Chapter IX: Baking (1)

SOME joints of meat bake to advantage. It is convenient, occasionally, to send the dinner out to be cooked, and the meat which suffers least from such cookery ought to be selected; veal is good baked, so is pork, a sucking pig, a goose, and a duck; but not mutton. Some pieces of beef bake well, with peeled potatoes under to catch the gravy, and brown. Some sorts of fish also bake well. (_See Fish in the Index._)

_Breast, Loin, Fillet, or Shoulder of Veal._

The two last stuffed with forcemeat; put the joint on a stand in a deep baking dish, and stick bits of butter over the top. The heat of the oven strong, but not fierce. Baste often; when nearly done, sprinkle salt over, and ten minutes before it is taken out, dredge with flour.

_Pig._

Put it in a shallow baking dish, wrap the ears and tail in buttered paper; send a good sized piece of butter tied in muslin, for the baker to rub over it frequently.

_Goose and Duck._

Prepare as for roasting: put them on a stand, and turn {82}them when half done.--_Wild Goose_ the same, with a piece of suet inside.

_Ham._

Boil it till half done, then cover it with a paste of flour and water, and set it in an oven, hot enough for bread, till you think it done.

_Ox Cheek._

Cover with a strong seasoning of pepper, salt, and minced onion. Bake three or four hours, according to its size, then set it by till next day, take off the fat, and warm it as you want it. A _Shin of beef_ in the same way.

_Hare and Rabbit._

Prepare as for roasting, and baste it constantly with butter. The stuffing should be rich.

_A Fawn._

Put a caul over and set it in the oven; about a quarter of an hour before it is done, take off the caul and baste well with butter. It will bake in the same time that a pig requires.

Meat pies require the oven to be as hot as for joints of meat, yet they should not be scorched. They also require time to soak through, or the meat will not be done.

Fish pies require half an hour less baking than the same sized meat pies.

Great nicety is required in baking fruit pies and light pastry. All these ought to be baked at home; when the precise heat of the oven, required, may be attained, which it rarely can be at the bakehouse. Pastry suffers, too, in being exposed to the air on its way to the oven; and it ought not to wait long before it is baked.

_Pork._

Any joint will bake well. It must be scored. Rub it over with oil, or stick bits of butter all over it. Put it on a stand, and put peeled potatoes under it; also, you may put onions and apples. Sprinkle dry sage over, before you serve it. Stuff the pork, or not, as you choose.

{83}CHAPTER X.

BROILING.

THIS is seldom excelled in, though it appears simple, and is of general utility; for few like to dine on cold meat, and none dislike a broil. There is no economy in broiling, but such meat, poultry, or game, as cannot be hashed with advantage, had best be broiled.

The great art in broiling is to have a suitable fire. It must be strong, bright, and clear, and entirely free from smoke; if half burnt down, so much the better. Have two gridirons, one for meat and poultry, the other for fish. Those which hang before the fire are useful. A gridiron should be rubbed clean immediately after being used, not set aside with a particle of grease or soot attached to it. Just before you lay meat on, after you have made it hot, rub the gridiron with a piece of fresh suet, if for meat; if for fish, rub with chalk. A pair of steak-tongs is indispensable. Above all things, it is necessary that the broil be served immediately, closely covered on its way from the fire to the table, and that the plates and the dish be hot.

_Beef Steaks._

These are eaten in perfection in England only, and, it is said, best in the Chop-houses in London, where daily practice makes the cooking perfect, and because in London the best beef may always be procured. No skill in broiling will render tough meat tender. Steaks are best from the middle of the rump (unless it be the under part of the sirloin), after the meat has been killed five days (if the weather permit), or even longer. They should be of about ¾ of an inch in thickness; beat them a very little. Sprinkle a little salt over the fire, lay the steaks on the hot gridiron, {84}turn them frequently, and when the fat blazes and smokes much, quickly remove the gridiron for an instant, till it be over, and the steak will be sufficiently done, in from ten to fifteen minutes. Have a hot dish by the side of the fire; and, to gratify the taste of some persons, rub it with a piece of eschalot; at all events let the dish be _hot_, and as you turn the steaks, if there be any gravy at the top, drop it into the dish. Before you dish them, put a piece of fresh butter, and a spoonful of catsup in the dish; then sprinkle the dish with a little salt, lay the steaks in the dish, and turn them once or twice, to express the gravy. Garnish with horse-radish, or pickles. Oyster, and many other sauces may be served; some beef steak eaters say that its own gravy, pepper and salt, are all that a good beef steak requires, unless it be a little sliced raw onion or tarragon; others like fried onions.

_Beef Steaks, with Potatoes._

Beat them flat; season on both sides with pepper, salt, and such mixed spices as you choose; dip the steaks in melted butter, lay them on the gridiron, and broil them, as directed in the last receipt. Have a little finely-rubbed parsley, or chopped eschalot, a piece of butter, and some pepper and salt, in a hot dish; when the steaks are done, lay them in it, turn them once or twice, and arrange slices of potatoes fried, round them. _Or_: spread mashed potatoes quite hot in the dish, and lay the steaks on.

_Blade bone of Veal._

Broil it till quite done. Serve it with stewed mushrooms, or a garnish of pickled mushrooms and slices of lemon.

