Common Sense in the Household 4

Common Sense in the Household 4

GREEN PEA (No. 2.)

 

2 qts. of strong veal or beef broth.

½ teaspoonful sugar.

1 tablespoonful butter.

1 qt. shelled peas.

 

Bring the broth to a boil; put in the peas, and boil for twenty

minutes. Add the sugar, and a sprig of green mint. Boil a quarter of an

hour more, and stir in the butter, with pepper and salt, if the broth

be not sufficiently salted already. Strain before serving, and send to

table with small squares of toasted bread floating upon the top.

 

 

SPLIT PEA (_dried_). ✠

 

1 gallon water.

1 qt. split peas, which have been soaked over night.

1 lb. salt pork, cut into bits an inch square.

1 lb. beef, cut into bits an inch square.

Celery and sweet herbs.

Fried bread.

 

Put over the fire, and boil slowly for two hours, or until the quantity

of liquor does not exceed two quarts. Pour into a cullender, and press

the peas through it with a wooden or silver spoon. Return the soup to

the pot, adding a small head of celery, chopped up, a little parsley,

or, if preferred, summer savory or sweet marjoram. Have ready three or

four slices of bread (stale) which have been fried in butter until they

are brown; cut into slices and scatter them upon the surface of the

soup after it is poured into the tureen.

 

 

PEA AND TOMATO. ✠

 

This is made according to either of the foregoing receipts, in summer

with green—in winter with dried and split peas. Just before straining

the soup, add a quart of tomatoes, which have already been stewed soft;

let the whole come to a good boil, and strain as above directed. If

the stewed tomato be watery, strain off the superfluous liquid before

pouring into the pea soup, or it will be too thin.

 

 

BEAN (_dried._) ✠

 

The beans used for this purpose may be the ordinary kidney, the rice

or field bean, or, best of all, the French mock-turtle soup bean.

Soak a quart of these over night in soft lukewarm water; put them

over the fire next morning, with one gallon of cold water and about

two pounds of salt pork. Boil slowly for three hours, keeping the pot

well covered; shred into it a head of celery, add pepper—cayenne, if

preferred—simmer half an hour longer, strain through a cullender, and

serve, with slices of lemon passed to each guest.

 

Mock-turtle beans, treated in this way, yield a very fair substitute

for the fine calf’s-head soup known by the same name.

 

 

BEAN AND CORN. ✠

 

This is a winter soup, and is made of white beans prepared according to

the foregoing receipt, but with the addition of a quart of dried or

canned corn. If the former is used—and the Shaker sweet corn is nearly,

salted corn quite as good for the purpose as the more expensive canned

green corn—soak it overnight in warm water—changing this early in the

morning, and pouring on more warm water, barely enough to cover the

corn, and keeping it in a close vessel until ready to put on the beans.

Let all boil together, with pork as in the bean soup proper. Strain out

as usual, rubbing hard through the cullender. Some persons have a habit

of neglecting the use of the cullender in making bean soup, and serving

it like stewed beans which have been imperfectly drained. The practice

is both slovenly and unwholesome, since the husks of the cereal are

thus imposed upon the digestive organs of the eater, with no additional

nutriment. To the beans and corn may be added a pint of stewed tomato,

if desired.

 

 

ASPARAGUS (_White soup._)

 

3 lbs. veal. The knuckle is best.

3 bunches asparagus, as well bleached as you can procure.

1 gallon water.

1 cup milk.

1 tablespoonful rice flour.

Pepper and salt.

 

Cut off the hard green stem, and put half of the tender heads of the

asparagus into the water with the meat. Boil in closely covered pot for

three hours, until the meat is in rags and the asparagus dissolved.

Strain the liquor and return to the pot, with the remaining half of

the asparagus heads. Let this boil for twenty minutes more, and add,

before taking up, a cup of sweet milk (cream is better) in which has

been stirred a tablespoonful of rice-flour, arrow-root, or corn-starch.

When it has fairly boiled up, serve without further straining, with

small squares of toast in the tureen. Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

ASPARAGUS (_Green soup._)

 

3 lbs. veal—cut into small pieces.

½ lb. salt pork.

3 bunches asparagus.

1 gallon water.

 

Cut the entire stalk of the asparagus into pieces an inch long, and

when the meat has boiled one hour, add half of the vegetable to the

liquor in the pot. Boil two hours longer and strain, pressing the

asparagus pulp very hard to extract all the green coloring. Add the

other half of the asparagus—(the heads only, which should be kept in

cold water until you are ready for them), and boil twenty minutes more.

Then proceed as with the asparagus white soup, omitting the milk,

thickening, and salt. The pork will supply the latter seasoning.

 

 

TOMATO (_Winter soup._) ✠

 

3 lbs. beef.

1 qt. canned tomatoes.

1 gallon water.

A little onion.

Pepper and salt.

 

Let the meat and water boil for two hours, until the liquid is reduced

to little more than two quarts. Then stir in the tomatoes, and stew all

slowly for three-quarters of an hour longer. Season to taste, strain,

and serve.

 

 

TOMATO (_Summer soup_). ✠

 

2½ lbs. veal, or lamb.

1 gallon water.

2 qts. fresh tomatoes, peeled and cut up fine.

1 tablespoonful butter.

1 teaspoonful white sugar.

Pepper and salt. Chopped parsley.

 

Boil the meat to shreds and the water down to two quarts. Strain the

liquor, put in the tomatoes, stirring them very hard that they may

dissolve thoroughly; boil half an hour. Season with parsley or any

other green herb you may prefer, pepper, and salt. Strain again, and

stir in a tablespoonful of butter, with a teaspoonful of white sugar,

before pouring into the tureen.

 

This soup is more palatable still if made with the broth in which

chickens were boiled for yesterday’s dinner.

 

 

TURNIP.

 

Knuckle of veal, well cracked.

5 qts. water.

 

Cover closely and stew gently for four hours, the day before the soup

is wanted. On the morrow, skim off the fat and warm the stock gradually

to a boil. Have ready an onion and six large winter or a dozen small

summer turnips, sweet marjoram or thyme minced very finely. Put these

into the soup and let them simmer together for an hour. Strain:

return to the fire and add a cup of milk—in which has been stirred a

tablespoonful of rice-flour or other thickening—and a tablespoonful of

butter. Season with salt and pepper, let it boil up once, stirring all

the time, as is necessary in all soups where milk is added at last, and

remove instantly, or it will scorch.

 

 

POTATO.

 

A dozen large mealy potatoes.

2 onions.

1 lb. salt pork.

3 qts. water.

1 tablespoonful butter.

1 cup milk or cream.

1 well-beaten egg.

Chopped onion.

 

Boil the pork in the clear water for an hour and a half, then take

it out. Have ready the potatoes, which, after being peeled and

sliced, should lie in cold water for half an hour. Throw them into

the pot, with the chopped onion. Cover and boil three-quarters of an

hour, stirring often. Beat in butter, milk and egg. Add the latter

ingredients carefully, a little at a time; stir while it heats to a

final boil, and then serve.

 

This is a cheap wholesome dish, and more palatable than one would

suppose from reading the receipt.

 

 

GRAHAM SOUP. ✠

 

3 onions.

3 carrots.

4 turnips.

1 small cabbage.

1 bunch celery.

1 pt. stewed tomatoes.