to the beans and boil altogether for one hour, then add salt and peppercorns. Boil for another hour, strain, return to the saucepan and thicken with the flour, curry powder, and one ounce of butter made into a paste. Stir until it has boiled for three minutes. Strain again if necessary before serving. Serve boiled rice in another dish

Oatmeal Soup.

3 carrots.
3 turnips.
3 onions.
3 tablespoons coarse oatmeal.
1 stick of celery.
5 pints water.
2½ ounces butter.
2 teaspoons salt.
1 dozen peppercorns.
1 tablespoon chopped parsley.

Dissolve the butter in a large saucepan, slice the vegetables and fry them for a few minutes in the butter, but do not allow them to brown. Add water, peppercorns and salt, and boil two hours; then add oatmeal (which should have been previously soaked for a few hours), and boil three-quarters of an hour longer. Strain, return to the saucepan, add the parsley, simmer three minutes, and Serve.

Onion Soup.

6 onions.
2 Spanish ditto. [onions]
4 potatoes.
1 quart water.
2 teaspoons salt.
2 teaspoons sago.
1½ ounces butter.
1 dozen peppercorns, and a suspicion of mace and mixed herbs in muslin.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, then place in the onions sliced, and stand the pan over a gentle heat, shaking frequently. In the meantime peel and slice the potatoes and add them to the onions, together with the water, salt and flavourings. Boil for one and a half hours, lift out the muslin bag, stir in the sago, and continue stirring for ten minutes, then strain.

Parsnip Soup.

3 good-sized parsnips.
2 potatoes.
1 large onion.
1½ ounces butter.
1 quart water.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 dozen peppercorns.
2 teaspoons sago.

Dissolve the butter in the saucepan, then place in the vegetables sliced, with the water, salt and peppercorns, and boil for one and a half hours; add sago, stir until it thickens, then rub through a sieve into a tureen and serve hot.

Pea Soup.

1 pint soaked peas.
1 ounce butter.
2½ pints water.
1 stick of celery.
1½ teaspoons salt.
1 large carrot.
1 large turnip.
1 large onion.
1 dozen peppercorns.
½ teaspoon mixed herbs.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, place in it the peas and one pint of water, and boil gently for half-an-hour. In the meantime prepare and slice the vegetables and add them to the peas, together with the seasonings, boil for one and a half hours, and pass through a sieve, rubbing the vegetables through with a wooden spoon.

Dried Green Pea Soup.

1½ pints soaked green peas.
1 large onion.
1 large carrot.
1 large turnip.
2 quarts water.
1 ounce butter.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 dozen peppercorns.

Dissolve the butter in a large saucepan, place in the peas (which must have been carefully picked over), the vegetables sliced, and the peppercorns. Boil gently three hours, add salt, and rub through a wire sieve with a wooden spoon. Serve with sippets of toast.

Fresh Green Pea Soup.

2 pints of shelled green peas.
1 ounce butter.
A handful of mint.
1 cabbage lettuce.
3 pints of water.
1½ teaspoons of salt.
1 onion.
1 lump of sugar.

Dissolve the butter in a large saucepan and place in the peas, the onion sliced, the lettuce and mint thoroughly washed, the water, salt, and sugar. Boil for one and a half hours, strain through a wire sieve, rubbing the peas through with a wooden spoon.

Potato Soup.

(Very suitable for children.)

1½ pounds potatoes.
2 onions.
1 tablespoon sago.
2 pints water.
½ pint milk.
1½ ounces butter.
1 teaspoon salt.
½ teaspoon pepper.

Peel and slice the potatoes and onions, and fry them for ten minutes in the butter, but without browning them. Place them in a saucepan with the water, salt and pepper (the latter should be omitted if for young children), and boil for an hour; add sago and milk, boil for about ten minutes, stirring all the time, then rub through a wire sieve with a wooden spoon, and serve.

Rice Soup.

(Very suitable for children.)

¼ pint rice.
3 pints water.
1 pint milk.
1½ ounces butter.
1 large turnip.
1 large onion.
1 large potato.
1 teaspoon salt.

Place the butter in a large saucepan, and let it melt so as to grease the whole of the bottom of the pan; wash the rice and place it with the vegetables sliced in the saucepan, and boil for about three-quarters of an hour, stirring frequently; add milk and salt, and simmer carefully for about a quarter of an hour, taking care that it does not burn.

Sea Kale Soup.

14 nice heads of kale.
1 potato.
1 onion.
1½ pints water.
½ pint milk.
1½ ounces butter.
1 lump of sugar.
1 teaspoon salt.
2 teaspoons sago.

Dissolve the butter in an enamelled saucepan, then add the kale, after thoroughly washing and cutting it into two-inch pieces; place the saucepan over a gentle heat, shaking it frequently. Peel and slice the potato and onion, and place them, together with the salt, water and sugar, with the kale. Boil one hour, strain, return to the saucepan, add milk and sago, replace over the fire and stir for ten minutes. Strain again into a tureen, and serve with sippets of toast.

Semolina Soup.

3 pints water.
1 carrot.
1 turnip.
1 onion.
2 potatoes.
1 tablespoon raw semolina.
¾ teaspoon salt.
A little pepper.

Slice the vegetables and boil them in the water for about an hour, rub through a wire sieve, replace in the saucepan, add seasoning and shake in the semolina gradually. Boil for ten minutes, stirring all the time.

Brown Stock.

1 pint soaked lentils.
3 pints water.
1 carrot.
1 turnip.
1 ounce butter.
1 teaspoon of salt.
1 onion.
6 peppercorns.

Dissolve the butter in a large saucepan, place in the lentils, water, and vegetables sliced. Boil one hour, add salt, re-boil until quite done. Strain.

White Stock.

1 pint soaked haricot beans.
3 pints water.
1 large carrot.
1 large onion.
1 large turnip.
A little celery.
1 ounce butter.
1 teaspoon salt.
A very small quantity each of mixed herbs, mace and peppercorns.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, add the beans, vegetables sliced, the seasonings, and water; boil all together for two and a half hours. Strain.

Tomato Soup.

2½ pounds tomatoes.
1 large carrot.
1 large turnip.
1 large onion.
1½ pints water.
3 ounces butter.
1 tablespoon sago.
2 teaspoons salt.
1 dozen peppercorns.

Slice the carrot, turnip and onion, and place them with two ounces of butter in a good-sized saucepan and fry for a few minutes; add water, peppercorns, and one teaspoon of salt, and boil gently. Cook the tomatoes in another stewpan, according to the Tomatoes Recipe below, adding to them the other teaspoon of salt and one ounce of butter. When quite tender, pour them into the saucepan containing the vegetables and simmer altogether for about an hour, or until the vegetables are thoroughly tender. Strain, return to the saucepan, and when boiling stir in the sago; simmer gently for half an hour, and the soup may, if liked, be again strained before serving.

Tomatoes. [for recipe above]

1 dozen tomatoes.
1½ ounces butter.
½ teaspoon salt.
¼ teaspoon pepper.

Scald the tomatoes by pouring boiling water over them, then place in cold water for half a minute. Remove the skins, which will now come off quite easily, slice the tomatoes into about four pieces with a very sharp knife. Have ready a stewpan in which the butter has been dissolved, place the tomatoes in it, add the seasoning, and stew gently for about twenty minutes, stirring frequently.

Note.—When strained, this constitutes a very choice sauce, and it may be slightly thickened.

Turnip Soup.

10 turnips.
2 onions.
2 potatoes.
1 small stick of celery.
1 pint milk.
3 pints water.
2 ounces butter.
2 teaspoons salt.
1 teaspoon peppercorns.

Dissolve the butter in a large saucepan, place in the vegetables sliced, salt, peppercorns, and water, and boil gently for two hours. Strain, return to the saucepan, which must be perfectly clean, add milk, simmer a few minutes and serve.

Note.—A tablespoon of cream placed in the tureen, and stirred into the soup as it is poured in, is a great improvement, or it may be thickened with one tablespoon sago.

Vegetable Soup.

1 potato.
2 onions.
2 carrots.
2 turnips.
2 sticks of celery.
3 pints water.
3 or 4 thick slices of beetroot.
1 dozen small sprigs of watercress.
1 dozen small sprigs of parsley.
1½ teaspoons salt.
2 tablespoons pearl barley.
1 ounce butter.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, place in the onions sliced, and fry five minutes; then add all the other ingredients and boil for one and a half hours. Strain before serving. If liked, a carrot and turnip, neatly cut into little strips, may be boiled separately, strained, and added to the soup before serving.

Vegetable Marrow Soup.

1 large vegetable marrow.
1 quart water.
2 ounces butter.
1 gill of milk.
1 onion.
1 teaspoon salt.
2 tablespoons semolina.

Peel the vegetable marrow, and cut it into rather thin slices, cut the onion in quarters, and put all into a good-sized saucepan in which the butter has been dissolved; add the salt and water, and simmer for one hour. Strain through a sieve, rubbing as much of the pulp through as possible; return the soup to the saucepan, shake in the semolina, stir for ten minutes after it boils, and add the milk just before serving.

Vermicelli Soup.

6 carrots.
6 turnips.
1 head of celery.
6 onions.
1 handful of parsley.
½ pint tomato juice.
3 quarts of water.
3 teaspoons of peppercorns.
2 ounces butter.
1 ounce of salt.
3 ounces vermicelli.
White of 1 egg.

Clean and slice the vegetables, dissolve the butter in a large saucepan, place in it the vegetables, including the parsley, add water and salt and peppercorns, and boil for one and a half hours, removing the scum as it rises. Strain; return the soup to the saucepan, which should first be rinsed, allow it to simmer, pour in the white of egg, re-strain through a very fine sieve (or a piece of muslin placed in an ordinary sieve will answer the purpose). Return again to the saucepan, which must be thoroughly clean, add the vermicelli, and simmer for half an hour. Add the tomato juice just before serving.

MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]

You can find Eliza Acton’s various pea soup recipes over on our collection of old British pea, bean, and lentil recipes.

Info Regarding Soups.

Ingredients which may all be used for making Soup of various kinds:—Beef—Mutton—Veal—Hams—Salted Pork—Fat Bacon—Pigs’ Ears and Feet—Venison—Black and Moor Game—Partridges—Pheasants—Wild Pigeons—Hares—Rabbits—Turkeys—Fowls—Tame Pigeons—Sturgeon—Conger Eel, with all sorts of Fish usually eaten—All Shell-Fish—Every kind of Vegetable and Herb fit for food—Butter—Milk—Eggs—Rice—Sago—Arrow-Root—Indian Corn—Hominy—Soujee—Tapioca—Pearl Barley—Oatmeal—Polenta[9]—Macaroni—Vermicelli—Semoulina, and other Italian Pastes.

9. The name given in English commerce to the maize flour or meal of Italy.

The art of preparing good, wholesome, palatable soups, without great expense, which is so well understood in France, and in other countries where they form part of the daily food of all classes of the people, has hitherto been very much neglected in England;[10] yet it really presents no difficulties which a little practice, and the most common degree of care, will not readily overcome; and we strongly recommend increased attention to it, not only on account of the loss and inconvenience which ignorance of it occasions in many households, but because a better knowledge of it will lead naturally to improvement in other branches of cookery connected with it in which our want of skill is now equally apparent.

10. The inability of servants to prepare delicately and well even a little broth suited to an invalid, is often painfully evident in cases of illness, not only in common English life, but where the cookery is supposed to be of a superior order.

We have endeavoured to show by the list at the beginning of this chapter the immense number of different articles of which soup may be in turn compounded. It is almost superfluous to add, that it may be rendered at pleasure exceedingly rich, or simple in the extreme; composed, in fact, of all that is most choice in diet, or of little beyond herbs and vegetables.

From the varied produce of a well-stored kitchen garden, it may be made excellent at a very trifling cost; and where fish is fresh and abundant it may be cheaply supplied nearly equal in quality to that for which a full proportion of meat is commonly used.

It is best suited to the colder seasons of the year when thickened well with rice, semoulina, pearl barley, or other ingredients of the same nature; and adapted to the summer months when lighter and more refreshing.

Families who have resided much abroad, and those accustomed to continental modes of service, prefer it usually in any form to the more solid and heavy dishes which still often supersede it altogether at our tables[11] (except at those of the more affluent classes of society, where it appears, as a matter of course, in the daily bills of fare), and which are so oppressive, not only to foreigners, but to all persons generally to whom circumstances have rendered them unaccustomed diet; and many a housekeeper who is compelled by a narrow income to adopt a system of rigid domestic economy, would find it assist greatly in furnishing comfortable meals in a very frugal manner, if the proper modes of making it were fully comprehended as they ought to be.[12]

11. The popular taste in England, even at the present day, is far more in favour of what is termed “substantial” food, than of any kind of pottage.

12. We are unable to give further space to this subject here, but may probably resume it at another part of the book, if practical.

The reader who desires to understand the principles of soup-making is advised to study with attention the directions for “Baron Liebeg’s Extract of Beef,” in the present chapter, and the receipt for bouillon which follows it.

A FEW DIRECTIONS TO THE COOK.

In whatever vessel soup is boiled, see that it be perfectly clean, and let the inside of the cover and the rim be equally so. Wash the meat, and prepare the vegetables with great nicety before they are laid into it; and be careful to keep it always closely shut when it is on the fire. Never, on any account, set the soup by in it, but strain it off at once into a clean pan, and fill the stock-pot immediately with water; pursue the same plan with all stewpans and saucepans directly they are emptied.

Skim the soup thoroughly when it first begins to boil, or it will not be easy afterwards to render it clear; throw in some salt, which will assist to bring the scum to the surface, and when it has all been taken off, add the herbs and vegetables; for if not long stewed in the soup, their flavour will prevail too strongly.

Remember that the trimmings, and the bones of fresh meat, the necks of poultry, the liquor in which a joint has been boiled, and the shank-bones of mutton, are all excellent additions to the stock-pot, and should be carefully reserved for it. The remains of roast poultry and game also will improve both the colour and the flavour of broth or soup.

Let the soup be very slowly heated, and after it has been well skimmed, and has boiled for a few minutes, draw it to the side of the stove and keep it simmering softly, but without ceasing, until it is done; for on this, as will hereafter be shown, its excellence principally depends. Every good cook understands perfectly the difference produced by the fast boiling, or the gentle stewing, of soups and gravies, and will adhere strictly to the latter method.[13]

13. It is most difficult to render rapidly-boiled soup or gravy clear for table; but that which is only simmered will clarify itself if allowed to remain undisturbed for some little time (half an hour or so) after it is withdrawn from the fire; it should then be poured very gently from the sediment. Calf’s feet stock likewise may be converted into transparent jelly with far greater facility when it has not been thickened by too quick boiling, by which so many preparations in our English kitchens are injured.

Pour boiling water, in small quantities at first, to the meat and vegetables of which the soup is to be made when they have been fried or browned; but otherwise, always add coldwater to the meat. Unless precise orders to the contrary have been given, onions, eschalots, and garlic, should be used for seasoning with great moderation; for not only are they very offensive to many eaters, but to persons of delicate habit their effects are sometimes extremely prejudicial; and it is only in coarse cookery that their flavour is allowed ever strongly to prevail.

A small proportion of sugar, about an ounce to the gallon, will very much improve the flavour of gravy-stock, and of all rich brown soups; it may be added also to some others with advantage; and for this, directions will be given in the proper places.

Two ounces of salt may be allowed for each gallon of soup or broth, in which large quantities of vegetables are stewed; but an ounce and a half will be sufficient for such as contain few or none; it is always easy to add more if needful, but oversalting in the first instance is a fault for which there is no remedy but that of increasing the proportions of all the other ingredients, and stewing the whole afresh, which occasions needless trouble and expense, even when time will admit of its being done.

As no particle of fat should be seen floating on soup when sent to table, it is desirable that the stock should be made the day before it is wanted, that it may become quite cold; when the fat may be entirely cleared off without difficulty.

When cayenne pepper is not mixed with rice-flour, or with any other thickening, grind it down with the back of a spoon, and stir a little liquid to it before it is thrown into the stewpan, as it is apt to remain in lumps, and to occasion great irritation of the throat when swallowed so.

Serve, not only soups and sauces, but all other dishes, as hot as possible.

THE TIME REQUIRED FOR BOILING DOWN SOUP OR STOCK.

This must be regulated by several considerations; for though the mere juices of meat require but little boiling after they have been fully extracted by the slow heating recommended by Baron Liebeg, soup to which many vegetables are added (winter vegetables especially) requires long stewing to soften and to blend properly the flavour of all the ingredients which it contains, as that of no one in particular ought to be allowed to predominate over the rest.

We have in consequence retained the old directions as to time, in many of the following receipts; but an intelligent cook will soon ascertain from practice and observation how and when to vary it with advantage. Over-boiling renders all preparations insipid, and causes undue reduction of them likewise: it is a fault, therefore, which should be carefully avoided.

TO THICKEN SOUPS.

Except for white soups, to which arrow-root is, we think, more appropriate, we prefer, to all other ingredients generally used for this purpose, the finest and freshest rice-flour, which, after being passed through a lawn sieve, should be thoroughly blended with the salt, pounded spices, catsup, or wine, required to finish the flavouring of the soup. Sufficient liquid should be added to it very gradually to render it of the consistence of batter, and it should also be perfectly smooth; to keep it so, it should be moistened sparingly at first, and beaten with the back of a spoon until every lump has disappeared. The soup should boil quickly when the thickening is stirred into it, and be simmered for ten minutes afterwards. From an ounce and a half to two ounces of rice-flour will thicken sufficiently a quart of soup.

Instead of this, arrow-root or the condiment known by the name of tous les mois, which greatly resembles it, or potato flour, or the French thickening called roux, may be used in the following proportions:—Two and a half ounces of either of the first three, to four pints and a half of soup; to be mixed gradually with a little cold stock or water, stirred into the boiling soup, and simmered for a minute.

Six ounces of flour with seven of butter, made into a roux, or merely mixed together with a large knife, will be required to thicken a tureen of soup; as much as half a pound is sometimes used; these must be added by degrees, and carefully stirred round in the soup until smoothly blended with it, or they will remain in lumps. We would, however, recommend any other thickening rather than this unwholesome mixture.

All the ingredients used for soups should be fresh, and of good quality, particularly Italian pastes of every kind (macaroni, vermicelli, &c.), as they contract, by long keeping, a peculiarly unpleasant, musty flavour.

Onions, freed from the outer skin, dried gradually to a deep brown, in a slow oven, and flattened like Norfolk biffins, will keep for almost any length of time, and are extremely useful for heightening the colour and flavour of broths and gravies.[14]

14. The fourth part of one these dried onions (des ognons brûlés), of moderate size, is sufficient for a tureen of soup. They are sold very commonly in France, and may be procured in London at many good foreign warehouses.

TO FRY BREAD TO SERVE WITH SOUP.

Cut some slices a quarter of an inch thick from a stale loaf; pare off the crust and divide the bread into dice, or cut it with a small paste-cutter into any other form. For half a pound of bread put two ounces of the best butter into a frying-pan, and when it is quite melted, add the bread; keep it turned over a gentle fire until it is equally coloured to a very pale brown, then drain it from the butter, and dry it on a soft cloth, or on a sheet of paper placed before a clear fire upon a dish, or upon a sieve reversed.

SIPPETS À LA REINE.

Having cut the bread as for common sippets, spread it on a dish, and pour over it a few spoonsful of thin cream, or of good milk: let it soak for an hour, then fry it in fresh butter of a delicate brown, drain and serve the sippets very hot.

TO MAKE NOUILLES. (An elegant substitute for Vermicelli.)

Wet with the yolks of four eggs, as much fine dry sifted flour as will make them into a firm but very smooth paste. Roll it out as thin as possible, and cut it into bands of about an inch and a quarter in width. Dust them lightly with flour, and place four of them one upon the other. Cut them obliquely into the finest possible strips; separate them with the point of a knife, and spread them upon writing paper, so that they may dry a little before they are used. Drop them gradually into the boiling soup, and in ten minutes they will be done.

Various other forms may be given to this paste at will. It may be divided into a sort of ribbon macaroni; or stamped with small confectionary cutters into different shapes. It is much used in the more delicate departments of cookery, and when cut as for soup, and prepared as for the Genoises à la Reine, makes very superior puddings, pastry, fritters, and other sweet dishes.

VEGETABLE VERMICELLI. (Vegetables cut very fine for soups.)

Cut the carrots into inch lengths, then pare them round and round in ribands of equal thickness, till the inside is reached; next cut these ribands into straws, or very small strips; celery is prepared in the same way, and turnips also are first pared into ribands, then sliced into strips; these last require less boiling than the carrots, and attention must be paid to this, for if broken, the whole would have a bad appearance in soup.

The safer plan is to boil each vegetable separately, till tolerably tender, in a little pale broth (in water if this be not at hand), to drain them well, and put them into the soup, which should be clear, only a few minutes before it is dished. For cutting them small, in other forms, the proper instruments will be found at the ironmonger’s.

EXTRACT OF BEEF; OR, VERY STRONG PLAIN BEEF GRAVY SOUP. (Baron Liebeg’s Receipt.)

Observation.—This admirable preparation is not only most valuable as a restorative of the best kind for invalids who require light but highly nutritious diet, it is also of the utmost utility for the general purposes of the kitchen, and will enable a cook who can take skilful advantage of it, to convert the cold meat which often abounds so inconveniently in an English larder, from our habit of having joints of large size so much served, into good nourishing dishes, which the hashes and minces of our common cookery are not, though they may answer well enough as mere varieties of diet. We shall indicate in the proper chapters the many other uses to which this beef juice—for such indeed it is—will be found eminently adapted.

Of its value in illness it is impossible to speak too highly; and in every family, therefore, the exact mode of making it ought to be thoroughly understood. The economist who may consider it expensive, must remember that drugs and medical advice are usually far more so; and in cases of extreme debility the benefit derived from it, when it is well prepared and judiciously administered, is often remarkable. It should be given in small quantities at first, and in its pure state. It may afterwards be varied by the addition of vermicelli, semoulina, or other preparations 7of the kind; and also by using for it a portion of mutton, calf’s head, poultry, or game, when these suit a patient as well as the beef.

Receipt.—Take a pound of good, juicy beef (rump-steak is best for the purpose), from which all the skin and fat that can possibly be separated from it, has been cut away. Chop it up small like sausage-meat; then mix it thoroughly with an exact pint of cold water, and place it on the side of the stove to heat very slowly indeed; and give it an occasional stir. It may stand two or three hours before it is allowed to simmer, and will then require at the utmost but fifteen minutes of gentle boiling. Professor Liebeg directs even less time than this, but the soup then occasionally retains a raw flavour which is distasteful.

Salt should be added when the boiling first commences, and for invalids, this, in general, is the only seasoning required. When the extract is thus far prepared, it may be poured from the meat into a basin, and allowed to stand until any particles of fat it may exhibit on the surface can be skimmed off entirely, and the sediment has subsided and left the soup quite clear (which it speedily becomes), when it may be poured gently off, heated in a clean saucepan, and served at once. It will contain all the nutriment which the meat will yield. The scum should always be well cleared from the surface of the soup as it accumulates.

To make light beef tea or broth, merely increase the proportion of water to a pint and a half or a quart; but in all else proceed as above.

Meat (without fat or skin), 1 lb.; cold water, exact pint: heating 2 hours or more; to boil 15 minutes at the utmost. Beef tea or broth.—Beef, 1 lb.; water, 1-1/2 pint or 1 quart.

Obs.—To mingle vegetable diet in its best form with this extract, it will be sufficient, as we have explained in “Cookery for Invalids,” to boil down the kind of vegetable desired, sliced or cut up small, in a very moderate quantity of water, until its juices are well drawn out; then to strain off the liquid from it with slight pressure, and, when it has become cold, to pour it to the chopped meat instead of water. Several different sorts can be mixed together, and cooked in this way: the water must boil before they are added to it.

They should be much more tender than when merely boiled for table, but not reduced to pulp. The juice should remain clear; no salt should be added; and it should be quite cold before it is stirred to the meat.

When the extract is wanted for gravy, a small portion of onion, and of herbs, carrots, celery, and the other usual vegetables, may be stewed together, to give it the requisite flavour.

About an inch square of the Jewish beef, whether cooked or uncooked, will impart a fine savour to it; the smoked surface of this should be pared off before it is used, and it may be added in thin slices.

BOUILLON. (The Common Soup or Beef-Broth of France; cheap, and very wholesome.)

This soup, or broth as we should perhaps designate it in England, is made once or twice in the week, in every family of respectability in France; and by the poorer classes as often as their means will enable them to substitute it for the vegetable or maigre soups, on which they are more commonly obliged to subsist.

It is served usually on the first day with slices of untoasted bread soaked in it; on the second, it is generally varied with vermicelli, rice, or semoulina.

The ingredients are, of course, often otherwise proportioned than as we have given them, and more or less meat is allowed according to the taste or circumstances of the persons for whom the bouillon is prepared; but the process of making it is always the same, and is thus described (rather learnedly) by one of the most skilful cooks in Europe: “The stock-pot of the French artisan,” says Monsieur Carême, “supplies his principal nourishment; and it is thus managed by his wife, who, without the slightest knowledge of chemistry, conducts the process in a truly scientific manner.

She first lays the meat into an earthen stock-pot, and pours cold water to it in the proportion of about two quarts to three pounds of the beef;[15] she then places it by the side of the fire, where it slowly becomes hot; and as it does so, the heat enlarges the fibre of the meat, dissolves the gelatinous substances which it contains, allows the albumen (or the muscular part which produces the scum) to disengage itself, and rise to the surface, and the OZMAZOME (which is the most savoury part of the meat) to be diffused through the broth.

Thus, from the simple circumstance of boiling it in the gentlest manner, a relishing and nutritious soup will be obtained, and a dish of tender and palatable meat; but if the pot be placed and kept over a quick fire, the albumen will coagulate, harden the meat, prevent the water from penetrating it, and the ozmazome from disengaging itself; the result will be a broth without flavour or goodness, and a tough, dry bit of meat.”

15. This is a large proportion of meat for the family of a French artisan, a pound to the quart would be nearer the reality; but it is not the refuse-meat which would be purchased by persons of the same rank in England for making broth.

It must be observed in addition, that as the meat of which the bouillon is made, is almost invariably sent to table, a part of the rump, the mouse-buttock, or the leg-of-mutton piece of beef, should be selected for it; and the simmering should be continued only until this is perfectly tender. When the object is simply to make good, pure-flavoured, beef broth, part of the shin or leg, with a pound or two of the neck, will best answer the purpose. When the bouilli (that is to say, the beef which is boiled in the soup), is to be served, bind it into a good shape, add to it a calf’s foot if easily procurable, as this much improves the quality of the bouillon; pour cold water to it in the proportion mentioned above, and proceed, as Monsieur Carême directs, to heat the soup slowly by the side of the fire; remove carefully the head of scum which will gather on the surface before the boiling commences, and continue the skimming at intervals for about twenty minutes longer, pouring in once or twice a little cold water.

Next, add salt in the proportion of two ounces to the gallon; this will cause a little more scum to rise; clear it quite off and throw in three or four turnips, as many carrots, half ahead of celery, four or five young leeks, an onion stuck with six or eight cloves, a large half teaspoonful of peppercorns, and a bunch of savoury herbs. Let the whole stew VERY softly without ceasing, from four hours and a half to six hours, according to the quantity: the beef in that time will be extremely tender but not overdone. It will be excellent eating if properly managed, and might often, we think, be substituted with great advantage for the hard, half-boiled, salted beef so often seen at an English table.

It should be served with a couple of cabbages, which have been first boiled in the usual way, then pressed very dry, and stewed for ten minutes in a little of the broth, and seasoned with pepper and salt. The other vegetables from the bouillon may be laid round it or not at choice. The soup if served on the same day must be strained, well cleared from fat, and sent to table with fried or toasted bread, unless the continental mode of putting slices or crusts of untoasted bread into the tureen, and soaking them for ten minutes in a ladleful or two of the bouillon, be, from custom, preferred.

Beef, 8 to 9 lbs.; water, 6 quarts; salt, 3 oz. (more, if needed); carrots, 4 to 6; turnips, 4 or 5; celery, one small head; leeks, 4 to 6; one onion, stuck with 6 cloves; peppercorns, one small teaspoonful; large bunch of savoury herbs (calf’s foot if convenient); to simmer 5 to 6 hours.

Obs. 1.—This broth forms in France the foundation of all richer soups and gravies. Poured on fresh meat (a portion of which should be veal) instead of water, it makes at once an excellent consommé or strong jellied stock. If properly managed, it is very clear and pale; and with an additional weight of beef and some spoonsful of glaze, may easily be converted into an amber-coloured gravy-soup, suited to modern taste.

Obs. 2.—It is a common practice abroad to boil poultry, pigeons, and even game, in the pot-au-feu or soup-pot.[16] They should be properly trussed, stewed in the broth just long enough to render them tender, and served, when ready, with a good sauce.

A small ham, if well soaked, washed exceedingly clean, and freed entirely from any rusty or blackened parts, laid with the beef when the water is first added to it, and boiled from three hours and a half to four hours in the bouillon, is very superior in flavour to those cooked in water only, and infinitely improves the soup, which cannot however so well be eaten until the following day, when all the fat can easily be taken from it: it would, of course, require no salt.

16. In wealthy families the soup is boiled in a metal soup-pot, called a marmite.

CLEAR, PALE GRAVY SOUP OR CONSOMMÉ.

Rub a deep stewpan or soup-pot with butter, and lay into it three quarters of a pound of ham freed entirely from fat, skin, and rust, four pounds of leg or neck of veal, and the same weight of lean beef, all cut into thick slices; set it over a clear and rather brisk fire, until the meat is of a fine amber-colour; it must be often moved, and closely watched, that it may not stick to the pan, nor burn. When it is equally browned, lay the bones upon it, and pour in gradually four quarts of boiling water. Take off the scum carefully as it rises, and throw in a pint of cold water at intervals to bring it quickly to the surface.

When no more appears, add two ounces of salt, two onions, two large carrots, two turnips, one head of celery, a faggot of savoury herbs, a dozen cloves, half a teaspoonful of whole white pepper, and two large blades of mace. Let the soup boil gently from five hours and a half to six hours and a half; then strain it through a very clean fine cloth, laid in a hair sieve.

When it is perfectly cold, remove every particle of fat from the top; and, in taking out the soup, leave the sediment untouched; heat in a clean pan the quantity required for table, add salt to it if needed, and a few drops of chili or of cayenne vinegar. Harvey’s sauce, or very fine mushroom catsup, may be substituted for these.

When thus prepared the soup is ready to serve: it should be accompanied by pale sippets of fried bread, or sippets à la reine. (At tables where English modes of service entirely prevailed, clear gravy-soup, until very recently, was always accompanied by dice, or sippets as they are called, of delicately toasted bread. These are now seldom seen, but some Italian paste, or nicely prepared vegetable, is served in the soup instead).

Rice, macaroni in lengths or in rings, vermicelli, or nouilles, may in turn be used to vary it; but they must always be boiled apart, till tender, in broth or water, and well drained before they are slipped into it.

The addition of young vegetables, too, and especially of asparagus, will convert it into superior spring-soup; but they, likewise, must be separately cooked.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR GRAVY SOUP.

Instead of browning the meat in its own juices, put it with the onions and carrots, into a deep stewpan, with a quarter of a pint of bouillon, set it over a brisk fire at first, and when the broth is somewhat reduced, let it boil gently until it has taken a fine colour, and forms a 11glaze (or jelly) at the bottom of the stewpan; then pour to it the proper quantity of water, and finish the soup by the preceding receipt.[17]

17. The juices of meat, drawn out with a small portion of liquid, as directed here, may easily be reduced to the consistency in which they form what is called glaze. The best method, though perhaps not the easiest, of making the clear, amber-coloured stock, is to pour a ladleful or two of pale but strong beef-broth to the veal, and to boil it briskly until well reduced, thrusting a knife when this is done into the meat, to let the juices escape; then to proceed more slowly and cautiously as the liquid approaches the state in which it would burn.

It must be allowed to take a dark amber-colour only, and the meat must be turned, and often moved in it. When the desired point is reached, pour in more boiling broth, and let the pan remain off the fire for a few minutes, to detach and melt the glaze; then shake it well round before the boiling is continued. A certain quantity of deeply coloured glaze, made apart, and stirred into strong, clear, pale stock, would produce the desired effect of this, with much less trouble.

Obs.—A rich, old-fashioned English brown gravy-soup may be made with beef only. It should be cut from the bones, dredged with flour, seasoned with pepper and salt, and fried a clear brown; then stewed for six hours, if the quantity be large, with a pint of water to each pound of meat, and vegetables as above, except onions, of which four moderate-sized ones, also fried, are to be added to every three quarts of the soup, which, after it has been strained and cleared from fat, may be thickened with six ounces of fresh butter, worked up very smoothly with five of flour.

In twenty minutes afterwards, a tablespoonful of the best soy, half a pint of sherry, and a little cayenne, may be added to the soup, which will then be ready to serve.

CHEAP, CLEAR GRAVY SOUP.

The shin or leg of beef, if not large or coarse, will answer extremely well for this soup, and afford at the same time a highly economical dish of boiled meat, which will be found very tender, and very palatable also, if it be served with a sauce of some piquancy. From about ten pounds of the meat let the butcher cut evenly off five or six from the thick fleshy part, and again divide the knuckle, that the whole may lie compactly in the vessel in which it is to be stewed.

Pour in three quarts of cold water, and when it has been brought slowly to boil, and been well skimmed, as directed for bouillon (scroll up for recipe), throw in an ounce and a half of salt, half a large teaspoonful of peppercorns, eight cloves, two blades of mace, a faggot of savoury herbs, a couple of small carrots, and the heart of a root of celery; to these add a mild onion or not, at choice. When the whole has stewed very softly for four hours, probe the larger bit of beef, and if quite tender, lift it out for table; let the soup be simmered from two to three hours longer, and then strain it through a fine sieve, into a clean pan.

When it is perfectly cold, clear off every particle of fat; heat a couple of quarts, stir in, when it boils, half an ounce of sugar, a small tablespoonful of good soy, and twice as much of Harvey’s sauce, or instead of this, of clear and fine mushroom catsup. If carefully made, the soup will be perfectly transparent and of good colour and flavour.

A thick slice of lean ham will improve it, and a pound or so of the neck of beef with an additional pint of water, will likewise enrich its quality. A small quantity of good broth may be made of the fragments of the whole boiled down with a few fresh vegetables.

Brown caper, or hot horseradish sauce, or sauce Robert, or sauce piquante, made with the liquor in which it is boiled, may be served with the portion of the meat which is sent to table.

VERMICELLI SOUP.

(Potage au Vermicelle.)

Drop very lightly, and by degrees, six ounces of vermicelli, broken rather small, into three quarts of boiling bouillon or clear gravy soup; let it simmer for half an hour[18] over a gentle fire, and stir it often. This is the common French mode of making vermicelli soup, and we can recommend it as a particularly good one for family use.

In England it is customary to soak, or to blanch the vermicelli, then to drain it well, and to stew it for a shorter time in the soup; the quantity also, must be reduced quite two ounces, to suit modern taste.

18. When of very fine quality, the vermicelli will usually require less boiling than this. We have named to the reader, in another part of the volume, Mr. Cobbett, 18, Pall Mall, as supplying all the Italian pastes extremely good. There are, of course, many other houses in London where they may be procured equally so; but in naming Mr. Cobbett, who is personally unknown to us, we merely give the result of our own experience of many years.

Some articles of very superior quality purchased for us at his warehouse by a person merely commissioned to procure the best that could be had “from Town,” first directed our attention to his house (a long established one, we believe), which is justly noted, especially amongst affluent country families, for the excellence of the goods which it sends out. We give this explanation, because it seems invidious to select, from the large number of deservedly celebrated establishments of the same class which are to be found here, any one in particular for mention in a work of this nature.

Bouillon, or gravy soup, 3 quarts; vermicelli, 6 oz.; 30 minutes. Or, soup, 3 quarts; vermicelli, 4 oz.; blanched in boiling water 5 minutes; stewed in soup 10 to 15 minutes.

SEMOULINA SOUP. (Soupe à la Sémoule.)

Semoulina is used in the same way as the vermicelli. It should be dropped very lightly and by degrees into the boiling soup, which should be stirred all the time it is being added, and very frequently afterwards; indeed, it should scarcely be quitted until it is ready for table. Skim it carefully, and let it simmer from twenty to five-and-twenty minutes. This, when the semoulina is good and fresh, is, to our taste, an excellent soup.

Soup, 3 quarts; semoulina, 6 oz.; nearly, or quite 25 minutes.

MACARONI SOUP.

Throw four ounces of fine fresh[19] mellow Naples maccaroni into a pan of fast-boiling water, with about an ounce of fresh butter, and a small onion stuck with three or four cloves.[20] When it has swelled to its full size, and become tender, drain it well, cut it into half-inch lengths, and slip it into a couple of quarts of clear gravy-soup: let it simmer for a few minutes, when it will be ready for table.

