Barley soups neither require nor bear liaisons of eggs, or additions of Parma cheese. Having the peculiar mucilaginous body and flne flavour, which amalgamates best with the savour of various de- scriptions of meat, they should be treated very sparingly with spices and aromatic herbs ; the addition to them of wine should be in general avoided ; cream also should be added sparingly, if at all. With these limitations barley soups are most desirable articles of the dietary of the healthy as well as the sick. We shall omit from the following list of soups the fanciful, and, as no motives have been stated, perfectly gratuitous and unmeaning titles which they have received at various hands. These appella- tions are the less valuable and the more confusing, as various authors apply widely different names to the same dishes. These names have, therefore, not even the char- acter of symbols by which their bearers could be recognised and described. i66 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY Plain Barley Soup. — Blanch J lb. of barley and boil it in two quarts of standard broth, flavoured with roots and aromatic herbs✪ Plain Barley Soup. Observe that the proportions are the same as in plain rice soup. Barley Soup with Minced Chicken. Gomp>ound Veal and Barley Sou,p. — The preparation of this soup is the same as that of the rice soup above alluded to. Observe that in neither of these two soups is the skin of the calf’s foot, the mock turtle, used in the soup, but only the tendons and gristle, which seems a small result for so laborious a process. The gelatinogenous material might be obtained easily from cow’s heel prepared at the tripe-shop. Plain PurSe or Mucilage of Barley Soup). — Observe the test for the completed coction of the barley, proving that it is ‘ done,’ that a corn is easily bruised or compressed to a thin plate between two fingers. The same test obtains for rice. Savoury Purie or Mucilage of Barley with Whole Barley. — For this more concentrated preparation 1 lb. of pearl- barley is boiled with two quarts of any broth ; one third of the barley is kept whole, the other two-thirds are worked into pur6e through a tammy, and, when transformed into mucilage, reunited with the whole barley reserved. Pur&e of Barley loith Puree of Pheasant or Partridge. Pur&e of Barley u'ith Quenelles of Fotvl. Pur6e of Barley with Slices of Bed-legged Partridge. Pttrde of Barley loith Custard of Fowl. Soups made with Italian Paste, Macaroni. Vermicelli, Lasagnes, Semolina, etc. Note on Macaroni. — This remarkable preparation of flour, apparently original to South Italy, bears an italicized Greek name, implying happiness, and is perhaps to be considered as an invention of the early Greek settlers, who made ITALIAN PASTE SOUPS 167 Sicily and Calabria flourish. Macaroni were brought to France from Italy by some Florentines, probably at the time of the marriage of Catherine of Medicis with Henry II. Their home is Naples, where they are prepared in many different ways — boiled, in soups, au gratin, etc., always accompanied with grated Parmesan cheese ; like potatoes or bread, they are on every table, from that of the richest citizen to that of the most humble inhabitant.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Barley soups neither require nor bear liaisons of eggs, or additions of Parma cheese. Having the peculiar mucilaginous body and flne flavour, which amalgamates best with the savour of various descriptions of meat, they should be treated very sparingly with spices and aromatic herbs ; the addition to them of wine should be in general avoided ; cream also should be added sparingly, if at all. With these limitations barley soups are most desirable articles of the dietary of the healthy as well as the sick. We shall omit from the following list of soups the fanciful, and, as no motives have been stated, perfectly gratuitous and unmeaning titles which they have received at various hands. These appellations are the less valuable and the more confusing, as various authors apply widely different names to the same dishes. These names have, therefore, not even the character of symbols by which their bearers could be recognised and described. Plain Barley Soup. — Blanch J lb. of barley and boil it in two quarts of standard broth, flavoured with roots and aromatic herbs. Observe that the proportions are the same as in plain rice soup. Barley Soup with Minced Chicken. Compound Veal and Barley Soup. — The preparation of this soup is the same as that of the rice soup above alluded to. Observe that in neither of these two soups is the skin of the calf’s foot, the mock turtle, used in the soup, but only the tendons and gristle, which seems a small result for so laborious a process. The gelatinogenous material might be obtained easily from cow’s heel prepared at the tripe-shop. Plain PurSe or Mucilage of Barley Soup). — Observe the test for the completed coction of the barley, proving that it is ‘ done,’ that a corn is easily bruised or compressed to a thin plate between two fingers. The same test obtains for rice. Savoury Purie or Mucilage of Barley with Whole Barley. — For this more concentrated preparation 1 lb. of pearlbarley is boiled with two quarts of any broth ; one third of the barley is kept whole, the other two-thirds are worked into pur6e through a tammy, and, when transformed into mucilage, reunited with the whole barley reserved. Puree of Barley with Puree of Pheasant or Partridge. Puree of Barley with Quenelles of Fowl. Pur6e of Barley with Slices of Bed-legged Partridge. Puree of Barley with Custard of Fowl. Soups made with Italian Paste, Macaroni. Vermicelli, Lasagnes, Semolina, etc. Note on Macaroni. — This remarkable preparation of flour, apparently original to South Italy, bears an italicized Greek name, implying happiness, and is perhaps to be considered as an invention of the early Greek settlers, who made ITALIAN PASTE SOUPS Sicily and Calabria flourish. Macaroni were brought to France from Italy by some Florentines, probably at the time of the marriage of Catherine of Medicis with Henry II. Their home is Naples, where they are prepared in many different ways — boiled, in soups, au gratin, etc., always accompanied with grated Parmesan cheese ; like potatoes or bread, they are on every table, from that of the richest citizen to that of the most humble inhabitant.

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Plain Barley Soup

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