Part 1 (1/2)
Fifty Soups.
by Thomas J. Murrey.
REMARKS ON SOUPS.
Soups, like salads, present an excellent opportunity for the cook to display good taste and judgment.
The great difficulty lies in selecting the most appropriate soup for each particular occasion; it would be well to first select your bill of fare, after which decide upon the soup.
The season, and force of circ.u.mstances, may compel you to decide upon a heavy fish, such as salmon, trout, or other oleaginous fishes, and heavy joints and entrees.
Under these circ.u.mstances it must necessarily follow that a light soup should begin the dinner, and _vice versa_; for large parties, one light and one heavy soup is always in order.
There is as much art in arranging a bill of fare and harmonizing the peculiarities of the various dishes, as there is in preparing the colors for a painting; the soup represents the pivot upon which harmony depends.
Soups may be divided into four cla.s.ses: clear, thick, purees or bisques, and chowders. A puree is made by rubbing the cooked ingredients through a fine sieve; an ordinary thick soup is made by adding various thickening ingredients to the soup stock; clear soups are, properly speaking, the juices of meats, served in a convenient and appetizing form.
Chowders are quite distinct from the foregoing, being compounds of an infinite variety of fish, flesh, fowl, or vegetables, in proportions to suit the fluctuating ideas of the cook; the object sought is to prepare a thick, highly seasoned compound, without reducing the ingredients to the consistency of a puree.
SOUP STOCK.--The word stock when used in cooking means the foundation or basis upon which soups and sauces depend; it is therefore the most important part of soup making. Care should be exercised that nothing in the least tainted or decayed enters the stock pot; it is very desirable that soup stock be prepared a day or two before it is wanted; the seasoning should be added in moderation at first, as it is difficult to restore a soup that has been damaged by over seasoning.
Milk or cream should be boiled and strained and added hot when intended for soups; when eggs are used beat them thoroughly, and add while the soup is hot. Should they be added when the soup is boiling, they are very apt to separate, and give the soup the appearance of having curdled; the best plan is to beat up the egg with a little of the warm soup, then add it to the soup gradually.
In summer, soup stock should be boiled from day to day, if kept any length of time, else it may become sour: should this happen, add a piece of charcoal to the soup, boil, cool, and strain into freshly scalded earthen or porcelain-lined ware. On no account allow the soup stock to become cold in an iron pot or saucepan.
TO MAKE BEEF STOCK.--Take six pounds of soup meat, cut it up into good sized pieces, break the bones into small pieces, place them in the stock pot, and add five quarts of cold water and two ounces of salt; boil slowly for five hours, remove the sc.u.m as fast as it rises; cut up three white turnips and three carrots, add these to the soup with two stalks of celery, one large onion quartered, six cloves, teaspoonful of whole peppers, and a small bunch of herbs.
When the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, strain the soup into a large saucepan, and set it on back of range to keep hot, but not to boil, cut one pound of lean raw beef into fine pieces, put in into a saucepan, and add the whites and sh.e.l.ls of four eggs; season with salt, pepper, and a little chopped parsley or celery tops; squeeze these together with your hand for fifteen minutes, until they are thoroughly incorporated, then add to the warm soup; allow the soup to simmer slowly one hour; taste for seasoning; strain into crocks, or serve. This is now called consomme or bouillon, and is the basis of nearly all soups; such items as macaroni, sago, Italian paste, Macedoine, and, in fact, nearly all kinds of cereals and soup ingredients may be added to this stock at different times to produce variety; they should all be boiled separately before adding to the soup.
Calf's feet and knuckle of veal may be added to the original or first pot if a very strong stock is required.
VEAL STOCK.--Chop up three slices of bacon and two pounds of the neck of veal; place in a stewpan with a pint of water or beef stock, and simmer for half an hour; then add two quarts of stock, one onion, a carrot, a bouquet of herbs, four stalks of celery, half a teaspoonful of bruised whole peppers, and a pinch of nutmeg with a teaspoonful of salt; boil gently for two hours, removing the sc.u.m in the meantime. Strain into an earthen crock, and when cold remove the fat. A few bones of poultry added, with an additional quant.i.ty of water or stock, will improve it.