_Mutton and Lamb Chops, also Rabbit and Fowl cut up, Sweetbread and Kidneys._

These may all be broiled in the same way as plain beef steak. Take care that the fat which drops from mutton and lamb, does not smoke the chops; where there is danger, take off the gridiron, and hold it aslant over the fire. {85}Kidneys must, to prevent their curling, be stretched on a skewer. They may be dressed in a more savoury way, thus: dip them in egg, then in a mixture of bread-crumbs, and savoury herbs, before you put them on the gridiron. For mutton, a piece of butter in a hot dish, with a little catsup, is good sauce; but no catsup for lamb; cucumber sauce is better.--(_See Blade bone of Pork._)

_Pork Chops_

Require a very strong fire, and more cooking than mutton, for they must be well done, about a quarter of an hour; cut them once to ascertain the state they are in. Mix in a _little_ gravy, rather thin than rich, a spoonful of made mustard; pour this quite hot, over the chops, in the dish, to mix with their own gravy; then strew over them a little dry sage, rubbed small, and some chopped eschalot. Pork chops may be dressed in a Dutch oven.

_Blade bone of Pork._

Cut it with a small quantity of meat to it: lay it on the gridiron, and when nearly done, pepper and salt it well, then rub a piece of butter over, and serve it directly. Mutton in the same way.

_Chickens and Pigeons._

After a chicken is picked, singed and washed, or wiped clean, truss, and lay it open, by splitting down the back; season the inside with pepper and salt, and lay that side on the gridiron, at a greater distance from the fire than you put a steak, for it will take longer to cook; at least half an hour is necessary for a good sized chicken. From time to time remove the chicken from the fire, and rub it over with a piece of butter, tied in muslin. Run a knife into the breast to ascertain if it be done. The gizzard should be scored, well seasoned, broiled and divided, to garnish the chicken, with the liver, and slices of lemon. Serve mushroom sauce or parsley and butter. You may egg the chicken and strew grated bread over it, and broil till it is of a fine brown; take care that the fleshy side is not {86}burnt. Pigeons are broiled in the same way, or may be done whole; in which case truss and put inside each a large piece of butter, pepper and salt, tie close at both ends, lay them on the gridiron, and turn them frequently. You may brush them with egg, and roll them in bread-crumbs and chopped parsley, with which mixture dredge them whilst broiling. Parsley and butter in the dish, with mushroom catsup, if you like. Stewed mushrooms are served with these, or pickled mushrooms as garnish. Chickens should be skinned before they are broiled for a sick person.

_Partridges._

Prepare as above, and place them in a frying-pan in which you have melted a little very delicate dripping, or butter; let them stay ten minutes; turn them once, finish on the gridiron; this makes them more firm than they would otherwise be. Poor man's sauce (_see Sauces_) is good with all broiled birds.

(_See in Index for Devils, also in Made Dishes, for Cutlets._)

_Note._--_Sauce Robert_ is good with all broils.

{87}CHAPTER XI.

FRYING.

NOT so difficult to _fry_ as it is to _broil_ well, and it is quite as good, for some things, but the fat must be good. Lard, butter, dripping, topfat (i.e. the cake of fat which is taken off soup or broth, when it has stood a night), oil, and suet, are all good for frying. If butter, suet and dripping be clarified, the pan will not be so apt to burn, and the fat will be more delicate. Housekeepers lose much of their credit by neglecting this, and similar niceties. The pan should be thick at the bottom: an oval shape is best, particularly for fish. The fire not fierce, as fat soon scorches, and the meat may be burnt, before it is half cooked; neither must it be too slack, for then the meat will be soddened; and if fish, of a bad colour, and not crisp. Ascertain the heat by throwing a bit of bread in; if the pan be too hot the bread will be burnt up. The fat in which veal, lamb or sweetbreads have been fried, will do for fish; let it stand to settle, then pour the top carefully from the sediment, and put it by. Fritters, pastry or sweet things, must be fried in good butter, lard or oil.

Care is required to fry fish well, and is attainable only by practice. To ascertain the heat of the pan, dip the tail of the fish into the boiling fat, and if it crisps quickly, the pan is ready.

Fries, as well as broils, served hot, as soon as off the fire, or they will be spoiled.

_To Clarify Butter._

Cut in pieces, and put it into a jar: set that in a kettle of boiling water, to melt; skim carefully, take the jar out of the water, let the butter cool a little, then pour it gently off, keeping back the milky sediment.

{88}_Suet._

Chop beef, mutton, or veal suet, take off all skin and fibrous parts, melt it _slowly_, as in the last receipt, or in a Dutch oven, before the fire. Strain, and pour it off: beef or mutton dripping may be done the same way, and is good for peas soup, and for plain pastry. For soup, it may be seasoned, after it is melted and strained. A piece of charcoal will remove a rancid taste, put into the melting fat, and stirred round a few minutes. Use butter or lard in frying white meat.

