Common Sense in the Household 6

Common Sense in the Household 6

Mix with

these two eggs beaten very light, flour your hands, and make this paste

into balls about the size of a pigeon’s egg. Throw them into the soup

five minutes before you take it from the fire; stir in three large

tablespoonfuls of browned flour rubbed smooth in three great spoonfuls

of melted butter, let it boil up well, and finish the seasoning by the

addition of a glass and a half of _good_ wine—Sherry or Madeira—and

the juice of a lemon. It should not boil more than half an hour on the

second day. Serve with sliced lemon. Some lay the slices upon the top

of the soup, but the better plan is to pass to the guests a small dish

containing these.

 

If the directions be closely followed, the result is sure to be

satisfactory, and the task is really much less troublesome than it

appears to be.

 

 

GIBLET SOUP.

 

Feet, neck, pinions, and giblets of three chickens, or of two

ducks or two geese.

1½ lb. veal.

½ lb. ham.

3 qts. water.

 

Crack the bones into small pieces, and cut the meat into strips. Put

all together with the giblets over the fire, with a bunch of sweet

herbs and a pinch of allspice. Stew slowly for two hours. Take out the

giblets and set them aside in a pan where they will keep warm. Take up

a teacupful of the hot soup and stir into this a large tablespoonful of

flour which has been wet with cold water and rubbed to a smooth paste;

then, two tablespoonfuls of butter. Return to the pot and boil for

fifteen minutes; season at the last with a glass of brown sherry and a

tablespoonful of tomato or walnut catsup. A little Worcestershire sauce

is an improvement. Finally, chop and add the giblets, and boil up once.

 

 

BROWN GRAVY SOUP.

 

3 lbs. beef.

1 carrot.

1 turnip.

1 head of celery.

6 onions, if small button onions—one, if large.

3½ qts. water.

 

Have ready some nice dripping in a frying-pan. Slice the onions and

fry them brown. Take them out and set them by in a covered pan to keep

warm. Cut the beef into bits an inch long and half an inch thick, and

fry them brown also, turning frequently lest they should burn. Chop the

vegetables and put them with the meat and onions into a covered pot.

Pour on the water and let all stew together for two hours. Then throw

in salt and pepper and boil one hour longer, skimming very carefully.

Strain; put back over the fire; boil up once more to make the liquid

perfectly clear, skim, and add a handful of vermicelli that has been

boiled separately and drained dry. The safest plan is to put in the

vermicelli after the soup is poured into the tureen. Do not stir

before it goes to table. The contents of the tureen should be clear

as amber. Some add half a glass of _pale_ Sherry. This is a fine show

soup, and very popular.

 

 

VEAL AND SAGO SOUP.

 

2½ lbs. veal chopped fine.

¼ lb. pearl sago.

1 pt. milk.

4 eggs.

3 qts. water.

 

Put on the veal and water, and boil slowly until the liquid is reduced

to about one-half the original quantity. Strain out the shreds of meat,

and put the soup again over the fire. Meanwhile the sago should be

washed in several waters, and soaked half an hour in warm water enough

to cover it. Stir it into the strained broth and boil—stirring very

often to prevent lumping or scorching—half an hour more. Heat the milk

almost to boiling; beat the yolks of the eggs very light; mix with the

milk gradually, as in making boiled custard, and pour—stirring all

the while—into the soup. Season with pepper and salt; boil up once to

cook the eggs, and serve. Should the liquid be too thick after putting

in the eggs, replenish with boiling water. It should be about the

consistency of hot custard.

 

This soup is very good, if chicken broth be substituted for the veal.

It is very strengthening to invalids, and especially beneficial to

those suffering from colds and pulmonary affections.

 

 

CHICKEN SOUP. ✠

 

2 young fowls, or one full-grown.

½ lb. corned ham.

1 gallon of water.

 

Cut the fowls into pieces as for fricassee. Put these with the ham into

the pot with a quart of water, or enough to cover them fairly. Stew for

an hour, if the fowls are tender; if tough, until you can cut easily

into the breast. Take out the breasts, leaving the rest of the meat

in the pot, and add the remainder of the water—boiling hot. Keep the

soup stewing slowly while you chop up the white meat you have selected.

Rub the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs smooth in a mortar or bowl,

moistening to a paste with a few spoonfuls of the soup. Mix with these

a handful of fine bread-crumbs and the chopped meat, and make it into

small balls. When the soup has boiled in all, two hours and a half, if

the chicken be reduced to shreds, strain out the meat and bones. Season

with salt and white pepper, with a bunch of chopped parsley. Drop in

the prepared force-meat, and after boiling ten minutes to incorporate

the ingredients well, add, a little at a time, a pint of rich milk

thickened with flour. Boil up once and serve.

 

A chicken at least a year old would make better soup than a younger

fowl.

 

 

VENISON SOUP. ✠

 

3 lbs. of venison. What are considered the inferior pieces will do.

1 lb. corned ham or salt pork.

1 onion.

1 head of celery.

 

Cut up the meat; chop the vegetables, and put on with just enough water

to cover them, keeping on the lid of the pot all the while, and stew

slowly for one hour. Then add two quarts of boiling water, with a few

blades of mace and a dozen whole peppers. Or, should you prefer, a

little cayenne. Boil two hours longer, salt, and strain. Return the

liquor to the pot; stir in a tablespoonful of butter, thicken with a

tablespoonful of browned flour wet into a smooth thin paste with cold

water; add a tablespoonful of walnut or mushroom catsup, a teaspoonful

of Worcestershire or other pungent sauce, and a generous glass of

Madeira or brown Sherry.

 

 

HARE OR RABBIT SOUP.

 

Dissect the rabbit, crack the bones, and prepare precisely as you would

the venison soup, only putting in three small onions instead of one,

and a bunch of sweet herbs. Hares which are too tough to be cooked in

any other way, make excellent game soup. Also, the large gray squirrel

of the Middle and Southern States.

 

 

OX-TAIL SOUP.

 

1 ox-tail.

2 lbs. lean beef.

4 carrots.

3 onions.

Thyme.

 

Cut the tail into several pieces and fry brown in butter. Slice the

onions and two carrots, and when you remove the ox-tail from the

frying-pan, put in these and brown them also. When done, tie them in a

bag with a bunch of thyme and drop into the soup-pot. Lay the pieces of

ox-tail in the same; then the meat cut into small slices. Grate over

them the two whole carrots, and add four quarts of cold water, with

pepper and salt. Boil from four to six hours, in proportion to the size

of the tail. Strain fifteen minutes before serving it, and thicken with

two tablespoonfuls of browned flour. Boil ten minutes longer.

 

 

FISH SOUPS.

 

 

OYSTER SOUP (No. 1). ✠

 

2 qts. of oysters.

1 qt. of milk.

2 tablespoonfuls butter.

1 teacupful water.

 

Strain the liquor from the oysters, add to it the water, and set it

over the fire to heat slowly in a covered vessel. When it is near

boiling, season with pepper and salt; add the oysters, and let them

stew until they “ruffle” on the edge. This will be in about five minutes. Then put in the butter with the milk which has been heated in a separate vessel, and stir well for two minutes.