CHAPTER VII.

SOUPS.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

In England many families deprive themselves of the use of soup, arising from fear of its expense. Many of the following receipts will, however, be found very economical; and all of them an elegant and healthful appendage to a good dinner. Soups, indeed, add greatly to the comfort of a family, and it would be well if every housewife who studies economy would pay attention to those simple modes of preparing them which may be found in the present chapter.

Roman Catholic families, who, on fast-days, require maigre soups and dishes, will find abundance of receipts in this little work; but where they are not strictly so, by suet or bacon being directed to be used in stuffings, the cook must use butter instead; and where meat gravies (or stock, as they are called) are ordered, those made of fish must be adopted, though butter, arrow-root, or flour mixed up with a finely minced or pounded anchovy and made into a paste, will make an excellent substitute.

Although the English taste is in favour of strong, rich, and highly-flavoured soups, yet those may be varied by others of a plainer description-broths, rather than soups, containing only the pure juices of the meat, seasoned with vegetables; and, thickened with bread, rice, or vermicelli, will be found both palatable and wholesome. Housekeepers will do well to attend very closely to this branch of the culinary art, as the stock, or broth, may frequently be produced without the purchase of meat to be employed solely for the purpose. Thus the water in which a neck or a leg of mutton has been boiled, or the liquor from a calf's head, will, with the addition of a little seasoning, form a good stock for a vegetable or thick soup; particularly if the bones be added when the meat is brought from table, they will produce a stiff jelly, and make

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quite sufficient soup for a small family; or, if not rich enough, it can be easily thickened.

Arrow-root, or the mere farina or flour of the potato, is far better for the thickening of soups than wheaten flour.

The trimmings of large joints of butcher's meat, the shanks of legs and shoulders of mutton, the remains of all sorts of poultry and game, the bones of roast meat, or, if boiled, then broken and broiled, should all be stewed down to a jelly— nor should the bones and remains of fish, for the same purpose, be neglected-and when strained and well seasoned, kept as stock for the foundation of soups, which may thus be prepared on sudden occasions in a much shorter time than if made from raw meat.

In Scotland, sheep's heads and trotters are much used in soup; and English private families would do well to make more use of them, as they afford very strong jelly, and the proper flavour may be given by the judicious addition of beef, game, ham, and anchovy. A clear jelly of cowheels is likewise very useful to keep in the house, being a great improvement to soups and gravies, as well as particularly nourishing for weakly persons.

Soft water should always be used for making soup, unless it be of green peas, in which case hard water better preserves its colour; and it is a good general rule to apportion a quart of water to a pound of meat, that is to say, flesh without bone; but rich soups may have a smaller quantity of water.

Meat for soup should never be drowned at first in water, but put into the kettle with a very small quantity and a piece of butter, merely to keep the meat from burning until the juices are extracted; by which means of stewing the gravy will be drawn from it before the remainder of the water is added. A single pound will thus afford better and richer soup than treble the quantity saturated with cold water; but it will take 6 or 8 hours to extract the essence from a few pounds of raw beef. Bouilli beef is rendered very rich and palatable, though a considerable quantity of soup may be made from it, by being stewed at first in a little butter and some of its own gravy.

Soup, if meant to be good, should be made of meat that has not been previously cooked; for although family soup of fair quality may be made in the manner above stated, yet, if cold meat be used, it will ever be found to have a vapid taste which

seasoning cannot disguise, nor impose upon the palate of any person who is accustomed to broths made from raw meat: but we admit, that if only partially employed, the remains of roast beef, or the bones broiled, and a shank of ham, will commonly improve the flavour of soups made in the usual manner. The sediments of gravies that have stood to be cold should likewise be avoided, as they occasion the soup to become cloudy. Raw vegetables, with the exception of onions, should not be put down to stew at the same time as the meat, as their flavour will be exhausted by too long boiling, and the different sorts should be put down at different times. Onions, either whole or sliced and fried, at once; pot-herbs, carrots, and celery 3 hours afterwards; and turnips, vegetable marrow, asparagustops, and those of any delicate kind, only shortly before the soup is ready.

A common camp-kettle will be found an excellent utensil for making soup, as the lid is heavy

and will keep in the steam. An earthen pipkin or jar of this form, if of a long and narrow make, widening a little in the centre, is perhaps one of the best vessels for soups, and universally used by foreign cooks, who insist "that it renders the gravy more clear and limpid, and extracts more savour from the meat, than when made in tin or copper."