_Beef Steaks and Mutton Chops_

Must be fried in butter. Steaks the size directed for broiling will be done in from ten to fifteen minutes. When nearly done, cover with a dish and let the pan remain five minutes by the fire, after you take it off. Then lay the steaks in a hot dish, and add to the gravy in the pan a piece of butter rolled in flour, a glass of port wine, or some catsup, a very little water, pepper, salt, a little minced eschalot or onion; let this boil, then pour it over the steaks. Garnish with horse-radish, and serve mashed potatoes and pickles. (_See Made Dishes, for Cutlets._)

_Veal Cutlets_

May be cut from the fillet or the loin, ½ an inch thick: brush them over with egg, cover with bread-crumbs, and fry of a nice light brown, in a good deal of butter or lard. You may, if you choose, add to the bread-crumbs, a mixture of parsley, lemon thyme, lemon peel, and a little nutmeg and cayenne. When done place the cutlets in a hot dish, while you make some gravy in the pan; pour all the fat out, and pour in ¼ pint of boiling water, the same of melted butter, and let it boil till thickish, then add Harvey sauce, white wine, and any other sauce you like: strain this over the cutlets. Garnish with rashers of bacon, curled parsley, and slices of bacon. Cutlets, _without gravy_, may be served round mashed potatoes.

_Lamb and Pork Chops._

Pork chops may be cut from neck or loin. Fry the same {89}as veal, either plain or egged. Garnish with slices of lemon, or crisped parsley. Pork chops, egged, are improved, to some persons' tastes, by a little finely chopped onion and sage. You may make a sauce thus: put the chops on a dish, keep hot while you pour part of the fat from the pan, stir in a tea-spoonful of flour, moisten ½ pint of water, or broth, a table-spoonful of vinegar, a little salt and pepper, and 6 small gherkins or slices (or _for lamb, pickled mushrooms_), put the chops back into the pan to re-warm in the sauce, and serve it altogether. You may add mustard to the sauce; also, chopped onions, for pork. If there be no herbs used before, you may sprinkle dried parsley over lamb chops in the dish; also, lemon peel.

_Sausages._

Some suppose that these do not require fat to fry them. It should be butter or dripping, not lard (a little for beef or pork, more for veal), and sausages ought to cook slowly, that they may be done, without being scorched, and not burst. Prick them with a darning needle to prevent this, but gradual heating is the best preventative. Drain, _very_ lightly flour, and set them before the fire to froth. For dinner or supper, serve mashed potatoes with sausages.

_Rabbits_

_Must_ be young, either tame or wild. Carve in joints, brush these with egg, and dip them in bread-crumbs, in which there may be, if you like it, some dried parsley, grated ham or lemon peel; fry nicely and serve with rashers; make some gravy in the pan as directed for veal cutlets.

_Eggs with Ham or Bacon._

Soak the slices, of ham or bacon, in lukewarm water, and dry them in the folds of a cloth; and they will be less hard than fried bacon usually is. The pan used to fry eggs should be delicately clean. A good method is, to melt a little fat in the pan, pour that off, and then, whilst the pan is quite hot, rub it hard with a cloth. Let the bacon be nearly done, and if the fat be burnt, pour that off, and put in some fresh; then slip the eggs gently in. When they {90}are done lay the slices of bacon in a dish, trim the eggs, and lay them on the bacon. The eggs may be fried in one pan, and the bacon in another; some prefer the latter broiled. For breakfast, slices of ham or bacon should not be broiled or fried, but toasted before the fire.

_Sweetbreads._

Parboil them while fresh, and then fry them in long slices, or whole, in plain butter; or else egged, covered with bread-crumbs, and seasoned with lemon peel, pepper, and a sprig of basil. Garnish with crisped parsley, and lemon sliced: serve on a toast, with either parsley and butter, or plain butter, and a very little walnut, mushroom or any other catsup. Garnish with small slices of crisped bacon. (_See Made Dishes._)

_Ox, Calves', and Lamb's Liver, and Pig's Harslet_,

Must be quite sound. Cut the liver in long thin slices, soak in water, then dry them in a cloth, flour, and season with pepper, salt, a little onion, or eschalot and sage, chopped fine. Fry the slices in butter or lard, of a light brown, and when nearly done, put into the pan some slices of bacon. When you take the liver and bacon out of the pan, pour in a tea-cupful of boiling water, dredge some flour in, let it boil up, and pour this gravy over the liver. You may fry a handful of parsley in the gravy. You may improve this gravy, by adding to it pepper, salt, a wineglass of vinegar, lump of sugar, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard. Garnish with crisped parsley; serve mashed potatoes, or better still, stewed cucumbers. Of the pig's harslet, the lights, sweetbread, and heart may be parboiled, cut up, and fried with the liver. _Or_:--After the fashion of _Herefordshire_, cut in slices, 2 inches thick, the liver, griskins, heart, kidney, lights, crow, and some fat of bacon; rub these slices well with a seasoning, composed of onions, apples, a _little_ sage, and plenty of pepper and salt; then put them on a small spit in alternate slices of lean and fat, cover all over with a pig's caul, and roast it three hours, or more, if the harslet be large. When done, remove the caul and pour a kettle of boiling water over. Make some gravy of the water that has been poured over, and flavour it with port wine, cyder, and walnut catsup. Serve apple sauce. _Harslet_ is {91}very good stewed in just enough water to make gravy, and seasoned well. A little cayenne.