Observe, that the macaroni should be boiled quite tender; but it should by no means be allowed to burst, nor to become pulpy. Serve grated Parmesan cheese with it.

19. We must here repeat our warning against the use of long-kept macaroni, vermicelli, or semoulina; as when stale they will render any dish into which they are introduced quite unfit for table.

20. For white soups omit the onion.

Macaroni, 4 oz.; butter, 1 oz.; 1 small onion; 5 cloves; 3/4 hour, or more. In soup, 5 to 10 minutes.

Obs.—The macaroni for soups should always be either broken into short lengths before it is boiled, or cut as above, or sliced quickly into small rings not more than the sixth of an inch thick after it is boiled, unless the cut or ring macaroni, which may be purchased at the Italian warehouses, be used; this requires but ten minutes’ boiling, and should be dropped into the soup in the same way as vermicelli. Four ounces of it will be sufficient for two quarts of stock. It may be added to white soup after having been previously boiled in water or veal-broth, and well drained from it: it has a rather elegant appearance in clear gravy-soup, but should have a boil in water before it is thrown into it.

If served in very clear bright stock (consommé), it should be boiled apart until tender in a little good broth, which ought also to be clear and entirely free from fat; then well drained, and put into the soup for a minute, or into the tureen, the instant before the soup is dished.

SOUP OF SOUJEE.

The soujee is of Indian origin, but is now well manufactured in England,[22] and is, we think, somewhat more delicate than semoulina in flavour; and being made from wheat of the finest quality, is also quite as nutritious, or more so.

For each quart of soup allow two ounces of soujee (the proportions can always be otherwise adapted to the taste after the first trial); drop it gradually into the boiling liquid, and simmer it for ten or twelve minutes.

Bullock’s semola is another preparation which may be used in exactly the same manner to thicken soup; but both this and soujee are more expensive at present than semoulina.

22. By Messrs. Stephens and Co., 2 White’s Row, Bishopsgate.

POTAGE AUX NOUILLES, OR TAILLERINE SOUP

Make into nouille-paste, with very fine dry flour, the yolks of four fresh eggs, and when ready cut, drop it gradually into five pints of boiling soup; keep this gently stirred for ten minutes, skim it well, and serve it quickly. This is a less common, and a more delicately flavoured soup than the vermicelli, provided always that the nouilles be made with really fresh eggs. The same paste may be cut into very small diamonds, squares, stars, or any other form, then left to dry a little, and boiled in the soup until swollen to its full size, and tender.

Nouille-paste of four eggs; soup, 5 pints: 10 minutes.

SAGO SOUP.

Wash in several waters, and float off the dirt from six ounces of fine pearl sago; put it into three quarts of good cold gravy-stock; let it stew gently from half to three quarters of an hour, and stir it occasionally, that it may not burn nor stick to the stewpan. A quarter of an ounce more of sago to each pint of liquid, will thicken it to the consistence of peas-soup.

It may be flavoured with half a wineglassful of Harvey’s sauce, as much cayenne as it may need, the juice of half a lemon, an ounce of sugar, and two glasses of sherry; or these may be omitted, and good beef-broth may be substituted for the gravy-soup, for a simple family dinner, or for an invalid; or, again, it may be converted into inexpensive white soup by the addition of some cream smoothly mixed with a dessertspoonful of arrow-root, or of thick cream and new milk in equal portions. Veal broth would be the most appropriate for this, or it might be made with half veal and half mutton.

Sago, 6 oz.; soup, 3 quarts: 30 to 45 minutes.

TAPIOCA SOUP.

This is made in the same manner, and with the same proportions as the preceding soup, but it must be simmered from fifty to sixty minutes.

RICE SOUP.

In France, this soup is served well thickened with the rice, which is stewed in it for upwards of an hour and a half, and makes thus, even with the common bouillon of the country, an excellent winter potage.

Wipe in a dry cloth, eight ounces of the best rice; add it, in small portions, to four quarts of hot soup, of which the boiling should not be checked as it is thrown in. When a clear soup is wanted wash the rice, give it five minutes’ boil in water, drain it well, throw it into as much boiling stock or well-flavoured broth as will keep it covered till done, and simmer it very softly until the grains are tender but still separate; drain it, drop it into the soup, and let it remain in it a few minutes before it is served, but without simmering. When stewed in the stock it may be put at once, after being drained, into the tureen, and the clear consommé may be poured to it.

An easy English mode of making rice-soup is this: put the rice into plenty of cold water; when it boils throw in a small quantity of salt, let it simmer for ten minutes, drain it well, throw it into the boiling soup, and simmer it gently from ten to fifteen minutes longer.[23] An extra quantity of stock must be allowed for the reduction of this soup which is always considerable.

23. The Patna requires much less boiling than the Carolina.

WHITE RICE SOUP.

Throw four ounces of well-washed rice into boiling water, and in five minutes after pour it into a sieve, drain it well, and put it into a couple of quarts of good white boiling stock; let it stew until tender; season the soup with salt, cayenne, and pounded mace; stir to it three quarters of a pint of very rich cream, give it one boil, and serve it quickly.

Rice, 4 oz.: boiled 5 minutes. Soup, 2 quarts: 3/4 hour or more. Seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne; cream, 3/4 pint: 1 minute.

RICE-FLOUR SOUP.

Mix to a smooth batter, with a little cold broth, eight ounces of fine rice-flour, and pour it into a couple of quarts of fast-boiling broth or gravy soup. Add to it a seasoning of mace and cayenne, with a little salt if needful. It will require but ten minutes’ boiling. Soup, 2 quarts; rice-flour, 8 oz.: 10 minutes.

Obs.—Two dessertspoonsful of currie-powder, and the strained juice of half a moderate-sized lemon will greatly improve this soup: it may also be converted into a good common white soup (if it be made of veal stock), by the addition of three quarters of a pint of thick cream to the rice.

STOCK FOR WHITE SOUP.

Though a knuckle of veal is usually preferred for this stock, part of the neck will answer for it very well. Whichever joint be chosen, let it be thoroughly washed, once or twice divided, and laid into a delicately clean soup-pot, or well-tinned large stout iron saucepan, upon a pound of lean ham, freed entirely from skin and fat, and cut into thick slices; or, instead of this, one half a pound of the Jewish smoked beef, of which we have already spoken, and from which the smoked surface, and all fat, must be carefully carved away.

Dutch or hung beef also will answer the same purpose, but similar precautions must be observed with regard to the smoked portions of either; as they would impart a very unpleasant flavour to any preparation. Should very rich soup be wished for, pour in a pint only of cold water for each pound of meat, but otherwise a pint and a half may be allowed.

When the soup has been thoroughly cleared from scum, which should be carefully taken off from the time of its first beginning to boil, throw in an ounce of salt to the gallon (more can be added afterwards if needed), two mild onions, a moderate-sized head of celery, two carrots, a small teaspoonful of whole white pepper, and two blades of mace; and let the soup stew very softly from five to six hours, if the quantity be large: it should simmer until the meat falls from the bones. The skin of a calf’s head, a calf’s foot, or an old fowl may always be added to this stock with good effect. Strain it into a clean deep pan, and keep it in a cool place till wanted for use.

Lean ham, 1 lb.; veal, 7 lbs; water, 4 to 6 quarts; salt, 1-1/2 oz. (more if needed); onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 2; peppercorns, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 2 blades: 5 to 6 hours.

MUTTON-STOCK FOR SOUPS.

Equal parts of beef and mutton, with the addition of a small portion of ham, or dried beef, make excellent stock, especially for winter-soups. The necks of fowls, the bones of an undressed calf’s head, or of any uncooked joint, may be added to it with advantage. According to the quality of soup desired, pour from a pint to a pint and a half of cold water to each pound of meat; and after the liquor has been well skimmed, on its beginning to boil, throw in an ounce and a half of salt to the gallon, two small heads of celery, three mild middling-sized onions, three well-flavoured turnips, as many carrots, a faggot of thyme and parsley, half a teaspoonful of white peppercorns, twelve cloves, and a large blade of mace.

Draw the soup-pot to the side of the fire, and boil the stock as gently as possible for about six hours; then strain, and set it by for use. Be particularly careful to clear it entirely from fat before it is prepared for table. One third of beef or veal, with two of mutton, will make very good soup; or mutton only will answer the purpose quite well upon occasion.

Beef, 4 lbs.; mutton, 4 lbs. (or, beef or veal from 2 to 3 lbs.; mutton from 5 to 6 lbs.); water, 1 to 1-1/2 gallon; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; mild turnips, 1 lb.; onions, 6 oz.; carrots, 3/4 lb.; celery, 6 to 8 oz.; 1 bunch of herbs; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; cloves, 12; mace, 1 large blade: 6 hours.

Obs.—Salt should be used sparingly at first for stock in which any portion of ham is boiled; allowance should also be made for its reduction, in case of its being required for gravy.

MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND’S SOUP. (Authentic Receipt)

This receipt does not merely bear the name of “Mademoiselle Lind,” but is in reality that of the soup which was constantly served to her, as it was prepared by her own cook. We are indebted for it to the kindness of the very poplar Swedish authoress, Miss Bremer, who received it direct from her accomplished countrywoman.[24]

24. We were informed by Miss Bremer that Mademoiselle Lind was in the habit of taking this soup before she sang, as she found the sago and eggs soothing to the chest, and beneficial to the voice.

The following proportions are for a tureen of this excellent potage:—

Wash a quarter of a pound of the best pearl sago until the water poured from it is clear; then stew it quite tender and very thick in water or thick broth (it will require nearly or quite a quart of liquid, which should be poured to it cold, and heated slowly): then mix gradually with it a pint of good boiling cream, and the yolks of four fresh eggs, and mingle the whole carefully with two quarts of strong veal or beef stock, which should always be kept ready boiling. Send the soup immediately to table.

THE LORD MAYOR’S SOUP.

Wash thoroughly two sets of moderate sized pigs’ ears and feet from which the hair has been carefully removed; add to them five quarts of cold water, and stew them very gently with a faggot of savoury herbs, and one large onion stuck with a dozen cloves, for nearly four hours, when the ears may be lifted out; stew the feet for another hour, then take them up, strain the soup, and set it in a cool place that it may become cold enough for the fat to be quite cleared from it.

Next, bone the ears and feet, cut the flesh down into dice, throw a clean folded cloth over it, and leave it so until the soup requires to be prepared for table; then strew upon it two tablespoonsful of savoury herbs minced small, half a saltspoonful of cayenne, a little white pepper, and some salt. Put into a large saucepan half a pound of good butter, and when it begins to simmer thicken it gradually with as much flour as it will absorb; keep these stirred over a very gentle fire for ten minutes or more, but do not allow them to take the slightest colour; pour the soup to them by degrees, letting it boil up after each portion is added; put in the meat, and half a pint of sherry; simmer the whole from three to five minutes; dish the soup, and slip into it two or three dozens of delicately fried forcemeat-balls.

Pigs’ feet, 8; ears, 4; water, 5 quarts; bunch savoury herbs; 1 large onion; cloves, 12: 3-1/2 to 4 hours, feet, 1 hour more. Butter, 1/2 lb.; flour, 6 oz.[25]: 10 to 12 minutes. Minced herbs, 2 tablespoonsful; cayenne and common pepper, each 1/2 saltspoonful; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful or more; sherry, 1/2 pint: 3 to 5 minutes. Forcemeat-balls, 2 to 3 dozens.

25. The safer plan for an inexperienced cook is to weigh the flour, and then to sprinkle it from a dredging-box into the butter.

Obs.—We have given this receipt with the slightest possible variation from the original, which we derived from a neighbourhood where the soup made by it was extremely popular. We have better adapted it to our own taste by the following alterations.

THE LORD MAYOR’S SOUP. (Author’s Receipt.)

We prefer to have this soup made, in part, the evening before it is wanted. Add the same proportion of water to the ears and feet as in the preceding directions; skim it thoroughly when it first boils, and throw in a tablespoonful of salt, two onions of moderate size, a small head of celery, a bunch of herbs, two whole carrots, a small teaspoonful of white peppercorns, and a blade of mace.

Stew these softly until the ears and feet are perfectly tender, and, after they are lifted out, let the liquor be kept just simmering only, while they are being boned, that it may not be too much reduced. Put the bones back into it, and stew them as gently as possible for an hour; then strain the soup into a clean pan, and set it by until the morrow in a cool place. The flesh should be cut into dice while it is still warm, and covered with the cloth before it becomes quite cold.

To prepare the soup for table clear the stock from fat and sediment, put it into a very clean stewpan, or deep saucepan, and stir to it when it boils, six ounces of the finest rice-flour smoothly mixed with a quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne, three times as much of mace and salt, the strained juice of a lemon, three tablespoonsful of Harvey’s sauce, and half a pint of good sherry or Madeira. Simmer the whole for six or eight minutes, add more salt if needed, stir the soup often, and skim it thoroughly; put in the meat and herbs, and after they have boiled gently for five minutes, dish the soup, add forcemeat-balls or not, at pleasure, and send it to table quickly.

Moderate-sized pigs’ feet, 8; ears, 4; water, 5 quarts; salt, 1 tablespoonful; onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 2; bunch of herbs; peppercorns, 1 small teaspoonful; mace, 1 blade: 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours. Stock, 5 pints; rice-flour, 6 oz.; cayenne, 1/4 teaspoonful; mace and salt, each 3/4 of a teaspoonful; juice of 1 lemon; Harvey’s sauce, 3 tablespoonsful; sherry or Madeira, 1/2 pint: 6 to 8 minutes. Savoury herbs, 2 tablespoonsful: 5 minutes.

Obs. 1.—Should the quantity of stock exceed five pints, an additional ounce or more of rice must be used, and the flavouring be altogether increased in proportion. Of the minced herbs, two-thirds should be parsley, and the remainder equal parts of lemon thyme and winter savoury, unless sweet basil should be at hand, when a teaspoonful of it may be substituted for half of the parsley. To some tastes a seasoning of sage would be acceptable; and a slice or two of lean ham will much improve the flavour of the soup.

Obs. 2.—Both this soup, and the preceding one, may be rendered very rich by substituting strong bouillon or good veal broth for water, in making them.

COCOA-NUT SOUP.

Pare the dark rind from a very fresh cocoa-nut, and grate it down small on an exceedingly clean, bright grater; weigh it, and allow two ounces for each quart of soup. Simmer it gently for one hour in the stock, which should then be strained closely from it, and thickened for table.

Veal stock, gravy-soup, or broth, 5 pints; grated cocoa-nut, 5 oz., 1 hour. Flour of rice, 5 oz.; mace, 1/2 teaspoonful; little cayenne and salt; mixed with 1/4 pint of cream: 10 minutes.

Or: gravy-soup, or good beef broth, 5 pints: 1 hour. Rice flour, 5 oz.; soy and lemon-juice, each 1 tablespoonful; finely pounded sugar, 1 oz.; cayenne, 1/4 teaspoonful; sherry, 2 glassesful.

Obs.—When either cream or wine is objected to for these soups, a half-pint of the stock should be reserved to mix the thickening with.

CHESTNUT SOUP.

Strip the outer rind from some fine, sound Spanish chestnuts, throw them into a large pan of warm water, and as soon as it becomes too hot for the fingers to remain in it, take it from the fire, lift out the chestnuts, peel them quickly, and throw them into cold water as they are done; wipe, and weigh them; take three quarters of a pound for each quart of soup, cover them with good stock, and stew them gently for upwards of three quarters of an hour, or until they break when touched with a fork; drain, and pound them smoothly, or bruise them to a mash with a strong spoon, and rub them through a fine sieve reversed; mix with them by slow degrees the proper quantity of stock; add sufficient mace, cayenne, and salt to season the soup, and stir it often until it boils.

Three quarters of a pint of rich cream, or even less, will greatly improve it. The stock in which the chestnuts are boiled can be used for the soup when its sweetness is not objected to; or it may in part be added to it.

Chestnuts, 1-1/2 lb.: stewed from 2/3 to 1 hour. Soup, 2 quarts; seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne: 1 to 3 minutes. Cream, 3/4 pint (when used).

COMMON CARROT SOUP.

The most easy method of making this favourite English soup is to boil some highly coloured carrots quite tender in water slightly salted, then to pound or mash them to a smooth paste, and to mix with them boiling gravy soup or strong beef broth or Bouillon in the proportion of two quarts to a pound and a half of the prepared carrots; then to pass the whole through a strainer, to season it with salt and cayenne, to heat it in a clean stewpan, and to serve it immediately. If only the red outsides of the carrots be used, the colour of the soup will be very bright; they should be weighed after they are mashed. Turnip soup may be prepared in the same manner.

Obs.—An experienced and observant cook will know the proportion of vegetables required to thicken this soup appropriately, without having recourse to weights and measures; but the learner had always better proceed by rule.

Soup, 2 quarts; pounded carrot, 1-1/2 lb.; salt, cayenne: 5 minutes.

A FINER CARROT SOUP.

Scrape very clean, and cut away all blemishes from some highly-flavoured red carrots; wash, and wipe them dry, and cut them into quarter-inch slices.

Put into a large stewpan three ounces of the best butter, and when it is melted, add two pounds of the sliced carrots, and let them stew gently for an hour without browning; pour to them then four pints and a half of brown gravy soup, and when they have simmered from fifty minutes to an hour, they ought to be sufficiently tender. Press them through a sieve or strainer with the soup; add salt, and cayenne if required; boil the whole gently for five minutes, take off all the scum, and serve the soup as hot as possible.

Butter, 3 oz.; carrots, 2 lbs.: 1 hour. Soup, 4-1/2 pints: 50 to 60 minutes. Salt, cayenne: 5 minutes.

COMMON TURNIP SOUP.

Wash and wipe the turnips, pare and weigh them; allow a pound and a half for every quart of soup. Cut them in slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Melt four ounces of butter in a clean stewpan, and put in the turnips before it begins to boil; stew them gently for three quarters of an hour, taking care that they shall not brown, then have the proper quantity of soup ready boiling, pour it to them, and let them simmer in it for three quarters of an hour.

Pulp the whole through a coarse sieve or soup strainer, put it again on the fire, keep it stirred until it has boiled three minutes or four, take off the scum, add salt and pepper if required, and serve it very hot. Turnips, 3 lbs.; butter, 4 oz.: 3/4 hour. Soup, 2 quarts: 3/4 hour. Last time: three minutes.

A QUICKLY MADE TURNIP SOUP.

Pare and slice into three pints of veal or mutton stock or of good broth, three pounds of young mild turnips; stew them gently from twenty-five to thirty minutes, or until they can be reduced quite to pulp; rub the whole through a sieve, and add to it another quart of stock, a seasoning of salt and white pepper, and one lump of sugar: give it two or three minutes’ boil, skim and serve it. A large white onion when the flavour is liked may be sliced and stewed with the turnips. A little cream improves much the colour of this soup.

Turnips, 3 lbs.; soup, 5 pints: 25 to 30 minutes.

POTATO SOUP.

Mash to a smooth paste three pounds of good mealy potatoes, which have been steamed, or boiled very dry; mix with them by degrees, two quarts of boiling broth, pass the soup through a strainer, set it again on the fire, add pepper and salt, and let it boil for five minutes.

Take off entirely the black scum that will rise upon it, and serve it very hot with fried or toasted bread. Where the flavour is approved, two ounces of onions minced and fried a light brown, may be added to the soup, and stewed in it for ten minutes before it is sent to table.

Potatoes, 3 lbs.; broth, 2 quarts: 5 minutes. (With onions, 2 oz.) 10 minutes.

WESTERFIELD WHITE SOUP.

Break the bone of a knuckle of veal in one or two places, and put it on to stew, with three quarts of cold water to the five pounds of meat; when it has been quite cleared from scum, add to it an ounce and a half of salt, and one mild onion, twenty corns of white pepper, and two or three blades of mace, with a little cayenne pepper.

When the soup is reduced one-third by slow simmering strain it off, and set it by till cold; then free it carefully from the fat and sediment, and heat it again in a very clean stewpan. Mix with it when it boils, a pint of thick cream smoothly blended with an ounce of good arrow-root, two ounces of very fresh vermicelli previously boiled tender in water slightly salted and well drained from it, and an ounce and a half of almonds blanched and cut in strips: give it one minute’s simmer, and serve it immediately, with a French roll in the tureen.

Veal, 5 lbs.; water, 3 quarts; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; 1 mild onion; 20 corns white pepper; 2 large blades of mace: 5 hours or more. Cream, 1 pint; almonds, 1-1/2 oz.; vermicelli, 1 oz.: 1 minute. Little thickening if needed.

Obs.—We have given this receipt without any variation from the original, as the soup made by it—of which we have often partaken—seemed always much approved by the guests of the hospitable country gentleman from whose family it was derived, and at whose well-arranged table it was very commonly served; but we would suggest the suppression of the almond spikes, as they seem unsuited to the preparation, and also to the taste of the present day.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.

To make a single tureen of this favourite English soup in the most economical manner when there is no stock at hand, stew gently down in a gallon of water four pounds of the fleshy part of the shin of beef, or of the neck, with two or three carrots, one onion, a small head of celery, a bunch of savoury herbs, a blade of mace, a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns, and an ounce of salt.

When the meat is quite in fragments, strain off the broth, and pour it when cold upon three pounds of the knuckle or of the neck of veal; simmer this until the flesh has quite fallen from the bones, but be careful to stew it as softly as possible, or the quantity of stock will be so much reduced as to be insufficient for the soup. Next, take the half of a fine calf’s head with the skin on, remove the brains, and then bone it entirely, or let the butcher do this, and return the bones with it; these, when there is time, may be stewed with the veal to enrich the stock, or boiled afterwards with the head and tongue. Strain the soup through a hair-sieve into a clean pan, and let it drain closely from the meat. When it is nearly or quite cold, clear off all the fat from it; roll the head lightly round, leaving the tongue inside, or taking it out, as is most convenient, secure it with tape or twine, pour the soup over, and bring it gently to boil upon a moderate fire; keep it well skimmed, and simmer it from an hour to an hour and a quarter; then lift the head into a deep pan or tureen, add the soup to it, and let it remain in until nearly cold, as this will prevent the edges from becoming dark.

Cut into quarter-inch slices, and then divide into dice, from six to eight ounces of the lean of an undressed ham, and if possible, one of good flavour; free it perfectly from fat, rind, and the smoked edges; peel and slice four moderate-sized eschalots, or if these should not be at hand, one mild onion in lieu of them. Dissolve in a well-tinned stewpan or thick iron saucepan which holds a gallon or more, four ounces of butter; put in the ham and eschalots, or onion, with half a dozen cloves, two middling-sized blades of mace, a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns, three or four very small sprigs of thyme, three teaspoonsful of minced parsley, one of lemon thyme and winter savoury mixed, and when the flavour is thought appropriate, the very thin rind of half a small fresh lemon.

Stew these as softly as possible for nearly or quite an hour, and keep the pan frequently shaken: then put into a dredging box two ounces of fine dry flour, and sprinkle it to them by degrees; mix the whole well together, and after a few minutes more of gentle simmering, add very gradually five full pints of the stock taken free of fat and sediment, and made boiling before it is poured in; shake the pan strongly round as the first portions of it are added, and continue to do so until it contains from two to three pints, when the remainder may be poured in at once, and the pan placed by the side of the fire that it may boil in the gentlest manner for an hour.

At the end of that time turn the whole into a hair-sieve placed over a large pan, and if the liquid should not run through freely, knock the sides of the sieve, but do not force it through with a spoon, as that would spoil the appearance of the stock. The head in the meanwhile should have been cut up, ready to add to it. For the finest kind of mock turtle, only the skin, with the fat that adheres to it, should be used; and this, with the tongue, should be cut down into one inch squares, or if preferred into strips of an inch wide. For ordinary occasions, the lean part of the flesh may be added also, but as it is always sooner done than the skin, it is better to add it to the soup a little later.

When it is quite ready, put it with the strained stock into a clean pan, and simmer it from three quarters of an hour to a full hour: it should be perfectly tender, without being allowed to break. Cayenne, if needed, should be thrown into the stock before it is strained; salt should be used sparingly, on account of the ham, until the whole of the other ingredients have been mixed together, when a sufficient quantity must be stirred into the soup to season it properly. A couple of glasses of good sherry or Madeira, with a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice, are usually added two or three minutes only before the soup is dished, that the spirit and flavour of the wine may not have time to evaporate; but it is sometimes preferred mellowed down by longer boiling. The proportion of lemon-juice may be doubled at will, but much acid is not generally liked.

We can assure the reader of the excellence of the soup made by this receipt; it is equally palatable and delicate, and not heavy or cloying to the stomach, like many of the elaborate compositions which bear its name. The fat, through the whole process, should be carefully skimmed off. The ham gives far more savour, when used as we have directed, than when, even in much larger proportion, it is boiled down in the stock. Two dozens of forcemeat-balls, should be dropped into the soup when it is ready for table. It is no longer customary to serve egg-balls in it.

27. This is so simple and easy a process, that the cook may readily accomplish it with very little attention. Let her only work the knife close to the bone always, so as to take the flesh clean from it, instead of leaving large fragments on. The jaw-bone may first be removed, and the flesh turned back from the edge of the other.

First broth:—shin, or neck of beef, 4 lbs.; water, 4 quarts; carrots, 2 or 3; large mild onion, 1; celery, small head; bunch savoury herbs; mace, 1 large blade; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; cloves, 6; salt, 1 oz.: 5 hours or more, very gently. For stock: the broth and 3 lbs. neck or knuckle of veal (bones of head if ready): 4 to 5 hours. Boned half-head with skin on and tongue, 1 to 1-1/4 hour. Lean of undressed ham, 6 to 8 oz. (6 if very salt); shalots, 4, or onion, 1; fresh butter, 4 oz.; cloves, 6; middling-sized blades of mace, 2; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; small sprigs of thyme, 3 or 4; minced parsley, 3 large teaspoonsful; minced savoury and lemon-thyme mixed, 1 small teaspoonful (thin rind 1/2 small lemon, when liked): 1 hour. Flour, 2 oz.: 5 minutes. Stock, full five pints; flesh of head and tongue, 1-3/4 to 2 lbs.: 3/4 of an hour to 1 hour (salt, if needed, to be added in interim). Good sherry or Madeira, 2 wineglassesful; lemon-juice, 1 to 2 dessertspoonsful; forcemeat-balls, 24.

Obs. 1.—The beef, veal, bones of the head, and vegetables may be stewed down together when more convenient: it is only necessary that a really good, well flavoured, and rather deeply-coloured stock should be prepared. A calf’s foot is always an advantageous addition to it, and the skin of another calf’s head a better one still.

28. Country butchers, in preparing a calf’s head for sale in the ordinary way, take off the skin (or scalp), considered so essential to the excellence of this soup, and frequently throw it away; it may, therefore, often be procured from them at very slight cost, and is the best possible addition to the mock turtle. It is cleared from the head in detached portions with the hair on, but this may easily be removed after a few minutes’ scalding as from the head itself, or the feet. In London it is sold entire, and very nicely prepared, and may be served in many forms, besides being added to soup with great advantage.

Obs. 2.—A couple of dozens mushroom-buttons, cleaned with salt and flannel, then wiped very dry, and sliced, and added to the ham and herbs when they have been simmered together about half an hour, will be found an improvement to the soup.

Claret is sometimes added instead of sherry or Madeira, but we do not think it would in general suit English taste so well. From two to three tablespoonsful of Harvey’s sauce can be stirred in with the wine when it is liked, or when the colour requires deepening.

OLD-FASHIONED MOCK TURTLE.

After having taken out the brain and washed and soaked the head well, pour to it nine quarts of cold water, bring it gently to boil, skim it very clean, boil it if large an hour and a half, lift it out, and put into the liquor eight pounds of neck of beef lightly browned in a little fresh butter, with three or four thick slices of lean ham, four large onions sliced, three heads of celery, three large carrots, a large bunch of savoury herbs, the rind of a lemon pared very thin, a dessertspoonful of peppercorns, two ounces of salt, and after the meat has been taken from the head, all the bones and fragments. Stew these gently from six to seven hours, then strain off the stock and set it into a very cool place, that the fat may become firm enough on the top to be cleared off easily.

The skin and fat of the head should be taken off together and divided into strips of two or three inches in length, and one in width; the tongue may be carved in the same manner, or into dice. Put the stock, of which there ought to be between four and five quarts, into a large soup or stewpot; thicken it when it boils with four ounces of fresh butter mixed with an equal weight of fine dry flour, a half-teaspoonful of pounded mace, and a third as much of cayenne (it is better to use these sparingly at first, and to add more should the soup require it, after it has boiled some little time); pour in half a pint of sherry, stir the whole together until it has simmered for a minute or two, then put in the head, and let it stew gently from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half: stir it often, and clear it perfectly from scum. Put into it just before it is ready for table three dozens of small forcemeat-balls; the brain cut into dice (after having been well soaked, scalded, and freed from the film), dipped into beaten yolk of egg, then into the finest crumbs mixed with salt, white pepper, a little grated nutmeg, fine lemon-rind, and chopped parsley fried a fine brown, well drained and dried; and as many egg-balls, the size of a small marble, as the yolks of four eggs will supply.

This quantity will be sufficient for two large tureens of soup; when the whole is not wanted for table at the same time, it is better to add wine only to so much as will be required for immediate consumption, or if it cannot conveniently be divided, to heat the wine in a small saucepan with a little of the soup, to turn it into the tureen, and then to mix it with the remainder by stirring the whole gently after the tureen is filled. Some persons simply put in the cold wine just before the soup is dished, but this is not so well.

29. When the butter is considered objectionable, the flour, without it, may be mixed to the smoothest batter possible, with a little cold stock or water, and stirred briskly into the boiling soup: the spices should be blended with it.

30. The brain should be blanched, that is, thrown into boiling water with a little salt in it, and boiled from five to eight minutes, then lifted out and laid into cold water for a quarter of an hour: it must be wiped very dry before it is fried.

Whole calf’s head with skin on, boiled 1-1/2 hour. Stock: neck of beef, browned in butter, 8 lbs.; lean of ham, 1/2 to 3/4 lb.; onions, 4; large carrots, 3; heads of celery, 3; large bunch herbs; salt, 2 oz. (as much more to be added when the soup is made as will season it sufficiently); thin rind, 1 lemon; peppercorns, 1 dessertspoonful; bones and trimmings of head: 8 hours. Soup: stock, 4 to 5 quarts; flour and butter for thickening, of each 4 oz.; pounded mace, half-teaspoonful; cayenne, third as much (more of each as needed); sherry, half pint: 2 to 3 minutes. Flesh of head and tongue, nearly or quite 2 lbs.: 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour. Forcemeat-balls, 36; the brain cut and fried; egg-balls, 16 to 24.

Obs.—When the brain is not blanched it must be cut thinner in the form of small cakes, or it will not be done through by the time it has taken enough colour: it may be altogether omitted without much detriment to the soup, and will make an excellent corner dish if gently stewed in white gravy for half an hour, and served with it thickened with cream and arrow-root to the consistency of good white sauce, then rather highly seasoned, and mixed with plenty of minced parsley, and some lemon-juice.

GOOD CALF’S HEAD SOUP. (Not expensive.)

Stew down from six to seven pounds of the thick part of a shin of beef with a little lean ham, or a slice of hung beef, or of Jewish beef, trimmed free from the smoky edges, in five quarts of water until reduced nearly half, with the addition, when it first begins to boil, of an ounce of salt, a large bunch of savoury herbs, one large onion, a head of celery, three carrots, two or three turnips, two small blades of mace, eight or ten cloves, and a few white or black peppercorns. Let it boil gently that it may not be too much reduced, for six or seven hours, then strain it into a clean pan and set it by for use.

Take out the bone from half a calf’s head with the skin on (the butcher will do this if desired), wash, roll, and bind it with a bit of tape or twine, and lay it into a stewpan, with the bones and tongue; cover the whole with the beef stock, and stew it for an hour and a half; then lift it into a deep earthen pan and let it cool in the liquor, as this will prevent the edges from becoming dry or discoloured. Take it out before it is quite cold; strain, and skim all the fat carefully from the stock; and heat five pints in a large clean saucepan, with the head cut into small thick slices or into inch-squares. As quite the whole will not be needed, leave a portion of the fat, but add every morsel of the skin to the soup, and of the tongue also.

Should the first of these not be perfectly tender, it must be simmered gently till it is so; then stir into the soup from six to eight ounces of fine rice-flour mixed with a quarter-teaspoonful of cayenne, twice as much freshly pounded mace, half a wineglassful of mushroom catsup, and sufficient cold broth or water to render it of the consistence of batter; boil the whole from eight to ten minutes; take off the scum, and throw in two glasses of sherry; dish the soup and put into the tureen some delicately and well fried forcemeat-balls.

A small quantity of lemon-juice or other acid can be added at pleasure. The wine and forcemeat-balls may be omitted, and the other seasonings of the soup a little heightened. As much salt as may be required should be added to the stock when the head first begins to boil in it: the cook must regulate also by the taste the exact proportion of cayenne, mace, and catsup, which will flavour the soup agreeably. The fragments of the head, with the bones and the residue of the beef used for stock, if stewed down together with some water and a few fresh vegetables, will afford some excellent broth, such as would be highly acceptable, especially if well thickened with rice, to many a poor family during the winter months.

31. Unless very good and pure in flavour, we cannot recommend the addition of this or of any other catsup to soup or gravy.

Stock: shin of beef, 6 to 7 lbs.; water, 5 quarts: stewed down (with vegetables, &c.) till reduced nearly half. Boned half-head with skin on stewed in stock: 1-1/2 hour. Soup: stock, 5 pints; tongue, skin of head, and part of flesh: 15 to 40 minutes, or more if not quite tender. Rice-flour, 6 to 8 oz.; cayenne, quarter-teaspoonful; mace, twice as much; mushroom catsup, 1/2 wineglassful: 10 minutes. Sherry, 2 wineglassesful, forcemeat-balls, 20 to 30.

SOUP DES GALLES.

Add to the liquor in which a knuckle of veal has been boiled the usual time for table as much water as will make altogether six quarts, and stew in it gently sixpennyworth of beef bones and sixpennyworth of pork-rinds. When the boiling is somewhat advanced, throw in the skin of a calf’s head; and in an hour afterwards, or when it is quite tender, lift it out and set it aside till wanted. Slice and fry four large mild onions, stick into another eight or ten cloves, and put them into the soup after it has stewed from six to seven hours.

Continue the boiling for two or three hours longer, then strain off the soup, and let it remain until perfectly cold. When wanted for table, take it quite clear from the fat and sediment, and heat it anew with the skin of the calf’s head cut into dice, three ounces of loaf sugar, four tablespoonsful of strained lemon-juice, two of soy, and three wineglassesful of sherry; give it one boil, skim it well, and serve it as hot as possible. Salt must be added to it sparingly in the first instance on account of the soy: a proper seasoning of cayenne or pepper must not, of course, be omitted.

This receipt was given to the writer, some years since, as a perfectly successful imitation of a soup which was then, and is still, she believes, selling in London at six shillings the quart. Never having tasted the original Soupe des Galles she cannot say how far it is a correct one; but she had it tested with great exactness when she received it first, and found the result a very good soup prepared at an extremely moderate cost.

The pork-rinds, when long boiled, afford a strong and flavourless jelly, which might be advantageously used to give consistence to other soups. They may be procured during the winter, usually at the butcher’s, but if not, at the porkshops: they should be carefully washed before they are put into the soup-pot. When a knuckle of veal cannot conveniently be had, a pound or two of the neck and a morsel of scrag of mutton may instead be boiled down with the beef-bones; or two or three pounds of neck or shin of beef: but these will, of course, augment the cost of the soup.

ECONOMICAL TURKEY SOUP.

The remains of a roast turkey, even after they have supplied the usual mince and broil, will furnish a tureen of cheap and excellent soup with the addition of a little fresh meat. Cut up rather small two pounds of the neck or other lean joint of beef, and pour to it five pints of cold water. Heat these very slowly; skim the liquor when it begins to boil, and add to it an ounce of salt, a small, mild onion (the proportion of all the vegetables may be much increased when they are liked), a little celery, and the flesh and bones of the turkey, with any gravy or forcemeat that may have been left with them.

Let these boil gently for about three hours; then strain off the soup through a coarse sieve or cullender, and let it remain until the fat can be entirely removed from it. It may then be served merely well thickened with rice[34] which has previously been boiled very dry as for currie, and stewed in it for about ten minutes; and seasoned with one large heaped tablespoonful or more of minced parsley, and as much salt and pepper or cayenne as it may require.

This, as the reader will perceive, is a somewhat frugal preparation, by which the residue of a roast turkey may be turned to economical account; but it is a favourite soup at some good English tables, where its very simplicity is a recommendation. It can always be rendered more expensive, and of richer quality, by the addition of lean ham or smoked beef,[35] a larger weight of fresh meat, and catsup or other store-sauces.