CROUTONS, or fried bread crumbs for soups, are prepared in this way:--Cut slices of stale home-made bread half an inch thick, trim off all crust and cut each slice into squares; fry these in very hot fat; drain them on a clean napkin, and add six or eight to each portion of soup.
MARROW DUMPLINGS FOR SOUPS.--Grate the crust of a breakfast roll, and break the remainder into crumbs; soak these in cold milk; drain, and add two ounces of flour; chop up half a pound of beef marrow freed from skin and sinews; beat up the yolks of five eggs; mix all together thoroughly, if too moist add some of the grated crumbs; salt and pepper to taste; form into small round dumplings; boil them in the soup for half an hour before serving.
GLAZE.--Glaze is made from rich soup stock, boiled down until it forms a dark, strong jelly. It is used in coloring soups and sauces and for glazing entrees. It should be kept in a stone crock.
ARTICHOKE SOUP.--Melt a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg in a saucepan; then fry in it one white turnip sliced, one red onion sliced, three pounds of Jerusalem artichokes washed, pared, and sliced, and a rasher of bacon. Stir these in the boiling b.u.t.ter for about ten minutes, add gradually one pint of stock. Let all boil together until the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, then add three pints more of stock; stir it well; add pepper and salt to taste, strain and press the vegetables through a sieve, and add one pint of boiling milk. Boil for five minutes more and serve.
ASPARAGUS SOUP.--Take seventy-five heads of asparagus; cut away the hard, tough part, and boil the rest until tender. Drain them, and throw half into cold water until the soup is nearly ready, and press the other half through a hair sieve. Stir the pressed asparagus into two pints of stock, and let it boil; add salt, pepper, and a small lump of sugar. Cut the remaining heads of asparagus into peas; put them into the soup, and in a few minutes serve. If necessary color with a little spinach green.
BARLEY SOUP.--Put into a stock pot a knuckle of veal and two pounds of shoulder of mutton chopped up; cover with one gallon of cold water; season with salt, whole peppers, and a blade of mace; boil for three hours, removing the sc.u.m as fast as it rises. Wash half a pint of barley in cold water, drain and cover it with milk, and let it stand for half an hour, drain and add to the soup; boil half an hour longer, moderately; strain, trim the meat from the bone, chop up a little parsley or celery tops, add a tablespoonful to the soup and serve.
BEEF TEA.--Take half a pound of lean beef; cut it up into small bits; let it soak in a pint of water for three-quarters of an hour; then put both into a quart champagne bottle with just a suspicion of salt. Cork tightly, and wire the cork, so as to prevent its popping out. Set the bottle in a saucepan full of warm water, boil gently for an hour and a half, and strain through a napkin. Beef tea, without the fibrine of the meat, if administered often to a patient, will tend to weaken, instead of strengthening the invalid; always add about a teaspoonful of finely chopped raw meat to a goblet of the tea, and let it stand in the tea for about five minutes before serving.
BISQUE OF CRABS.--Boil twelve hard-sh.e.l.l crabs for thirty minutes, and drain; when cold break them apart, pick out the meat carefully, sc.r.a.pe off all fat adhering to the upper sh.e.l.l, and save these for deviled crabs (an excellent recipe for deviled crabs may be found in ”Salads and Sauces.”)
Set the crab meat aside; put the under sh.e.l.l and the claws in a mortar with half a pound of b.u.t.ter and a cupful of cold boiled rice, and pound them as smooth as possible; then put this into a saucepan, and add a heaping teaspoonful of salt, a bouquet of a.s.sorted herbs, a dozen whole peppers, a blade of mace, and three quarts of stock; boil slowly for one hour, pour it through a sieve, and work as much of the pulp through the sieve as possible. Place the soup on the range to keep warm, but not to boil.