_Tripe._

Boiled tender, cut in long narrow slips, these dipped in a batter of egg and flour, and, if you like, a little minced onion and salt. Fry from seven to ten minutes, of a light brown. Serve, if approved of, onion sauce.--(_Cow-Heel the same._)

_To Fry Parsley._

After it has been washed and picked, shake the parsley backwards and forwards in a cloth till dry; then put it into a pan of hot fat, and fry it quickly of a light brown; take it out with a slice the moment it is crisp--it will be spoiled if done too much. Lay it on a sieve before the fire. Herbs, lemon peel, and onions, must always be chopped fine before they are mixed with bread-crumbs to fry. _Or_: Spread it on paper in a Dutch oven before the fire, and turn it often till it is crisp.

_To Fry Bread Sippets._

Cut a slice of bread about a ¼ inch thick, divide it into pieces of any shape you like. Make some fat quite hot, in the frying-pan, put in the sippets, and fry of a light brown; take them up with a slice, and drain them before the fire ten minutes. Take care the pan be not hot enough to burn.

_To Fry Bread Crumbs._

The bread two days old: rub it into very smooth crumbs, put them into a stew-pan with some butter; set it near a moderate fire, and stir them constantly with a wooden spoon, till of a fine light brown; spread them on a sieve to drain, and stir occasionally. Serve with roasted sweetbreads, small birds, and game, if approved. (_See Made Dishes._)

{92}CHAPTER XII.

SOUPS AND BROTHS.

THE prejudice against French soup, arising from a belief that it must be _maigre_, is as ridiculous as was the assuming that all Frenchmen are the small, thin, miserable looking creatures which they used to be represented in caricatures. Soup is nourishing, and also economical, as it converts into palatable food, the coarser parts of meat, all trimmings, and much that could not be cooked with effect in any other way.

The French excel, merely because they take such pains in making soup, and not from the quality or quantity of their ingredients. A little meat with slow and regular boiling, will produce richer soup, than double the quantity, if the soup kettle be suffered to boil fast one quarter of an hour, and to stop boiling altogether the next quarter of an hour.--The fault most common in English soup is, the want of the juice of meat, caused by too quick and irregular boiling, to remedy which want, recourse is had to pepper, herbs, and wine. It is very easy to vary the _sort_ of soup, by making a good clear _stock_, or what the French call _bouillon_, and the next or following days, flavour it, or add vegetable ingredients to your taste. Soup made solely of brown meat or game, without vegetables, will keep better than that made of veal, fowl, any vegetable substance, or fish. As the French are great economists in their kitchens, and are most scientific cooks, it may not be amiss to recommend their practice.

Read the directions for boiling meat, for they must be observed in the first process of soup making. Always use the softest water; and, as a general rule, give a quart to a pound of meat for soup, rather less for gravy. Place the soup-kettle over a moderate fire, that the meat may be gradually heated through, which will cause it to swell and become tender; also the water will penetrate into it, and {93}extract all the gross particles, which will then go off in scum. If it be suffered to boil up quickly, it will be just as if scorched before the fire, and will never yield any gravy.--After the soup has been near to a boil for half an hour, let it boil _gently_, to throw up the scum; remove that carefully, and when you think no more will appear, put in the vegetables and a little salt: these will cause more scum to rise; watch and take it off, then cover the pot close, and place it so, by the fire, that it may boil or _simmer_ gently, and not vary its rate of boiling. From four to six hours may be enough, but an hour more would not be too much, for the bare meat and vegetables; all flavouring ingredients should be allowed the shortest possible time, because their flavour evaporates in boiling. Great extravagance is often committed for the want of attention to this, for a larger quantity of costly ingredients is used, than need be if they were put in just at the proper time. It may be necessary to put in _some_ of these things earlier than others; but this must rest with the discretion of the cook. Remember that where catsup is used, care must be observed not to give so much salt as where there is none.

If the soup waste much in boiling, add boiling water. Keep the lid close, and remove it as seldom as possible, because so much of the flavour escapes by that means. If the soup be over-watered, leave the lid half way off, that some of it may evaporate in steam.

French cooks, I believe, invariably brown the meat and vegetables first, thus: put a good piece of butter in a stew or frying-pan, then the meat and vegetables and a little water (no seasoning), set it over a sharp fire, turn it frequently that none of it may burn, or the flavour will be spoiled; when it is all browned, put your quantity of water to it. The soup may, perhaps, have a finer flavour, but it will not be so clear, for after the meat has been fried the scum will not be extracted from it in boiling.

Thickening may be made of bread-raspings. But that most commonly used, is flour rubbed in butter or fat skimmings. Flour or meal is coloured, spread on a plate, in a Dutch oven before the fire. Turn it with a spoon till it is of the colour you wish. Keep covered close, for use. Potato flour, a table-spoonful, mixed smooth in a cup of water, is a nice thickening. Barley and oatmeal, also Indian {94}corn meal, in the same quantity. Thickening should be put in after that scumming has taken place which the vegetables have made necessary. But the French mode of thickening soup is best of all. (_See Roux._)

Some persons boil vegetables by themselves to a mash, and pulp them through a sieve into the soup. This helps to thicken it. The fatter the meat, the more of green vegetables, such as leeks and greens, may be used. Meat should not be very fat, nor yet all lean, for soup.

No seasoning whatever, except salt, should be given to plain stock, if not to be eaten the day it is made. Thickened soup requires a greater quantity of flavouring ingredients than clear soup, as the thickening material absorbs a portion of the flavouring.--Take care not to over-season, for this is a common fault. Of wine, the quantity should not exceed a wine-glassful to a quart. The sort must depend upon taste, but claret is best for brown soup; Madeira for Mock Turtle; Brandy is used in soup, and so is lump sugar. Vegetable soup requires a little cayenne.