34. It will be desirable to prepare six ounces of rice, and to use as much of it as may be required, the reduction of the stock not being always equal, and the same weight of rice therefore not being in all cases sufficient. Rice-flour can be substituted for the whole grain and used as directed for Rice Flour Soup. [scroll up for the recipe]

35. As we have stated in our chapter of Foreign Cookery, the Jewish smoked beef, of which we have given particulars there, imparts a superior flavour to soups and gravies; and it is an economical addition to them, as a small portion of it will much heighten their savour.

Turkey soup à la reine is made precisely like the Potage à la Reine of fowls or pullets.

MULLAGATAWNY SOUP.

Slice, and fry gently in some good butter three or four large onions, and when they are of a fine equal amber-colour lift them out with a slice and put them into a deep stewpot, or large thick saucepan; throw a little more butter into the pan, and then brown lightly in it a young rabbit, or the prime joints of two, or a fowl cut down small, and floured. When the meat is sufficiently browned, lay it upon the onions, pour gradually to them a quart of good boiling stock, and stew it gently from three quarters of an hour to an hour; then take it out, and pass the stock and onions through a fine sieve or strainer.

Add to them two pints and a half more of stock, pour the whole into a clean pan, and when it boils stir to it two tablespoonsful of currie-powder mixed with nearly as much of browned flour, and a little cold water or broth, put in the meat, and simmer it for twenty minutes or longer should it not be perfectly tender, add the juice of a small lemon just before it is dished, serve it very hot, and send boiled rice to table with it. Part of a pickled mango cut into strips about the size of large straws, is sometimes served in this soup, after being stewed in it for a few minutes; a little of the pickle itself should be added with it.

We have given here the sort of receipt commonly used in England for mullagatawny, but a much finer soup may be made by departing from it in some respects.

The onions, of which the proportion may be increased or diminished to the taste, after being fried slowly and with care, that no part should be overdone, may be stewed for an hour in the first quart of stock with three or four ounces of grated cocoa-nut,[36] which will impart a rich mellow flavour to the whole. After all of this that can be rubbed through the sieve has been added to as much more stock as will be required for the soup, and the currie-powder and thickening have been boiled in it for twenty minutes, the flesh of part of a calf’s head,[37] previously stewed almost tender, and cut as for mock turtle, with a sweetbread also parboiled or stewed in broth, and divided into inch-squares, will make an admirable mullagatawny, if simmered in the stock until they have taken the flavour of the currie-seasoning. The flesh of a couple of calves’ feet, with a sweetbread or two, may, when more convenient, be substituted for the head. A large cupful of thick cream, first mixed and boiled with a teaspoonful of flour or arrow-root to prevent its curdling, and stirred into the soup before the lemon-juice, will enrich and improve it much.

36. That our readers to whom this ingredient in soups is new, may not be misled, we must repeat here, that although the cocoa-nut when it is young and fresh imparts a peculiarly rich flavour to any preparation, it is not liked by all eaters, and is better omitted when the taste of a party is not known, and only one soup is served.

37. The scalp or skin only of a calf’s head will make excellent mullagatawny, with good broth for stock; and many kinds of shell-fish also.

Rabbit, 1, or the best joints of, 2, or fowl, 1; large onions, 4 to 6; stock, 1 quart: 3/4 to 1 hour. 2-1/2 pints more of stock; currie-powder, 2 heaped tablespoonsful, with 2 of browned flour; meat and all simmered together 20 minutes or more; juice of lemon, 1 small; or part of pickled mango stewed in the soup 3 to 4 minutes.

Or,—onions, 3 to 6; cocoa-nut, 3 to 4 oz.; stock, 1 quart; stewed 1 hour. Stock, 3 pints (in addition to the first quart); currie-powder and thickening each, 2 large tablespoonsful: 20 minutes. Flesh of part of calf s head and sweetbread, 15 minutes or more. Thick cream, 1 cupful; flour or arrow-root, 1 teaspoonful; boiled 2 minutes, and stirred to the soup. Chili vinegar, 1 tablespoonful, or lemon-juice, 2 tablespoonsful.

Obs. 1.—The brain of the calf’s head stewed for twenty minutes in a little of the stock, then rubbed through a sieve, diluted gradually with more of the stock, and added as thickening to the soup, will be found an admirable substitute for part of the flour.

Obs. 2.—Three or four pounds of a breast of veal, or an equal weight of mutton, free from bone and fat, may take the place of rabbits or fowls in this soup, for a plain dinner. The veal should be cut into squares of an inch and a half, or into strips of an inch in width, and two in length; and the mutton should be trimmed down in the same way, or into very small cutlets.

Obs. 3.—For an elegant table, the joints of rabbit or of fowl should always be boned before they are added to the soup, for which, in this case, a couple of each will be needed for a single tureen, as all the inferior joints must be rejected.

GOOD VEGETABLE MULLAGATAWNY.

Dissolve in a large stewpan or thick iron saucepan, four ounces of butter, and when it is on the point of browning, throw in four large mild onions sliced, three pounds weight of young vegetable marrow cut in large dice and cleared from the skin and seeds, four large or six moderate-sized cucumbers, pared, split, and emptied likewise of their seeds, and from three to six large acid apples, according to the taste; shake the pan often, and stew these over a gentle fire until they are tolerably tender; then strew lightly over and mix well amongst them, three heaped tablespoonsful of mild currie powder, with nearly a third as much of salt, and let the vegetables stew from twenty to thirty minutes longer; then pour to them gradually sufficient boiling water (broth or stock if preferred) to just cover them, and when they are reduced almost to a pulp press the whole through a hair-sieve with a wooden spoon, and heat it in a clean stewpan, with as much additional liquid as will make two quarts with that which was first added.

Give any flavouring that may be needed, whether of salt, cayenne, or acid, and serve the soup extremely hot. Should any butter appear on the surface, let it be carefully skimmed off, or stir in a small dessertspoonful of arrow-root (smoothly mixed with a little cold broth or water) to absorb it. Rice may be served with this soup at pleasure, but as it is of the consistence of winter peas soup, it scarcely requires any addition.

The currie powder may be altogether omitted for variety, and the whole converted into a plain vegetable potage; or it may be rendered one of high savour, by browning all the vegetables lightly, and adding to them rich brown stock. Tomatas, when in season, may be substituted for the apples, after being divided, and freed from their seeds.

Butter, 4 oz.; vegetable marrow, pared and scooped, 3 lbs.; large mild onions, 4; large cucumbers, 4; or middling-sized, 6; apples, or large tomatas, 3 to 6; 30 to 40 minutes. Mild currie-powder, 3 heaped tablespoonsful; salt, one small tablespoonful 20 to 32 minutes. Water, broth, or good stock, 2 quarts.

SPRING SOUP AND SOUP À LA JULIENNE.

Throw into three quarts of strong clear broth, or shin of beef stock, or of consommé, half a pint each of turnips and carrots, turned into any shape that may be preferred, with rather less of the solid part of some white celery stems, and of leeks or of very mild onions mixed. The latter must, if used, be sliced, drawn into rings, and divided into slight shreds.

When these have simmered from twenty to thirty minutes, add the leaves of one or two lettuces and a few of sorrel, trimmed or torn, about the size of half-a-crown. Continue the gentle boiling until these are tender, and add at the moment of serving half a pint of asparagus-points boiled very green, and as many French beans cut into small lozenges, and also boiled apart; or substitute green peas for these last.

39. Only a very subdued flavour of these is, we think, admissible for a delicate vegetable soup of any kind.

For the Julienne soup, first stew the carrots, &c. tolerably tender in a couple of ounces of butter; pour the stock boiling to them; skim off all the fat from the surface, and finish as above. Sprigs of chervil, spinach (boiled apart, and sparingly added), green onions, very small tufts of brocoli or cauliflower, may all be used in these soups at choice. Both the kind and the proportion of the vegetables can be regulated entirely by the taste.

Bread stamped out with a very small round cutter, and dried a pale brown in the oven, is added sometimes to this spring soup, but is, we should say, no improvement.

Winter vegetables should have three or four minutes’ previous boiling (or blanching) before they are put into the soup.

OX-TAIL SOUP.

An inexpensive and very nutritious soup may be made of ox-tails, but it will be insipid in flavour without the addition of a little ham, knuckle of bacon, or a pound or two of other meat. Wash and soak three tails, pour on them a gallon of cold water, let them be brought gradually to boil, throw in an ounce and a half of salt, and clear off the scum carefully as soon as it forms upon the surface; when it ceases to rise, add four moderate-sized carrots, from two to four onions, according to the taste, a large faggot of savoury herbs, a head of celery, a couple of turnips, six or eight cloves, and a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns.

Stew these gently from three hours to three and a half, if the tails be very large; lift them out, strain the liquor, and skim off all the fat; divide the tails into joints, and put them into a couple of quarts or rather more of the stock; stir in, when these begin to boil, a thickening of arrow-root or of rice flour, mixed with as much cayenne and salt as may be required to flavour the soup well, and serve it very hot. If stewed down until the flesh falls away from the bones, the ox-tails will make stock which will be quite a firm jelly when cold; and this, strained, thickened, and well flavoured with spices, catsup, or a little wine, would, to many tastes, be a superior soup to the above. A richer one still may be made by pouring good beef broth instead of water to the meat in the first instance.

Ox-tails, 3; water, 1 gallon; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; carrots, 4; onions, 2 to 4; turnips, 2; celery, 1 head; cloves, 8; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; faggot of savoury herbs: 3 hours to 3-1/2. For a richer soup, 5 to 6 hours. (Ham or gammon of bacon at pleasure, with other flavourings.)

Obs.—To increase the savour of this soup when the meat is not served in it, the onions, turnips, and carrots may be gently fried until of a fine light brown, before they are added to it.

A CHEAP AND GOOD STEW SOUP.

Put from four to five pounds of the gristly part of the shin of beef into three quarts of cold water, and stew it very softly indeed, with the addition of the salt and vegetables directed for bouillon [scroll up for recipe], until the whole is very tender; lift out the meat, strain the liquor, and put it into a large clean saucepan, add a thickening of rice-flour or arrow-root, pepper and salt if needed, and a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup.

In the mean time, cut all the meat into small, thick slices, add it to the soup, and serve it as soon as it is very hot. The thickening and catsup may be omitted, and all the vegetables, pressed through a strainer, may be stirred into the soup instead, before the meat is put back into it.

SOUP IN HASTE.

Chop tolerably fine a pound of lean beef, mutton, or veal, and when it is partly done, add to it a small carrot and one small turnip cut in slices, half an ounce of celery, the white part of a moderate-sized leek, or a quarter of an ounce of onion. Mince all these together, and put the whole into a deep saucepan with three pints of cold water. When the soup boils take off the scum, and add a little salt and pepper. In half an hour it will be ready to serve with or without straining: it may be flavoured at will, with cayenne, catsup, or aught else that is preferred, or it may be converted into French spring broth, by passing it through a sieve, and boiling it again for five or six minutes, with a handful of young and well washed sorrel. Meat, 1 lb.; carrot, 2 oz.; turnip, 1-1/2 oz.; celery, 1/2 oz.; onion, 1/4 oz. water, 3 pints: half an hour. Little pepper and salt.

Obs.—Three pounds of beef or mutton, with two or three slices of ham, and vegetables in proportion to the above receipt, all chopped fine, and boiled in three quarts of water for an hour and a half, will make an excellent family soup on an emergency: additional boiling will of course improve it, and a little spice should be added after it has been skimmed and salted. It may easily be converted into carrot, turnip, or ground-rice soup after it is strained.

VEAL OR MUTTON BROTH.

To each pound of meat add a quart of cold water, bring it gently to boil, skim it very clean, add salt in the same proportion as for bouillon, with spices and vegetables also, unless unflavoured broth be required, when a few peppercorns, a blade or two of mace, and a bunch of savoury herbs, will be sufficient; though for some purposes even these, with the exception of the salt, are better omitted. Simmer the broth for about four hours, unless the quantity be very small, when from two and a half to three, will be sufficient. A little rice boiled down with the meat will both thicken the broth, and render it more nutritious. Strain it off when done, and let it stand till quite cold that the fat may be entirely cleared from it: this is especially needful when it is to be served to an invalid.

Veal or mutton, 4 lbs.; water, 4 quarts; salt. Vegetables, rice (if used), 4 oz.: 4 hours or more.

MILK SOUP WITH VERMICELLI.

Throw into five pints of boiling milk a small quantity of salt, and then drop lightly into it five ounces of good fresh vermicelli; keep the milk stirred as this is added, to prevent its gathering into lumps, and continue to stir it very frequently from fifteen to twenty minutes, or until it is perfectly tender. The addition of a little pounded sugar and powdered cinnamon renders this a very agreeable dish.

In Catholic countries, milk soups of various kinds constantly supply the place of those made with meat, on maigre days; and with us they are sometimes very acceptable, as giving a change of diet for the nursery or sick room. Rice, semoulina, sago, cocoa-nut, and maccaroni may all in turn be used for them as directed for other soups in this chapter, but they will be required in rather smaller proportions with the milk.

Milk, 5 pints; vermicelli, 5 oz.: 15 to 20 minutes.

CHEAP RICE SOUP.

Place a gallon of water on the fire (more or less according to the quantity of soup required), and when it boils, throw in a moderate-sized tablespoonful of salt, and two or three onions, thickly sliced, a faggot of sweet herbs, a root of celery, and three or four large carrots split down into many divisions, and cut into short lengths. Boil these gently for an hour and a half, or two hours, and then strain the liquor from them. When time will permit, let it become cold; then for each quart, take from three to four ounces of well washed rice, pour the soup on it, heat it very slowly, giving it an occasional stir, and stew it gently until it is perfectly tender, and the potage quite thick. A moderate seasoning of pepper, and an ounce or two of fresh butter well blended with a teaspoonful of flour, may be thoroughly stirred up with the soup before it is served; or, in lieu of the butter, the yolks of two or three new-laid eggs, mixed with a little milk, may be carefully added to it.

It may be more quickly prepared by substituting vermicelli, semoulina, or soujee for the rice, as this last will require three quarters of an hour or more of stewing after it begins to boil, and the three other ingredients—either of which must be dropped gradually into the soup when it is in full ebullition—will be done in from twenty to thirty minutes; and two ounces will thicken sufficiently a quart of broth.

A large tablespoonful of Captain White’s currie-paste, and a small one of flour, diluted with a spoonful or twos of the broth, or with a little milk or cream, if perfectly mixed with the rice and stewed with it for fifteen or twenty minutes before it is dished, render it excellent: few eaters would discover that it was made without meat.

Good beef or mutton broth can be used instead of water for the above soup, and in that case the vegetables sliced small, or rubbed through a strainer, may be added to it before it is served.

CARROT SOUP MAIGRE.

Throw two ounces of salt into a gallon of boiling water, then add three or four carrots quartered or thickly sliced, one onion or more according to the taste, and a faggot of parsley, or some parsley roots. When these have boiled gently for upwards of an hour, strain off the liquor and put it back into the saucepan.

Have ready more carrots, nicely scraped and washed; split them down into strips about the size of large macaroni and cut them into half finger lengths. Two quarts of these will not be too much for persons who like the soup well filled with the vegetable; boil them perfectly tender, and turn them with their liquor into the tureen, first adding pepper sufficient to season it properly, and more salt if needed. The proportion of carrots may be diminished, and a quart or more of Brussels sprouts, boiled and drained, may be substituted for part of them. Some persons have these soups thickened, or enriched as they think, with flour and butter; but the latter ingredient should at least be sparingly used; and any other kind of thickening is more wholesome.

A few ounces of vermicelli stewed in them for twenty minutes or rather longer, will be found a very good one. Celery, leeks, and turnips may be boiled down in the carrot-stock, or added when the fresh vegetables have been stewed in it for about ten minutes.

CHEAP FISH SOUPS.

An infinite variety of excellent soups may be made of fish, which may be stewed down for them in precisely the same manner as meat, and with the same addition of vegetables and herbs. When the skin is coarse or rank it should be carefully stripped off before the fish is used; and any oily particles which may float on the surface should be entirely removed from it.

In France, Jersey, Cornwall, and many other localities, the conger eel, divested of its skin, is sliced up into thick cutlets and made into soup, which we are assured by English families who have it often served at their tables, is extremely good. A half-grown fish is best for the purpose. After the soup has been strained and allowed to settle, it must be heated afresh, and rice and minced parsley may be added to it as for turkey soup; or it may be thickened with rice-flour only, or served clear. Curried fish-soups, too, are much to be recommended.

When broth or stock has been made as above with conger eel, common eels, whitings, haddocks, codlings, fresh water fish, or any common kind, which may be at hand, flakes of cold salmon, cod fish, John Dories, or scallops of cold soles, plaice, &c., may be heated and served in it; and the remains of crabs or lobsters mingled with them. The large oysters sold at so cheap a rate upon the coast, and which are not much esteemed for eating raw, serve admirably for imparting flavour to soup, and the softer portions of them may be served in it after a few minutes of gentle simmering. Anchovy or any other store fish-sauce may be added with good effect to many of these pottages if used with moderation. Prawns and shrimps likewise would generally be considered an improvement to them.

41. Some persons prefer the vegetables slowly fried to a fine brown, then drained on a sieve, and well dried before the fire; but though more savoury so, they do not improve the colour of the soup.

For more savoury preparations, fry the fish and vegetables, lay them into the soup-pot, and add boiling, instead of cold water to them.

BUCHANAN CARROT SOUP. (Excellent.)

Make two quarts of soup by either of the foregoing receipts, using for it good brown stock (for a common family dinner strong beef broth will do). Mix smoothly with a little liquid, a tablespoonful of fine currie-powder, and boil it in the soup for ten minutes; or instead of this, season it rather highly with cayenne pepper, and then stir into it from six ounces to half a pound of Patna rice boiled dry and tender as for a currie.

The whole may then remain by the side of the fire without even simmering for ten minutes longer, and then be served immediately.

As a winter potage this is generally much liked. A spoonful of Captain White’s currie-paste will flavour it very agreeably if smoothly diluted, and simmered in it for two or three minutes: we prefer it always to the powder. Three or four ounces of pearl-barley well washed, soaked for some hours, and boiled extremely tender in broth or water, may on occasion be substituted for the rice.

Victorian Recipes from HIGH-CLASS COOKERY MADE EASY. [Economical Cookery] By Mrs. Hart. [1880]

The first duty of the cook or housekeeper is to have a stock made ready for soups, gravies, and sauces. On the care given to this point greatly depend the comfort and success of the dinner. I will now try to explain how, with a little care and pains, this can always be done, and the same stock used for several soups. To make—

BROWN SOUP.

Procure a nap-bone, five lbs.; have the bone well broken into very small pieces, and wash it in salt and water. Cut off the meat, and brown it in the frying-pan, with an onion. Put the nap-bone and fried meat into a convenient-sized soup-pot with eight quarts of cold water, and when it comes to the boil, set it to the side of the fire, to throw up the scum and grease; remove these as they rise, and boil slowly, with a head of celery, for six hours; then strain, and have it clear, to make the different kinds of clear soup. I will afterwards give the names of these.

For thick soups, or gravies, or sauces, put back the same meat and bones of the first stock into the pot, and put on eight quarts more of water. Boil for six hours,—longer, if it is cold weather. Vegetables, such as carrots and turnips, may be put into the stock, but not in warm weather. Strain this stock, and it will do for thick soup or purées of vegetables.

CURRY SOUP.

Peel and slice one onion, and put into a stew-pan with two ounces of butter. Fry of a light-brown colour one apple, and as soon as this is dissolved, mix three ounces of flour, one tablespoonful of curry paste, and one tablespoonful of curry powder. Then add three quarts of stock, by degrees, keeping it stirred while pouring in the soup. Let it simmer by the side of the fire. Remove the scum, and pour through a strainer. Put back into the soup-pot, to keep hot; and serve with boiled rice.

How To Boil Rice for this Soup.

Put on a tea-cupful of rice to boil in cold water and salt; boil for fifteen minutes, then strain through a colander. Rinse the rice under the hot-water tap, and set in the oven to dry. Shake several times to keep the grains separated. Dish, and hand round with curry soup.

SOUP À LA ROYAL.

Switch the yolks of two eggs and the white of one with a glass of stock, season with pepper and salt. Grease a small tea-cup that will hold it, and steam for ten minutes. Let the custard stand till cold, then cut in dice pieces, and drop into a basin of water; and when the clear brown soup is hot, drop in the dice pieces of custard. Serve with a flavouring of Worcestershire sauce in the soup.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.

Procure a calf’s head, and parboil in plenty of water, with a spoonful of salt, till tender. When the calf’s head is cold, by steeping in cold water, trim the head from all gristle, and press it between two ashets till morning; then cut it in dice pieces. Make a thick soup in the following manner: take three ounces of clarified fat and one onion, and brown over the fire; add two ounces of flour, and brown; stir in two quarts bree of head, keeping stirred gently to prevent burning; draw over to the side of the fire to boil slowly and throw up the scum. Put in the pieces of head, and boil if necessary a little longer; put a glass of Madeira wine in the tureen, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

PERSIAN SOUP.

Cut carrot, turnip, and lettuce leaves, with a round vegetable-cutter, to the size of a threepenny piece, and boil tender in a separate sauce-pan, strain and add to clear brown soup. A glass of sherry added to the soup is an improvement, but this may be omitted.

JULIENNE SOUP.

Take the red part of a carrot, part of a turnip, and the white part of a head of celery, leek, and onion; cut these into thin shreds about an inch long, and boil in a pint of water. Pour off the water from the vegetables, and add them to the clear brown soup. Season with pepper and salt, and whatever sauce is preferred.

KIDNEY SOUP.

Get one ox kidney, cut it in small pieces and put it on to stew in a pan with half an onion and an ounce of butter, and let the kidneys brown; then add a quart of cold water, and let the kidneys stew for one hour; then strain the stock from kidneys and rinse the scum that lies round the kidneys; add the stock from the kidneys to three quarts of second stock, and place in another sauce-pan three ounces of flour, two ounces of dripping, and brown with onion. When this is browned, add the stock gradually to prevent it lumping, then the kidneys; let it simmer at side of stove for half-an-hour; skim off the scum that rises.

OYSTER SOUP.

Use whatever fish bones may be over from filleting fish—failing these, get a cod’s head, and boil for twenty minutes in three quarts of water, and strain. Have two dozen of oysters bearded and scalded. Have a spoonful of butter and one of flour melted, not browned. Strain your soup, and add it to butter and flour, along with a gill of cream for every pint of soup. Add your oysters—two for each person—which have been bearded and scalded, and boil three minutes. Before putting the soup into your tureen, switch up the yolk of an egg in the tureen, then pour the soup over, stirring all the time.

WHITE SOUP.

The boiling of fowl, bones of rabbits, a nap of veal bone, or trimmings of mutton cutlets can be used to make this soup, with a small piece of mace. For every quart of strong white stock place in a pot one ounce of flour and half-an-ounce of butter, and melt it over the fire; then add the boiling stock, a cup of milk, and a gill of cream, and when ready to serve, have the yolk of an egg switched in the tureen and pour the boiling soup on it.

HARE SOUP.

After the hare is skinned, wipe it clean on the outside. Great care must be taken not to lose the blood. Keep the blood in a basin. Place the hare in a pot with cold water, and a small nap-bone broken; when it boils, skim and draw to side of fire to boil for four hours; put in one carrot, one head celery, and one onion. When the hare is done, keep some of the best parts to serve in tureen, then make a brown roux with three ounces of clarified fat, three ounces of flour, and the blood of hare, and brown over the fire; then add the stock of hare, draw to side of fire to throw up the scum. Skim it well, and pass through a hair sieve; return to pot and put in the pieces of hare; pepper and salt. When in the tureen, put in a glass of port wine.

TO MAKE BROWNING FOR SOUPS.

Put one ounce of brown sugar in an iron sauce-pan, and with one spoonful of water a tiny piece of butter. Stir with an iron spoon till browned a dark colour. Add a tea-cupful of cold water, and boil for ten minutes; strain and bottle for colouring soups and sauces. Use a tea-spoonful to colour your soups and sauces, if not already brown enough.

TO MAKE FISH STOCK FOR SAUCES OR SOUPS.

Take any white fish bones you may have, and put them into a pan with three cloves, an onion, pepper, salt, a few herbs according to taste, and a piece of maize, enough to cover a threepenny piece. Cover with water, and boil slowly half-an-hour; then strain through a sieve, and set in a cool place till required.

Victorian Soup Making Advice & Stock recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE SOUPS.

[It will be seen, by reference to the following Recipes, that an entirely original and most intelligible system has been pursued in explaining the preparation of each dish. We would recommend the young housekeeper, cook, or whoever may be engaged in the important task of “getting ready” the dinner, or other meal, to follow precisely the order in which the recipes are given. Thus, let them first place on their table all the INGREDIENTS necessary; then the modus operandi, or MODE of preparation, will be easily managed. By a careful reading, too, of the recipes, there will not be the slightest difficulty in arranging a repast for any number of persons, and an accurate notion will be gained of the TIME the cooling of each dish will occupy, of the periods at which it is SEASONABLE, as also of its AVERAGE COST.

The addition of the natural history, and the description of the various properties of the edible articles in common use in every family, will be serviceable both in a practical and an educational point of view.

Speaking specially of the Recipes for Soups, it may be added, that by the employment of the BEST, MEDIUM, or COMMON STOCK, the quality of the Soups and their cost may be proportionately increased or lessened.]

STOCKS FOR ALL KINDS OF SOUPS.

RICH STRONG STOCK. [104]

104. INGREDIENTS.—4 lbs. of shin of beef, 4 lbs. of knuckle of veal, 3/4 lb. of good lean ham; any poultry trimmings; 3 small onions, 3 small carrots, 3 turnips (the latter should be omitted in summer, lest they ferment), 1 head of celery, a few chopped mushrooms, when obtainable; 1 tomato, a bunch of savoury herbs, not forgetting parsley; 1-1/2 oz. of salt, 12 white peppercorns, 6 cloves, 3 small blades of mace, 4 quarts of water.

Mode.—Line a delicately clean stewpan with the ham cut in thin broad slices, carefully trimming off all its rusty fat; cut up the beef and veal in pieces about 3 inches square, and lay them on the ham; set it on the stove, and draw it down, and stir frequently. When the meat is equally browned, put in the beef and veal bones, the poultry trimmings, and pour in the cold water. Skim well, and occasionally add a little cold water, to stop its boiling, until it becomes quite clear; then put in all the other ingredients, and simmer very slowly for 5 hours. Do not let it come to a brisk boil, that the stock be not wasted, and that its colour may be preserved. Strain through a very fine hair sieve, or tammy, and it will be fit for use.

Time.—5 hours. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart.

MEDIUM STOCK. [105]

105. INGREDIENTS.—4 lbs. of shin of beef, or 4 lbs. of knuckle of veal, or 2 lbs. of each; any bones, trimmings of poultry, or fresh meat, 1/2 a lb. of lean bacon or ham, 2 oz. of butter, 2 large onions, each stuck with 3 cloves; 1 turnip, 3 carrots, 1/2 a leek, 1 head of celery, 2 oz. of salt, 1/2 a teaspoonful of whole pepper, 1 large blade of mace, 1 small bunch of savoury herbs, 4 quarts and 1/2 pint of cold water.

Mode.—Cut up the meat and bacon or ham into pieces about 3 inches square; rub the butter on the bottom of the stewpan; put in 1/2 a pint of water, the meat, and all the other ingredients. Cover the stewpan, and place it on a sharp fire, occasionally stirring its contents. When the bottom of the pan becomes covered with a pale, jelly-like substance, add 4 quarts of cold water, and simmer very gently for 5 hours. As we have said before, do not let it boil quickly. Skim off every particle of grease whilst it is doing, and strain it through a fine hair sieve.

This is the basis of many of the soups afterwards mentioned, and will be found quite strong enough for ordinary purposes.

Time.—5-1/2 hours. Average cost, 9d. per quart.

ECONOMICAL STOCK. [106]

106. INGREDIENTS.—The liquor in which a joint of meat has been boiled, say 4 quarts; trimmings of fresh meat or poultry, shank-bones, &c., roast-beef bones, any pieces the larder may furnish; vegetables, spices, and the same seasoning as in the foregoing recipe.

Mode.—Let all the ingredients simmer gently for 6 hours, taking care to skim carefully at first. Strain it off, and put by for use.

Time.—6 hours. Average cost, 3d. per quart.

WHITE STOCK. [107]

(To be Used in the Preparation of White Soups.)

107. INGREDIENTS.—4 lbs. of knuckle of veal, any poultry trimmings, 4 slices of lean ham, 1 carrot, 2 onions, 1 head of celery, 12 white peppercorns, 1 oz. of salt, 1 blade of mace, 1 oz. butter, 4 quarts of water.

Mode.—Cut up the veal, and put it with the bones and trimmings of poultry, and the ham, into the stewpan, which has been rubbed with the butter. Moisten with 1/2 a pint of water, and simmer till the gravy begins to flow. Then add the 4 quarts of water and the remainder of the ingredients; simmer for 5 hours. After skimming and straining it carefully through a very fine hair sieve, it will be ready for use.

Time.—5-1/2 hours. Average cost, 9d. per quart.

Note.—When stronger stock is desired, double the quantity of veal, or put in an old fowl. The liquor in which a young turkey has been boiled, is an excellent addition to all white stock or soups.

BROWNING FOR STOCK. [108]

108. INGREDIENTS.—2 oz. of powdered sugar, and 1/2 a pint of water.

Mode.—Place the sugar in a stewpan over a slow fire until it begins to melt, keeping it stirred with a wooden spoon until it becomes black, then add the water, and let it dissolve. Cork closely, and use a few drops when required.

Note.—In France, burnt onions are made use of for the purpose of browning. As a general rule, the process of browning is to be discouraged, as apt to impart a slightly unpleasant flavour to the stock, and, consequently, all soups made from it.

TO CLARIFY STOCK. [109]

109. INGREDIENTS.—The whites of 2 eggs, 1/2 pint of water, 2 quarts of stock.

Mode.—Supposing that by some accident the soup is not quite clear, and that its quantity is 2 quarts, take the whites of 2 eggs, carefully separated from their yolks, whisk them well together with the water, and add gradually the 2 quarts of boiling stock, still whisking. Place the soup on the fire, and when boiling and well skimmed, whisk the eggs with it till nearly boiling again; then draw it from the fire, and let it settle, until the whites of the eggs become separated. Pass through a fine cloth, and the soup should be clear.

Note.—The rule is, that all clear soups should be of a light straw colour, and should not savour too strongly of the meat; and that all white or brown thick soups should have no more consistency than will enable them to adhere slightly to the spoon when hot. All purées should be somewhat thicker.

Image of Victorian kitchen work table with pots, bread, cutting boards, etc for preparing soup.

Victorian Soup Recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

ALMOND SOUP.

110. INGREDIENTS.—4 lbs. of lean beef or veal, 1/2 a scrag of mutton, 1 oz. of vermicelli, 4 blades of mace, 6 cloves, 1/2 lb. of sweet almonds, the yolks of 6 eggs, 1 gill of thick cream, rather more than 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Boil the beef, or veal, and the mutton, gently in water that will cover them, till the gravy is very strong, and the meat very tender; then strain off the gravy, and set it on the fire with the specified quantities of vermicelli, mace, and cloves, to 2 quarts. Let it boil till it has the flavour of the spices. Have ready the almonds, blanched and pounded very fine; the yolks of the eggs boiled hard; mixing the almonds, whilst pounding, with a little of the soup, lest the latter should grow oily. Pound them till they are a mere pulp, and keep adding to them, by degrees, a little soup until they are thoroughly mixed together. Let the soup be cool when mixing, and do it perfectly smooth. Strain it through a sieve, set it on the fire, stir frequently, and serve hot. Just before taking it up, add the cream.

Time.—3 hours. Average cost per quart, 2s. 3d.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE ALMOND-TREE.—This tree is indigenous to the northern parts of Asia and Africa, but it is now cultivated in Europe, especially in the south of France, Italy, and Spain. It flowers in spring, and produces its fruit in August. Although there are two kinds of almonds, the sweet and the bitter, they are considered as only varieties of the same species. The best sweet almonds brought to England, are called the Syrian or Jordan, and come from Malaga; the inferior qualities are brought from Valentia and Italy. Bitteralmonds come principally from Magadore. Anciently, the almond was much esteemed by the nations of the East. Jacob included it among the presents which he designed for Joseph. The Greeks called it the Greek or Thasian nut, and the Romans believed that by eating half a dozen of them, they were secured against drunkenness, however deeply they might imbibe. Almonds, however, are considered as very indigestible. The bitter contain, too, principles which produce two violent poisons,—prussic acid and a kind of volatile oil. It is consequently dangerous to eat them in large quantities. Almonds pounded together with a little sugar and water, however, produce a milk similar to that which is yielded by animals. Their oil is used for making fine soap, and their cake as a cosmetic.

APPLE SOUP.

111. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of good boiling apples, 3/4 teaspoonful of white pepper, 6 cloves, cayenne or ginger to taste, 3 quarts of medium stock.

Mode.—Peel and quarter the apples, taking out their cores; put them into the stock, stew them gently till tender. Rub the whole through a strainer, add the seasoning, give it one boil up, and serve.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost per quart, 1s.

Seasonable from September to December.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

THE APPLE.—This useful fruit is mentioned in Holy Writ; and Homer describes it as valuable in his time. It was brought from the East by the Romans, who held it in the highest estimation. Indeed, some of the citizens of the “Eternal city” distinguished certain favourite apples by their names. Thus the Manlians were called after Manlius, the Claudians after Claudius, and the Appians after Appius. Others were designated after the country whence they were brought; as the Sidonians, the Epirotes, and the Greeks. The best varieties are natives of Asia, and have, by grafting them upon others, been introduced into Europe. The crab, found in our hedges, is the only variety indigenous to Britain; therefore, for the introduction of other kinds we are, no doubt, indebted to the Romans. In the time of the Saxon heptarchy, both Devon and Somerset were distinguished as the apple country; and there are still existing in Herefordshire some trees said to have been planted in the time of William the Conqueror. From that time to this, the varieties of this precious fruit have gone on increasing, and are now said to number upwards of 1,500. It is peculiar to the temperate zone, being found neither in Lapland, nor within the tropics. The best baking apples for early use are the Colvilles; the best for autumn are the rennets and pearmains; and the best for winter and spring are russets. The best table, or eating apples, are the Margarets for early use; the Kentish codlin and summer pearmain for summer; and for autumn, winter, or spring, the Dowton, golden and other pippins, as the ribstone, with small russets. As a food, the apple cannot be considered to rank high, as more than the half of it consists of water, and the rest of its properties are not the most nourishing. It is, however, a useful adjunct to other kinds of food, and, when cooked, is esteemed as slightly laxative.

ARTICHOKE (JERUSALEM) SOUP.

(A White Soup.)

112. INGREDIENTS.—3 slices of lean bacon or ham, 1/2 a head of celery, 1 turnip, 1 onion, 3 oz. of butter, 4 lbs. of artichokes, 1 pint of boiling milk, or 1/2 pint of boiling cream, salt and cayenne to taste, 2 lumps of sugar, 2-1/2 quarts of white stock.

Mode.—Put the bacon and vegetables, which should be cut into thin slices, into the stewpan with the butter. Braise these for 1/4 of an hour, keeping them well stirred. Wash and pare the artichokes, and after cutting them into thin slices, add them, with a pint of stock, to the other ingredients. When these have gently stewed down to a smooth pulp, put in the remainder of the stock. Stir it well, adding the seasoning, and when it has simmered for five minutes, pass it through a strainer. Now pour it back into the stewpan, let it again simmer five minutes, taking care to skim it well, and stir it to the boiling milk or cream. Serve with small sippets of bread fried in butter.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost per quart, 1s. 2d.

Seasonable from June to October.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

ASPARAGUS SOUP.

I.

113. INGREDIENTS.—5 lbs. of lean beef, 3 slices of bacon, 1/2 pint of pale ale, a few leaves of white beet, spinach, 1 cabbage lettuce, a little mint, sorrel, and marjoram, a pint of asparagus-tops cut small, the crust of 1 French roll, seasoning to taste, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Put the beef, cut in pieces and rolled in flour, into a stewpan, with the bacon at the bottom; cover it close, and set it on a slow fire, stirring it now and then till the gravy is drawn. Put in the water and ale, and season to taste with pepper and salt, and let it stew gently for 2 hours; then strain the liquor, and take off the fat, and add the white beet, spinach, cabbage lettuce, and mint, sorrel, and sweet marjoram, pounded. Let these boil up in the liquor, then put in the asparagus-tops cut small, and allow them to boil till all is tender. Serve hot, with the French roll in the dish.