It is generally thought desirable to prepare soup the day before it is wanted, as the fat can be more easily taken off when cold than hot, and every particle of it should be skimmed from the surface, or it will render the broth unpalatable. When put away to cool it should be poured into a freshly scalded, and thoroughly dried, earthen pan-which is preferable to any metal-and, when to be kept for some days, occasionally simmered for a few minutes over the fire, to prevent its becoming "mothery," or mouldy.

A common mistake in the making of soup is that of allowing it to boil too fast, and for too short a time; for long and slow boiling is necessary to extract the strength from the meat, which, if boiled fast over a large fire, becomes hard, and will not give out its juices.

If colouring be wanted, a few slices of meat laid at the

bottom of a stewpan with 2 or 3 oz. of butter, and left on the stove until the gravy is entirely drawn out, and nearly dried up again, will have the effect of browning; or even a piece of bread toasted as brown as possible — but not blackened and put into the soup to simmer for a short time before its going to be served, will generally be found sufficient: if not, an ounce or two of moist sugar-the coarser the better-put into a small saucepan, with a piece of butter the size of a walnut, melt them together; add a glass of ketchup, and stir it well. A very small quantity may be made in an iron spoon. Burnt onions will materially assist in giving a fine brown colour to soup, and also improve the flavour without either butter or ketchup; or, if meant to be kept for future use

Put 4 oz. of lump sugar, a gill of water, and oz. of the finest butter, into a small tosser, and set it over a gentle fire. Stir it with a wooden spoon, till of a bright brown. Then add pint of water; boil, skim, and when cold bottle and cork it close. Add to soup or gravy as much of this as will give a proper colour.

The colour of white soups may likewise be improved by the use of white roux, which, in France, is universally added to white soups and sauces, as it is more delicate than butter and flour mixed in the common way.

To Clarify Soup.-Put the whites of 1 or 2 eggs into it while being warmed up, and as it begins to melt: then boil the whole gently together, and run the liquor through a jellybag. Or break the white of an egg into a basin along with the broken shell, carefully avoiding the smallest particle of the yolk; beat the white to a stiff froth, and mix it gradually but thoroughly with the soup, which should be set over the fire and stirred till it boils up: then take it off, cover it close, and let it stand for of an hour, then strain it through a napkin. The process of clarifying destroys somewhat of the savour of the soup, which ought, therefore, to be more highly seasoned. It is also very usual to put force-meat balls, of various sorts, into many different soups, for the purpose of improving their flavour and appearance. Some of these are called "Passover balls," as being much in use among the Jews, who are

They are prepared in France, and are to be purchased at all the Italian warehouses in London.

known to be excellent cooks, and they are equally applicable to any kind of soups-whether meat, fish, or vegetable-and excellent in quality. See Force-meat.

Ketchups and sauces, such as soy, anchovy, &c., should either only be put into weak soups which require to have some flavour imparted to them, or used with great delicacy. There is, however, an agreeable acidity as well as a delicacy of savour in Harvey's, the Brighton, Reading, Lopresti's, and other lately invented sauces, and more particularly that just brought forward as Wardpoy's, which has a singular, delicate, though very pungent, flavour. Soups also-like that made from calf's-head, cow-heel, and ox-tail-which are rich, but flavourless, will bear the addition of sauces when other relishing articles are not at hand; but, generally speaking, common English cooks are too much addicted to the indiscriminate use of ketchups and pickles.

A bunch of Herbs, when spoken of for soups, gravies, &c., consists of parsley, thyme, and green onions; when called Seasoning, it is these with about 3 bay-leaves, 6 cloves, a blade or two of mace, common pepper, and salt.

There is sometimes a great prejudice against the use of particular sorts of seasoning and spices. Garlic is amongst these; and many a dish is deprived of its finest flavour for want of a moderate use of it. The pungency might easily be reduced by boiling it repeatedly in different waters.

The use of tomatas, which are only rarely employed in England, would also be found a great improvement in many kinds of soup; and the seeds of celery may be used to give flavour when the root is out of season.

SUMMARY OF THE FOREGOING DIRECTIONS RESPECTING

SOUPS AND GRAVIES.

Freshly killed meat is the best for soup; and the leaner the better.

When there is any fear of gravy-meat being spoiled before it is wanted, season well, and fry it lightly, which will preserve it 2 days longer; but the gravy is best when the juices are fresh. When soups or gravies are to be kept, they must be boiled up and put into fresh-scalded dry pans. Do not use the sediments of gravies that have stood to be cold, nor any drippings but those of beef. Whatever has vegetables boiled in it is apt to turn sour sooner than the juices of meat.