Soup or stock to be eaten on the following day, should stand by the side of the fire a quarter of an hour to settle, before it is strained; the fat skimmed carefully off, and put by. Strain the stock into an unglazed vessel. In hot weather, let it stand in a cool place; if you wish to keep it three or four days, boil it up every day. When you rewarm it, take off the cake of fat at the top, and hold back the sediment. Be careful in warming soup, that it do not get smoked. Also remember that it should but just come to a boil, and be taken off the fire, for every bubble tends to flatten its flavour. When macaroni, or other paste, or any kind of green vegetable, is added at the time of re-warming the soup, of course time must be given for such addition to be cooked; it is best partly cooked by itself first.

Ham is used for making stock; but except for ragouts, or sauces very highly flavoured, I should reject it.

When cream is added, it must be boiled first, or it will curdle. Pour it in by degrees, stirring all the while.

The French use earthenware soup-kettles, and some prefer them to the cast-iron digester, or stock-pot. Tammis cloths (bought at the oil shops) are better for straining than sieves.

Never use stale meat for broth or soup. Vegetables as {95}fresh as possible. The older and drier the onion, the stronger its flavour.

_Plain Stock._

Having read the foregoing directions, get a leg or shin of beef, break it in two or three places, wash it, and cut some nice pieces to eat. Cover with water, and boil it slowly. If you wish it to be very good, add an old fowl, rabbit, any trimmings of meat, or gizzards of poultry, or bones, but mind that whatever it be, it is quite fresh; take care that you take off the first scum as it rises, then put in salt, and a large carrot, a head of celery, two turnips, and two onions. Simmer this so gently as not to waste the liquor, from four to five hours, then strain as directed.--Rabbits are excellent in making stock. More onions may be used than I have given directions for in this receipt; indeed, where their flavour is not objected to, it is scarcely possible to use too many, for nothing enriches soup and gravy so much. The meat of shin of beef is excellent for your family dinner; before what is cut into smallish pieces are cooked too much, take them out and keep hot to serve with a little of the soup poured over, as sauce. Serve pickles.

_Soup and Bouilli._

About 5 lbs. of fresh, juicy rump, or flank of beef, four quarts of water, let it come slowly to a boil, put in a heaped table-spoonful of salt, taking off all the scum carefully; put in three carrots, four turnips, two leeks, one head of celery, three onions (one burnt), three cloves in each, a small bunch of herbs; this should boil very gently five hours. All the vegetables cut or sliced. Some persons like a small cabbage cut up in this. Serve the bouilli garnished with the vegetables; put slices of bread in your tureen and pour the soup over, without straining. Tomata sauce is good with bouilli.

_Good Plain Stock._

7 lbs. of knuckle of veal cut in pieces, five inches in diameter, also ¾ lb. of lean ham, cut in dice, put ¼ lb. of butter into a stew-pan, turn it round, then put in the meat, two {96}onions, four cloves in each, a turnip, carrot, leek and a head of celery. Cover the pan and keep skimming its contents over a sharp fire, until there be a thick white glaze that will adhere to the spoon; then put in four quarts of soft water, and when coming to a boil, set it on one side of the fire, that it may _simmer_ for three hours. Skim off the fat, and strain it.

_Very good Clear Gravy Soup._

First heat, then rub with a coarse cloth, a good-sized stew-pan or stock-pot, then rub the bottom and sides with a marrow, or a large piece of butter. Lay in about 6 or 7 lbs. of shin of beef chopped across, a knuckle or scrag of veal, four shanks or the knuckle part of a leg of mutton, and any trimmings of meat, game or poultry you have, a slice of carrot, a head of celery, two onions, two leeks, and turnip sliced, and two table-spoonsful of salt. Let this catch, not burn, over a rather brisk fire, and add five quarts of soft water. When it has been carefully scummed once, give it a pint of cold water, to throw up more scum. Simmer slowly full four hours. Place it by the side of the hearth to settle, skim off the fat, and strain it. Of this soup, which ought to be very clear, are made many sorts, on following days, thus:--

_Vermicelli._--Boil the quantity you wish to use, in a little water, till nearly cooked enough, then put it into the clear soup, when you put that on the fire to re-warm. _Brown thickening, which see, in the Index._

_Maccaroni Soup._--The same as the last, but do not make it too thick. Boil the maccaroni till rather more than three parts cooked, and put it into the soup to finish while that is heating. Cream is an improvement. Serve grated parmesan. _White thickening._

_Carrot or Turnip Soup._--Cut red carrots in thin strips, boil them till tender, and put them into clear soup, when it is rewarmed. _Or_: Boil six or eight carrots quite tender, then pulp them through a sieve into the soup. Scoop turnips into little balls, or cut them in any shapes you like, boil them till tender, and put into the soup. _Brown thickening._

_Celery and Asparagus Soup._--Cut these in pieces rather more than ½ an inch in length, and boil them gently, till {97}tender, then put them into clear gravy soup. Cream may be used if the thickening be white.