Time.—Altogether 3 hours. Average cost per quart, 1s. 9d.

Seasonable from May to August.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

II.

114. INGREDIENTS.—1-1/2 pint of split peas, a teacupful of gravy, 4 young onions, 1 lettuce cut small, 1/2 a head of celery, 1/2 a pint of asparagus cut small, 1/2 a pint of cream, 3 quarts of water: colour the soup with spinach juice.

Mode.—Boil the peas, and rub them through a sieve; add the gravy, and then stew by themselves the celery, onions, lettuce, and asparagus, with the water. After this, stew altogether, and add the colouring and cream, and serve.

Time.—Peas 2-1/2 hours, vegetables 1 hour; altogether 4 hours. Average cost per quart, 1s.

ASPARAGUS.—The ancients called all the sprouts of young vegetables asparagus, whence the name, which is now limited to a particular species, embracing artichoke, alisander, asparagus, cardoon, rampion, and sea-kale. They are originally mostly wild seacoast plants; and, in this state, asparagus may still be found on the northern as well as southern shores of Britain. It is often vulgarly called, in London, sparrowgrass; and, in it’s cultivated form, hardly bears any resemblance to the original plant. Immense quantities of it are raised for the London market, at Mortlake and Deptford; but it belongs rather to the classes of luxurious than necessary food. It is light and easily digested, but is not very nutritious.

BAKED SOUP.

115. INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of any kind of meat, any trimmings or odd pieces; 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 oz. of rice, 1 pint of split peas, pepper and salt to taste, 4 quarts of water.

Mode.—Cut the meat and vegetables in slices, add to them the rice and peas, season with pepper and salt. Put the whole in a jar, fill up with the water, cover very closely, and bake for 4 hours.

Time.—4 hours. Average cost, 2-1/2d. per quart.

Seasonable at any time.

Sufficient for 10 or 12 persons.

Note.—This will be found a very cheap and wholesome soup, and will be convenient in those cases where baking is more easily performed than boiling.

BARLEY SOUP.

116. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of shin of beef, 1/4 lb. of pearl barley, a large bunch of parsley, 4 onions, 6 potatoes, salt and pepper, 4 quarts of water.

Mode.—Put in all the ingredients, and simmer gently for 3 hours.

Time.—3 hours. Average cost, 2-1/2d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year, but more suitable for winter.

BARLEY.—This, in the order of cereal grasses, is, in Britain, the next plant to wheat in point of value, and exhibits several species and varieties. From what country it comes originally, is not known, but it was cultivated in the earliest ages of antiquity, as the Egyptians were afflicted with the loss of it in the ear, in the time of Moses. It was a favourite grain with the Athenians, but it was esteemed as an ignominious food by the Romans. Notwithstanding this, however, it was much used by them, as it was in former times by the English, and still is, in the Border counties, in Cornwall, and also in Wales. In other parts of England, it is used mostly for malting purposes. It is less nutritive than wheat; and in 100 parts, has of starch 79, gluten 6, saccharine matter 7, husk 8. It is, however, a lighter and less stimulating food than wheat, which renders a decoction of it well adapted for invalids whose digestion is weak.

BREAD SOUP.

(Economical.)

117. INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of bread crusts, 2 oz. butter, 1 quart of common stock.

Mode.—Boil the bread crusts in the stock with the butter; beat the whole with a spoon, and keep it boiling till the bread and stock are well mixed. Season with a little salt.

Time.—Half an hour. Average cost per quart, 4d.

Seasonable at any time.

Sufficient for 4 persons.

Note.—This is a cheap recipe, and will be found useful where extreme economy is an object.

BREAD.—The origin of bread is involved in the obscurity of distant ages. The Greeks attributed its invention to Pan; but before they, themselves, had an existence, it was, no doubt, in use among the primitive nations of mankind. The Chaldeans and the Egyptians were acquainted with it, and Sarah, the companion of Abraham, mixed flour and water together, kneaded it, and covered it with ashes on the hearth. The Scriptures inform us that leavened bread was known to the Israelites, but it is not known when the art of fermenting it was discovered. It is said that the Romans learnt it during their wars with Perseus, king of Macedon, and that it was introduced to the “imperial city” about 200 years before the birth of Christ. With them it no doubt found its way into Britain; but after their departure from the island, it probably ceased to be used. We know that King Alfred allowed the unfermented cakes to burn in the neatherd’s cottage; and that, even in the sixteenth century, unfermented cakes, kneaded by the women, were the only kind of bread known to the inhabitants of Norway and Sweden. The Italians of this day consume the greater portion of their flour in the form of polenta, or soft pudding, vermicelli, and macaroni; and, in the remoter districts of Scotland, much unfermented bread is still used. We give a cut of the quern grinding-mill, which, towards the end of the last century, was in use in that country, and which is thus described by Dr. Johnson in his “Journey to the Hebrides:”—”It consists of two stones about a foot and half in diameter; the lower is a little convex, to which the concavity of the upper must be fitted. In the middle of the upper stone is a round hole, and on one side is a long handle. The grinder sheds the corn gradually into the hole with one hand, and works the handle round with the other. The corn slides down the convexity of the lower stone, and by the motion of the upper, is ground in its passage.” Such a primitive piece of machinery, it may safely be said, has entirely disappeared from this country.—In other parts of this work, we shall have opportunities of speaking of bread and bread-making, which, from its great and general use in the nourishment of mankind, has emphatically been called the “staff of life.” The necessity, therefore, of having it both pure and good is of the first importance.

CABBAGE SOUP.

118. INGREDIENTS.—1 large cabbage, 3 carrots, 2 onions, 4 or 5 slices of lean bacon, salt and pepper to taste, 2 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

Mode.—Scald the cabbage, exit it up and drain it. Line the stewpan with the bacon, put in the cabbage, carrots, and onions; moisten with skimmings from the stock, and simmer very gently, till the cabbage is tender; add the stock, stew softly for half an hour, and carefully skim off every particle of fat. Season and serve.

Time.—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 1s. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE CABBAGE.—It is remarkable, that although there is no country in the world now more plentifully supplied with fruits and vegetables than Great Britain, yet the greater number of these had no existence in it before the time of Henry VIII. Anderson, writing under the date of 1548, says, “The English cultivated scarcely any vegetables before the last two centuries. At the commencement of the reign, of Henry VIII. neither salad, nor carrots, nor cabbages, nor radishes, nor any other comestibles of a like nature, were grown in any part of the kingdom; they came from Holland and Flanders.” The original of all the cabbage tribe is the wild plant sea-colewort, which is to be found wasting whatever sweetness it may have on the desert air, on many of the cliffs of the south coast of England. In this state, it scarcely weighs more than half an ounce, yet, in a cultivated state, to what dimensions can it be made to grow! However greatly the whole of the tribe is esteemed among the moderns, by the ancients they were held in yet higher estimation. The Egyptians adored and raised altars to them, and the Greeks and Romans ascribed many of the most exalted virtues to them. Cato affirmed, that the cabbage cured all diseases, and declared, that it was to its use that the Romans were enabled to live in health and without the assistance of physicians for 600 years. It was introduced by that people into Germany, Gaul, and, no doubt, Britain; although, in this last, it may have been suffered to pass into desuetude for some centuries. The whole tribe is in general wholesome and nutritive, and forms a valuable adjunct to animal food.

SOUP A LA CANTATRICE.

(An Excellent Soup, very Beneficial for the Voice.)

119. INGREDIENTS.—3 oz. of sago, 1/2 pint of cream, the yolks of 3 eggs, 1 lump of sugar, and seasoning to taste, 1 bay-leaf (if liked), 2 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

Mode.—Having washed the sago in boiling water, let it be gradually added to the nearly boiling stock. Simmer for 1/2 an hour, when it should be well dissolved. Beat up the yolks of the eggs, add to them the boiling cream; stir these quickly in the soup, and serve immediately. Do not let the soup boil, or the eggs will curdle.

Time.—40 minutes. Average cost, 1s. 6d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—This is a soup, the principal ingredients of which, sago and eggs, have always been deemed very beneficial to the chest and throat. In various quantities, and in different preparations, these have been partaken of by the principal singers of the day, including the celebrated Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind, and, as they have always avowed, with considerable advantage to the voice, in singing.

CARROT SOUP.

I.

120. INGREDIENTS.—4 quarts of liquor in which a leg of mutton or beef has been boiled, a few beef-bones, 6 large carrots, 2 large onions, 1 turnip; seasoning of salt and pepper to taste; cayenne.

Mode.—Put the liquor, bones, onions, turnip, pepper, and salt, into a stewpan, and simmer for 3 hours. Scrape and cut the carrots thin, strain the soup on them, and stew them till soft enough to pulp through a hair sieve or coarse cloth; then boil the pulp with the soup, which should be of the consistency of pea-soup. Add cayenne. Pulp only the red part of the carrot, and make this soup the day before it is wanted.

Time.—4-1/2 hours. Average cost per quart, 1-1/2d.

Seasonable from October to March.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

II.

121. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of carrots, 3 oz. of butter, seasoning to taste of salt and cayenne, 2 quarts of stock or gravy soup.

Mode.—Scrape and cut out all specks from the carrots, wash, and wipe them dry, and then reduce them into quarter-inch slices. Put the butter into a large stewpan, and when it is melted, add 2 lbs. of the sliced carrots, and let them stew gently for an hour without browning. Add to them the soup, and allow them to simmer till tender,—say for nearly an hour. Press them through a strainer with the soup, and add salt and cayenne if required. Boil the whole gently for 5 minutes, skim well, and serve as hot as possible.

Time.—1-1/4 hour. Average cost per quart, 1s. 1d.

THE CARROT.—There is a wild carrot which grows in England; but it is white and small, and not much esteemed. The garden carrot in general use, was introduced in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was, at first, so highly esteemed, that the ladies wore leaves of it in their head-dresses. It is of great value in the culinary art, especially for soups and stews. It can be used also for beer instead of malt, and, in distillation, it yields a large quantity of spirit. The carrot is proportionably valuable as it has more of the red than the yellow part. There is a large red variety much used by the farmers for colouring butter. As a garden vegetable, it is what is called the orange-carrot that is usually cultivated. As a fattening food for cattle, it is excellent; but for man it is indigestible, on account of its fibrous matter. Of 1,000 parts, 95 consist of sugar, and 3 of starch.—The accompanying cut represents a pretty winter ornament, obtained by placing a cut from the top of the carrot-root in a shallow vessel of water, when the young leaves spring forth with a charming freshness and fullness.

CELERY SOUP.

122. INGREDIENTS.—9 heads of celery, 1 teaspoonful of salt, nutmeg to taste, 1 lump of sugar, 1/2 pint of strong stock, a pint of cream, and 2 quarts of boiling water.

Mode.—Cut the celery into small pieces; throw it into the water, seasoned with the nutmeg, salt, and sugar. Boil it till sufficiently tender; pass it through a sieve, add the stock, and simmer it for half an hour. Now put in the cream, bring it to the boiling point, and serve immediately.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost, 1s. per quart.

Seasonable from September to March.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

Note.—This soup can be made brown, instead of white, by omitting the cream, and colouring it a little. When celery cannot be procured, half a drachm of the seed, finely pounded, will give a flavour to the soup, if put in a quarter of an hour before it is done. A little of the essence of celery will answer the same purpose.

CELERY.—This plant is indigenous to Britain, and, in its wild state, grows by the side of ditches and along some parts of the seacoast. In this state it is called smallaqe, and, to some extent, is a dangerous narcotic. By cultivation, however, it has been brought to the fine flavour which the garden plant possesses. In the vicinity of Manchester it is raised to an enormous size. When our natural observation is assisted by the accurate results ascertained by the light of science, how infinitely does it enhance our delight in contemplating the products of nature! To know, for example, that the endless variety of colour which we see in plants is developed only by the rays of the sun, is to know a truism sublime by its very comprehensiveness. The cause of the whiteness of celery is nothing more than the want of light in its vegetation, and in order that this effect may be produced, the plant is almost wholly covered with earth; the tops of the leaves alone being suffered to appear above the ground.

CHANTILLY SOUP.

123. INGREDIENTS.—1 quart of young green peas, a small bunch of parsley, 2 young onions, 2 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

Mode.—Boil the peas till quite tender, with the parsley and onions; then rub them through a sieve, and pour the stock to them. Do not let it boil after the peas are added, or you will spoil the colour. Serve very hot.

Time.—Half an hour. Average cost, 1s. 6d. per quart.

Seasonable from June to the end of August.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—Cold peas pounded in a mortar, with a little stock added to them, make a very good soup in haste.

Parsley.—Among the Greeks, in the classic ages, a crown of parsley was awarded, both in the Nemaean and Isthmian games, and the voluptuous Anacreon pronounces this beautiful herb the emblem of joy and festivity. It has an elegant leaf, and is extensively used in the culinary art. When it was introduced to Britain is not known. There are several varieties,—the plain-leaved and the curled-leaved, celery-parsley, Hamburg parsley, and purslane. The curled is the best, and, from the form of its leaf, has a beautiful appearance on a dish as a garnish. Its flavour is, to many, very agreeable in soups; and although to rabbits, hares, and sheep it is a luxury, to parrots it is a poison. The celery-parsley is used as a celery, and the Hamburg is cultivated only for its roots, which are used as parsnips or carrots, to eat with meat. The purslane is a native of South America, and is not now much in use.

COCOA-NUT SOUP.

125. INGREDIENTS.—6 oz. of grated cocoa-nut, 6 oz. of rice flour, 1/2 a teaspoonful of mace; seasoning to taste of cayenne and salt; 1/4 of a pint of boiling cream, 3 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

Mode.—Take the dark rind from the cocoa-nut, and grate it down small on a clean grater; weigh it, and allow, for each quart of stock, 2 oz. of the cocoa-nut. Simmer it gently for 1 hour in the stock, which should then be strained closely from it, and thickened for table.

Time.—2-1/4 hours. Average cost per quart, 1s. 3d.

Seasonable in Autumn.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

THE COCOA-NUT.—This is the fruit of one of the palms, than which it is questionable if there is any other species of tree marking, in itself, so abundantly the goodness of Providence, in making provision for the wants of man. It grows wild in the Indian seas, and in the eastern parts of Asia; and thence it has been introduced into every part of the tropical regions. To the natives of those climates, its bark supplies the material for creating their dwellings; its leaves, the means of roofing them; and the leaf-stalks, a kind of gauze for covering their windows, or protecting the baby in the cradle. It is also made into lanterns, masks to screen the face from the heat of the sun, baskets, wicker-work, and even a kind of paper for writing on. Combs, brooms, torches, ropes, matting, and sailcloth are made of its fibers. With these, too, beds are made and cushions stuffed. Oars are supplied by the leaves; drinking-cups, spoons, and other domestic utensils by the shells of the nuts; milk by its juice, of which, also, a kind of honey and sugar are prepared. When fermented, it furnishes the means of intoxication; and when the fibres are burned, their ashes supply an alkali for making soap. The buds of the tree bear a striking resemblance to cabbage when boiled; but when they are cropped, the tree dies. In a fresh state, the kernel is eaten raw, and its juice is a most agreeable and refreshing beverage. When the nut is imported to this country, its fruit is, in general, comparatively dry, and is considered indigestible. The tree is one of the least productive of the palm tribe.

SOUP A LA CRECY.

126. INGREDIENTS.—4 carrots, 2 sliced onions, 1 cut lettuce, and chervil; 2 oz. butter, 1 pint of lentils, the crumbs of 2 French rolls, half a teacupful of rice, 2 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

Mode.—Put the vegetables with the butter in the stewpan, and let them simmer 5 minutes; then add the lentils and 1 pint of the stock, and stew gently for half an hour. Now fill it up with the remainder of the stock, let it boil another hour, and put in the crumb of the rolls. When well soaked, rub all through a tammy. Have ready the rice boiled; pour the soup over this, and serve.

Time.—1-3/4 hour. Average cost,1s. 2d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE LENTIL.—This belongs to the legumious or pulse kind of vegetables, which rank next to the corn plants in their nutritive properties. The lentil is a variety of the bean tribe, but in England is not used as human food, although considered the best of all kinds for pigeons. On the Continent it is cultivated for soups, as well as for other preparations for the table; and among the presents which David received from Shobi, as recounted in the Scriptures, were beans, lentils, and parched pulse. Among the Egyptians it was extensively used, and among the Greeks, the Stoics had a maxim, which declared, that “a wise man acts always with reason, and prepares his own lentils.” Among the Romans it was not much esteemed, and from them the English may have inherited a prejudice against it, on account, it is said, of its rendering men indolent. It takes its name from lentus ‘slow,’ and, according to Pliny, produces mildness and moderation of temper.

CUCUMBER SOUP (French Recipe).

127. INGREDIENTS.—1 large cucumber, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, a little chervil and sorrel cut in large pieces, salt and pepper to taste, the yolks of 2 eggs, 1 gill of cream, 1 quart of medium stock No. 105.

Mode.—Pare the cucumber, quarter it, and take out the seeds; cut it in thin slices, put these on a plate with a little salt, to draw the water from them; drain, and put them in your stewpan, with the butter. When they are warmed through, without being browned, pour the stock on them. Add the sorrel, chervil, and seasoning, and boil for 40 minutes. Mix the well-beaten yolks of the eggs with the cream, which add at the moment of serving.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost, 1s. 2d. per quart.

Seasonable from June to September.

Sufficient for 4 persons.

THE CUCUMBER.—The antiquity of this fruit is very great. In the sacred writings we find that the people of Israel regretted it, whilst sojourning in the desert; and at the present time, the cucumber, and other fruits of its class, form a large portion of the food of the Egyptian people. By the Eastern nations generally, as well as by the Greeks and Romans, it was greatly esteemed. Like the melon, it was originally brought from Asia by the Romans, and in the 14th century it was common in England, although, in the time of the wars of “the Roses,” it seems no longer to have been cultivated. It is a cold food, and of difficult digestion when eaten raw. As a preserved sweetmeat, however, it is esteemed one of the most agreeable.

EGG SOUP.

128. INGREDIENTS.—A tablespoonful of flour, 4 eggs, 2 small blades of finely-pounded mace, 2 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Beat up the flour smoothly in a teaspoonful of cold stock, and put in the eggs; throw them into boiling stock, stirring all the time. Simmer for 1/4 of an hour. Season and serve with a French roll in the tureen, or fried sippets of bread.

Time. 1/2 an hour. Average cost,11d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

SOUP A LA FLAMANDE (Flemish).

I.

129. INGREDIENTS.—1 turnip, 1 small carrot, 1/2 head of celery, 6 green onions shred very fine, 1 lettuce cut small, chervil, 1/4 pint of asparagus cut small, 1/4 pint of peas, 2 oz. butter, the yolks of 4 eggs, 1/2 pint of cream, salt to taste, 1 lump of sugar, 2 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Put the vegetables in the butter to stew gently for an hour with a teacupful of stock; then add the remainder of the stock, and simmer for another hour. Now beat the yolks of the eggs well, mix with the cream (previously boiled), and strain through a hair sieve. Take the soup off the fire, put the eggs, &c. to it, and keep stirring it well. Bring it to a boil, but do not leave off stirring, or the eggs will curdle. Season with salt, and add the sugar.

Time.—24 hours. Average cost, 1s. 9d. per quart.

Seasonable from May to August.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

CHERVIL.—Although the roots of this plant are poisonous, its leaves are tender, and are used in salads. In antiquity it made a relishing dish, when prepared with oil, wine, and gravy. It is a native of various parts of Europe; and the species cultivated in the gardens of Paris, has beautifully frizzled leaves.

II.

130. INGREDIENTS.—5 onions, 5 heads of celery, 10 moderate-sized potatoes, 3 oz. butter, 1/2 pint of water, 1/2 pint of cream, 2 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Slice the onions, celery, and potatoes, and put them with the butter and water into a stewpan, and simmer for an hour. Then fill up the stewpan with stock, and boil gently till the potatoes are done, which will be in about an hour. Rub all through a tammy, and add the cream (previously boiled). Do not let it boil after the cream is put in.

Time.—2-1/2 hours. __Average cost_,1s. 4d. per quart.

Seasonable from September to May.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—This soup can be made with water instead of stock.

SOUP A LA JULIENNE.

131. INGREDIENTS.—1/2 pint of carrots, 1/2 pint of turnips, 1/4 pint of onions, 2 or 3 leeks, 1/2 head of celery, 1 lettuce, a little sorrel and chervil, if liked, 2 oz. of butter, 2 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Cut the vegetables into strips of about 1-1/4 inch long, and be particular they are all the same size, or some will be hard whilst the others will be done to a pulp. Cut the lettuce, sorrel, and chervil into larger pieces; fry the carrots in the butter, and pour the stock boiling to them. When this is done, add all the other vegetables, and herbs, and stew gently for at least an hour. Skim off all the fat, pour the soup over thin slices of bread, cut round about the size of a shilling, and serve.

Time.—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—In summer, green peas, asparagus-tops, French beans, &c. can be added. When the vegetables are very strong, instead of frying them in butter at first, they should be blanched, and afterwards simmered in the stock.

SORREL.—This is one of the spinaceous plants, which take their name from spinach, which is the chief among them. It is little used in English cookery, but a great deal in French, in which it is employed for soups, sauces, and salads. In English meadows it is usually left to grow wild; but in France, where it is cultivated, its flavour is greatly improved.

KALE BROSE (a Scotch Recipe).

132. INGREDIENTS.—Half an ox-head or cow-heel, a teacupful of toasted oatmeal, salt to taste, 2 handfuls of greens, 3 quarts of water.

Mode.—Make a broth of the ox-head or cow-heel, and boil it till oil floats on the top of the liquor, then boil the greens, shred, in it. Put the oatmeal, with a little salt, into a basin, and mix with it quickly a teacupful of the fat broth: it should not run into one doughy mass, but form knots. Stir it into the whole, give one boil, and serve very hot.

Time.—4 hours. Average cost, 8d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year, but more suitable in winter.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

LEEK SOUP.

I.

133. INGREDIENTS.—A sheep’s head, 3 quarts of water, 12 leeks cut small, pepper and salt to taste, oatmeal to thicken.

Mode.—Prepare the head, either by skinning or cleaning the skin very nicely; split it in two; take out the brains, and put it into boiling water; add the leeks and seasoning, and simmer very gently for 4 hours. Mix smoothly, with cold water, as much oatmeal as will make the soup tolerably thick; pour it into the soup; continue stirring till the whole is blended and well done, and serve.

Time.—4-1/2 hours. Average cost, 4d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

II.

COMMONLY CALLED COCK-A-LEEKIE.

134. INGREDIENTS.—A capon or large fowl (sometimes an old cock, from which the recipe takes its name, is used), which should be trussed as for boiling; 2 or 3 bunches of fine leeks, 5 quarts of stock No. 105, pepper and salt to taste.

Mode.—Well wash the leeks (and, if old, scald them in boiling water for a few minutes), taking off the roots and part of the heads, and cut them into lengths of about an inch. Put the fowl into the stock, with, at first, one half of the leeks, and allow it to simmer gently. In half an hour add the remaining leeks, and then it may simmer for 3 or 4 hours longer. It should be carefully skimmed, and can be seasoned to taste. In serving, take out the fowl, and carve it neatly, placing the pieces in a tureen, and pouring over them the soup, which should be very thick of leeks (a purée of leeks the French would call it).

Time.—4 hours. Average cost, 1s. 6d. per quart; or, with stock No. 106, 1s.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

Note.—Without the fowl, the above, which would then be merely called leek soup, is very good, and also economical. Cock-a-leekie was largely consumed at the Burns Centenary Festival at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, in 1859.

THE LEEK.—As in the case of the cucumber, this vegetable was bewailed by the Israelites in their journey through the desert. It is one of the alliaceous tribe, which consists of the onion, garlic, chive, shallot, and leek. These, as articles of food, are perhaps more widely diffused over the face of the earth than any other genus of edible plants. It is the national badge of the Welsh, and tradition ascribes to St. David its introduction to that part of Britain. The origin of the wearing of the leek on St. David’s day, among that people, is thus given in “BEETON’S DICTIONARY of UNIVERSAL INFORMATION:”—”It probably originated from the custom of Cymhortha, or the friendly aid, practised among farmers. In some districts of South Wales, all the neighbours of a small farmer were wont to appoint a day when they attended to plough his land, and the like; and, at such time, it was the custom for each to bring his portion of leeks with him for making the broth or soup.” (See ST. DAVID.) Others derive the origin of the custom from the battle of Cressy. The plant, when grown in Wales and Scotland, is sharper than it is in England, and its flavour is preferred by many to that of the onion in broth. It is very wholesome, and, to prevent its tainting the breath, should be well boiled.

MACARONI SOUP.

135. INGREDIENTS.—3 oz. of macaroni, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, salt to taste, 2 quarts of clear stock No. 105.

Mode.—Throw the macaroni and butter into boiling water, with a pinch of salt, and simmer for 1/2 an hour. When it is tender, drain and cut it into thin rings or lengths, and drop it into the boiling stock. Stew gently for 15 minutes, and serve grated Parmesan cheese with it.

Time.—3/4 hour. Average cost, 1s. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

MACARONI.—This is the favourite food of Italy, where, especially among the Neapolitans, it may be regarded as the staff of life. “The crowd of London,” says Mr. Forsyth, “is a double line in quick motion; it is the crowd of business. The crowd of Naples consists in a general tide rolling up and down, and in the middle of this tide, a hundred eddies of men. You are stopped by a carpenter’s bench, you are lost among shoemakers’ stalls, and you dash among the pots of a macaroni stall.” This article of food is nothing more than a thick paste, made of the best wheaten flour, with a small quantity of water. When it has been well worked, it is put into a hollow cylindrical vessel, pierced with holes of the size of tobacco-pipes at the bottom. Through these holes the mass is forced by a powerful screw bearing on a piece of wood made exactly to fit the inside of the cylinder. Whilst issuing from the holes, it is partially baked by a fire placed below the cylinder, and is, at the same time, drawn away and hung over rods placed about the room, in order to dry. In a few days it is fit for use. As it is both wholesome and nutritious, it ought to be much more used by all classes in England than it is. It generally accompanies Parmesan cheese to the tables of the rich, but is also used for thickening soups and making puddings.

SOUP MAIGRE (i.e. without Meat).

136. INGREDIENTS.—6 oz. butter, 6 onions sliced, 4 heads of celery, 2 lettuces, a small bunch of parsley, 2 handfuls of spinach, 3 pieces of bread-crust, 2 blades of mace, salt and pepper to taste, the yolks of 2 eggs, 3 teaspoonfuls of vinegar, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Melt the butter in a stewpan, and put in the onions to stew gently for 3 or 4 minutes; then add the celery, spinach, lettuces, and parsley, cut small. Stir the ingredients well for 10 minutes. Now put in the water, bread, seasoning, and mace. Boil gently for 1-1/2 hour, and, at the moment of serving, beat in the yolks of the eggs and the vinegar, but do not let it boil, or the eggs will curdle.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost, 6d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE LETTUCE.—This is one of the acetarious vegetables, which comprise a large class, chiefly used as pickles, salads, and other condiments. The lettuce has in all antiquity been distinguished as a kitchen-garden plant. It was, without preparation, eaten by the Hebrews with the Paschal lamb; the Greeks delighted in it, and the Romans, in the time of Domitian, had it prepared with eggs, and served in the first course at their tables, merely to excite their appetites. Its botanical name is Lactuca, so called from the milky juice it exudes when its stalks are cut. It possesses a narcotic virtue, noticed by ancient physicians; and even in our day a lettuce supper is deemed conducive to repose. Its proper character, however, is that of a cooling summer vegetable, not very nutritive, but serving as a corrective, or diluent of animal food.

MILK SOUP (a Nice Dish for Children).

137. INGREDIENTS.—2 quarts of milk, 1 saltspoonful of salt, 1 teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon, 3 teaspoonfuls of pounded sugar, or more if liked, 4 thin slices of bread, the yolks of 6 eggs.

Mode.—Boil the milk with the salt, cinnamon, and sugar; lay the bread in a deep dish, pour over it a little of the milk, and keep it hot over a stove, without burning. Beat up the yolks of the eggs, add them to the milk, and stir it over the fire till it thickens. Do not let it curdle. Pour it upon the bread, and serve.

Time.—3/4 of an hour. Average cost, 8d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 10 children.

ONION SOUP.

138. INGREDIENTS.—6 large onions, 2 oz. of butter, salt and pepper to taste, 1/4 pint of cream, 1 quart of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Chop the onions, put them in the butter, stir them occasionally, but do not let them brown. When tender, put the stock to them, and season; strain the soup, and add the boiling cream.

Time.—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 1s. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 4 persons.

CHEAP ONION SOUP.

139. INGREDIENTS.—8 middling-sized onions, 3 oz. of butter, a tablespoonful of rice-flour, salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoonful of powdered sugar, thickening of butter and flour, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Cut the onions small, put them in the stewpan with the butter, and fry them well; mix the rice-flour smoothly with the water, add the onions, seasoning, and sugar, and simmer till tender. Thicken with butter and flour, and serve.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost,4d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE ONION.—Like the cabbage, this plant was erected into an object of worship by the idolatrous Egyptians 2,000 years before the Christian era, and it still forms a favourite food in the country of these people, as well as in other parts of Africa. When it was first introduced to England, has not been ascertained; but it has long been in use, and esteemed as a favourite seasoning plant to various dishes. In warmer climates it is much milder in its flavour; and such as are grown in Spain and Portugal, are, comparatively speaking, very large, and are often eaten both in a boiled and roasted state. The Strasburg is the most esteemed; and, although all the species have highly nutritive properties, they impart such a disagreeable odour to the breath, that they are often rejected even where they are liked. Chewing a little raw parsley is said to remove this odour.

PAN KAIL.

140. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of cabbage, or Savoy greens; 1/4 lb. of butter or dripping, salt and pepper to taste, oatmeal for thickening, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Chop the cabbage very fine, thicken the water with oatmeal, put in the cabbage and butter, or dripping; season and simmer for 1-1/2 hour. It can be made sooner by blanching and mashing the greens, adding any good liquor that a joint has been boiled in, and then further thicken with bread or pounded biscuit.

Time—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 1-1/2d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year, but more suitable in winter.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE SAVOY.—This is a close-hearted wrinkle-leaved cabbage, sweet and tender, especially the middle leaves, and in season from November to spring. The yellow species bears hard weather without injury, whilst the dwarf kind are improved and rendered more tender by frost.

PARSNIP SOUP.

141. INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of sliced parsnips, 2 oz. of butter, salt and cayenne to taste, 1 quart of stock No. 106.

Mode.—Put the parsnips into the stewpan with the butter, which has been previously melted, and simmer them till quite tender. Then add nearly a pint of stock, and boil together for half an hour. Pass all through a fine strainer, and put to it the remainder of the stock. Season, boil, and serve immediately.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost, 6d. per quart.

Seasonable from October to April.

Sufficient for 4 persons.

THE PARSNIP.—This is a biennial plant, with a root like a carrot, which, in nutritive and saccharine matter, it nearly equals. It is a native of Britain, and, in its wild state, may be found, in many parts, growing by the road-sides. It is also to be found, generally distributed over Europe; and, in Catholic countries, is mostly used with salt fish, in Lent. In Scotland it forms an excellent dish, when beat up with butter and potatoes; it is, also, excellent when fried. In Ireland it is found to yield, in conjunction with the hop, a pleasant beverage; and it contains as much spirit as the carrot, and makes an excellent wine. Its proportion of nutritive matter is 99 parts in 1,000; 9 being mucilage and 90 sugar.

PEA SOUP (GREEN).

142. INGREDIENTS.—3 pints of green peas, 1/4 lb. of butter, 2 or three thin slices of ham, 6 onions sliced, 4 shredded lettuces, the crumb of 2 French rolls, 2 handfuls of spinach, 1 lump of sugar, 2 quarts of common stock.

Mode.—Put the butter, ham, 1 quart of the peas, onions, and lettuces, to a pint of stock, and simmer for an hour; then add the remainder of the stock, with the crumb of the French rolls, and boil for another hour. Now boil the spinach, and squeeze it very dry. Rub the soup through a sieve, and the spinach with it, to colour it. Have ready a pint of young peas boiled; add them to the soup, put in the sugar, give one boil, and serve. If necessary, add salt.

Time.—2-1/2 hours. Average cost, 1s. 9d. per quart.

Seasonable from June to the end of August.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

Note.—It will be well to add, if the peas are not quite young, a little sugar. Where economy is essential, water may be used instead of stock for this soup, boiling in it likewise the pea-shells; but use a double quantity of vegetables.

WINTER PEA SOUP (YELLOW).

143. INGREDIENTS.—1 quart of split peas, 2 lbs. of shin of beef, trimmings of meat or poultry, a slice of bacon, 2 large carrots, 2 turnips, 5 large onions, 1 head of celery, seasoning to taste, 2 quarts of soft water, any bones left from roast meat, 2 quarts of common stock, or liquor in which a joint of meat has been boiled.

Mode.—Put the peas to soak over-night in soft water, and float off such as rise to the top. Boil them in the water till tender enough to pulp; then add the ingredients mentioned above, and simmer for 2 hours, stirring it occasionally. Pass the whole through a sieve, skim well, season, and serve with toasted bread cut in dice.

Time.—4 hours. Average cost, 6d. per quart. Seasonable all the year round, but more suitable for cold weather. Sufficient for 12 persons.

THE PEA.—It is supposed that the common gray pea, found wild in Greece, and other parts of the Levant, is the original of the common garden pea, and of all the domestic varieties belonging to it. The gray, or field pea, called bisallie by the French, is less subject to run into varieties than the garden kinds, and is considered by some, perhaps on that account, to be the wild plant, retaining still a large proportion of its original habit. From the tendency of all other varieties “to run away” and become different to what they originally were, it is very difficult to determine the races to which they belong. The pea was well known to the Romans, and, probably, was introduced to Britain at an early period; for we find peas mentioned by Lydgate, a poet of the 15th century, as being hawked in London. They seem, however, for a considerable time, to have fallen out of use; for, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Fuller tells us they were brought from Holland, and were accounted “fit dainties for ladies, they came so far and cost so dear.” There are some varieties of peas which have no lining in their pods, which are eaten cooked in the same way as kidney-beans. They are called sugar peas, and the best variety is the large crooked sugar, which is also very good, used in the common way, as a culinary vegetable. There is also a white sort, which readily splits when subjected to the action of millstones set wide apart, so as not to grind them. These are used largely for soups, and especially for sea-stores. From the quantity of farinaceous and saccharine matter contained in the pea, it is highly nutritious as an article of food.

PEA SOUP (inexpensive).

144. INGREDIENTS.—1/4 lb. of onions, 1/4 lb. of carrots, 2 oz. of celery, 3/4 lb. of split peas, a little mint, shred fine; 1 tablespoonful of coarse brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste, 4 quarts of water, or liquor in which a joint of meat has been boiled.

Mode.—Fry the vegetables for 10 minutes in a little butter or dripping, previously cutting them up in small pieces; pour the water on them, and when boiling add the peas. Let them simmer for nearly 3 hours, or until the peas are thoroughly done. Add the sugar, seasoning, and mint; boil for 1/4 of an hour, and serve.

Time.—3-1/2 hours. Average cost, 1-1/2d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 12 persons.

POTATO SOUP.

I.

145. INGREDIENTS.—4 lbs. of mealy potatoes, boiled or steamed very dry, pepper and salt to taste, 2 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—When the potatoes are boiled, mash them smoothly, that no lumps remain, and gradually put them to the boiling stock; pass it through a sieve, season, and simmer for 5 minutes. Skim well, and serve with fried bread.

Time.—1/2 hour. Average cost, 10d. per quart.

Seasonable from September to March.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

II.

146. INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of shin of beef, 1 lb. of potatoes, 1 onion, 1/2 a pint of peas, 2 oz. of rice, 2 heads of celery, pepper and salt to taste, 3 quarts of water.

Mode.—Cut the beef into thin slices, chop the potatoes and onion, and put them in a stewpan with the water, peas, and rice. Stew gently till the gravy is drawn from the meat; strain it off, take out the beef, and pulp the other ingredients through a coarse sieve. Put the pulp back in the soup, cut up the celery in it, and simmer till this is tender. Season, and serve with fried bread cut into it.

Time.—3 hours. Average cost, 4d. per quart.

Seasonable from September to March.

Sufficient for 12 persons.

III.

(Very Economical.)

147. INGREDIENTS.—4 middle-sized potatoes well pared, a thick slice of bread, 6 leeks peeled and cut into thin slices as far as the white extends upwards from the roots, a teacupful of rice, a teaspoonful of salt, and half that of pepper, and 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—The water must be completely boiling before anything is put into it; then add the whole of the ingredients at once, with the exception of the rice, the salt, and the pepper. Cover, and let these come to a brisk boil; put in the others, and let the whole boil slowly for an hour, or till all the ingredients are thoroughly done, and their several juices extracted and mixed.

