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 b.u.t.ter a dish well; put it in the oven and bake it. Then take one hundred crawfish, break the sh.e.l.ls of the tails and claws, take out the meat as whole as you can; pound the sh.e.l.ls and add the sp.a.w.n 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 b.u.t.ter, and put in the tails and claws of the crawfish, and some of the forcemeat made into b.a.l.l.s. 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.
_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 quant.i.ty of all the articles, and always proportion the water to the quant.i.ty of gravy you think the meat will yield.
_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 b.u.t.ter; 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 b.u.t.ter. Pour your broth upon your vegetables a little at a time, cover 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, pa.s.s 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.
_Giblet Soup._ No. 1.
Take the desired quant.i.ty of strong beef gravy; add to it a few slices of veal fried in b.u.t.ter; take a piece of b.u.t.ter 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.
_Giblet Soup._ No. 3.
Take three pair of goose giblets; scald and cut them as for stewing; set them on the fire in three quarts of water, and when the sc.u.m rises skim them well: put in a bundle of sweet herbs, some cloves, mace, and allspice, tied in a bag, with some pepper and salt. Stew them very gently till nearly tender: mix a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter with flour, and put it in, with half a pint of white wine, and a little cayenne pepper. Stew them till thick and smooth; take out the herbs and spices; skim well; boil the livers in a quart of water till tender, and put in. Serve up in a terrine or dish.
_Gravy Soup._ No. 1.
Put two pounds of gravy beef, cut in small pieces, with pepper, salt, some whole pepper, and a piece of b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ter. Take one ox rump, stew it with carrots and celery and twelve allspice. Then put all together and strain well. This quant.i.ty 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.
_Gravy Soup._ No. 3.
Cut the lean part of a shin of beef, the same of a knuckle of veal, and set the bones of both on the fire, in two gallons of water, to make broth. Put the meat in a stewpan; add some lean bacon or ham, one carrot, two turnips, two heads of celery, two large onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, some whole pepper, two race of ginger, six cloves. Set these over the fire, let it draw till all the gravy is dried up to a nice brown; then add the broth that is made with the bones. Let it boil slowly four or five hours. Make the soup the day before you want to use it, that you may take the fat clean from the top, also the sediment from the bottom. Have ready some turnips, carrots, and cabbage lettuces, cut small, and one pint of young peas; add these to your soup; let it boil one hour, and it will be ready, with salt to your taste.
_Hare Soup._
Skin the hare, and wash the inside well. Separate the limbs, legs, shoulders, and back; put them into a stewpan, with two gla.s.ses 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 pa.s.s 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 b.u.t.ter, not thicker; heat it, and serve it up very hot. Be careful not to let it boil, as that will spoil it.
_Another._
Half roast a good-sized hare; cut the back and legs in square pieces; stew the remaining part with five pints of good broth, a bunch of sweet herbs, three blades of mace, three large shalots, shred fine, two large onions, one head of celery, one dozen white pepper, eight cloves, and a slice of ham. Simmer the whole together three hours; then strain and rub it through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon; return the gravy into a stewpan; throw in the back and legs, and let it simmer three quarters of an hour before you send it to table.
_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.
_Mock Turtle Soup._ No. 1.
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 b.u.t.ter, let it melt over a very slow fire; put to this b.u.t.ter 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 sc.u.m and fat; pa.s.s 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 b.a.l.l.s, made according to direction, and a few hard yolks of eggs, and serve up hot.
_Mock Turtle._ No. 2.
Take a calf"s head with the skin on; let it be perfectly well cleaned and scalded, if it is sent otherwise from the butcher"s. You should examine and see that it is carefully done, and that it looks white and clean, by raising the skin from the bone with a knife. Boil it about twenty minutes; put it in cold water for about ten minutes; take the skin clean from the flesh, and cut it in square pieces. Cut the tongue out, and boil it until it will peel; then cut it in small pieces, and put it all together. Line the bottom of a soup-pot with slices of ham, a bay-leaf, a bunch of thyme, some other herbs, and an onion stuck with six cloves. Cover all this with a slice of fat bacon, to keep the meat from burning, dry it in a clean cloth, and lay it in the pot with salt, cayenne pepper, and as much mace as will lie on a shilling: and cover the meat over with the parings of the head, and some slices of veal. Add to it a pint of good strong broth; put the cover over the pot as close as possible, and let it simmer two hours. When the head is tender, make the browning as follows: put into a stewpan a good quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter; as it boils, dredge in a very little flour, keeping it stirring, and throw in by degrees an onion chopped very fine, a little thyme, parsley, &c. picked, also chopped very fine. Put them in by degrees, stirring all the time; then add a pint of good strong broth, a pint of good Madeira wine, and all the liquor with your meat in the stewpot. Let them boil all together, till the spirit of the wine is evaporated, for that should not predominate. Add the juice of two or three large lemons; then put in the head, tongue, &c.; skim the fat off as it rises. Dish it very hot; add forcemeat b.a.l.l.s and hard eggs, made thus: take six or eight and boil them hard; then take the yolks, and pound them in a mortar with a dust of flour, and half or more of a raw egg, (beaten up) as you may judge sufficient. Rub it all to a paste; add a little salt; then roll them into little eggs, and add them, with the forcemeat b.a.l.l.s, to the turtle when you dish it.
_Mock Turtle._ No. 3.
Neat"s feet instead of calf"s head; that is, two calf"s feet and two neat"s feet.