_Julienne Soup._--Cut leeks and celery in squares, turnips and carrots in strips, boil them till tender, and put into clear brown soup. _Or_: Cut carrots and turnips in strips, put a large tea-cupful of these into a stewpan with ½ lb. of butter, and shake it over the fire till they are tender and look transparent, then pour in the stock; add young peas, two onions, two leeks, a small lettuce, some sorrel and chervil, all these cut small; simmer gently till the vegetables are cooked, then put in three lumps of sugar.

_Clear Herb Soup._

Cut up what herbs you like the flavour of; also leeks, celery, carrots, turnips, cabbage, lettuce, and young onions, in preference to old ones, a handful of young peas, put the whole into boiling water, and give them just a scald. Drain them on a sieve, put them into some clear stock, and simmer slowly till the roots are tender. Season with salt, and a very little cayenne, if you choose.

_A Clear Soup._

Cut 6 lbs. of gravy beef small, put it into a large stewpan, with two onions, a small carrot and turnip, a head of celery, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a pint of water. Stew slowly an hour, add nine pints of boiling water. Simmer it slowly six hours, strain, and let it stand till next day. Take off the fat, pour it from the sediment, and boil up with whatever flavouring ingredient you choose. This may be made _Julienne_ by putting in the mixture of vegetables as directed above. Also _Ox-tail_ by adding one to it.

_Brown Soup._

Make this as clear gravy soup, and strain it. Then fry to a nice brown 2 lbs. rump steaks, cut in small pieces, drain them from the fat, and put them in the soup. Let them simmer an hour, add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste, also a wine-glassful of any catsup you like, and when done, let it stand by the fire, to allow the fat to rise; take that off, and serve the soup with the steaks.

{98}_Plain White Soup._

Soak a large knuckle of veal, put it into the soup-kettle with 2 fowls skinned, or a rabbit, ¼ lb. of lean undressed bacon or ham, a bunch of lemon thyme, 2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, a head of celery, a few white peppercorns, and 2 blades of mace, cover with water, and boil for two hours and a half, and strain. This should form a jelly. To re-warm it, take off the top fat, clear the soup from the sediment, and put it in a stewpan. Add vermicelli or maccaroni, previously boiled, till nearly done.

_Another White Soup._

Fry 2½ lbs. veal, and ¼ lb. ham or bacon, with a faggot of herbs, 2 onions, a parsnip cut small, and a head of celery. When the gravy is drawn, pour upon it 2 quarts of water, and 2 quarts of skim milk. Boil it slowly an hour and a half. Add 2 table-spoonfuls of oatmeal, rubbed smooth in a tea-cupful of broth. Boil half an hour, then strain it into the tureen. _Cow heel_ and _calf's feet_ are good in making white soup; also rabbits, in place of fowls. When veal is dear, use lean beef.

_Another with herbs._

Boil a quart of beef and a quart of veal stock together, with a table-spoonful of chopped tarragon, and one of chervil; when tender, have ready a coffee-cupful of cream and three eggs beaten together, stir them gently in, and keep stirring till cooked, but do not let it boil.

_Lorraine Soup._

Blanch ½ lb. of sweet and 1 oz. bitter almonds, pound them in a mortar, with a very little water, to a paste. Take all the white part of a cold roast fowl, skin and mince it very fine, with the yolks of 3 hard-boiled eggs, and some fine bread-crumbs; put this into a pint of _plain white soup_, with a large piece of lemon peel, and a little mace and nutmeg; let it come to a boil, add a quart more of the same stock boiling hot, and after it has simmered a few minutes, strain the soup, and add, by degrees, a quart of cream which has been boiled.

{99}_Onion Soup._

The number of onions must depend upon taste; if 10 or 12, chop and stew them, in a saucepan, with a good piece of butter; stew them gradually, and when done, add some good stock: salt, pepper, and cayenne, if the stock be not already seasoned. This may be strained, and a pint of boiling cream added, to make it more delicate.--_Another_: cut small silver onions in rings, fry them of a light colour, drain and cook them for twenty minutes in _clear gravy soup_. Serve toasted sippets.

_Onion Soup Maigre._

Fry in clarified butter 12 large onions, 2 heads of celery, a large carrot and a turnip, all chopped. When soft, pulp them through a sieve, into 2 quarts of boiled water, thickened with 4 or 5 oz. of butter, worked up with potato flour, and seasoned with mace and white peppercorns, 2 lumps of sugar, or you may thicken with the beat yolks of 4 eggs. Bread sippets in the tureen.

_Green Peas Soup._

An old-fashioned, but good receipt. Boil quite soft, 3 pints of green peas, and work them through a hair sieve. Put into the water in which the peas were boiled, 3 large slices of ham, a small knuckle of veal, a few beet leaves shred small, a turnip, 2 carrots, and a little more water. Boil an hour and a half. Then strain the liquor into a bowl, and mix it with the pulp. Put in a little juice of spinach, which is obtained by squeezing the spinach, after it has been boiled, through a cloth. This will give a good colour. Then give it a gentle boil, to take off the taste of the spinach, slice in the whitest part of a head of celery, and a lump of sugar the size of a walnut. Cut a slice of bread into little square pieces, a slice of bacon in the same manner, and fry together in fresh butter, of a light brown. Cut a large lettuce in slices, fry that, after the other, then put them all together into the tureen. Have ready boiled, a pint of young peas, put them also into the tureen, and pour the soup over.--Onions may be added if approved.--Serve toasted bread, and also dry powdered mint.