Time.—2-1/2 hours. Average cost, 3d. per quart.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Seasonable in winter.

THE POTATO.—Humboldt doubted whether this root was a native of South America; but it has been found growing wild both in Chili and Buenos Ayres. It was first brought to Spain from the neighbourhood of Quito, in the early part of the sixteenth century, first to England from Virginia, in 1586, and first planted by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his estate of Youghal, near Cork, in Ireland. Thence it was brought and planted in Lancashire, in England, and was, at first, recommended to be eaten as a delicate dish, and not as common food. This was in 1587. Nutritious Properties.—Of a thousand parts of the potato, Sir H. Davy found about a fourth nutritive; say, 200 mucilage or starch, 20 sugar, and 30 gluten.

PRINCE OF WALES’S SOUP.

148. INGREDIENTS.—12 turnips, 1 lump of sugar, 2 spoonfuls of strong veal stock, salt and white pepper to taste, 2 quarts of very bright stock, No. 105.

Mode.—Peel the turnips, and with a cutter cut them in balls as round as possible, but very small. Put them in the stock, which must be very bright, and simmer till tender. Add the veal stock and seasoning. Have little pieces of bread cut round, about the size of a shilling; moisten them with stock; put them into a tureen and pour the soup over without shaking, for fear of crumbling the bread, which would spoil the appearance of the soup, and make it look thick.

Time.—2 hours.

Seasonable in the winter.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE PRINCE Of WALES.—This soup was invented by a philanthropic friend of the Editress, to be distributed among the poor of a considerable village, when the Prince of Wales attained his majority, on the 9th November, 1859. Accompanying this fact, the following notice, which appears in “BEETON’S DICTIONARY OF UNIVERSAL INFORMATION” may appropriately be introduced, premising that British princes attain their majority in their 18th year, whilst mortals of ordinary rank do not arrive at that period till their 21st.—”ALBERT EDWARD, Prince of Wales, and heir to the British throne, merits a place in this work on account of the high responsibilities which he is, in all probability, destined to fulfil as sovereign of the British empire. On the 10th of November, 1858, he was gazetted as having been invested with the rank of a colonel in the army. Speaking of this circumstance, the Times said,—’The significance of this event is, that it marks the period when the heir to the British throne is about to take rank among men, and to enter formally upon a career, which every loyal subject of the queen will pray may be a long and a happy one, for his own sake and for the sake of the vast empire which, in the course of nature, he will one day be called to govern. The best wish that we can offer for the young prince is, that in his own path he may ever keep before him the bright example of his royal mother, and show himself worthy of her name.’ There are few in these realms who will not give a fervent response to these sentiments. B. November 9th, 1841.”

POTAGE PRINTANIER, OR SPRING SOUP.

149. INGREDIENTS.—1/2 a pint of green peas, if in season, a little chervil, 2 shredded lettuces, 2 onions, a very small bunch of parsley, 2 oz. of butter, the yolks of 3 eggs, 1 pint of water, seasoning to taste, 2 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Put in a very clean stewpan the chervil, lettuces, onions, parsley, and butter, to 1 pint of water, and let them simmer till tender. Season with salt and pepper; when done, strain off the vegetables, and put two-thirds of the liquor they were boiled in to the stock. Beat up the yolks of the eggs with the other third, give it a toss over the fire, and at the moment of serving, add this, with the vegetables which you strained off, to the soup.

Time.—3/4 of an hour. Average cost, 1s. per quart.

Seasonable from May to October.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

RICE SOUP.

I.

150. INGREDIENTS.—4 oz. of Patna rice, salt, cayenne, and mace, 2 quarts of white stock.

Mode.—Throw the rice into boiling water, and let it remain 5 minutes; then pour it into a sieve, and allow it to drain well. Now add it to the stock boiling, and allow it to stew till it is quite tender; season to taste. Serve quickly.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

RICE.—This is a plant of Indian origin, and has formed the principal food of the Indian and Chinese people from the most remote antiquity. Both Pliny and Dioscorides class it with the cereals, though Galen places it among the vegetables. Be this as it may, however, it was imported to Greece, from India, about 286 years before Christ, and by the ancients it was esteemed both nutritious and fattening. There are three kinds of rice,—the Hill rice, the Patna, and the Carolina, of the United States. Of these, only the two latter are imported to this country, and the Carolina is considered the best, as it is the dearest. The nourishing properties of rice are greatly inferior to those of wheat; but it is both a light and a wholesome food. In combination with other foods, its nutritive qualities are greatly increased; but from its having little stimulating power, it is apt, when taken in large quantities alone, to lie long on the stomach.

II.

151. INGREDIENTS.—6 oz. of rice, the yolks of 4 eggs, 1/2 a pint of cream, rather more than 2 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Boil the rice in the stock, and rub half of it through a tammy; put the stock in the stewpan, add all the rice, and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Beat the yolks of the eggs, mix them with the cream (previously boiled), and strain through a hair sieve; take the soup off the fire, add the eggs and cream, stirring frequently. Heat it gradually, stirring all the time; but do not let it boil, or the eggs will curdle.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost, 1s. 4d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

SAGO SOUP.

152. INGREDIENTS.—5 oz. of sago, 2 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Wash the sago in boiling water, and add it, by degrees, to the boiling stock, and simmer till the sago is entirely dissolved, and forms a sort of jelly.

Time.—Nearly an hour. Average cost, 10d. per quart.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Seasonable all the year.

Note.—The yolks of 2 eggs, beaten up with a little cream, previously boiled, and added at the moment of serving, much improves this soup.

SAGO.—The farinaceous food of this name constitutes the pith of the SAGO tree (the Sagus farinifera of Linnaeus), which grows spontaneously in the East Indies and in the archipelago of the Indian Ocean. There it forms the principal farinaceous diet of the inhabitants. In order to procure it, the tree is felled and sawn in pieces. The pith is then taken out, and put in receptacles of cold water, where it is stirred until the flour separates from the filaments, and sinks to the bottom, where it is suffered to remain until the water is poured off, when it is taken out and spread on wicker frames to dry. To give it the round granular form in which we find it come to this country, it is passed through a colander, then rubbed into little balls, and dried. The tree is not fit for felling until it has attained a growth of seven years, when a single trunk will yield 600 lbs. weight; and, as an acre of ground will grow 430 of these trees, a large return of flour is the result. The best quality has a slightly reddish hue, and easily dissolves to a jelly, in hot water. As a restorative diet, it is much used.

SEMOLINA SOUP.

153. INGREDIENTS.—5 oz. of semolina, 2 quarts of boiling stock, No. 105, or 106.

Mode.—Drop the semolina into the boiling stock, and keep stirring, to prevent its burning. Simmer gently for half an hour, and serve.

Time.—1/2 an hour. Average cost, 10d. per quart, or 4d.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

SEMOLINA.—This is the heart of the grano duro wheat of Italy, which is imported for the purpose of making the best vermicelli. It has a coarse appearance, and may be purchased at the Italian warehouses. It is also called soojee; and semoletta is another name for a finer sort.

SOUP A LA SOLFERINO (Sardinian Recipe).

154. INGREDIENTS.—4 eggs, 1/2 pint of cream, 2 oz. of fresh butter, salt and pepper to taste, a little flour to thicken, 2 quarts of bouillon, No. 105.

Mode.—Beat the eggs, put them into a stewpan, and add the cream, butter, and seasoning; stir in as much flour as will bring it to the consistency of dough; make it into balls, either round or egg-shaped, and fry them in butter; put them in the tureen, and pour the boiling bouillon over them.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—This recipe was communicated to the Editress by an English gentleman, who was present at the battle of Solferino, on June 24, 1859, and who was requested by some of Victor Emmanuel’s troops, on the day before the battle, to partake of a portion of their potage. He willingly enough consented, and found that these clever campaigners had made a most palatable dish from very easily-procured materials. In sending the recipe for insertion in this work, he has, however, Anglicised, and somewhat, he thinks, improved it.

SPINACH SOUP (French Recipe).

155. INGREDIENTS.—As much spinach as, when boiled, will half fill a vegetable-dish, 2 quarts of very clear medium stock, No. 105.

Mode.—Make the cooked spinach into balls the size of an egg, and slip them into the soup-tureen. This is a very elegant soup, the green of the spinach forming a pretty contrast to the brown gravy.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost,1s. per quart.

Seasonable from October to June.

SPINACH.—This plant was unknown by the ancients, although it was cultivated in the monastic gardens of the continent in the middle of the 14th century. Some say, that it was originally brought from Spain; but there is a wild species growing in England, and cultivated in Lincolnshire, in preference to the other. There are three varieties in use; the round-leaved, the triangular-leaved, and Flanders spinach, known by its large leaves. They all form a useful ingredient in soup; but the leaves are sometimes boiled alone, mashed, and eaten as greens.

TAPIOCA SOUP.

156. INGREDIENTS.—5 oz. of tapioca, 2 quarts of stock No. 105 or 106.

Mode.—Put the tapioca into cold stock, and bring it gradually to a boil. Simmer gently till tender, and serve.

Time.—Rather more than 1 hour. Average cost. 1s. or 6d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

TAPIOCA.—This excellent farinaceous food is the produce of the pith of the cassava-tree, and is made in the East Indies, and also in Brazil. It is, by washing, procured as a starch from the tree, then dried, either in the sun or on plates of hot iron, and afterwards broken into grains, in which form it is imported into this country. Its nutritive properties are large, and as a food for persons of delicate digestion, or for children, it is in great estimation. “No amylaceous substance,” says Dr. Christison, “is so much relished by infants about the time of weaning; and in them it is less apt to become sour during digestion than any other farinaceous food, even arrowroot not excepted.”

TURNIP SOUP.

157. INGREDIENTS.—3 oz. of butter, 9 good-sized turnips, 4 onions, 2 quarts of stock No. 106, seasoning to taste.

Mode.—Melt the butter in the stewpan, but do not let it boil; wash, drain, and slice the turnips and onions very thin; put them in the butter, with a teacupful of stock, and stew very gently for an hour. Then add the remainder of the stock, and simmer another hour. Rub it through a tammy, put it back into the stewpan, but do not let it boil. Serve very hot.

Time.—2-1/2 hours. Average cost, 8d. per quart.

Seasonable from October to March.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—By adding a little cream, this soup will be much improved.

THE TURNIP.—Although turnips grow wild in England, they are not the original of the cultivated vegetable made use of in this country. In ancient times they were grown for cattle by the Romans, and in Germany and the Low Countries they have from time immemorial been raised for the same purpose. In their cultivated state, they are generally supposed to have been introduced to England from Hanover, in the time of George I.; but this has been doubted, as George II. caused a description of the Norfolk system to be sent to his Hanoverian subjects, for their enlightenment in the art of turnip culture. As a culinary vegetable, it is excellent, whether eaten alone, mashed, or mixed with soups und stews. Its nutritious matter, however, is small, being only 42 parts in 1,000.

VEGETABLE-MARROW SOUP.

158. INGREDIENTS.—4 young vegetable marrows, or more, if very small, 1/2 pint of cream, salt and white pepper to taste, 2 quarts of white stock, No. 107.

Mode.—Pare and slice the marrows, and put them in the stock boiling. When done almost to a mash, press them through a sieve, and at the moment of serving, add the boiling cream and seasoning.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost, 1s. 2d. per quart.

Seasonable in summer.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE VEGETABLE MARROW.—This is a variety of the gourd family, brought from Persia by an East-India ship, and only recently introduced to Britain. It is already cultivated to a considerable extent, and, by many, is highly esteemed when fried with butter. It is, however, dressed in different ways, either by stewing or boiling, and, besides, made into pies.

VEGETABLE SOUP.

I.

159. INGREDIENTS.—7 oz. of carrot, 10 oz. of parsnip, 10 oz. of potato, cut into thin slices; 1-1/4 oz. of butter, 5 teaspoonfuls of flour, a teaspoonful of made mustard, salt and pepper to taste, the yolks of 2 eggs, rather more than 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Boil the vegetables in the water 2-1/2 hours; stir them often, and if the water boils away too quickly, add more, as there should be 2 quarts of soup when done. Mix up in a basin the butter and flour, mustard, salt, and pepper, with a teacupful of cold water; stir in the soup, and boil 10 minutes. Have ready the yolks of the eggs in the tureen; pour on, stir well, and serve.

Time.—3 hours. Average cost, 4d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

II.

160. INGREDIENTS.—Equal quantities of onions, carrots, turnips; 1/4 lb. of butter, a crust of toasted bread, 1 head of celery, a faggot of herbs, salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoonful of powdered sugar, 2 quarts of common stock or boiling water. Allow 3/4 lb. of vegetables to 2 quarts of stock, No. 105.

Mode.—Cut up the onions, carrots, and turnips; wash and drain them well, and put them in the stewpan with the butter and powdered sugar. Toss the whole over a sharp fire for 10 minutes, but do not let them brown, or you will spoil the flavour of the soup. When done, pour the stock or boiling water on them; add the bread, celery, herbs, and seasoning; stew for 3 hours; skim well and strain it off. When ready to serve, add a little sliced carrot, celery, and turnip, and flavour with a spoonful of Harvey’s sauce, or a little ketchup.

Time.—3-1/2 hours. Average cost,6d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year. Sufficient for 8 persons.

III.

(Good and Cheap, made without Meat.)

161. INGREDIENTS.—6 potatoes, 4 turnips, or 2 if very large; 2 carrots, 2 onions; if obtainable, 2 mushrooms; 1 head of celery, 1 large slice of bread, 1 small saltspoonful of salt, 1/4 saltspoonful of ground black pepper, 2 teaspoonfuls of Harvey’s sauce, 6 quarts of water.

Mode.—Peel the vegetables, and cut them up into small pieces; toast the bread rather brown, and put all into a stewpan with the water and seasoning. Simmer gently for 3 hours, or until all is reduced to a pulp, and pass it through a sieve in the same way as pea-soup, which it should resemble in consistence; but it should be a dark brown colour. Warm it up again when required; put in the Harvey’s sauce, and, if necessary, add to the flavouring.

Time.—3 hours, or rather more. Average cost,1d. per quart.

Seasonable at any time. Sufficient for 16 persons.

Note.—This recipe was forwarded to the Editress by a lady in the county of Durham, by whom it was strongly recommended.

VERMICELLI SOUP.

I.

162. INGREDIENTS.—1-1/2 lb. of bacon, stuck with cloves; 1/2 oz. of butter, worked up in flour; 1 small fowl, trussed for boiling; 2 oz. of vermicelli, 2 quarts of white stock, No. 107.

Mode.—Put the stock, bacon, butter, and fowl into the stewpan, and stew for 3/4 of an hour. Take the vermicelli, add it to a little of the stock, and set it on the fire, till it is quite tender. When the soup is ready, take out the fowl and bacon, and put the bacon on a dish. Skim the soup as clean as possible; pour it, with the vermicelli, over the fowl. Cut some bread thin, put in the soup, and serve.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost, exclusive of the fowl and bacon, 10d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 4 persons.

VERMICELLI.—This is a preparation of Italian origin, and is made in the same way as macaroni, only the yolks of eggs, sugar, saffron, and cheese, are added to the paste.

II.

163. INGREDIENTS.—1/4 lb. of vermicelli, 2 quarts of clear gravy stock, No. 169.

Mode.—Put the vermicelli in the soup, boiling; simmer very gently for 1/2 an hour, and stir frequently.

Time—1/2 an hour. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

WHITE SOUP.

164. INGREDIENTS.—1/4 lb. of sweet almonds, 1/4 lb. of cold veal or poultry, a thick slice of stale bread, a piece of fresh lemon-peel, 1 blade of mace, pounded, 3/4 pint of cream, the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 quarts of white stock, No. 107.

Mode.—Reduce the almonds in a mortar to a paste, with a spoonful of water, and add to them the meat, which should be previously pounded with the bread. Beat all together, and add the lemon-peel, very finely chopped, and the mace. Pour the boiling stock on the whole, and simmer for an hour. Rub the eggs in the cream, put in the soup, bring it to a boil, and serve immediately.

Time.—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 1s. 6d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—A more economical white soup may be made by using common veal stock, and thickening with rice, flour, and milk. Vermicelli should be served with it.

Average cost, 5d. per quart.

USEFUL SOUP FOR BENEVOLENT PURPOSES.

165. INGREDIENTS.—An ox-cheek, any pieces of trimmings of beef, which may be bought very cheaply (say 4 lbs.), a few bones, any pot-liquor the larder may furnish, 1/4 peck of onions, 6 leeks, a large bunch of herbs, 1/2 lb. of celery (the outside pieces, or green tops, do very well); 1/2 lb. of carrots, 1/2 lb. of turnips, 1/2 lb. of coarse brown sugar, 1/2 a pint of beer, 4 lbs. of common rice, or pearl barley; 1/2 lb. of salt, 1 oz. of black pepper, a few raspings, 10 gallons of water.

Mode.—Cut up the meat in small pieces, break the bones, put them in a copper, with the 10 gallons of water, and stew for 1/2 an hour. Cut up the vegetables, put them in with the sugar and beer, and boil for 4 hours. Two hours before the soup is wanted, add the rice and raspings, and keep stirring till it is well mixed in the soup, which simmer gently. If the liquor reduces too much, fill up with water.

Time.—6-1/2 hours. Average cost, 1-1/2d. per quart.

Note.—The above recipe was used in the winter of 1858 by the Editress, who made, each week, in her copper, 8 or 9 gallons of this soup, for distribution amongst about a dozen families of the village near which she lives. The cost, as will be seen, was not great; but she has reason to believe that the soup was very much liked, and gave to the members of those families, a dish of warm, comforting food, in place of the cold meat and piece of bread which form, with too many cottagers, their usual meal, when, with a little more knowledge of the “cooking.” art, they might have, for less expense, a warm dish, every day.

MEAT, POULTRY, AND GAME SOUPS.

BRILLA SOUP.

166. INGREDIENTS.—4 lbs. of shin of beef, 3 carrots, 2 turnips, a large sprig of thyme, 2 onions, 1 head of celery, salt and pepper to taste, 4 quarts water.

Mode.—Take the beef, cut off all the meat from the bone, in nice square pieces, and boil the bone for 4 hours. Strain the liquor, let it cool, and take off the fat; then put the pieces of meat in the cold liquor; cut small the carrots, turnips, and celery; chop the onions, add them with the thyme and seasoning, and simmer till the meat is tender. If not brown enough, colour it with browning.

Time.—6 hours. Average cost, 5d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

THYME.—This sweet herb was known to the Romans, who made use of it in culinary preparations, as well as in aromatic liqueurs. There are two species of it growing wild in Britain, but the garden thyme is a native of the south of Europe, and is more delicate in its perfume than the others. Its young leaves give an agreeable flavour to soups and sauces; they are also used in stuffings.

CALF’S-HEAD SOUP.

167. INGREDIENTS.—1/2 a calf’s head, 1 onion stuck with cloves, a very small bunch of sweet herbs, 2 blades of mace, salt and white pepper to taste, 6 oz. of rice-flour, 3 tablespoonfuls of ketchup, 3 quarts of white stock, No. 107, or pot-liquor, or water.

Mode.—Rub the head with salt, soak it for 6 hours, and clean it thoroughly; put it in the stewpan, and cover it with the stock, or pot-liquor, or water, adding the onion and sweet herbs. When well skimmed and boiled for 1-1/2 hour, take out the head, and skim and strain the soup. Mix the rice-flour with the ketchup, thicken the soup with it, and simmer for 5 minutes. Now cut up the head into pieces about two inches long, and simmer them in the soup till the meat and fat are quite tender. Season with white pepper and mace finely pounded, and serve very hot. When the calf’s head is taken out of the soup, cover it up, or it will discolour.

Time.—2-1/2 hours. Average cost,1s. 9d. per quart, with stock No. 107.

Seasonable from May to October.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

Note.—Force-meat balls can be added, and the soup may be flavoured with a little lemon-juice, or a glass of sherry or Madeira. The bones from the head may be stewed down again, with a few fresh vegetables, and it will make a very good common stock.

GIBLET SOUP.

168. INGREDIENTS.—3 sets of goose or duck giblets, 2 lbs. of shin of beef, a few bones, 1 ox-tail, 2 mutton-shanks, 2 large onions, 2 carrots, 1 large faggot of herbs, salt and pepper to taste, 1/4 pint of cream, 1 oz. of butter mixed with a dessert-spoonful of flour, 3 quarts of water.

Mode.—Scald the giblets, cut the gizzards in 8 pieces, and put them in a stewpan with the beef, bones, ox-tail, mutton-shanks, onions, herbs, pepper, and salt; add the 3 quarts of water, and simmer till the giblets are tender, taking care to skim well. When the giblets are done, take them out, put them in your tureen, strain the soup through a sieve, add the cream and butter, mixed with a dessert-spoonful of flour, boil it up a few minutes, and pour it over the giblets. It can be flavoured with port wine and a little mushroom ketchup, instead of cream. Add salt to taste.

Time.—3 hours. Average cost,9d. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

GRAVY SOUP.

169. INGREDIENTS.—6 lbs. of shin of beef, a knuckle of veal weighing 5 lbs., a few pieces or trimmings, 2 slices of nicely-flavoured lean, ham; 1/4 lb. of butter, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 1 turnip, nearly a head of celery, 1 blade of mace, 6 cloves, a hunch of savoury herb with endive, seasoning of salt and pepper to taste, 3 lumps of sugar, 5 quarts of boiling soft water. It can be flavoured with ketchup, Leamington sauce (see SAUCES), Harvey’s sauce, and a little soy.

Mode.—Slightly brown the meat and ham in the butter, but do not let them burn. When this is done, pour to it the water, and as the scum rises, take it off; when no more appears, add all the other ingredients, and let the soup simmer slowly by the fire for 6 hours without stirring it any more from the bottom; take it off, and let it settle; skim off all the fat you can, and pass it through a tammy. When perfectly cold, you can remove all the fat, and leave the sediment untouched, which serves very nicely for thick gravies, hashes, &c.

Time.—7 hours. Average cost, 1s. per quart.

Seasonable all the year.

Sufficient for 14 persons.

ENDIVE.—This plant belongs to the acetarious tribe of vegetables, and is supposed to have originally come from China and Japan. It was known to the ancients; but was not introduced to England till about the middle of the 16th century. It is consumed in large quantities by the French, and in London,—in the neighbourhood of which it is grown in abundance;—it is greatly used as a winter salad, as well as in soups and stews.

HARE SOUP.

I.

170. INGREDIENTS.—A hare fresh-killed, 1 lb. of lean gravy-beef, a slice of ham, 1 carrot, 2 onions, a faggot of savoury herbs, 1/4 oz. of whole black pepper, a little browned flour, 1/4 pint of port wine, the crumb of two French rolls, salt and cayenne to taste, 3 quarts of water.

Mode.—Skin and paunch the hare, saving the liver and as much blood as possible. Cut it in pieces, and put it in a stewpan with all the ingredients, and simmer gently for 8 hours. This soup should be made the day before it is wanted. Strain through a sieve, put the best parts of the hare in the soup, and serve.

OR,

II.

Proceed as above; but, instead of putting the joints of the hare in the soup, pick the meat from the bones, pound it in a mortar, and add it, with the crumb of two French rolls, to the soup. Rub all through a sieve; heat slowly, but do not let it boil. Send it to table immediately.

Time.-8 hours. Average cost, 1s. 9d. per quart.

Seasonable from September to February.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

THE COMMON HARE.—This little animal is found throughout Europe, and, indeed, in most of the northern parts of the world; and as it is destitute of natural weapons of defence, Providence has endowed it with an extraordinary amount of the passion of fear. As if to awaken the vigilance of this passion, too, He has furnished it with long and tubular ears, in order that it may catch the remotest sounds; and with full, prominent eyes, which enable it to see, at one and the same time, both before and behind it. The hare feeds in the evenings, and sleeps, in its form, during the day; and, as it generally lies on the ground, its feet, both below and above, are protected with a thick covering of hair. Its flesh, though esteemed by the Romans, was forbidden by the Druids and by the earlier Britons. It is now, though very dark and dry, and devoid of fat, much esteemed by Europeans, on account of the peculiarity of its flavour. In purchasing this animal, it ought to be remembered that both hares and rabbits, when old, have their claws rugged and blunt, their haunches thick, and their ears dry and tough. The ears of a young hare easily tear, and it has a narrow cleft in the lip; whilst its claws are both smooth and sharp.

HESSIAN SOUP.

171. INGREDIENTS.—Half an ox’s head, 1 pint of split peas, 3 carrots, 6 turnips, 6 potatoes, 6 onions, 1 head of celery, 1 bunch of savoury herbs, pepper and salt to taste, 2 blades of mace, a little allspice, 4 cloves, the crumb of a French roll, 6 quarts of water.

Mode.—Clean the head, rub it with salt and water, and soak it for 5 hours in warm water. Simmer it in the water till tender, put it into a pan and let it cool; skim off all the fat; take out the head, and add the vegetables cut up small, and the peas which have been previously soaked; simmer them without the meat, till they are done enough to pulp through a sieve. Add the seasoning, with pieces of the meat cut up; give one boil, and serve.

Time.—4 hours. Average cost, 6d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 16 persons.

Note.—An excellent hash or ragoût can be made by cutting up the nicest parts of the head, thickening and seasoning more highly a little of the soup, and adding a glass of port wine and 2 tablespoonfuls of ketchup.

MOCK TURTLE.

I.

172. INGREDIENTS.—1/2 a calf’s head, 1/4 lb. of butter, 1/4 lb. of lean ham, 2 tablespoonfuls of minced parsley, a little minced lemon thyme, sweet marjoram, basil, 2 onions, a few chopped mushrooms (when obtainable), 2 shallots, 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, 1/4 bottle of Madeira or sherry, force-meat balls, cayenne, salt and mace to taste, the juice of 1 lemon and 1 Seville orange, 1 dessert-spoonful of pounded sugar, 3 quarts of best stock, No. 104.

Mode.—Scald the head with the skin on, remove the brain, tie the head up in a cloth, and let it boil for 1 hour. Then take the meat from the bones, cut it into small square pieces, and throw them into cold water. Now take the meat, put it into a stewpan, and cover with stock; let it boil gently for an hour, or rather more, if not quite tender, and set it on one side. Melt the butter in another stewpan, and add the ham, cut small, with the herbs, parsley, onions, shallots, mushrooms, and nearly a pint of stock; let these simmer slowly for 2 hours, and then dredge in as much flour as will dry up the butter. Fill up with the remainder of the stock, add the wine, let it stew gently for 10 minutes, rub it through a tammy, and put it to the calf’s head; season with cayenne, and, if required, a little salt; add the juice of the orange and lemon; and when liked, 1/4 teaspoonful of pounded mace, and the sugar. Put in the force-meat balls, simmer 5 minutes, and serve very hot.

Time.—4-1/2 hours. Average cost, 3s. 6d. per quart, or 2s. 6d. without wine or force-meat balls.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

Note.—The bones of the head should be well stewed in the liquor it was first boiled in, and will make good white stock, flavoured with vegetables, etc.

II.

(More Economical.)

173. INGREDIENTS.—A knuckle of veal weighing 5 or 6 lbs., 2 cow-heels, 2 large onions stuck with cloves, 1 bunch of sweet herbs, 3 blades of mace, salt to taste, 12 peppercorns, 1 glass of sherry, 24 force-meat balls, a little lemon-juice, 4 quarts of water.

Mode.—Put all the ingredients, except the force-meat balls and lemon-juice, in an earthen jar, and stew for 6 hours. Do not open it till cold. When wanted for use, skim off all the fat, and strain carefully; place it on the fire, cut up the meat into inch-and-a-half squares, put it, with the force-meat balls and lemon-juice, into the soup, and serve. It can be flavoured with a tablespoonful of anchovy, or Harvey’s sauce.

Time.—6 hours. Average cost,1s. 4d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

THE CALF—The flesh of this animal is called veal, and when young, that is, under two months old, yields a large quantity of soluble extract, and is, therefore, much employed for soups and broths. The Essex farmers have obtained a celebrity for fattening calves better than any others in England, where they are plentifully supplied with milk, a thing impossible to be done in the immediate neighbourhood of London.

MARJORAM.—There are several species of this plant; but that which is preferred for cookery is a native of Portugal, and is called sweet or knotted marjoram. When its leaves are dried, they have an agreeable aromatic flavour; and hence are used for soups, stuffings, &c.

BASIL.—This is a native of the East Indies, and is highly aromatic, having a perfume greatly resembling that of cloves. It is not much employed in English cookery, but is a favourite with French cooks, by whom its leaves are used in soups and salads.

MULLAGATAWNY SOUP.

174. INGREDIENTS.—2 tablespoonfuls of curry powder, 6 onions, 1 clove of garlic, 1 oz. of pounded almonds, a little lemon-pickle, or mango-juice, to taste; 1 fowl or rabbit, 4 slices of lean bacon; 2 quarts of medium stock, or, if wanted very good, best stock.

Mode.- Slice and fry the onions of a nice colour; line the stewpan with the bacon; cut up the rabbit or fowl into small joints, and slightly brown them; put in the fried onions, the garlic, and stock, and simmer gently till the meat is tender; skim very carefully, and when the meat is done, rub the curry powder to a smooth batter; add it to the soup with the almonds, which must be first pounded with a little of the stock. Put in seasoning and lemon-pickle or mango-juice to taste, and serve boiled rice with it.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost, 1s. 6d. per quart, with stock No. 105.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—This soup can also be made with breast of veal, or calf’s head. Vegetable Mullagatawny is made with veal stock, by boiling and pulping chopped vegetable marrow, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes, and seasoning with curry powder and cayenne. Nice pieces of meat, good curry powder, and strong stock, are necessary to make this soup good.

CORIANDER.—This plant, which largely enters into the composition of curry powder with turmeric, originally comes from the East; but it has long been cultivated in England, especially in Essex, where it is reared for the use of confectioners and druggists. In private gardens, it is cultivated for the sake of its tender leaves, which are highly aromatic, and are employed in soups and salads. Its seeds are used in large quantities for the purposes of distillation.

A GOOD MUTTON SOUP.

175. INGREDIENTS.—A neck of mutton about 5 or 6 lbs., 3 carrots, 3 turnips, 2 onions, a large bunch of sweet herbs, including parsley; salt and pepper to taste; a little sherry, if liked; 3 quarts of water.

Mode.—Lay the ingredients in a covered pan before the fire, and let them remain there the whole day, stirring occasionally. The next day put the whole into a stewpan, and place it on a brisk fire. When it commences to boil, take the pan off the fire, and put it on one side to simmer until the meat is done. When ready for use, take out the meat, dish it up with carrots and turnips, and send it to table; strain the soup, let it cool, skim off all the fat, season and thicken it with a tablespoonful, or rather more, of arrowroot; flavour with a little sherry, simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.

Time.—15 hours. Average cost, including the meat, 1s. 3d. per quart.

Seasonable at any time.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE SHEEP.—This animal formed the principal riches of the patriarchs, in the days of old, and, no doubt, multiplied, until its species were spread over the greater part of Western Asia; but at what period it was introduced to Britain is not known. It is now found in almost every part of the globe, although, as a domestic animal, it depends almost entirely upon man for its support. Its value, however, amply repays him for whatever care and kindness he may bestow upon it; for, like the ox, there is scarcely a part of it that he cannot convert to some useful purpose. The fleece, which serves it for a covering, is appropriated by man, to serve the same end to himself, whilst its skin is also applied to various purposes in civilized life. Its entrails are used as strings for musical instruments, and its bones are calcined, and employed as tests in the trade of the refiner. Its milk, being thicker than that of the cow, yields a greater quantity of butter and cheese, and its flesh is among the most wholesome and nutritive that can be eaten. Thomson has beautifully described the appearance of the sheep, when bound to undergo the operation of being shorn of its wool.

      “Behold, where bound, and of its robe bereft
      By needy man, that all-depending lord,
      How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies!
      What softness in his melancholy face,
      What dumb complaining innocence appears!”

OX-CHEEK SOUP.

176. INGREDIENTS.—An ox-cheek, 2 oz. of butter, 3 or 4 slices of lean ham or bacon, 1 parsnip, 3 carrots, 2 onions, 3 heads of celery, 3 blades of mace, 4 cloves, a faggot of savoury herbs, 1 bay-leaf, a teaspoonful of salt, half that of pepper, 1 head of celery, browning, the crust of a French roll, 6 quarts of water.

Mode.—Lay the ham in the bottom of the stewpan, with the butter; break the bones of the cheek, wash it clean, and put it on the ham. Cut the vegetables small, add them to the other ingredients, and set the whole over a slow fire for 1/4 of an hour. Now put in the water, and simmer gently till it is reduced to 4 quarts; take out the fleshy part of the cheek, and strain the soup into a clean stewpan; thicken with flour, put in a head of sliced celery, and simmer till the celery is tender. If not a good colour, use a little browning. Cut the meat into small square pieces, pour the soup over, and serve with the crust of a French roll in the tureen. A glass of sherry much improves this soup.

Time.—3 to 4 hours. Average cost, 8d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 12 persons.

THE OX.—Of the quadrupedal animals, the flesh of those that feed upon herbs is the most wholesome and nutritious for human food. In the early ages, the ox was used as a religious sacrifice, and, in the eyes of the Egyptians was deemed so sacred as to be worthy of exaltation to represent Taurus, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. To this day, the Hindoos venerate the cow, whose flesh is forbidden to be eaten, and whose fat, supposed to have been employed to grease the cartridges of the Indian army, was one of the proximate causes of the great Sepoy rebellion of 1857. There are no animals of greater use to man than the tribe to which the ox belongs. There is hardly a part of them that does not enter into some of the arts and purposes of civilized life. Of their horns are made combs, knife-handles, boxes, spoons, and drinking-cups. They are also made into transparent plates for lanterns; an invention ascribed, in England, to King Alfred. Glue is made from their gristles, cartilages, and portions of their hides. Their bones often form a substitute for ivory; their skins, when calves, are manufactured into vellum; their blood is the basis of Prussian blue; their sinews furnish fine and strong threads, used by saddlers; their hair enters into various manufactures; their tallow is made into candles; their flesh is eaten, and the utility of the milk and cream of the cow is well known.

OX-TAIL SOUP.

177. INGREDIENTS.—2 ox-tails, 2 slices of ham, 1 oz. of butter, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 3 onions, 1 leek, 1 head of celery, 1 bunch of savoury herbs, 1 bay-leaf, 12 whole peppercorns, 4 cloves, a tablespoonful of salt, 2 tablespoonfuls of ketchup, 1/2 glass of port wine, 3 quarts of water.

Mode.—Cut up the tails, separating them at the joints; wash them, and put them in a stewpan, with the butter. Cut the vegetables in slices, and add them, with the peppercorns and herbs. Put in 1/2 pint of water, and stir it over a sharp fire till the juices are drawn. Fill up the stewpan with the water, and, when boiling, add the salt. Skim well, and simmer very gently for 4 hours, or until the tails are tender. Take them out, skim and strain the soup, thicken with flour, and flavour with the ketchup and port wine. Put back the tails, simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.

Time.—4-1/2 hours. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

PARTRIDGE SOUP.

178. INGREDIENTS.—2 partridges, 3 slices of lean ham, 2 shred onions, 1 head of celery, 1 large carrot, and 1 turnip cut into any fanciful shapes, 1 small lump of sugar, 2 oz. of butter, salt and pepper to taste, 2 quarts of stock No. 105, or common, No. 106.

Mode.—Cut the partridges into pieces, and braise them in the butter and ham until quite tender; then take out the legs, wings, and breast, and set them by. Keep the backs and other trimmings in the braise, and add the onions and celery; any remains of cold game can be put in, and 3 pints of stock. Simmer slowly for 1 hour, strain it, and skim the fat off as clean as possible; put in the pieces that were taken out, give it one boil, and skim again to have it quite clear, and add the sugar and seasoning. Now simmer the cut carrot and turnip in 1 pint of stock; when quite tender, put them to the partridges, and serve.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost, 2s. or 1s. 6d. per quart.

Seasonable from September to February.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—The meat of the partridges may be pounded with the crumb of a French roll, and worked with the soup through a sieve. Serve with stewed celery cut in slices, and put in the tureen.

THE PARTRIDGE.—This is a timorous bird, being easily taken. It became known to the Greeks and Romans, whose tables it helped to furnish with food. Formerly, the Red was scarce in Italy, but its place was supplied by the White, which, at considerable expense, was frequently procured from the Alps. The Athenians trained this bird for fighting, and Severus used to lighten the cares of royalty by witnessing the spirit of its combats. The Greeks esteemed its leg most highly, and rejected the other portions as unfashionable to be eaten. The Romans, however, ventured a little further, and ate the breast, whilst we consider the bird as wholly palatable. It is an inhabitant of all the temperate countries of Europe, but, on account of the geniality of the climate, it abounds most in the Ukraine.

PHEASANT SOUP.

179. INGREDIENTS.—2 pheasants, 1/4 lb. of butter, 2 slices of ham, 2 large onions sliced, 1/2 head of celery, the crumb of two French rolls, the yolks of 2 eggs boiled hard, salt and cayenne to taste, a little pounded mace, if liked; 3 quarts of stock No. 105.

Mode.—Cut up the pheasants, flour and braise them in the butter and ham till they are of a nice brown, but not burnt. Put them in a stewpan, with the onions, celery, and seasoning, and simmer for 2 hours. Strain the soup; pound the breasts with the crumb of the roll previously soaked, and the yolks of the eggs; put it to the soup, give one boil, and serve.

Time.—2-1/2 hours. Average cost, 2s. 10d. per quart, or, if made with fragments of gold game, 1s.

Seasonable from October to February.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

Note.—Fragments, pieces and bones of cold game, may be used to great advantage in this soup, and then 1 pheasant will suffice.

PORTABLE SOUP.

180. INGREDIENTS.—2 knuckles of veal, 3 shins of beef, 1 large faggot of herbs, 2 bay-leaves, 2 heads of celery, 3 onions, 3 carrots, 2 blades of mace, 6 cloves, a teaspoonful of salt, sufficient water to cover all the ingredients.

Mode.—Take the marrow from the bones; put all the ingredients in a stock-pot, and simmer slowly for 12 hours, or more, if the meat be not done to rags; strain it off, and put it in a very cool place; take off all the fat, reduce the liquor in a shallow pan, by setting it over a sharp fire, but be particular that it does not burn; boil it fast and uncovered for 8 hours, and keep it stirred. Put it into a deep dish, and set it by for a day. Have ready a stewpan of boiling water, place the dish in it, and keep it boiling; stir occasionally, and when the soup is thick and ropy, it is done. Form it into little cakes by pouring a small quantity on to the bottom of cups or basins; when cold, turn them out on a flannel to dry. Keep them from the air in tin canisters.

Average cost of this quantity, 16s.

Note.—Soup can be made in 5 minutes with this, by dissolving a small piece, about the size of a walnut, in a pint of warm water, and simmering for 2 minutes. Vermicelli, macaroni, or other Italian pastes, may be added.

THE LAUREL or BAY.—The leaves of this tree frequently enter into the recipes of cookery; but they ought not to be used without the greatest caution, and not at all unless the cook is perfectly aware of their effects. It ought to be known, that there are two kinds of bay-trees,—the Classic laurel, whose leaves are comparatively harmless, and the Cherry-laurel, which is the one whose leaves are employed in cookery. They have a kernel-like flavour, and are used in blanc-mange, puddings, custards &c.; but when acted upon by water, they develop prussic acid, and, therefore, but a small number of the leaves should be used at a time.

RABBIT SOUP.

181. INGREDIENTS.—2 large rabbits, or 3 small ones; a faggot of savoury herbs, 1/2 head of celery, 2 carrots, 1 onion, 1 blade of mace, salt and white pepper to taste, a little pounded mace, 1/2 pint of cream, the yolks of 2 eggs boiled hard, the crumb of a French roll, nearly 3 quarts of water.

Mode.—Make the soup with the legs and shoulders of the rabbit, and keep the nice pieces for a dish or entrée. Put them into warm water, and draw the blood; when quite clean, put them in a stewpan, with a faggot of herbs, and a teacupful, or rather more, of veal stock or water. Simmer slowly till done through, and add the 3 quarts of water, and boil for an hour. Take out the rabbet, pick the meat from the bones, covering it up to keep it white; put the bones back in the liquor, add the vegetables, and simmer for 2 hours; skim and strain, and let it cool. Now pound the meat in a mortar, with the yolks of the eggs, and the crumb of the roll previously soaked; rub it through a tammy, and gradually add it to the strained liquor, and simmer for 15 minutes. Mix arrowroot or rice-flour with the cream (say 2 dessert-spoonfuls), and stir in the soup; bring it to a boil, and serve. This soup must be very white, and instead of thickening it with arrowroot or rice-flour, vermicelli or pearl barley can be boiled in a little stock, and put in 5 minutes before serving.

Time.—Nearly 4 hours. Average cost, 1s. per quart.

Seasonable from September to March.

Sufficient for 10 persons.

REGENCY SOUP.

182. Ingredients.—Any bones and remains of any cold game, such as of pheasants, partridges, &c.; 2 carrots, 2 small onions, 1 head of celery, 1 turnip, 1/4 lb. of pearl barley, the yolks of 3 eggs boiled hard, 1/4 pint of cream, salt to taste, 2 quarts of stock No. 105, or common stock, No. 106.

Mode.—Place the bones or remains of game in the stewpan, with the vegetables sliced; pour over the stock, and simmer for 2 hours; skim off all the fat, and strain it. Wash the barley, and boil it in 2 or 3 waters before putting it to the soup; finish simmering in the soup, and when the barley is done, take out half, and pound the other half with the yolks of the eggs. When you have finished pounding, rub it through a clean tammy, add the cream, and salt if necessary; give one boil, and serve very hot, putting in the barley that was taken out first.

Time.—2-1/2 hours. Average cost, 1s. per quart, if made with medium stock, or 6d. per quart, with common stock.

Seasonable from September to March.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

STEW SOUP.

I.

186. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of beef, 5 onions, 5 turnips, 3/4 lb. of rice, a large bunch of parsley, a few sweet herbs, pepper and salt, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Cut the beef up in small pieces, add the other ingredients, and boil gently for 21/2 hours. Oatmeal or potatoes would be a great improvement.

Time.-21/2 hours. Average cost, 6d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 6 persons.

II.

187. INGREDIENTS.—1/2 lb. of beef, mutton, or pork; 1/2 pint of split peas, 4 turnips, 8 potatoes, 2 onions, 2 oz. of oatmeal or 3 oz. of rice, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Cut the meat in small pieces, as also the vegetables, and add them, with the peas, to the water. Boil gently for 3 hours; thicken with the oatmeal, boil for another 1/4 hour, stirring all the time, and season with pepper and salt.

Time.—3-1/4 hours. Average cost, 4d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—This soup may be made of the liquor in which tripe has been boiled, by adding vegetables, seasoning, rice, &c.

TURKEY SOUP (a Seasonable Dish at Christmas).

188. INGREDIENTS.—2 quarts of medium stock, No. 105, the remains of a cold roast turkey, 2 oz. of rice-flour or arrowroot, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tablespoonful of Harvey’s sauce or mushroom ketchup.

Mode.—Cut up the turkey in small pieces, and put it in the stock; let it simmer slowly until the bones are quite clean. Take the bones out, and work the soup through a sieve; when cool, skim well. Mix the rice-flour or arrowroot to a batter with a little of the soup; add it with the seasoning and sauce, or ketchup. Give one boil, and serve.

Time.—4 hours. Average cost, 10d. per quart.

Seasonable at Christmas.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—Instead of thickening this soup, vermicelli or macaroni may be served in it.

THE TURKEY.—The common turkey is a native of North America, and was thence introduced to England, in the reign of Henry VIII. According to Tusser’s “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry,” about the year 1585 it begun to form a dish at our rural Christmas feasts.

      “Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies of the best,
      Pig, veal, goose, and capon, and turkey well dress’d,
      Cheese, apples, and nuts, jolly carols to hear,
      As then in the country is counted good cheer.”

It is one of the most difficult birds to rear, of any that we have; yet, in its wild state, is found in great abundance in the forests of Canada, where, it might have been imagined that the severity of the climate would be unfavourable to its ever becoming plentiful. They are very fond of the seeds of nettles, and the seeds of the foxglove poison them.

A GOOD FAMILY SOUP.

190. INGREDIENTS.—Remains of a cold tongue, 2 lbs. of shin of beef, any cold pieces of meat or beef-bones, 2 turnips, 2 carrots, 2 onions, 1 parsnip, 1 head of celery, 4 quarts of water, 1/2 teacupful of rice; salt and pepper to taste.

Mode.—Put all the ingredients in a stewpan, and simmer gently for 4 hours, or until all the goodness is drawn from the meat. Strain off the soup, and let it stand to get cold. The kernels and soft parts of the tongue must be saved. When the soup is wanted for use, skim off all the fat, put in the kernels and soft parts of the tongue, slice in a small quantity of fresh carrot, turnip, and onion; stew till the vegetables are tender, and serve with toasted bread.

Time.—5 hours. __Average cost_,3d. per quart.

Seasonable at any time.

Sufficient for 12 persons.

HODGE-PODGE.

191. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of shin of beef, 3 quarts of water, 1 pint of table-beer, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 1 head of celery; pepper and salt to taste; thickening of butter and flour.

Mode.—Put the meat, beer, and water in a stewpan; simmer for a few minutes, and skim carefully. Add the vegetables and seasoning; stew gently till the meat is tender. Thicken with the butter and flour, and serve with turnips and carrots, or spinach and celery.

Time.—3 hours, or rather more. Average cost, 3d. per quart.

Seasonable at any time. Sufficient for 12 persons.

TABLE BEER.—This is nothing more than a weak ale, and is not made so much with a view to strength, as to transparency of colour and an agreeable bitterness of taste. It is, or ought to be, manufactured by the London professional brewers, from the best pale malt, or amber and malt. Six barrels are usually drawn from one quarter of malt, with which are mixed 4 or 5 lbs. of hops. As a beverage, it is agreeable when fresh; but it is not adapted to keep long.

FISH SOUPS.

FISH STOCK.

192. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of beef or veal (these can be omitted), any kind of white fish trimmings, of fish which are to be dressed for table, 2 onions, the rind of 1/2 a lemon, a bunch of sweet herbs, 2 carrots, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Cut up the fish, and put it, with the other ingredients, into the water. Simmer for 2 hours; skim the liquor carefully, and strain it. When a richer stock is wanted, fry the vegetables and fish before adding the water.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost, with meat, 10d. per quart; without, 3d.

Note.—Do not make fish stock long before it is wanted, as it soon turns sour.

CRAYFISH SOUP.

193. INGREDIENTS.—50 crayfish, 1/4 lb. of butter, 6 anchovies, the crumb of 1 French roll, a little lobster-spawn, seasoning to taste, 2 quarts of medium stock, No. 105, or fish stock, No. 192.

Mode.—Shell the crayfish, and put the fish between two plates until they are wanted; pound the shells in a mortar, with the butter and anchovies; when well beaten, add a pint of stock, and simmer for 3/4 of an hour. Strain it through a hair sieve, put the remainder of the stock to it, with the crumb of the rolls; give it one boil, and rub it through a tammy, with the lobster-spawn. Put in the fish, but do not let the soup boil, after it has been rubbed through the tammy. If necessary, add seasoning.

Time.—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 2s. 3d. or 1s. 9d. per quart.

Seasonable from January to July.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

THE CRAYFISH.—This is one of those fishes that were highly esteemed by the ancients. The Greeks preferred it when brought from Alexandria, and the Romans ate it boiled with cumin, and seasoned with pepper and other condiments. A recipe tells us, that crayfish can be preserved several days in baskets with fresh grass, such as the nettle, or in a bucket with about three-eighths of an inch of water. More water would kill them, because the large quantity of air they require necessitates the water in which they are kept, to be continually renewed.

EEL SOUP.

194. INGREDIENTS.—3 lbs. of eels, 1 onion, 2 oz. of butter, 3 blades of mace, 1 bunch of sweet herbs, 1/4 oz. of peppercorns, salt to taste, 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, 1/4 pint of cream, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Wash the eels, cut them into thin slices, and put them in the stewpan with the butter; let them simmer for a few minutes, then pour the water to them, and add the onion, cut in thin slices, the herbs, mace, and seasoning. Simmer till the eels are tender, but do not break the fish. Take them out carefully, mix the flour smoothly to a batter with the cream, bring it to a boil, pour over the eels, and serve.

Time.—1 hour, or rather more. Average cost, 10d. per quart.

Seasonable from June to March.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—This soup may be flavoured differently by omitting the cream, and adding a little ketchup or Harvey’s sauce.

LOBSTER SOUP.

195. INGREDIENTS.—3 large lobsters, or 6 small ones; the crumb of a French roll, 2 anchovies, 1 onion, 1 small bunch of sweet herbs, 1 strip of lemon-peel, 2 oz. of butter, a little nutmeg, 1 teaspoonful of flour, 1 pint of cream, 1 pint of milk; forcemeat balls, mace, salt and pepper to taste, bread crumbs, 1 egg, 2 quarts of water.

Mode.—Pick the meat from the lobsters, and beat the fins, chine, and small claws in a mortar, previously taking away the brown fin and the bag in the head. Put it in a stewpan, with the crumb of the roll, anchovies, onions, herbs, lemon-peel, and the water; simmer gently till all the goodness is extracted, and strain it off. Pound the spawn in a mortar, with the butter, nutmeg, and flour, and mix with it the cream and milk. Give one boil up, at the same time adding the tails cut in pieces. Make the forcemeat balls with the remainder of the lobster, seasoned with mace, pepper, and salt, adding a little flour, and a few bread crumbs; moisten them with the egg, heat them in the soup, and serve.

Time.—2 hours, or rather more. Average cost, 3s 6d per quart.

Seasonable from April to October.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

OYSTER SOUP.

I.

196. INGREDIENTS.—6 dozen of oysters, 2 quarts of white stock, 1/2 pint of cream, 2 oz. of butter, 1-1/2 oz. of flour; salt, cayenne, and mace to taste.

Mode.—Scald the oysters in their own liquor; take them out, beard them, and put them in a tureen. Take a pint of the stock, put in the beards and the liquor, which must be carefully strained, and simmer for 1/2 an hour. Take it off the fire, strain it again, and add the remainder of the stock with the seasoning and mace. Bring it to a boil, add the thickening of butter and flour, simmer for 5 minutes, stir in the boiling cream, pour it over the oysters, and serve.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost, 2s. 8d. per quart.

Seasonable from September to April.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—This soup can be made less rich by using milk instead of cream, and thickening with arrowroot instead of butter and flour.

II.

197. INGREDIENTS.—2 quarts of good mutton broth, 6 dozen oysters, 2 oz. butter, 1 oz. of flour.

Mode.—Beard the oysters, and scald them in their own liquor; then add it, well strained, to the broth; thicken with the butter and flour, and simmer for 1/4 of an hour. Put in the oysters, stir well, but do not let it boil, and serve very hot.

Time.—3/4 hour. Average cost, 2s. per quart.

Seasonable from September to April.

Sufficient for 8 persons.

SEASON OF OYSTERS.—From April and May to the end of July, oysters are said to be sick; but by the end of August they become healthy, having recovered from the effects of spawning. When they are not in season, the males have a black, and the females a milky substance in the gill. From some lines of Oppian, it would appear that the ancients were ignorant that the oyster is generally found adhering to rocks. The starfish is one of the most deadly enemies of these bivalves. The poet says:—

      The prickly star creeps on with full deceit
      To force the oyster from his close retreat.
      When gaping lids their widen’d void display,
      The watchful star thrusts in a pointed ray,
      Of all its treasures spoils the rifled case,
      And empty shells the sandy hillock grace.

PRAWN SOUP.

198. INGREDIENTS.—2 quarts of fish stock or water, 2 pints of prawns, the crumbs of a French roll, anchovy sauce or mushroom ketchup to taste, 1 blade of mace, 1 pint of vinegar, a little lemon-juice.

Mode.—Pick out the tails of the prawns, put the bodies in a stewpan with 1 blade of mace, 1/2 pint of vinegar, and the same quantity of water; stew them for 1/4 hour, and strain off the liquor. Put the fish stock or water into a stewpan; add the strained liquor, pound the prawns with the crumb of a roll moistened with a little of the soup, rub them through a tammy, and mix them by degrees with the soup; add ketchup or anchovy sauce to taste, with a little lemon-juice. When it is well cooked, put in a few picked prawns; let them get thoroughly hot, and serve. If not thick enough, put in a little butter and flour.

Time.—hour. Average cost, 1s. 1d. per quart, if made with water.

Seasonable at any time. Sufficient for 8 persons.

Note.—This can be thickened with tomatoes, and vermicelli served in it, which makes it a very tasteful soup.

THE PRAWN.—This little fish bears a striking resemblance to the shrimp, but is neither so common nor so small. It is to be found on most of the sandy shores of Europe. The Isle of Wight is famous for shrimps, where they are potted; but both the prawns and the shrimps vended in London, are too much salted for the excellence of their natural flavour to be preserved. They are extremely lively little animals, as seen in their native retreats.

Victorian Soup Recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]

Economical Pot Liquor Soup.

A thrifty housewife will not require that I should tell her to save the liquor in which the beef has been boiled; I will therefore take it for granted that the next day she carefully removes the grease, which will have become set firm on the top of the broth, into her fat pot; this must be kept to make a pie-crust, or to fry potatoes, or any remains of vegetables, onions, or fish. The liquor must be tasted, and if it is found to be too salt, some water must be added to lessen its saltness, and render it palatable.

The pot containing the liquor must then be placed on the fire to boil, and when the scum rises to the surface it should be removed with a spoon. While the broth is boiling, put as many piled-up table-spoonfuls of oatmeal as you have pints of liquor into a basin; mix this with cold water into a smooth liquid batter, and then stir it into the boiling soup; season with some pepper and a good pinch of allspice, and continue stirring the soup with a stick or spoon on the fire for about twenty minutes; you will then be able to serve out a plentiful and nourishing meal to a large family at a cost of not more than the price of the oatmeal.

Potato Soup for Six Persons.

Peel and chop four onions, and put them into a gallon saucepan, with two ounces of dripping fat, or butter, or a bit of fat bacon; add rather better than three quarts of water, and set the whole to boil on the fire for ten minutes; then throw in four pounds of peeled and sliced-up potatoes, pepper and salt, and with a wooden spoon stir the soup on the fire for about twenty-five minutes, by which time the potatoes will be done to a pulp, and the soup ready for dinner or breakfast.

Pea Soup for Six Persons.

Cut up two and a-half pounds of pickled pork, or some pork cuttings, or else the same quantity of scrag end of neck of mutton, or leg of beef, and put any one of these kinds of meat into a pot with a gallon of water, three pints of split or dried peas, previously soaked in cold water over-night, two carrots, four onions, and a head of celery, all chopped small; season with pepper, but no salt, as the pork, if pork is used, will season the soup sufficiently; set the whole to boil very gently for at least three hours, taking care to skim it occasionally, and do not forget that the peas, etc., must be stirred from the bottom of the pot now and then; from three to four hours’ gentle boiling will suffice to cook a good mess of this most excellent and satisfying soup. If fresh meat is used for this purpose, salt must be added to season it. Dried mint may be strewn over the soup when eaten.

Onion Soup for Six Persons.

Chop fine six onions, and fry them in a gallon saucepan with two ounces of butter or dripping fat, stirring them continuously until they become of a very light colour; then add six ounces of flour or oatmeal, and moisten with three quarts of water; season with pepper and salt, and stir the soup while boiling for twenty minutes, and when done, pour it out into a pan or bowl containing slices of bread.

Broth made from Bones for Soup.

Fresh bones are always to be purchased from butchers at about a farthing per pound; they must be broken up small, and put into a boiling-pot with a quart of water to every pound of bones; and being placed on the fire, the broth must be well skimmed, seasoned with pepper and salt, a few carrots, onions, turnips, celery, and thyme, and boiled very gently for six hours; it is then to be strained off, and put back into the pot, with any bits of meat or gristle which may have fallen from the bones (the bones left are still worth a farthing per pound, and can be sold to the bone-dealers).

Let this broth be thickened with peasemeal or oatmeal, in the proportion of a large table-spoonful to every pint of broth, and stirred over the fire while boiling for twenty-five minutes, by which time the soup will be done. It will be apparent to all good housewives that, with a little trouble and good management, a savoury and substantial meal may thus be prepared for a mere trifle.

Ox-cheek Soup.

An ox-cheek is always to be bought cheap; let it be thoroughly washed in several waters, place it whole in a three gallon boiling-pot filled up with water, and set it to boil on the fire; skim it well, season with carrots, turnips, onions, celery, allspice, pepper, and salt; and allow the whole to boil very gently by the side of the hob for about three hours and a-half, by which time the ox-cheek, etc., will be done quite tender; the cheek must then be taken out on to a dish, the meat removed from the bone, and after being cut up in pieces, put back into the soup again.

Next mix smoothly twelve ounces of flour with a quart of cold water, pour this into the soup, and stir the whole on the fire, keeping it boiling for about twenty-five minutes longer; when it will be ready for dinner. One ox-cheek, properly managed, will, by attending to the foregoing instructions, furnish an ample quantity of substantial and nutritious food, equal to the wants of a large family, for three days’ consumption.

Sheep’s-head Broth.

Get the butcher to split the sheep’s head into halves, wash these clean, and put them into a boiling-pot with two gallons of water; set this on the fire to boil, skim it well, add carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, celery, thyme or winter savory, season with pepper and salt; add a pint of Patna rice, or Scotch barley; and all the whole to keep gently boiling by the side of the fire for three hours, adding a little water to make up for the deficiency in quantity occasioned by boiling.

Cow-heel Broth.

Put a couple of cow-heels into a boiling-pot, with a pound of rice, a dozen leeks washed free from grit and cut into pieces, and some coarsely chopped parsley; fill up with six quarts of water, set the whole to boil on the fire, skim it well, season with thyme, pepper, and salt, and allow the whole to boil very gently on the hob for about two hours. You will thus provide a savoury meal at small cost.

Bacon and Cabbage Soup.

When it happens that you have a dinner consisting of bacon and cabbages, you invariably throw away the liquor in which they have been boiled, or, at the best, give it to the pigs, if you possess any; this is wrong, for it is easy to turn it to a better account for your own use, by paying attention to the following instructions, viz.:—Put your piece of bacon on to boil in a pot with two gallons (more or less, according to the number you have to provide for) of water, when it has boiled up, and has been well skimmed, add the cabbages, kale, greens, or sprouts, whichever may be used, well washed and split down, and also some parsnips and carrots; season with pepper, but no salt, as the bacon will season the soup sufficiently; and when the whole has boiled together very gently for about two hours, take up the bacon surrounded with the cabbage, parsnips, and carrots, leaving a small portion of the vegetables in the soup, and pour this into a large bowl containing slices of bread; eat the soup first, and make it a rule that those who eat most soup are entitled to the largest share of bacon.

Cocky Leeky.

I hope that at some odd times you may afford yourselves an old hen or cock; and when this occurs, this is the way in which I recommend that it be cooked, viz.:—First pluck, draw, singe off the hairs, and tie the fowl up in a plump shape; next, put it into a boiling-pot with a gallon of water, and a pound of Patna rice, a dozen leeks cut in pieces, some peppercorns and salt to season; boil the whole very gently for three hours, and divide the fowl to be eaten with the soup, which will prove not only nourishing but invigorating to the system.

Bouillabaisse Soup.

Put the following ingredients into a saucepan to boil on the fire:—four onions and six tomatoes, or red love-apples, cut in thin slices, some thyme and winter savory, a little salad-oil, a wine-glassful of vinegar, pepper and salt, and a pint of water to each person. When the soup has boiled fifteen minutes, throw in your fish, cut in pieces or slices, and, as soon as the fish is done, eat the soup with some crusts of bread or toast in it. All kinds of fish suit this purpose.

Fish Soup.

Cod-fish cuttings, Dutch plaice, skate, dabs, haddocks, cod’s-heads, cod’s-tails, or any fresh-water fish you may happen to catch when fishing, conger eels cut in slices, and almost any kind of fish which may come within reach of your means, are all more or less fit for making a good mess of soup for a meal. First, chop fine some onions, and put them into a pot with enough water to furnish about half a pint for each person to be provided for, and set this on the fire to boil for ten minutes; then add your pieces of fish, of about four ounces each; season with thyme, pepper, and salt, and boil the soup for about fifteen minutes longer, when it will be ready for dinner. Some well-boiled potatoes will prove a welcome addition to this soup.

Note.—This kind of fish soup will prove the more advantageous near the sea-coast, where inferior kinds of fish are always very cheap.

The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]

Broth for the Poor.

A good wholesome broth may be made at a very reasonable rate to feed the poor in the country. The following quantities would furnish a good meal for upwards of fifty persons.

Take twenty pounds of the very coarse parts of beef, five pounds of whole rice, thirteen gallons of water; boil the meat in the water first, and skim it very well; then put in the rice, some turnips, carrots, leeks, celery, thyme, parsley, and a good quantity of potatoes; add a good handful of salt, and boil them all together till tender.

Another.

Four hundred quarts of good broth for the poor may be made as follows:—Good beef, fifty pounds weight; beeves’ cheeks, and legs of beef, five; rice, thirty pounds; peas, twenty-three quarts; black pepper, five ounces and a half; cayenne pepper, half an ounce; ground ginger, two ounces; onions, thirteen pounds; salt, seven pounds and a half; with celery, leeks, carrots, dried mint, and any other vegetable.

Broth for the Sick. No. 1.

Boil one ounce of very lean veal, fifteen minutes in a little butter, and then add half a pint of water; set it over a very slow fire, with a spoonful of barley and a piece of gum arabic about the size of a nut.

Broth for the Sick. No. 2.

Put a leg of beef and a scrag of mutton cut in pieces into three or four gallons of water, and let them boil twelve hours, occasionally stirring them well; and cover close. Strain the broth, and let it stand till it will form a jelly; then take the fat from the top and the dross from the bottom.

Broth for the sick. No. 3.

Take twelve quarts of water, two knuckles of veal, a leg of beef, or two shins, four calves’ feet, a chicken, a rabbit, two onions, cloves, pepper, salt, a bunch of sweet herbs. Cover close, and let the whole boil till reduced to six quarts. Strain and keep it for use.

Barley Broth.

Take four or five pounds of the lean end of a neck of mutton, soak it well in cold water for some time, then put it in a saucepan with about four quarts of water and a tea-cupful of fine barley. Just before it boils take it off the fire and skim it extremely well; put in salt and pepper to your taste, and a small bundle of sweet herbs, which take out before the broth is sent up. Then let it boil very gently for some hours afterwards; add turnips, carrots, and onions, cut in small pieces, and continue to boil the broth till the vegetables are quite done and very tender. When nearly done it requires to be stirred frequently lest the barley should adhere.

Another.

Put on whatever bones you have; stew them down well with a little whole pepper, onions, and herbs. When done, strain it off, and next day take off all the fat. Take a little pearl barley, boil it a little and strain it off; put it to the broth, add a coss lettuce, carrot, and turnip, cut small. Boil all together some time, and serve it up.

Chervil Broth for Cough.

Boil a calf’s liver and two large handfuls of chervil in four quarts of spring water till reduced to one quart. Strain it, and take a coffee-cupful night and morning.

Hodge-Podge.

Stew a scrag of mutton: put in a peck of peas, a bunch of turnips cut small, a few carrots, onions, lettuce, and some parsley. When sufficiently boiled add a few mutton chops, which must stew gently till done.

Leek Porridge.

Peel twelve leeks; boil them in water till tender; take them out and put them into a quart of new milk; boil them well; thicken up with oatmeal, and add salt according to the taste.

Madame de Maillet’s Broth.

Two ounces of veal, six carrots, two turnips, one table-spoonful of gum arabic, one table-spoonful of rice, two quarts of water; simmer for about two hours.

Mutton Broth.

The bone of a leg of mutton to be chopped small, and put into the stewpan with vegetables and herbs, together with a little drop of water, and drawn as gravy soup; add boiling water.

Pork Broth.

Take a leg of pork fresh cut up; beat it and break the bone; put it into three gallons of soft water, with half an ounce of mace and the same quantity of nutmeg. Let it boil very gently over a slow fire, until two thirds of the water are consumed. Strain the broth through a fine sieve, and when it is cold take off the fat. Drink a large cupful in the morning fasting, and between meals, and just before going to bed, warmed. Season it with a little salt. This is a fine restorative.

Scotch Broth.

Boil very tender a piece of thin brisket of beef, with trimmings of any other meat, or a piece of gravy beef; cut it into square pieces; strain off the broth and put it in a soup-pot; add the beef, cut in squares, with plenty of carrots, turnips, celery, and onions, cut in shapes and well boiled before put to the broth, and, if liked, some very small suet dumplings first boiled. Season it to your palate.

Turnip Broth.

Have a sufficient quantity of good strong broth as for any other soup, taking care that it is not too strongly flavoured by any of the roots introduced into it. Peel a good quantity of the best turnips, selecting such as are not bitter. Sweat them in butter and a little water till they are quite tender. Rub them through a tamis, mix them with the broth; boil it for about half an hour. Add half a pint of very good cream, and be careful not to have too fierce a fire, as it is apt to burn.

Another.

Put one pound of lean veal, pulled into small pieces in a pipkin, with two large or three middling turnips. Cover the pipkin very close, to prevent water from getting into it; set it in a pot of water, and let it boil for two or three hours. A tea-cupful of the broth produced in the pipkin may be taken twice or thrice a day.

Veal Broth. No. 1.

Take ten or twelve knuckles, such as are cut off from legs and shoulders of mutton, at the very shank; rub them with a little salt, put them in a pan of water for two or three hours, and wash them very clean; boil them in a gallon of spring water for an hour. Strain them very clean, then put in two ounces of hartshorn shavings, and the bottom crust of a penny loaf; let it boil till the water is reduced to about three pints; strain it off, and when cold skim off the fat. Take half a pint warm before you rise, and the same in bed at night. Make it fresh three times a week in summer, and twice a week in winter: do not put in any lamb bones. This is an excellent thing.

Veal Broth. No. 2.

Soak a knuckle of veal for an hour in cold water; put it into fresh water over the fire, and, as the scum rises, take it off; let it stew gently for two hours, with a little salt to make the scum rise. When it is sufficiently stewed, strain the broth from the meat. Put in some vermicelli; keep the meat hot; and as you are going to put the soup into the terrine add half a pint of cream.

Veal Broth. No. 3.

Take one pound of lean veal, one blade of mace, two table-spoonfuls of rice, one quart of water; let it boil slowly two hours; add a little salt.

Veal Broth. No. 4.—Excellent for a Consumption.

Boil a knuckle of veal in a gallon of water; skim and put to it half a pound of raisins of the sun, stoned, and the bottoms of two manchets, with a nutmeg and a half sliced, and a little hartshorn. Let it boil till reduced to half the quantity; then pound it all together and strain. Add some brown sugar-candy, some rose-water, and also the juice of a lemon, if the patient has no cough.

Almond Soup.

Take lean beef or veal, about eight or nine pounds, and a scrag of mutton; boil them gently in water that will cover them, till the gravy be very strong and the meat very tender; then strain off the gravy and set it on the fire with two ounces of vermicelli, eight blades of mace, twelve cloves, to a gallon. Let it boil till it has the flavour of the spices. Have ready one pound of the best almonds, blanched and pounded very fine; pound them with the yolks of twelve eggs, boiled hard, mixing as you pound them with a little of the soup, lest the almonds should grow oily. Pound them till they are a mere pulp: add a little soup by degrees to the almonds and eggs until mixed together. Let the soup be cool when you mix it, and do it perfectly smooth. Strain it through a sieve; set it on the fire; stir it frequently; and serve it hot. Just before you take it up add a gill of thick cream.

Asparagus Soup.

Put five or six pounds of lean beef, cut in pieces and rolled in flour, into your stewpan, with two or three slices of bacon at the bottom: set it on a slow fire and cover it close, stirring it now and then, till your gravy is drawn; then put in two quarts of water and half a pint of pale ale; cover it close and let it stew gently for an hour. Put in some whole pepper and salt to your taste. Then strain out the liquor and take off the fat; put in the leaves of white beet, some spinach, some cabbage lettuce, a little mint, sorrel, and sweet marjoram, pounded; let these boil up in your liquor. Then put in your green tops of asparagus, cut small, and let them boil till all is tender. Serve hot, with the crust of a French roll in the dish.

Another.

Boil three half pints of winter split peas; rub them through a sieve; add a little gravy; then stew by themselves the following herbs:—celery, a few young onions, a lettuce, cut small, and about half a pint of asparagus, cut small, like peas, and stewed with the rest; colour the soup of a pea green with spinach juice; add half a pint of cream or good milk, and serve up.

Clear Soup.

Take six pounds of gravy beef; cut it small, put it into a large stewpan, with onions, carrots, turnips, celery, a small bunch of herbs, and one cup of water. Stew these on the fire for an hour, then add nine pints of boiling water; let it boil for six hours, strain it through a fine sieve, and let it stand till next day; take off the fat; put it into a clean stewpan, set it on the fire till it is quite hot; then break three eggs into a basin, leaving the shells with them. Add this to the soup by degrees; cover close till it boils; then strain it into a pan through a fine cloth. When the eggs are well beaten, a little hot soup must be added by degrees, and beaten up before it is put into the stewpan with the whole of the soup.

Clear Herb Soup.

Put celery, leeks, carrots, turnips, cabbage lettuce, young onions, all cut fine, with a handful of young peas: give them a scald in boiling water; put them on a sieve to drain, and then put them into a clear consommé, and let them boil slowly till the roots are quite tender. Season with a little salt. When going to table put a little crust of French roll in it.

Curry or Mulligatawny Soup.

Boil a large chicken or fowl in a pint of water till half done; add a table-spoonful of curry powder, with the juice of one lemon and a half; boil it again gently till the meat is done.

For a large party you must double the quantity of all the articles, and always proportion the water to the quantity of gravy you think the meat will yield.

Mulligatawny Soup. No. 1.

Cut in pieces three fowls; reserve the best pieces of one of them for the terrine; cut the remainder very small: add to them a pound of lean ham, some garlic, bay-leaves, spices, whole mace, peppercorns, onions, pickles of any kind that are of a hot nature, and about four table-spoonfuls of good curry-powder. Cover the ingredients with four quarts of strong veal stock, and boil them till the soup is well flavoured: then strain that to the fowl you have reserved, which must be fried with onions. Simmer the whole till quite tender, and serve it up with plain boiled rice.

Mulligatawny Soup. No. 2.

Boil a knuckle of veal of about five pounds weight; let it stand till cold; then strain, and fry it in a little butter. Strain the liquor, and leave it till cold; take the fat off. Fry four onions brown in butter, add four dessert spoonfuls of curry-powder, a little turmeric, a little cayenne; put all these together in the soup. Let it simmer for two hours, and if not then thick enough, add a little suet and flour, and plain boiled rice to eat with it; and there should be a chicken or fowl, half roasted, and cut up in small pieces, then fried in butter of a light brown colour, and put into the soup instead of the veal, as that is generally too much boiled.

Mulligatawny Soup. No. 3.

Have some good broth made, chiefly of the knuckle of veal: when cold skim the fat off well, and pass the broth when in a liquid state through the sieve. Cut a chicken or rabbit into joints, (chicken or turkey is preferable to rabbit,) fry it well, with four or five middle-sized onions shred fine; shake a table-spoonful of curry-powder over it, and put it into the broth. Let it simmer three hours, and serve it up with a seasoning of cayenne pepper.

Eel Soup.

Take two pounds of eels; put to them two quarts of water, a crust of bread, two or three blades of mace, some whole pepper, one onion, and a bunch of sweet herbs. Cover them close, and let them stew till the liquor is reduced to one half, and if the soup is not rich enough it must boil till it is stronger.—Then strain it, toast some bread, and cut it in small.This soup will be as good as if meat were put into it. A pound of eels makes a pint of soup.

Fish Soup.

Stew the heads, tails, and fins, of any sort of flat fish or haddock. Strain and thicken with a little flour and butter; add pepper, salt, anchovy, and ketchup, to taste. Cut the fish in thick pieces, and let them stew gently till done.

French Soup

Take the scrag end of a neck of mutton, or two pounds of any meat, and make it into very strong broth; then take one large cabbage, three lettuces, three carrots, one root of celery, and two onions; cut them all small, and fry them with butter. Pour your broth upon your vegetables a little at a time, cover[37] it up close, and let it stew three hours or more. Serve with the vegetables.

Friar’s Chicken.

Stew a knuckle of veal, a neck of mutton, a large fowl, two pounds of giblets, two large onions, two bunches of turnips, one bunch of carrots, a bunch of thyme, and another of sage, eight hours over a very slow stove, till every particle of juice is extracted from the meat and vegetables. Take it off the stove, pass it through a hair tamis; have ready a pound of grated veal, or, what is better, of grated chicken, with a large bunch of parsley, chopped very fine and mingled with it. Put this into the broth; set it on the stove again, and while there break four raw eggs into it. Stir the whole for about a quarter of an hour and serve up hot.

Gravy Soup. No. 1.

Put two pounds of gravy beef, cut in small pieces, with pepper, salt, some whole pepper, and a piece of butter, the size of a walnut, into a stewpan. When drawn to a good gravy, pour in three quarts of boiling water; add some mace, four heads of celery, one carrot, and three or four onions. Let them stew gently about an hour and a half; then strain; add an ounce and half of vermicelli, and let it stew about ten minutes longer.