{100}_Green Pea or Asparagus Soup._

Put 5 pints of peas, with ½ lb. of butter and ¼ lb. lean ham, in dice, into a stew-pan with two onions cut up and a little parsley, moisten it with water, and keep stirring or shaking over a sharp fire; when quite tender put in a thickening of flour rubbed smooth with water or broth, and having stirred that well in, add 3 quarts of any stock you have; whatever salt and pepper you think is required, also cayenne if you like, and 3 lumps of sugar: boil ten minutes and strain it. This may be served at once; or, after you have strained it, you may boil it up again with ½ pint of boiling milk, skim it, and serve on crisp sippets. _Asparagus_ the same way: keep back part of the heads, and boil them separately, not very tender, cut them in pointed pieces, and put into the strained soup.

_Artichoke Soup._

Wash and peel 2 doz. Jerusalem artichokes, and cut them in thin slices. Put 2 large onions, 1 turnip, a head of celery, 2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, and 1 lb. of lean ham into a stew-pan, with ½ lb. butter, stir all the time, and let it fry over a slow fire 20 minutes; it will form a white glaze, then take it off, and put it all with the artichokes into a stew-pan with a pint of thin broth or soft water, and simmer it, till all the vegetables are quite tender, then put in 3 table-spoonsful of flour rubbed smooth with broth, mix well together; add 3 quarts of good stock and a pint of boiled milk, a tea-spoonful of salt, the same of sugar, let it just boil up, then strain it, and boil it up again with mushroom catsup, and a glass of white wine; and pour it over fried bread in the tureen.

_A good Maigre Soup._

Melt slowly, in a stew-pan, ¾ lb. butter, put in a head of celery, 1 carrot, and 1 turnip sliced, shake them well and let them brown; add three quarts of boiling water, 1½ pint of young peas, and some black pepper; when these are done, let it settle, strain the soup into another stew-pan, leaving all sediment; put it on again with 3 large onions in slices, {101}another head of celery, and 3 turnips and carrots in pretty shapes. Boil slowly till done, then serve the soup.

_Yellow Peas Soup_

Should soak the night before, and if old, again in the morning, in lukewarm water. Allow 1½ lb. to 4 quarts of soft water, with 3 lbs. of lean sinewy beef, or fresh trimmings of meat, poultry, or roast beef bones, a small piece of pickled pork, the shank of a bacon or mutton ham, or the root of a tongue a little salted, and soaked and washed; also 2 carrots, 2 turnips, and 6 rather small onions. Scum well, as soon as it boils, and stir the peas up from the bottom; add another quart of boiling water, or the liquor of any boiled meat. (Pot liquor should always be saved for peas soup.) Let it simmer till the peas will pulp. Then strain through a coarse sieve. Take the onions out from the pulp, and put the latter back into the soup, with a fresh head of celery, or a large tea-spoonful of celery seed, tied in muslin, and some salt and pepper. Simmer it, if thin, three-quarters of an hour, to thicken it; then put it into the tureen, let it stand covered a few minutes, and remove the fat which will have gathered on the top. Shake dried mint or parsley over the soup, and serve with dice of toasted bread.--This soup may be made in a very economical way, by the means of pot liquor, roast beef bones, fragments of meat, and fresh clarified dripping. The liquor in which a leg of pork has been boiled, should be saved for peas soup.--Very little pieces of boiled pork may be served in peas soup, also cucumbers cut and fried, or bacon cut and fried. A pickled herring is used to give flavour, when there is no pot liquor. Peas soup is very good quite maigre; the water must be soft, and the peas boiled long and slowly, before they are pulped.

_Carrot Soup plain._

Scrape and wash six large carrots, and peel off the outsides quite thick; put these into a soup-kettle, with a large head of celery, an onion cut thin, two quarts of soft water, or pot liquor, and, if you have them, roast beef bones. After this has been boiled and scummed, set it by the fire, keep it close covered and simmer it gently two hours. {102}Strain through a sieve, and pulp the vegetables, with a wooden spoon, into a clean saucepan, and as much broth as will make it as thick as peas soup; season with salt and pepper. Make it hot, and send it to table. Add what spices you like. Serve toasted bread, either fried or plain.--_Celery_ and _Turnip_ soup the same way. When celery cannot be procured, the seed pounded fine, about ½ a drachm, put in a quarter of an hour, will give the flavour of two heads of celery.