Gravy Soup. No. 2.

Take two ox melts, cut them in pieces, season them with pepper and salt, and dredge them with flour. Shred two large onions, fry them of a nice brown colour, put them at the bottom of the saucepan with a piece of butter. Take one ox rump, stew it with carrots and celery and twelve allspice. Then put all together and strain well. This quantity will make three quarts. You may send the ox rump to table in the soup, if approved. Two carrots and two heads of celery will be sufficient.

Hessian Soup.

Take seven pints of water, one pint of split peas, one pound of lean beef, cut into small slices, three quarters of a pound of potatoes, three ounces of ground rice, two heads of celery, two onions, or leeks. Season with pepper and salt, and dried mint, according to your taste. Let it all boil slowly together till reduced to five pints.

Another.

One pound of beef, one pint of split peas, three turnips, four ounces ground rice, three potatoes, three onions, one head of celery, seven pints of water. Boil till reduced to six pints; then strain it through a hair sieve, with a little whole pepper.

Winter Pea Soup.

Take two quarts of old peas, a lettuce, a small bit of savoury, a handful of spinach, a little parsley, a cucumber, a bit of hock of bacon; stew all together till tender. Rub the whole through a colander; add to it some good gravy, and a little cayenne or common pepper. These quantities will be sufficient for a large terrine. Send it up hot with fried bread.

Portable Soup.

Strip all the skin and fat off a leg of veal; then cut all the fleshy parts from the bone, and add a shin of beef, which treat in the same way; boil it slowly in three gallons of water or more according to the quantity of the meat; let the pot be closely covered: when you find it, in a spoon, very strong and clammy, like a rich jelly, take it off and strain it through a hair sieve into an earthen pan. After it is thoroughly cold, take off any fat that may remain, and divide your jelly clear of the bottom into small flatfish cakes in chinaware cups covered. Then place these cups in a large deep stewpan of boiling water over a stove fire, where let it boil gently till the jelly becomes a perfect glue; but take care the water does not get into the cups, for that will spoil it all. These cups of glue must be taken out, and, when cold, turn out the glue into a piece of new coarse flannel, and in about six hours turn it upon more fresh flannel, and keep doing this till it is perfectly dry—if you then lay it by in a dry warm place, it will presently become like a dry piece of glue. When you use it in travelling, take a piece the size of a large walnut, seasoning it with fresh herbs, and if you can have an old fowl, or a very little bit of fresh meat, it will be excellent.

Potato Soup.

Five large carrots, two turnips, three large mealy potatoes, seven onions, three heads of celery; slice them all thin, with a handful of sweet herbs; put them into one gallon of water, with bones of beef, or a piece of mutton; let them simmer gently till the vegetables will pulp through a sieve. Add cayenne pepper, salt, a pint of milk, or half a pint of cream, with a small piece of butter beaten up with flour.

Root Soup.

Potatoes, French turnips, English turnips, carrots, celery, of each six roots; pare and wash them; add three or four onions; set them on the fire with the bones of a rump of beef, or, if you have no such thing, about two pounds of beef, or any other beef bones. Chop them up, and put them on the fire with water enough to cover them; let them stew very gently till the roots are all tender enough to rub through a sieve. This done, cut a few roots of celery small, and put it to the strained soup. Season it with pepper and salt, and stew it gently till the celery is tender; then serve it with toast or fried bread. A bundle of herbs may be boiled in it, just to flavour it, and then taken out.

Scotch Leek Soup.

You make this soup to most advantage the day after a leg of mutton has been boiled, into the liquor from which put four large leeks, cut in pieces. Season with pepper and salt, and let it boil gently for a quarter of an hour. Mix half a pint of oatmeal with cold water till quite smooth; pour this into the soup; let it simmer gently half an hour longer; and serve it up.

To brown or colour Soup.

To brown soup, take two lumps of loaf-sugar in an iron spoon; let it stand on the stove till it is quite black, and put it into soup.

Seasoning for Soups and Brown Sauces.

Salt a bullock’s liver, pressing it thoroughly with a great weight for four days. Take ginger and every sort of spice that is used to meat, and half a pound of brown sugar, a good quantity of saltpetre, and a pound of juniper-berries. Rub the whole in thoroughly, and let it lie six weeks in the liquor, boiling and skimming every three days, for an hour or two, till the liver becomes as hard as a board. Then steep it in the smoke liquor that is used for hams, and afterwards hang it up to smoke for a considerable time. When used, cut slices as thin as a wafer, and stew them down with the jelly of which you make your sauce or soup, and it will give a delightful flavour.

Soup. No. 1.

A quarter of a pound of portable soup [scroll up to see portable soup recipe above], that is, one cake, in two quarts of boiling water; vegetables to be stewed separately, and added after the soup is dissolved.

Soup. No. 2.

Take a piece of beef about a stone weight, and a knuckle of veal, eight or ten onions, a bunch of thyme and parsley, an ounce of allspice, ten cloves, some whole pepper and salt; boil all these till the meat is all to pieces. Strain and take off the fat. Make about a quart of brown beef gravy with some of your broth; then take half a pound of butter and a good handful of flour mixed together, put it into a stewpan, set it over a slow fire, keeping it stirring till very brown; have ready what herbs you design for your soup, either endive or celery; chop them, but not too small; if you wish for a fine soup add a palate and sweetbreads, the palate boiled tender, and the sweetbreads fried, and both cut into small pieces. Put these, with herbs, into brown butter; put in as much of your broth as you intend for your soup, which must be according to the size of your dish. Give them a boil or two, then put in a quart of your gravy, and put all in a pot, with a fowl, or what you intend to put in your dish. Cover it close, and, let it boil an hour or more on a slow fire. Should it not be seasoned enough, add more salt, or what you think may be necessary: a fowl, or partridge, or squab pigeons, are best boiled in soup and to lie in the dish with it.

Soup. No. 3.

Cut three pounds of beef and one pound of veal in slices and beat it. Put half a pound of butter and a piece of bacon in your pan, brown it, and sprinkle in half a spoonful of flour. Cut two onions in; add pepper and salt, a bit of mace, and some herbs, then put in your meat, and fry it till it is brown on both sides. Have in readiness four quarts of boiling water, and a saucepan that will hold both water and what is in your frying-pan. Cover it close; set it over a slow fire and stew it down, till it is wasted to about five pints; then strain it off, and add to it what soup-herbs you like, according to your palate. Celery and endive must be first stewed in butter; and peas and asparagus first boiled, and well drained from the butter, before you put it to the soup. Stew it some time longer, and skim off all the fat; then take a French roll, which put in your soup-dish; pour in your soup, and serve it up. Just before you take it off the fire, squeeze in the juice of a lemon.

If veal alone is used, and fowl or chicken boiled in it and taken out when enough done, and the liquor strained, and the fowl or chicken put to the clear liquor, with vermicelli, you will have a fine white soup; and the addition of the juice of a lemon is a great improvement.

The French cooks put in chervil and French turnips, lettuce, sorrel, parsley, beets, a little bit of carrot, a little of parsnips, this last must not boil too long—all to be strained off: to be sent up with celery, endive (or peas) or asparagus, and stuffed cucumbers.

Soup without Meat.

Take two quarts of water, a little pepper, salt, and Jamaica pepper, a blade of mace, ten or twelve cloves, three or four onions, a crust of bread, and a bunch of sweet herbs; boil all these well. Take the white of two or three heads of endive, chopped, but not too small. Put three quarters of a pound of butter in a stewpan that will be large enough to hold all your liquor. Set it on a quick fire till it becomes very brown; then put a little of your liquor to prevent its turning, or oiling; shake in as much flour as will make it rather thick; then put in the endive and an onion shred small, stirring it well. Strain all your liquor, and put it to the butter and herbs; let it stew over a slow fire almost an hour. Dry a French roll, and let it remain in it till it is soaked through, and lay it in your dish with the soup. You may make this soup with asparagus, celery, or green peas, but they must be boiled before you put them to the burnt butter.

Soup for the Poor.

Eight pails of water, two quarts of barley, four quarts of split peas, one bushel of potatoes, half a bushel of turnips, half a bushel of carrots, half a peck of onions, one ounce of pepper, two pounds of salt, an ox’s head, parsley, herbs, boiled six hours, produce one hundred and thirty pints. Boil the meat and take off the first scum before the other ingredients are put in.

Another.

To feed one hundred and thirty persons, take five quarts of Scotch barley, one quart of Scotch oatmeal, one bushel of potatoes, a bullock’s head, onions, &c., one pound and half of salt.

Soup and Bouilli

may be made of ox-cheek, stewed gently for some hours, and well skimmed from the fat, and again when cold. Small suet dumplings are added when heated for table as soup.

Soupe à la Reine, or Queen’s Soup.

Soak a knuckle of veal and part of a neck of mutton in water; put them in a pot with liquor, carrots, turnips, thyme, parsley, and onions. Boil and scum it; then season with a head or two of celery; boil this down; take half a pound of blanched almonds, and beat them; take two fowls, half roasted, two sweetbreads set off; beat these in a mortar, put them in your stock, with the crumbs of two French rolls; then rub them through a tamis and serve up.

Soupe Maigre. No. 1.

Take the white part of eight loaved lettuces, cut them as small as dice, wash them and strain them through a sieve. Pick a handful of purslain and half a handful of parsley, wash and drain them. Cut up six large cucumbers in slices about the thickness of a crown-piece. Peel and mince four large onions, and have in readiness three pints of young green peas. Put half a pound of fresh butter into your stewpan; brown it of a high colour, something like that of beef gravy. Put in two ounces of lean bacon cut clean from the rind, add all your herbs, peas, and cucumbers, and thirty corns of whole pepper; let these stew together for ten minutes; keep stirring to prevent burning. Put one gallon of boiling water to a gallon of small broth, and a French roll cut into four pieces toasted of a fine yellow brown. Cover your stewpan, and let it again stew for two hours. Add half a drachm of beaten mace, one clove beaten, and half a grated nutmeg, and salt to your taste. Let it boil up, and squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Send it to table with all the bread and the herbs that were stewed in it.

Soupe Maigre. No. 2.

Take of every vegetable you can get, excepting cabbage, in such quantity as not to allow any one to predominate; cut them small and fry them brown in butter; add a little water, and thicken with flour and butter. Let this stew three hours very gently; and season to your taste. The French add French rolls.

Soupe Maigre. No. 3.

Half a pound of butter, put in a stewpan over the fire, and let it brown. Cut two or three onions in slices, two or three heads of celery, two handfuls of spinach, a cabbage, two turnips, a little parsley, three cabbage lettuces, a little spice, pepper and salt. Stew all these about half an hour; then add about two quarts of water, and let it simmer till all the roots are tender. Put in the crust of a French roll, and send it to table.

Soupe Maigre. No. 4.

Cut three carrots, three turnips, three heads of celery, three leeks, six onions, and two cabbage lettuces in small pieces; put them in your stewpan with a piece of butter, the size of an egg, a pint of dried or green peas, and two quarts of water, with a little pepper and salt. Simmer the whole over the fire till tender; then rub it through a sieve or tamis; add some rice, and let it simmer an hour before you serve it up.

Soupe Santé, or Wholesome Soup.

Take beef and veal cut in thin slices; put sliced turnips, carrots, onions, bacon, in the bottom of your stewpan; lay your meat upon these, and over it some thin thyme, parsley, a head or two of celery. Cover the whole down; set it over a charcoal fire; draw it down till it sticks to the bottom; then fill up with the above stock. Let it boil slowly till the goodness is extracted from your meat; then strain it off. Cut and wash some celery, endive, sorrel, a little chervil, spinach, and a piece of leek; put these in a stewpan, with a bit of butter. Stew till tender, then put this in your soup; give it a boil up together, and skim the fat off. Cut off the crust of French rolls; dry and soak them in some of your soup; put them into it, and serve your soup.

Spanish Soup.

Put the scrag end of a neck of veal, two calves’ feet, two pounds of fresh beef, one old fowl, into a pot well tinned, with six quarts of water, and a little salt, to raise the scum, which must be very carefully taken off. Let these boil very gently two hours and a half, till the water is reduced to four quarts; then take out all the meat, strain the broth, and put to it a small quantity of pepper, mace, cloves, and cinnamon, finely pounded, with four or five cloves of garlic. A quarter of an hour afterwards add eight or ten ounces of rice, with six ounces of ham or bacon, and a drachm of saffron put into a muslin bag. Observe to keep it often stirred after the rice is in, till served up. It will be ready an hour and a half after the saffron is in. You should put a fowl into it an hour before it is ready, and serve it up whole in the soup.

This soup will keep two or three days.

Turnip Soup.

Make a good strong gravy of beef or mutton; let it stand till cold; take off all the fat; pare some turnips and slice them thin; stew them till tender, then strain them through a sieve; mix the pulp with the gravy, till of a proper thickness:—then add three quarters of a pint of cream; boil it up, and send it to table.

Vegetable Soup. No. 1.

Take a quart of beef jelly and the same quantity of veal jelly: boil it, have some carrots and turnips, cut small, previously boiled in a little of the jelly; throw them in, and serve it up hot.

Vegetable Soup. No. 2.

Take two cabbage and two coss lettuces, one hard cabbage, six onions, one large carrot, two turnips, three heads of celery, a little tarragon, chervil, parsley, and thyme, chopped fine, and a little flour fried in a quarter of a pound of butter (or less will do). Then add three quarts of boiling water; boil it for two hours, stir it well, and add, before sending it to table, some crumbs of stale bread: the upper part of the loaf is best.

Vegetable Soup. No. 3.

Let a quantity of dried peas (split peas), or haricots, (lentils) be boiled in common water till they are quite tender; let them then be gradually passed through a sieve with distilled water, working the mixture with a wooden spoon, to make what the French call a puré: and let it be made sufficiently liquid with distilled water to bear boiling down. Then let a good quantity of fresh vegetables, of any or all kinds in their season, especially carrots, lettuces, turnips, celery, spinach, with always a few onions, be cut into fine shreds, and put it into common boiling water for three or four minutes to blanch; let them then be taken out with a strainer, added to and mixed with the puré, and the whole set to boil gently at the fire for at least two hours. A few minutes before taking the soup from the fire, let it be seasoned to the taste with pepper and salt.

The soup, when boiling gently at the fire, should be very frequently stirred, to prevent its sticking to the side of the pan, and acquiring a burnt taste.

West India Soup, called Pepper Pot.

A small knuckle of veal and a piece of beef of about three pounds, seven or eight pounds of meat in all; potherbs as for any other soup. When the soup is skimmed and made, strain it off. The first ingredient you add to the soup must be some dried ocre (a West India vegetable), the quantity according to your judgment. It is hard and dry, and there fore requires a great deal of soaking and boiling. Then put in the spawn of the lobsters you intend for your soup, first pounding it very fine, and mixing it by degrees with a little of your soup cooled, or it will be lumpy, and not so smooth as it should be.

Put it into the soup-pot, and continue to stir some time after it is in. Take about two middling handfuls of spinach and about six hearts of the inside of very nice greens; scald both greens and spinach before you put them to the soup, to take off the rawness; the greens require most scalding. Squeeze them quite dry, chop and put them into the soup; then add all the fat and inside egg and spawn you can get from the lobsters, also the meat out of the tails and claws. Add the green tops only of a large bundle of asparagus, of the sort which they call sprew-grass, previously scalded; a few green peas also are very good.

After these ingredients are in, the soup should no more than simmer; and when the herbs are sufficiently tender it is done enough. This soup is not to be clear, on the contrary thick with the lobster, and a perfect mash with the lobster and greens. You are to put in lobster to your liking; I generally put in five or six, at least of that part of them which is called fat, egg, and inside spawn, sufficient to make it rich and good. It should look quite yellow with this.

Put plenty of the white part also, and in order that none of the goodness of the lobsters should be lost, take the shells of those which you have used, bruise them in a mortar, and boil them in some of the broth, to extract what goodness remains; then strain off the liquor and add it to the rest. Scoop some potatoes round, half boiling them first, and put into it. Season with red pepper. Put in a piece of nice pickled pork, which must be first scalded, for fear of its being too salt; stew it with the rest and serve it.

White Soup. No. 1.

Take two chickens; skin them; take out the lungs and wash them thoroughly; put them in a stewpan with some parsley. Add a quart of veal jelly, and stew them in this for one hour over a very slow fire. Then take out the chickens, and put a penny roll to soak in the liquor; take all the flesh of the chickens from the bones, and pound it in a mortar, with the yolk of three eggs boiled hard. Add the bread (when soaked enough) and pound it also with them; then rub the whole finely through a sieve. Add a quart more jelly to the soup, and strain it through a sieve; then put the chicken to the soup. Set a quart of cream on the fire till it boils, stir[55]ring it all the time; when ready to serve, pour that into the soup and mix it well together. Have ready a little vermicelli, boiled in a little weak broth, to throw into the soup, when put into the terrine.

White Soup. No. 2.

Have good stock made of veal and beef; then take about a pound of veal, and the like quantity of ham, cut both into thin slices, and put them into a stewpan, with a pint of water and two onions cut small. Set it on the fire and stew it down gently, till it is quite dry, and of a rather light brown colour; then add the stock, and let it all stew till the veal and ham are quite tender. Strain it off into the stewpot; add a gill or more of cream, some blanched rice boiled tender, the quantity to your own judgment, the yolks of six eggs beaten up well with a little new milk: let the soup be boiling hot before the eggs are added, which put to it by degrees, keeping it stirring over a slow fire. Serve it very hot: to prevent curdling, put the soup-pot into a large pot of boiling water, taking care that not the least drop of water gets in, and so make it boiling hot.

White Soup. No. 3.

Cut one pound of veal, or half a fowl, into small pieces; put to it a few sweet herbs, a crust of bread, an ounce of pearl barley well washed. Set it over a slow fire, closely covered; let it boil till half is consumed; then strain it and take off the fat. Have ready an ounce of sweet almonds blanched, pound them in a marble mortar, adding a little soup to prevent their oiling. Mix all together. When you send it up, add one third of new milk or cream, salt and pepper to taste.

White Soup. No. 4.

Take a knuckle of veal, and put water according to the quantity of soup you require; let it boil up and skim it; then put in three ounces of lean bacon or ham, with two heads of celery, one carrot, one turnip, two onions, and three or four blades of mace, and boil for three or four hours. When properly boiled, strain it off, taking care to skim off all the fat; then put into it two ounces of rice, well boiled, half a pint of cream beaten up, and five or six yolks of eggs. When ready to serve, pour the soup to the eggs backward and forward to prevent it from curdling, and send it to table. You must boil the soup once after you add the cream, and before you put it to the eggs. Three laurel leaves put into it in summer and six in winter make a pleasant addition, instead of sweet almonds.

White Soup. No. 5.

Make your stock with veal and chicken, and beat half a pound of almonds in a mortar very fine, with the breast of a fowl. Put in some white broth, and strain off. Stove it gently, and poach eight eggs, and lay in your soup, with a French roll in the middle, filled with minced chicken or veal, and serve very hot.

White Soup. No. 6.

Take a knuckle of veal; stew it with celery, herbs, slices of ham, and a little cayenne and white pepper; season it to your taste. When it is cleared off, add one pound of sweet almonds, a pint of cream, and the yolks of eight eggs, boiled hard and finely bruised. Mix these all together in your soup; let it just boil, and send it up hot. You may add a French roll; let it be nicely browned.

The ingredients here mentioned will make four quarts.

White Soup. No. 7.

Stock from a boiled knuckle of veal, thickened with about two ounces of sweet almonds, beaten to a paste, with a spoonful of water to prevent their oiling; a large slice of dressed veal, and a piece of crumb of bread, soaked in good milk, pounded and rubbed through a sieve; a bit of fresh lemon-peel and a blade of mace in the finest powder. Boil all together about half an hour, and stir in about a pint of cream without boiling.

Vermicelli Soup.

Break the vermicelli a little, throw it into boiling water, and let it boil about two minutes. Strain it in a sieve, and throw it into cold water: then strain and put it into a good clear consommé, and let it boil very slowly about a quarter of an hour. When it is going to table, season with a little salt, and put into it a little crust of French roll.

Pea Soup. No. 1.

Take two pints of peas, one pound of bacon, two bunches of carrots and onions, two bunches of parsley and thyme; moisten the whole with cold water, and let them boil for four hours, adding more water to them if necessary. When quite done, pound them in a mortar, and then rub them through a sieve with the liquor in which they have been boiling. Add a quart of the mixed jelly soup, boil it all together, and leave it on a corner of the fire till served. It must be thick and smooth as melted butter, and care taken throughout that it does not burn.

Pea Soup. No. 2.

Take about three or four pounds of lean beef; cut it in pieces and set it on the fire in three gallons of water, with nearly one pound of ham, a small bundle of sweet herbs, another of mint, and forty peppercorns. Wash a bunch of celery clean, put in the green tops; then add a quart of split peas. Cover it close, and let the whole boil gently till two parts out of three are wasted. Strain it off, and work it through a colander; put it into a clean saucepan with five or six heads of celery, washed and cut very small; cover it close, and let it stew till reduced to about three quarts: then cut some fat and lean bacon in dice, fry them just crisp; do the same by some bread, and put both into the soup. Season it with salt to your taste. When it is in the terrine, rub a little dried mint over it. If you chuse it, boil an ox’s palate tender, cut it in dice, and put in, also forcemeat balls.

Pea Soup. No. 3.

To a quart of split peas put three quarts of water, two good turnips, one large head of celery, four onions, one blade of ginger, one spoonful of flour of mustard, and a small quantity of cayenne, black pepper, and salt. Let it boil over a slow fire till it is reduced to two quarts; then work it through a colander with a wooden spoon. Set it on the fire, and let it boil up; add a quarter of a pound of butter mixed with flour; beat up the yolks of three eggs, and stir it well in the soup. Gut a slice of bread into small dice; fry them of a light brown; put them into your soup-dish, and pour the soup over them.

Pea Soup. No. 4.

Boil one onion and one quart of peas in three quarts of water till they are soft; then work them through a hair sieve. Mix the pulp with the water in which the peas were boiled; set it over the fire and let it boil; add two cabbage lettuces, cut in slices, half a pint of young peas, and a little salt. Let it boil quickly half an hour; mix a little butter and flour, and boil in the soup.

Green Pea Soup. No. 1.

Take a knuckle of veal of about four pounds, chop it in pieces, and set it on the fire in about six quarts of water, with a small piece of lean ham, three or four blades of mace, the same of cloves, about two dozen peppercorns, white and black, a small bundle of sweet herbs and parsley, and a crust of French roll toasted crisp. Cover close, and let it boil very gently over a slow fire till reduced to one half; then strain it off, and add a full pint of young green peas, a fine lettuce, cut small, four heads of celery, washed and cut small, about a quarter of a pound of fresh butter made hot, with a very little flour dredged into it, and some more lettuce cut small and thrown in. Just fry it a little; put it into the soup; cover it close, and let it stew gently over a slow fire two hours. Have a pint of old peas boiled in a pint of water till they are very tender, then pulp them through a sieve; add it to the soup, and let it all boil together, putting in a very little salt. There should be two quarts. Toast or fry some crust of French roll in dice.

Green Pea Soup. No. 2.

Put one quart of old green peas into a gallon of water, with a bunch of mint, a crust of bread, and two pounds of fresh meat of any sort. When these have boiled gently for three hours, strain the pulp through a colander; then fry spinach, lettuce, beet, and green onions, of each a handful, not too small, in butter, and one pint of green peas, boiled; pepper and salt. Mix all together, and let them just boil. The spinach must not be fried brown, but kept green.

Green Pea Soup. No. 3.

Boil the shells of your youngest peas in water till all the sweetness is extracted from them; then strain, and in that liquor boil your peas for the soup, with whole pepper and salt. When boiled, put them through a colander; have ready the young peas boiled by themselves; put a good piece of butter in a frying-pan with some flour, and into that some lettuce and spinach; fry it till it looks green, and put it into the soup with the young peas. When the greens are tender, it is done enough.

Green Pea Soup. No. 4.

Boil a quart of old peas in five quarts of water, with one onion, till they are soft; then work them through a sieve.—Put the pulp in the water in which the peas were boiled, with half a pint of young peas, and two cabbage lettuces, cut in slices; then let it boil half an hour; pepper and salt, to your taste.—Add a small piece of butter, mixed with flour, and one tea-spoonful of loaf sugar.

Green Pea Soup. No. 5.

Make a good stock for your soup of beef, mutton, and veal; season to your palate; let it stand till cold, then take off all the fat. Take some old peas, boil them in water, with a sprig of mint and a large lettuce, strain them through a sieve; mix them with your soup till of proper thickness. Then add three quarters of a pint of cream; simmer it up together, and have ready half a pint of young peas, or asparagus, ready boiled to throw in. If the soup is not of a fine green, pound some spinach, and put in a little of the juice, but not too much.

Green Pea Soup. No. 6.

Take a quart of old peas, three or four cabbage lettuces, two heads of celery, two leeks, one carrot, two or three turnips, two or three old onions, and a little spinach that has been boiled; put them over the fire with some good consommé, and let them do gently, till all are very tender. Rub the whole through a tamis, or hair-sieve; put it in the pot. Have about half a pint of very young peas, and the hearts of two cabbage lettuces, cut fine and stewed down in a little broth. Put all together, with a small faggot of mint, and let it boil gently, skimming it well. When going to table, put into it fried bread, in dice, or crust of French roll. This quantity will be sufficient for a terrine.

Ox Head Soup.

Bone the head and cut it in pieces; wash it extremely clean from the blood; set it on the fire in three gallons of water. Put in a dozen onions, eight turnips, six anchovies, and a bundle of sweet herbs. Let all stew together very gently, till it is quite tender. Carefully skim off all the fat as it boils, but do not stir it. Take cabbage lettuce, celery, chervil, and turnips, all boiled tender and cut small; put them into the soup, and let them boil all together half an hour.

Onion Soup. No. 1.

Take twelve large Spanish onions, slice and fry them in good butter. Let them be done very brown, but not to burn, which they are apt to do when they are fried. Put to them two quarts of boiling water, or weak veal broth; pepper and salt to your taste. Let them stew till they are quite tender and almost dissolved; then add crumbs of bread made crisp, sufficient to make it of a proper thickness. Serve hot.

Onion Soup. No. 2.

Boil three pounds of veal with a handful of sweet herbs, and a little mace; when well boiled strain it through a sieve, skim off all the fat. Pare twenty-five onions; boil them soft, rub them through a sieve, and mix them with the veal gravy and a pint of cream, salt, and cayenne pepper, to your taste. Give it a boil and serve up; but do not put in the cream till it comes off the fire.

Onion Soup. No. 3.

Take two quarts of strong broth made of beef; twelve onions; cut these in four quarters, lay them in water an hour to soak. Brown four ounces of butter, put the onions into it, with some pepper and salt, cover them close, and let them stew till tender: cut a French loaf into slices, or sippets, and fry them in fresh butter; put them into your dish, and boil your onions and butter in your soup. When done enough, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and pour it into your dish with the fried sippets. You may add poached eggs, if it pleases your palate.

Mock Turtle Soup.

Take a calf’s head, very white and very fresh, bone the nose part of it; put the head into some warm water to discharge the blood; squeeze the flesh with your hand to ascertain that it is all thoroughly out; blanch the head in boiling water. When firm, put it into cold water, which water must be prepared as follows: cut half a pound of fat bacon, a pound of beef suet, an onion stuck with two cloves, two thick slices of lemon; put these into a vessel, with water enough to contain the head; boil the head in this, and take it off when boiled, leaving it to cool. Then make your sauce in the following manner: put into a stewpan a pound of ham cut into slices; put over the ham two knuckles of veal, two large onions, and two carrots; moisten with some of the broth in which you have boiled the head to half the depth of the meat only; cover the stewpan, and set it on a slow fire to sweat through; let the broth reduce to a good rich colour; turn up the meat for fear of burning. When you have a very good colour, moisten with the whole remaining broth from the head; season with a very large bundle of sweet herbs, sweet basil, sweet marjoram, lemon-thyme, common thyme, two cloves, and a bay leaf, a few allspice, parsley, and green onions and mushrooms. Let the whole boil together for one hour; then drain it. Put into a stewpan a quarter of a pound of very fresh butter, let it melt over a very slow fire; put to this butter as much flour as it can receive till the flour has acquired a very good brown colour; moisten this gradually with the broth till you have employed it all; add half a bottle of good white wine; let the sauce boil that the flour may be well done; take off all the scum and fat; pass it through a sieve. Cut the meat off the calf’s head in pieces of about an inch square; put them to boil in the sauce; season with salt, a little cayenne pepper, and lemon juice. Throw in some forcemeat balls, made according to direction, and a few hard yolks of eggs, and serve up hot.

Hare Soup.

Skin the hare, and wash the inside well. Separate the limbs, legs, shoulders, and back; put them into a stewpan, with two glasses of port wine, an onion stuck with four cloves, a bundle of parsley, a little thyme, some sweet basil and marjoram, a pinch of salt, and cayenne pepper. Set the whole over a slow fire, and let it simmer for an hour; then add a quart of beef gravy and a quart of veal gravy; let the whole simmer gently till the hare is done. Strain the meat; then pass the soup through a sieve, and put a penny roll to soak in the broth. Take all the flesh of the hare from the bones, and pound it in a mortar, till fine enough to be rubbed through a sieve, taking care that none of the bread remains in it. Thicken the broth with the meat of the hare; rub it all together till perfectly fine, like melted butter, not thicker; heat it, and serve it up very hot. Be careful not to let it boil, as that will spoil it.

Giblet Soup. No. 1.

Take the desired quantity of strong beef gravy; add to it a few slices of veal fried in butter; take a piece of butter rolled in flour, and with it fry some sliced onion and thyme; when made brown, add it to the soup. When sufficiently stewed, strain and put to it two spoonfuls of ketchup, a few spoonfuls of Madeira, and a little lemon juice. The giblets being separately stewed in a pint of water, add their gravy to the soup.

Giblet Soup. No. 2.

Parboil the giblets, and pour the water from them; put them into fresh water or thin gravy, with a large onion stuck with cloves; season it to your taste; boil them till the flesh comes from the bones. Mix the yolk of an egg with flour into a paste; roll it two or three times over with a rollingpin; cut it in pieces, and thicken the soup with it.

Crawfish Soup.

Boil off your crawfish; take the tails out of the shells; roast a couple of lobsters; beat these with your crawfish shells; put this into your fish stock, with some crusts of French rolls. Rub the whole through a tamis, and put your tails into it. You may farce a carp and put in the middle, if you please, or farce some of the shells and stick on a French roll.

Crawfish, or Lobster Soup.

Take some middling and small fishes, and put them in a gallon of water, with pepper, salt, cloves, mace, sweetherbs, and onions; boil them to pieces, and strain them out of the liquor. Then take a large fish, cut the flesh off one side, make forcemeat of it, and lay it on the fish; dredge grated bread in it, and butter a dish well; put it in the oven and bake it. Then take one hundred crawfish, break the shells of the tails and claws, take out the meat as whole as you can; pound the shells and add the spawn of a lobster pounded; put them into the soup, and, if you like, a little veal gravy; give them a boil or two together. Strain the liquor off into another saucepan, with the tops of French bread, dried, beat fine, and sifted. Give it a boil to thicken; then brown some butter, and put in the tails and claws of the crawfish, and some of the forcemeat made into balls. Lay the baked fish in the middle of the dish, pour the soup boiling hot on it; if you like, add yolks of eggs, boiled hard, pounded, and mixed by degrees with the soup.

Rabbit Soup.

One large rabbit, one pound of lean ham, one onion, one turnip, and some celery, two quarts of water; let them boil till the rabbit is tender. Strain off the liquor; boil a pint of cream, and add it to the best part of the rabbit pounded; if not of the thickness you wish, add some flour and butter, and rub it through a sieve. It must not be boiled after the cream is added.

The Cook and Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families [1823] BY MRS. MARY EATON

SOUPS. (INFORMATION)

It has generally been considered as good economy to use the cheapest and most inferior kind of meat for broths and soups, and to boil it down till it is entirely destroyed, and hardly worth giving to the pigs. But this is a false frugality; and it is far better to buy good pieces of meat, and only stew them till they are tender enough to be eaten.

Lean juicy beef, mutton, or veal, form the basis of good broth; and it is therefore advisable to procure those pieces which afford the richest succulence, and such as is fresh slain. Stale meat will make the broth grouty and bad tasted, and fat is not so well adapted to the purpose.

The following herbs, roots, and seasonings, are proper for making and giving a relish to broths and soups, according as the taste may suit. Scotch barley, pearl barley, wheat flour, oatmeal, bread, raspings, peas, beans, rice, vermicelli, maccaroni, isinglass, potatoe mucilage, mushroom, or mushroom ketchup, champignons, parsnips, carrots, beet root, turnips, garlic, shalots, and onions. Sliced onions fried with butter and flour till they are browned, and then rubbed through a sieve, are excellent to heighten the colour and flavour of brown soups and sauces, and form the basis of most of the fine relishes furnished by the cook. The older and drier the onion, the stronger will be its flavour, and the quantity must be regulated accordingly.

Leeks, cucumber, or burnet vinegar; celery, or celery seed pounded. The latter, though equally strong, does not impart the delicate sweetness of the fresh vegetable; and when used as a substitute, its flavour should be corrected by the addition of a bit of sugar.

Cress seed, parsley, common thyme, lemon thyme, orange thyme, knotted marjoram, sage, mint, winter savoury, and basil. As fresh green basil is seldom to be procured, and its fine flavour is soon lost, the best way of preserving the extract is by pouring wine on the fresh leaves. Bay leaves, tomata, tarragon, chervil, burnet, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, mace, black pepper, white pepper, essence of anchovy, lemon peel, lemon juice, and Seville orange juice. The latter imparts a finer flavour than the lemon, and the acid is much milder.

The above materials, with wine and mushroom ketchup, combined in various proportions, will make an endless variety of excellent broths and soups.

The general fault of English soups seems to be the employment of an excess of spice, and too small a proportion of roots and herbs. This is especially the case with tavern soups, where cayenne and garlic are often used instead of black pepper and onion, for the purpose of obtaining a higher relish.

Soups, which are intended to constitute the principal part of a meal, certainly ought not to be flavoured like sauces, which are only designed to give a relish to some particular dish. The principal art in composing a good rich soup, is so to proportion the several ingredients one to another, that no particular taste be stronger than the rest; but to produce such a fine harmonious relish, that the whole becomes delightful. In order to this, care must be taken that the roots and herbs be perfectly well cleaned, and that the water be proportioned to the quantity of meat, and other ingredients.

In general a quart of water may be allowed to a pound of meat for soups; and half the quantity for gravies. If they stew gently, little more water need be put in at first, than is expected at the end; for when the pot is covered quite close, and the fire gentle, very little is wasted. Gentle stewing is incomparably the best; the meat is more tender, and the soup better flavoured. The cover of a soup kettle should fit very close, or the most essential parts of the broth will soon evaporate, as will also be the case with quick boiling. It is not merely the fibres of the meat that afford nourishment, but chiefly the juices they contain; and these are not only extracted but exhaled, if it be boiled fast in an open vessel.

A succulent soup can never be made but in a well closed vessel, which preserves the nutritive parts by preventing their dissipation, yet the flavour is perhaps more wholesome by an exposure to the air. Place the soup kettle over a moderate fire, sufficient to make the water hot, without causing it to boil; for if the water boils immediately, it will not penetrate the meat, and cleanse it from the clotted blood and other matters, which ought to go off in scum.

The meat will be hardened all over by violent heat, will shrink up as if it were scorched, and afford very little gravy. On the contrary, by keeping the water heating about half an hour without boiling, the meat swells, becomes tender, and its fibres are dilated. By this process, it yields a quantity of scum, which must be taken off as soon as it appears. After the meat has had a good infusion for half an hour, the fire may be improved to make the pot boil, and the vegetables be put in with a little salt. These will cause more scum to rise, which must be taken off immediately. Then cover the boiler very closely, and place it at a proper distance from the fire, where it is to boil very gently and equally, but not fast.

Soups will generally take from three to six hours doing. The better way is to prepare them the evening before, as that will give more time to attend to the dinner the next day.

When the soup is cold, the fat may much more easily and completely be removed; and when it is decanted, take care not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the vessel, which are so fine that they will escape through a sieve.

A tammis is the best strainer, the soup appears smoother and finer, and the cloth is easier cleaned than any sieve. If you strain it while it is hot, let the tammis or napkin be previously soaked in cold water; the coldness of the strainer will tend to coagulate the fat, and only suffer the pure broth to pass through.

The full flavour of the ingredients can only be extracted by long and slow simmering, during which the boiler must be kept close covered, to prevent evaporation. Clear soups must be perfectly transparent, thickened soups about the consistence of cream; the latter will require nearly double the quantity of seasoning, but too much spice makes it unwholesome.

To thicken and give body to soups and sauces, the following materials are used. Bread raspings, potatoe mucilage, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice, or oatmeal and water rubbed well together. Any of these are to be mixed gradually with the soup, till thoroughly incorporated, and it should afterwards have at least half an hour’s gentle simmering. If it appears lumpy, it must be passed through a tammis or fine sieve.

A piece of boiled beef pounded to a pulp, with a bit of butter and flour, and rubbed through a sieve, and gradually incorporated with the soup, will be found an excellent addition. If the soup is too thin or too weak, take off the cover of the boiler, and let it boil till some of the watery part of it has evaporated; or add some of the thickening materials before mentioned. When soups and gravies are kept from day to day, in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh scalded pans or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar.

In temperate weather, every other day may be sufficient.—It has been imagined that soups tend to relax the stomach; but so far from being prejudicial in this way, the moderate use of such kind of liquid food may rather be considered as salutary, and affording a good degree of nourishment. Soup of a good quality, if not eaten too hot, or in too great a quantity, is attended with great advantages, especially to those who drink but little. Warm fluids in the form of soup, unite with our juices much sooner and better, than those which are cold and raw.

On this account, what is called Restorative Soup is the best food for those who are enfeebled by disease or dissipation, and for old people, whose teeth and digestive organs are impaired. After taking cold, or in nervous headachs, cholics, indigestions, and different kinds of cramps and spasms in the stomach, warm broth or soup is of excellent service.

After intemperate eating, to give the stomach a holiday for a day or two, by a diet on mutton broth, is the best way to restore its tone. The stretching of any power to its utmost extent, weakens it; and if the stomach be obliged every day to do as much as it can, it will every day be able to do less. It is therefore a point of wisdom to be temperate in all things, frequently to indulge in soup diet, and occasionally in almost total abstinence, in order to preserve the stomach in its full tone and vigour.—

Cheap soups for charitable purposes are best made of fat meat, well boiled with vegetables. Much unreasonable prejudice has prevailed on this subject, as if fat was unsuitable for such a purpose, when it is well known that the nutritious parts of animal and vegetable diet depend on the oil, jelly, mucilage, and sweetness which they contain.

The farina of grain, and the seeds of vegetables, contain more of the nutritious and essential parts of the plant than any other, as is evident from the use of celery seed, the eighth part of an ounce of which will give more relish to a gallon of soup, than a large quantity of the root or stalk. On the same principle, the fat is the essence of meat, nearly so as the seeds of plants are of their respective species.

To establish this fact, a simple experiment will be sufficient. Boil from two to four ounces of the lean part of butcher’s meat in six quarts of water, till reduced to a gallon. Thicken it with oatmeal, and the result of the decoction will be found to be water gruel, or something like it. But dissolve the same quantity of the fat of meat in a gallon of water, thicken it over the fire with oatmeal, and the result will be a very pleasant broth, possessing the identical taste of the meat in a considerable degree, whether of beef or mutton.

If some of the gelatinous parts of meat be added, the broth is then of a rich and nutritious quality, and can be made very cheap. For example: take from four to six ounces of barley, oatmeal two ounces, onions or leeks a small quantity; beef fat, suet, or drippings, from two to four ounces; celery seed half a spoonful, pepper and salt to give the soup a relish, and water sufficient to make a gallon.

Boil the barley, previously washed, in six quarts of water, which when boiled sufficiently soft will be reduced to a gallon. It will be necessary to skim it clean in the course of the boiling, and to stir it well from the bottom of the boiler. The celery seed should be bruised, and added with the leeks and onions, towards the end of the process.

The oatmeal is to be mixed in a little cold water, and put in about an hour before the soup is done. In the last place add the fat, melted before the fire, if not in a state of drippings, and season with pepper and salt.

A few grains of cayenne would give the soup a higher relish. Wheat flour may be used instead of oatmeal, but in a smaller proportion. The addition of turnips, carrots, and cabbages, will be a considerable improvement.

The intention of the oatmeal or flour is, by the mucilage they contain, assisted with barley broth, to unite the fat with the liquid, so as to form one uniform mass. Where the fat is suspended in the soup, and not seen floating on the top, by which it is rendered easier of digestion, and more readily convertible into good chyle, it is evident that it must be more palatable, as well as abundantly more nutritious.

Some may think this kind of soup unwholesome, from the quantity of fat it contains; but a little reflection will shew the contrary.

Suet puddings and dumplins are not unwholesome, neither are mutton drippings with potatoes or other vegetables. In short, fat is eaten daily by all ranks of people, in some way or other, in much larger quantities than is prescribed for soup.

A labouring man would find no difficulty in eating as much suet at one meal, in a flour pudding, or as much drippings as is necessary for a gallon of soup, in a mass of potatoes or cabbages; while at the same time a quart of soup with a slice of bread, would be a very hearty meal. In no other way could meat drippings be applied to so good a purpose, as in the manufacture of a gallon of soup, sufficient to give a dinner to a whole family.

The quantity of fat or drippings necessary for the soup is so small, that it may easily be spared from a joint of roast meat, while enough will remain for other purposes. When mutton dripping is made into soup, wheat flour is better than oatmeal; but the mucilage of potatoe is better still, requiring only one ounce to the gallon.

When pork is roasted, peas should be used in preference to boiled barley, and the soup will be very superior in flavour to any that is made with the bones of meat, or combined with bacon.

Fat pork is eaten daily in large quantities, in most of the counties of England; and in some parts, hog’s lard is spread on bread instead of butter, besides the abundance of lard that is used by all ranks of people, in puddings, cakes, and pasties.

Fat enters so much into the composition of our diet, that we could scarcely subsist without it; and the application of it to soups is only a different mode of using it, and certainly more frugal and economical than any other.

It may readily be perceived how soups made from lean meat might be improved by the addition of a little fat, mixed up and incorporated with a mucilage of potatoes, of wheat flour, oatmeal, peas, and barley. But where a quantity of fat swims on the surface of the broth, made from a fat joint of meat, and it cannot from its superabundance be united with the liquid, by means of any mucilage, it had better be skimmed off, and preserved for future use; otherwise the soup will not be agreeable, for it is the due proportion of animal and vegetable substance that makes soup pleasant and wholesome.

To make good soup of a leg of beef or an ox cheek, which is generally called stew, a pretty large quantity of the vegetable class ought to be added; and none seems better adapted than Scotch barley, by which double and treble the quantity of soup may be made from the same given weight of meat. One pint of well prepared leg of beef, or ox cheek soup, together with the fat, will make a gallon of good soup at the trifling expense of four-pence.

In the same way soups may be made from the stew of beef, mutton, veal, or pork, choosing those parts where mucilage, jelly, and fat abound. Bacon is allowed to be a considerable improvement to the taste of veal, whether roasted or boiled; and it is the same in soup. When therefore veal broth is made for family use, two ounces of fat bacon should be added to every gallon, melted before the fire or in a fryingpan. The soup should then be thickened with flour, potatoe starch, and barley. The last article should seldom be omitted in any soup, it being so very cheap and pleasant, as well as wholesome and nutritious. Soup made of tripe is another cheap article. Boil a pound of well cleaned tripe in a gallon of barley broth, with onions and parsley, adding two ounces of bacon fat, with salt and pepper.

This produces an extremely nutritious soup, from the gelatinous principle with which the tripe abounds. Cow heels, calves and sheep’s feet, are also well adapted to the purpose. Excellent soups may be made from fried meat, where the fat and gravy are added to the boiled barley; and for that purpose, fat beef steaks, pork and mutton chops, should be preferred, as containing more of the nutritious principle. Towards the latter end of frying the steaks, add a little water to produce a gravy, which is to be put to the barley broth. A little flour should also be dredged in, which will take up all the fat left in the fryingpan.

A quantity of onions should previously be shred, and fried with the fat, which gives the soup a fine flavour, with the addition of pepper, salt, and other seasoning. There would be no end to the variety of soups that might be made from a number of cheap articles differently combined; but perhaps the distribution of soup gratis does not answer so well as teaching people how to make it, and to improve their comforts at home.

The time lost in waiting for the boon, and fetching it home, might by an industrious occupation, however poorly paid for labour, be turned to a better account than the mere obtaining of a quart of soup. But it unfortunately happens, that the best and cheapest method of making a nourishing soup, is least known to those who have most need of it.

The labouring classes seldom purchase what are called the coarser pieces of meat, because they do not know how to dress them, but lay out their money in pieces for roasting, which are far less profitable, and more expensive in the purchase.

To save time, trouble, and firing, these are generally sent to the oven to be baked, the nourishing parts are evaporated and dried up, the weight is diminished nearly one third, and what is purchased with a week’s earnings is only sufficient for a day or two’s consumption. If instead of this improvident proceeding, a cheap and wholesome soup were at least occasionally substituted, it would banish the still more pernicious custom of drinking tea two or three times a day, for want of something more supporting and substantial.

In addition then to the directions already given, the following may be considered as one of the cheapest and easiest methods of making a wholesome soup, suited to a numerous family among the labouring classes.

Put four ounces of Scotch barley washed clean, and four ounces of sliced onions, into five quarts of water. Boil it gently for one hour, and pour it into a pan.

Put into a saucepan nearly two ounces of beef or mutton drippings, or melted suet, or two or three ounces of minced bacon; and when melted, stir into it four ounces of oatmeal. Rub these together into a paste, and if properly managed, the whole of the fat will combine with the barley broth, and not a particle, appear on the surface to offend the most delicate stomach. Now add the barley broth, at first a spoonful at a time, then the rest by degrees, stirring it well together till it boils.

Put into a teacup a dram of finely pounded cress or celery seed, and a quarter of a dram of finely pounded cayenne, or a dram and a half of ground black pepper or allspice, and mix it up with a little of the soup. Put this seasoning into the whole quantity, stir up the soup thoroughly, let it simmer gently a quarter of an hour, and add a little salt.

The flavour may be varied by doubling the portion of onions, or adding a clove of garlic or shalot, and leaving out the celery seed. Change of food is absolutely necessary, not only as a matter of pleasure and comfort, but also of health. It may likewise be much improved, if instead of water, it be made of the liquor that meat has been boiled in. This soup has the advantage of being very soon made, with no more fuel than is necessary to warm a room.

Those who have not tasted it, cannot imagine what a savoury and satisfying meal is produced by the combination of these cheap and homely ingredients.

SOUP WITH CUCUMBERS.

Pare and cut the cucumbers, then stew them with some good broth, and veal gravy to cover them. When done enough, heat the soup with the liquor they were stewed in, and season it with salt. Serve up the soup garnished with the cucumbers. These will be a proper garnish for almost any kind of soup.

SOUP A L’ EAU.

Put into a saucepan holding about three pints, a quarter of a cabbage, four carrots, two parsnips, six onions, and three or four turnips. Add a root of celery, a small root of parsley, some sorrel, a bunch of white beet leaves and chervil, and half a pint of peas tied in a piece of linen. Add water in proportion to the vegetables, and stew the whole for three hours. Strain off the broth, add some salt, heat it and serve it up, garnished with the vegetables.

SOUP GRAVY.

Take some good juicy lean beef, free from sinews or other offal substance; or take the lean of a neck, or loin, or the fleshy part of a leg of mutton, or well-grown fowl, in the proportion of a pound of meat to a quart of water to beef, and rather less to mutton or fowl. Cut the meat in pieces, and let it stew very gently till the pure gravy is fairly drawn from the meat, without extracting the dregs. The time required for this will vary according to the quantity, the proper degree of heat being of course longer in penetrating the larger portion.

From an hour and a half to three hours, at discretion, will allow sufficient time for any quantity that is likely to be wanted at once for soup, at least in private families. When done, strain the gravy through a hair sieve into an earthen pot, and let it stand till cold. Take off the fat, and pour the gravy clear from the sediment at the bottom.

SOUP MAIGRE.

Melt half a pound of butter into a stewpan, shake it round, and throw in half a dozen sliced onions. Shake the pan well for two or three minutes, then put in five heads of celery, two handfuls of spinach, two cabbage lettuces cut small, and some parsley. Shake the pan well for ten minutes, put in two quarts of water, some crusts of bread, a tea-spoonful of beaten pepper, and three or four blades of mace. A handful of white beet leaves, cut small, may be added. Boil it gently an hour. Just before serving, beat in two yolks of eggs, and a large spoonful of vinegar.—Another. Flour and fry a quart of green peas, four sliced onions, the coarse stalks of celery, a carrot, a turnip, and a parsnip. Pour on three quarts of water, let it simmer till the whole will pulp through a sieve, and boil in it the best of the celery cut thin.—

Another way. Take a bunch of celery washed clean and cut in pieces, a large handful of spinage, two cabbage lettuces, and some parsley; wash all very clean, and shred them small; then take a large clean stewpan, put in about half a pound of butter, and when it is quite hot, slice four large onions very thin, and put into your butter; stir them well about for two or three minutes; then put in the rest of your herbs; shake all well together for near twenty minutes, dust in some flour, and stir them together; pour in two quarts of boiling water; season with pepper, salt, and beaten mace: chip a handful of crust of bread, and put in; boil it half an hour, then beat up the yolks of three eggs in a spoonful of vinegar; pour it in, and stir it for two or three minutes; then send it to table.

SOUP WITH ONIONS.

Blanch some small white onions in scalding water, peel off the first skin, and stew them in a little broth. When ready, lay them in a row round the edge of the dish intended for the soup. To keep them in their place, put a thin slip of bread rubbed with white of egg round the rim of the dish, and set the dish for a moment over a stove to fasten the bread. Slips of bread may be used in this manner to keep all kinds of garnishing to soups in their proper place.

SOUP A-LA SAP.

Boil half a pound of grated potatoes, a pound of beef sliced thin, a pint of grey peas, an onion, and three ounces of rice, in six pints of water till reduced to five. Strain it through a cullender, pulp the peas into it, and return it into the saucepan with two heads of sliced celery. Stew it tender, add pepper and salt, and serve it with fried bread.

SORREL SOUP.

Make a good gravy with part of a knuckle of veal, and the scrag end of a neck or a chump end of a loin of mutton. Season it with a bunch of sweet herbs, pepper, and salt, and two or three cloves. When the meat is quite stewed down, strain it off, and let it stand till cold. Clear it well from the fat, put it into a stewpan with a young fowl nicely trussed, and set it over a slow fire. Wash three or four large handfuls of sorrel, chop it a little, fry it in butter, put it into the soup, and let the whole stew till the fowl is well done. Skim it very clean, and serve it up with the fowl in the soup.

The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined By John Mollard, Cook, [1802]

Beef Stock.

Cut chuck beef into pieces, put it into a pot, set it on the fire, with a sufficient quantity of water to cover it. When it boils skim it clean; add a bunch of parsley and thyme, cleaned carrots, leeks, onions, turnips, celery, and a little salt. Let the meat boil till tender, skim off the fat, then strain it through a fine hair sieve.

Veal Stock, for Soups.

Take a leg of veal and some lean ham, cut them into pieces, put them into a pan with a quart of water, some peeled carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, and celery; draw them down till nearly tender, but of no colour; then add a sufficient quantity of beef stock to cover the ingredients, boil all together one hour, skim it free from fat, and strain it. Some game drawn down with it will make it excellent.

N. B. I have directed the veal stock not to be drawn down to a colour, as in that state it will answer two purposes; first, for white soups; and, secondly, as it might be coloured with a bright liquid to any height, which will be directed for gravy soups. It frequently happens, likewise, that, if not strictly attended to, it will burn.

Consumé, or the Essence of Meat.

Reduce veal stock to a good consistence, but be careful not to let it colour.

Cullis, or a thick Gravy.

Take slices of ham, veal, celery, carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, a small bunch of sweet herbs, some allspice, black pepper, mace, a piece of lemon-peel, and two bay leaves; put them into a pan with a quart of water, and draw them down till of a light brown colour, but be careful not to let it burn; then discharge it with beef stock. When it boils, skim it very clean from fat, and thicken it with flour and water, or flour and butter passed. Let it boil gently three quarters of an hour; season it to the palate with cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and salt; strain it through a tamis cloth or sieve, and add a little liquid of colour, which may be made as in the following receipt.

Liquid of Colour for Sauces, &c.

Put a quarter of a pound of the best brown sugar into a frying pan very clean from grease, and half a gill of water; set it over a gentle fire, stirring it with a wooden spoon till it is thoroughly burnt and of a good bright colour, then discharge it with water; when it boils skim it and strain it. Put it by for use in a vessel close covered.

Benshamelle.

Take white veal, lean ham, turnips, celery, onions cut in pieces, a blade of mace, a little whole white pepper; sweat them down till three parts tender, then discharge it with beef stock. Let it boil, skim it clean, and thicken with flour and water, or flour and butter passed; add to it a sufficient quantity of cream to make it quite white. Let it simmer gently half an hour, and strain it through a tamis cloth.

N. B. Let it be of the thickness of light batter.

To make a passing of Flour and Butter for Cullis or Benshamelle.

Put fresh butter into a stewpan over a fire, when it is melted add a sufficient quantity of sifted flour to make it into a paste, and mix them together with a whisk over a very slow fire for ten minutes.

Soup a la Reine.

Take three quarts of veal stock with a blade of mace boiled in it; then strain it to the crumb of four penny french rolls, three quarters of a pound of sweet almonds blanched and pounded very fine, likewise the white meat of dressed fowl pounded. Let all simmer together for ten minutes, and rub them through a tamis cloth till the soup is of a proper thickness; season it to the palate with salt; make it boil, and serve it up with a gill of cream in it.

Crayfish Soup.

Take three quarts of veal stock, the crumb of four penny french rolls, the meats of a hen lobster, and half a hundred crayfish pounded, with some live lobster spawn; add all together, make it boil, skim it clean, rub it through a tamis cloth, make it of a middling thickness, and season to the palate with salt and a little cayenne pepper. Serve it up with crust of french bread cut into small round pieces.

Vermicelli Soup, white.

Take three quarts of veal stock and two ounces of vermicelli, boil them together a quarter of an hour, rub it through a tamis cloth, season with salt, make it boil, skim it, and add a leason [see recipe below]. Let it simmer for five minutes.

To make the Leason.

Take the yolks of four eggs, half a pint of cream, and a little salt, mixed well together.

Cleared brown Stock for Gravy Soups.

Take three quarts of veal stock perfectly free from fat; add a small quantity of liquid colour to make it of a fine brown; season to the palate with salt and a little cayenne pepper; beat up together two yolks, two whites, and two shells of eggs; whisk them with the stock, set it over a fire, let it boil gently ten minutes, then strain it through a tamis cloth. This stock is required for rice, brown vermicelli, celery, santé, or turnip soups.

N. B. I have directed the brown stock, for gravy soups only, to be cleared with eggs, as that method has been most approved, it being pleasant to the eye, and equally agreeable to the palate.

Rice Soup.

Add to three quarts of cleared stock [see recipe above] two ounces of rice, washed, picked, parboiled, and drained dry. Let it boil gently till the rice is tender.

Celery Soup.

Cut celery heads two inches long then, some of the white part into small pieces; wash, blanch, and drain it, and put to it three quarts of cleared stock. Make it boil, skim it, and let the celery simmer till tender.

Turnip Soup.

Pare good and firm turnips, cut them with a knife or scoop into shapes, fry them with a bit of lard till of a light brown colour, then drain and wipe them free from fat (or they may be steamed with a very little water, to prevent them from burning, till they are half done); then put to them cleared stock, and boil them gently till tender.

Cressey Soup. [red carrot soup]

Take twelve large red carrots, scrape them clean, cut off only the red part in thin slices, and put them in a stewpan with a quart of water; add cleaned turnips, celery, leeks, and onions, cut in pieces, and half a pint of split peas. Stew all together till tender, adding some stock to prevent burning; then rub it through a tamis, and put to the pulp five pints of veal stock and some blanched water-cresses; make it boil for twenty minutes, skim it, season it with salt, and serve it up.

N. B. To be the thickness of peas soup.

Santé, or Spring Soup.

Pare, and cut into shapes, turnips and carrots, likewise celery heads about two inches long; wash them, and steam them separately with a very little water till they are three parts done; then cut the white part of the celery into small pieces, likewise leeks, cabbage, cos lettuces, endive, and chervil, of each a small quantity; blanch and drain them dry, then put all the vegetables together; add to them three quarts of cleared brown stock, and boil them gently till tender. In spring add young green peas, tops of asparagus, and button onions, steamed as the above.

N. B. A small piece of bouillie beef may be stewed till tender; and ten minutes before it is to be served up wipe it dry, and put it into the soup with the vegetables.

Onion Soup.

Take eight middling-sized peeled onions, cut them into very thin slices, pass them with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter and flour till tender; then add three quarts of veal stock; make it boil twenty minutes; skim it, season it with salt, and add a leason; mix it well with a whisk, make it simmer, and serve it up.

Green Peas Soup.

Take one quart of young green peas, four turnips pared and cut in the form of dice, two cos lettuces cut in small slices, two middling-sized onions cut very fine; wash them, add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and stew them till nearly done. Then take two quarts of large fresh green peas, and boil them in three quarts of veal stock till tender; strain and pound them, preserving the liquor; then rub the peas through a tamis, and add the pulp with the liquor to the above herbs, a little flour and water, pepper and salt, and season to the palate, with a bit of sugar if approved. Boil all together half an hour; skim it and when it is to be served up, add the pulp of some boiled parsley rubbed through a tamis to make it look green.

N. B. Cut pieces of bread into thin sippets, dry them before the fire, and serve up on a plate.

Old Peas Soup.

Take chuck beef cut into pieces, knuckles of ham and veal, pickle pork cut into square pieces of half a pound each; put all into a pot with peeled turnips, leeks, onions, carrots, and celery, cut into slices, and some old split peas, with a sufficient quantity of water; when it boils, skim it, and add a very small bunch of dried mint. Let the ingredients boil till tender, then take the mint out, rub the soup through a tamis till of a good thickness; when done, add to the liquor, turnips cut in form of dice, celery and leeks cut small and washed. Make the soup boil, skim it, season with pepper and salt, and serve it up with the pork in it. Some bread cut in form of dice, and fried, to be served up on a dish.

N. B. The pork to be taken out when nearly done, and added to the soup half an hour before it is served up.

Peas Soup another way.

Put the peas with the above-mentioned vegetables into a pot with some water; stew them gently till tender, then add a little dried mint, and rub them through a tamis cloth; put the pulp to some good veal stock, likewise add some turnips pared and cut into forms like dice, some leeks and celery cut small and blanched; season to the palate with pepper and salt; then making it boil, skim it, and stew the herbs till tender. Serve it up with pieces of pickle pork in it.

N. B. The pickle pork to be cut into small square pieces and boiled till nearly done, and then added to the soup a quarter of an hour before it is to be served up to table. Let the soup be of a proper thickness.

Giblet Soup.

Let the giblets be scalded, picked clean, and cut in pieces; which done, put them in a stewpan, season them with herbs and spice, the same as for real turtle; add some veal stock, stew them till nearly done, pick them free from the herbs, chop the bones down, strain, thicken, and season the liquor, as for real turtle; make it boil, then add it to the giblets, stew them till tender, and serve them up with egg and forcemeat balls.

Soup for a Family.

Cut the particles of meat from the trimmings of different joints, as beef, mutton, veal, pork, &c. and when done put the bones into a pot, cover with water, and boil them till the goodness is extracted. Then strain the liquor, wash the trimmings of the vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, onions, leeks, celery, and a little cabbage.

Cut all small, put them into a pot with the above liquor and some split peas; boil till the peas are tender, add a little dry mint, and rub it through a tamis cloth or sieve.

Then season the meat with pepper and salt, sweated down till three parts tender, and add the pulp. Boil all together till the meat is done, skim it and serve it up with fried bread in the form of dice.

Georgian Soup Recipes from English Housewifry by Elizabeth Moxon [1764]

To make VERMICELLY SOOP.

Take a neck of beef, or any other piece; cut off some slices, and fry them with butter ’till they are very brown; wash your pan out every time with a little of the gravy; you may broil a few slices of the beef upon a grid-iron: put all together into a pot, with a large onion, a little salt, and a little whole pepper; let it stew ’till the meat is tender, and skim off the fat in the boiling; them strain it into your dish, and boil four ounces of vermicelly in a little of the gravy ’till it is soft: Add a little stew’d spinage; then put all together into a dish, with toasts of bread; laying a little vermicelly upon the toast. Garnish your dish with creed rice and boil’d spinage, or carrots slic’d thin.

CUCUMBER SOOP.

Take a houghil of beef, break it small and put it into a stew-pan, with part of a neck of mutton, a little whole pepper, an onion, and a little salt; cover it with water, and let it stand in the oven all night, then strain it and take off the fat; pare six or eight middle-siz’d cucumbers, and slice them not very thin, stew them in a little butter and a little whole pepper; take them out of the butter and put ’em in the gravy. Garnish your dish with raspings of bread, and serve it up with toasts of bread or French roll.

To make HARE SOOP.

Cut the hare into small pieces, wash it and put it into a stew-pan, with a knuckle of veal; put in it a gallon of water, a little salt, and a handful of sweet herbs; let it stew ’till the gravy be good; fry a little of the hare to brown the soop; you may put in it some crusts of write bread among the meat to thicken the soop; put it into a dish, with a little stew’d spinage, crisp’d bread, and a few forc’d-meat balls. Garnish your dish with boil’d spinage and turnips, cut it in thin square slices.

To make Green PEASE SOOP.

Take a neck of mutton, and a knuckle of veal, make of them a little good gravy; then take half a peck of the greenest young peas, boil and beat them to a pulp in a marble mortar; then put to them a little of the gravy; strain them through a hair sieve to take out all the pulp; put all together, with a little salt and whole pepper; then boil it a little, and if you think the soop not green enough, boil a handful of spinage very tender, rub it through a hair-sieve, and put into the soop with one spoonful of wheat-flour, to keep it from running: You must not let it boil after the spinage is put in, it will discolour it; then cut white bread in little diamonds, fry them in butter while crisp, and put it into a dish, with a few whole peas. Garnish your dish with creed rice, and red beet-root.

You may make asparagus-soop the same way, only add tops of asparagus, instead of whole pease.

To make ONION SOOP.

Take four or five large onions, pill and boil them in milk and water whilst tender, (shifting them two or three times in the boiling) beat ’em in a marble mortar to a pulp, and rub them thro’ a hair-sieve, and put them into a little sweet gravy; then fry a few slices of veal, and two or three slices of lean bacon; beat them in a marble mortar as small as forc’d-meat; put it into your stew-pan with the gravy and onions, and boil them; mix a spoonful of wheat-flour with a little water, and put it into the soop to keep it from running; strain all through a cullender, season it to your taste; then put into the dish a little spinage stew’d in butter, and a little crisp bread; so serve it up.

Common PEASE SOOP in Winter.

Take a quart of good boiling pease which put into a pot with a gallon of soft water whilst cold; add thereto a little beef or mutton, a little hung beef or bacon, and two or three large onions; boil all together while your soop is thick; salt it to your taste, and thicken it with a little wheat-flour; strain it thro’ a cullender, boil a little sellery, cut it in small pieces, with a little crisp bread, and crisp a little spinage, as you would do parsley, then put it in a dish, and serve it up. Garnish your dish with raspings of bread.

To make PEASE SOOP in Lent.

Take a quart of pease, put them into a pot with a gallon of water, two or three large onions, half a dozen anchovies, a little whole pepper and salt; boil all together whilst your soop is thick; strain it into a stew-pan through a cullender, and put six ounces of butter (work’d in flour) into the soop to thicken it; also put in a little boil’d sellery, stew’d spinage, crisp bread, and a little dry’d mint powdered; so serve it up.

CRAW-FISH SOOP.

Take a knuckle of veal, and part of a neck of mutton to make white gravy, putting in an onion, a little whole pepper and salt to your taste; then take twenty crawfish, boil and beat them in a marble mortar, adding thereto alittlee of the gravy; strain them and put them into the gravy; also two or three pieces of white bread to thicken the soop; boil twelve or fourteen of the smallest craw-fish, and put them whole into the dish, with a few toasts, or French roll, which you please; so serve it up.

You may make lobster soop the same way, only add into the soop the seeds of the lobster.

To make SCOTCH SOOP.

Take a houghil of beef, cut it in pieces, with part of a neck of mutton, and a pound of French barley; put them all into your pot, with six quarts of water; let it boil ’till the barley be soft, then put in a fowl; as soon as ’tis enough put in a handful of red beet leaves or brocoli, a handful of the blades of onions, a handful of spinage, washed and shred very small; only let them have a little boil, else it will spoil the greenness. Serve it up with the fowl in a dish, garnish’d with raspings of bread.

To make SOOP without Water.

Take a small leg of mutton, cut it in slices, season it with a little pepper and salt; cut three middling turnips in round pieces, and three small carrots scrap’d and cut in pieces, a handful of spinage, a little parsley, a bunch of sweet herbs, and two or three cabbage lettice; cut the herbs pretty small, lay a row of meat and a row of herbs; put the turnips and carrots at the bottom of the pot, with an onion, lay at the top half a pound of sweet butter, and close up the pot with coarse paste; them put the pot into boiling water, and let it boil for four hours; or in a slow oven, and let it stand all night; when it is enough drain the gravy from the meat, skim off the fat, then put it into your dish with some toasts of bread, and a little stew’d spinage; to serve it up.

Stuart Era Soup Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery, by Robert May [1685]

Soops or butter’d Meats of Spinage.

Take fine young spinage, pick and wash it clean; then have a skillet or pan of fair liquor on the fire, and when it boils, put in the spinage, give it a warm or two, and take it out into a cullender, let it drain, then mince it small, and put it in a pipkin with some slic’t dates, butter, white-wine, beaten cinamon, salt, sugar, and some boil’d currans; stew them well together, and dish them on sippets finely carved, and about it hard eggs in halves or quarters, not too hard boil’d, and scrape on sugar.

Soops of Carrots.

Being boil’d, cleanse, stamp, and season them in all points as before; thus also potatoes, skirrets, parsnips, turnips, Virginia artichocks, onions, or beets, or fry any of the foresaid roots being boil’d and cleansed, or peeled, and floured, and serve them with beaten butter and sugar.

Soops of Artichocks, Potatoes, Skirrets, or Parsnips.

Being boil’d and cleansed, put to them yolks of hard eggs, dates, mace, cinamon, butter, sugar, white-wine, salt, slic’t lemon, grapes gooseberries, or barberries; stew them together whole, and being finely stewed, serve them on carved sippets in a clean scowred dish, and run it over with beaten butter and scraped sugar.

To make Broth good against a Consumption.

Take a cock and a knuckle of veal, being well soaked from the blood, boil them in an earthen pipkin of five quarts, with raisins of the sun, a few prunes, succory, lang de-beef roots, fennil roots, parsley, a little anniseed, a pint of white-wine, hyssop, violet leaves, strawberry-leaves, bind all the foresaid roots, and herbs, a little quantity of each in a bundle, boil it leisurely, scum it, and when it is boil’d strain it through a strainer of strong canvas, when you use it, drink it as often as you please blood-warm.

Sometimes in the broth, or of any of the meats aforesaid, use mace, raisins of the sun, a little balm, endive, fennel and parsley roots.

Sometimes sorrel, violet leaves, spinage, endive, succory, sage, a little hyssop, raisins of the sun, prunes, a little saffron, and the yolk of an egg, strained with verjuyce or white-wine.

Otherways.

Fennil-roots, colts foot, agrimony, betony, large mace, white sander slic’t in thin slices the weight of six pence, made with a chicken and a crust of manchet, take it morning and evening.

Otherways.

Violet leaves, wild tansie, succory-roots, large mace, raisins, and damask prunes boil’d with a chicken and a crust of bread.

Sometimes broth made of a chop of mutton, veal, or chicken, French barley, raisins, currans, capers, succory root, parsley roots, fennil-roots, balm, borrage, bugloss, endive, tamarisk, harts-horn, ivory, yellow sanders, and fumitory, put to these all (or some) in a moderate quantity.

Otherways, a sprig of rosemary, violet-leaves, tyme, mace, succory, raisins, and a crust of bread.

To make an excellent Broth or Drink for a Sick Body.

Take a good fleshy capon, take the flesh from the bones, or chop it in pieces very small, and not wash it; then put them in a rose still with slics of lemon-peel, wood-sorrel, or other herbs according to the Physitians direction; being distilled, give it to the weak party to drink.

Or soak them in malmsey and some capon broth before you distill them.

To make a strong Broth for a Sick Party.

Roast a leg of mutton, save the gravy, and being roasted prick it, and press out the gravy with a wooden press; put all the gravy into a silver porrenger or piece, with the juyce of an orange and sugar, warm it on the coals, and give it the weak party.

Thus you may do a roast or boil’d capon, partridge, pheasant, or chicken, take the flesh from the bones, and stamp it in a stone or wooden mortar, with some crumbs of fine manchet, strained with capon broth, or without bread, and put the yolk of an egg, juyce of orange, lemon, or grape verjuyce and sugar.

To make China Broth.

Take an ounce of China thin slic’t, put it in a pipkin of fair water, with a little veal or chicken, stopped close in pipkin, let it stand 4 and twenty hours on the embers but not boil; then put to it colts foot, scabious-maiden-hair, violet leaves half a handful, candied eringo, and 2 or 3 marsh mallows, boil them on a soft fire till the third part be wasted, then put in a crust of manchet, a little mace, a few raisins of the sun stoned, and let it boil a while longer. Take of this broth every morning half a pint for a month, then leave it a month, & use it again.

China Broth otherways.

Take 2 ounces of China root thin sliced, and half an ounce of long pepper bruised; then take of balm, tyme, sage, marjoram, nepe, and smalk, of each two slices, clary, a hanful of cowslips, a pint of cowslip water, and 3 blades of mace; put all into a new and well glazed pipkin of 4 quarts, & as much fair water as will fill the pipkin, close it up with paste and let it on the embers to warm, but not to boil; let it stand thus soaking 4 and twenty hours; then take it off, and put to it a good big cock chickens, calves foot, a knuckle of mutton, and a little salt; stew all with a gentle fire to a pottle, scum it very clean & being boil’d strain the clearest from the dregs & drink of it every morning half a pint blood-warm.

Table of Contents

Vintage Soup Recipes from A HANDBOOK OF COOKERY FOR A SMALL HOUSE BY JESSIE CONRAD [1923]

SOUPS, STOCKS – General Remarks

Beef Tea

Mutton Broth

Chicken Broth

Lentil or Split-Pea Soup

White Bean Soup

Chicken Soup

Game Soup

Asparagus Soup

Tomato Soup

Clear Ox Tail Soup

Thick Ox Tail Soup

Julienne Soup

To Use Roast Beef Bone for Soup

The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]

SOUPS.

BARLEY BROTH.

CREAM OF BARLEY SOUP.

CLEAR CELERY SOUP.

CHESTNUT SOUP.

FRUIT SOUP.

HARICOT BEAN SOUP.

LENTIL SOUP.

PEA SOUP.

MACARONI SOUP.

POTATO SOUP.

P.R. SOUP. [ Physical Regenerationists]

P.R. BEEF TEA SUBSTITUTE.

SAGO SOUP.

TOMATO SOUP.

VEGETABLE STOCK.

CONVALESCENTS’ SOUP.

Victorian Soup Recipes from Fast Day Cookery or Meals Without Meat by Grace Johnston [1893]

1. Oyster Soup.

2. Lobster Soup.

3. Scallop Soup.

4. Cockle Soup.

5. Eel Soup.

6. Haddock Soup.

7. Skate Soup.

8. Cod Soup.

9. Salt Herring Mullagatawny.

10. Welk Soup.

11. Bread Soup.

12. Onion Soup.

13. Pea Soup.

14. Green Pea Soup.

15. Turnip Soup.

16. Vegetable Marrow Soup.

17. Potato Soup.

18. Haricot Bean Soup.

19. Lentil Soup.

20. German Lentil Soup.

21. Tomato Puree.

22. Mixed Vegetable Soup.

23. Florador Soup.

24. Barley Soup.

25. Mullagatawny Soup.

26. Spinach Puree.

27. Sorrel Puree.

28. Artichoke Puree.

29. Carrot Puree.

30. Pearl Sago Soup.

Victorian Soup Recipes from New Vegetarian Dishes by Mrs Bowdich [1892] WITH PREFACE BY ERNEST BELL, M.A. TREASURER OF THE LONDON VEGETARIAN SOCIETY

Artichoke Soup.

Asparagus Soup.

Brown Soup.

Forcemeat Balls. [for recipe above]

Carrot Soup.

Celery Soup.

Chestnut Soup.

French Bean Soup.

Green Kale Soup.

Haricot Bean Soup.

Lentil Soup.

Lentil Broth.

Lentil Tea. (A substitute for Beef Tea.)

Mulligatawny Soup.