_Mock Turtle Soup._

Make it the day before it is wanted. Get a good sized calf's head, the skin on, scald and split it, take out the brains, and the bones of the nose, and lay it in lukewarm water to soak. Change the water often, to draw out the blood and slime. When the head is quite clean, put it into a stew-pan with rather more soft cold water than to cover it. Let it come to a boil rather quickly, and scum well. Then boil gently, rather more than half an hour. Take out the head, place it in a dish, and when cold, cut it into small neat pieces: skin the tongue, and cut it up. Keep the meat covered, and set it by till the next day. Put all the bones and refuse parts of the head into the soup-kettle, in the liquor in which it was boiled, with a knuckle of veal broken, and about 3 lbs. shin of beef, but the latter must be soaked first. Let this boil, then take off all the scum, and simmer it gently from four hours and a half to six hours, strain it into a pan, and set it by. When you want to make the soup, take off the cake of fat, and pour the stock into a large stew-pan, holding back the sediment; set it on the fire, let it come quickly to a boil, then throw in a little salt to facilitate the rising of whatever scum there may still be, and take this off. Put in from 10 to 12 sliced onions, browned in the frying-pan; also a few sprigs of fried sage, a few leaves of sweet basil, and the peel of a large lemon, not fried; a little cayenne, black pepper to your taste, a very little allspice, three blades of mace, some cloves, one eschalot, and the thickening; which latter may be of flour worked up in butter, or of brown _roux_ (which _see in the Index_). Let it simmer nearly two hours, or till it taste strong, and be of a good colour; pass it gently through a hair-sieve into another stew-pan, and put into that the cut {103}up pieces of head, and what wine you choose, Madeira, sherry, or claret, about a wine-glassful of either of the two former, to a quart of soup. When the meat is tender, the soup is done, and from half to three-quarters of an hour ought to cook it.

Have ready 12 each of forcemeat and egg balls to serve in the tureen. _Forcemeat balls_ are made of veal or fowl, suet and parsley, all minced very fine, mixed with bread-crumbs, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon-peel, nutmeg, and allspice, and wetted with yoke of egg, to make up into balls. Fry of a light brown, and lay them in a small sieve to drain before you put them in the tureen. _Egg balls_ are eggs boiled hard, the yoke taken from the white and pounded well in a mortar, a little salt added, and as much raw yolk of egg and flour as will bind these into balls, not bigger than a marble. Put them into the soup soon enough to cook them. Before you serve the soup, squeeze the juice of a lemon into the tureen.

Some persons put ox palates, in slices, in mock turtle; pickled cucumbers cut very thin may also be an improvement. The above is not an expensive receipt, though, perhaps, quite rich enough. _Cheaper Mock Turtle_ may be made of cow-heels or calf's feet, stewed gently, strained, and the liquor added to plain stock of beef, an onion, and what herbs and other seasonings you like. Cut up the feet, and put them into the soup, just before you serve it. Add lemon juice and wine, if you like.

_Hare Soup._

The hare must be quite fresh. Cut it up (washed, but not soaked), put it in a stewpan, with six middling-sized onions (two burnt), two bay leaves, a blade of mace, three cloves, a bunch of parsley, a little sweet basil, thyme, and celery, also a little broth, plain stock, or, if you have neither, soft water, to cover the meat. If you desire it to be very good, add 1 lb. of gravy beef, notched and browned first; when it has come to a boil, and been scummed, put in three quarts of water, and simmer, if the hare be young, three hours; if old, longer. Strain it, set the best pieces cut rather small apart, to serve in the tureen, and cut all the meat off the other parts, to pound with soaked crumb of {104}bread, to give thickness to the soup. When this is put into the strained soup, season it to your taste, and add catsup and port wine; also fried forcemeat balls, if you like.

_Another, and a better._

If you happen to have two hares, one old and tough, the other young, cut up the first and put it on in three quarts of water, with three onions, two anchovies, six cloves, a blade of mace, a teaspoonful of salt, half a one of cayenne, and simmer it four hours. Meantime, roast the other hare, properly stuffed, till half done, then cut it up, and put it all, with the stuffing, into the soup, and let it simmer gently nearly an hour. You will have kept back some of the best pieces to serve in the soup the next day, unless you prefer it clear without any meat, in which case put it all in. Next day, when you re-warm it, add a tumbler of port wine. Not having the old hare, two rabbits may be found very good.

_Rabbit Soup._

Cut up the rabbits, and if two, put the pieces into water sufficient to cover them; let it boil slowly, and take off all the scum; when no more rises, add two quarts of good stock (or soft water), prepared of shin of beef and veal, or of knuckle of veal alone, or of trimmings of veal and two or three shanks of mutton: this stock must be already flavoured with onions or eschalots, white peppercorns, and mace; simmer gently till the meat is quite tender, and then put it by till next day. Take off all fat before you re-warm it; take out the liver, rub it through a sieve, moisten with a little flour and butter, and add to the soup, also a teacupful of Port, the same of white wine, a table-spoonful of walnut catsup, and lemon pickle.

_Game and Venison Soup_,

May be made of any and of every kind of game. Skin the birds; if large ones, carve them; if small ones, only split down the back; fry them, with slices of ham or bacon, and a _little_ sliced onion and carrot. Drain the pieces, lay them in a stewpan with some good _stock_, a head of celery, a little chopped parsley, and what seasonings you like. Stew gently {105}for an hour. If venison be at hand, fry some small steaks, and stew with the birds. Serve the meat in the soup, taking out the ham.

_Another, and plainer._

In the season, and in houses where game abounds, make soup as follows: cut the meat off the breasts of any cold birds, and pound it in a mortar. Boil the legs, and all the bones, in whatever broth you have, for an hour. Boil four large turnips to a mash, and pulp them to the pounded meat, mix these well, then strain in the broth, by degrees, and let it stand close by the fire, in the stew-pan, but do not let it boil. Season to your taste. Just before you serve it, beat the yolks of 6 eggs in a pint of cream, and pass through a sieve; then put the soup on the fire, and as it is coming to a boil, stir in the cream, and keep stirring a few minutes, but do not let it quite boil, or it will curdle.

_Stewed Knuckle of Veal and Soup_,