Ox- tail SoiqJ derives its speciflcity from the pieces of ox-tail v?hich are cooked in, and are to be served with it. Ox-tail was the first ingredient in the old recipe for julienne by Marc Heliot, cook of Louis XV. It is related that this soup was not known in England before the abrogation of the Edict of Nantes, and that ox-tails had little value. French Huguenot emigres are said to have invented the soup ; it has, however, become so popular that it is now considered a national English soup, and cannot any longer be considered as economical as it formerly was on account of the cheapness of its principal material. For an ox-tail of first quality at present costs from 2s. 6d. to 3s., and, as it bears at the most but 1^ lb. of flesh, the purchaser pays from Is. 8d. to 2s. for the pound of beef, or much more than he would pay for prime rump steak. An ox-tail dissected gave : (a) Pure flesh, 1 lb. 7f oz. ; (6) fat, gristle, and tendons, 13f oz. ; (c) hones, 14f oz. Total, 3 lb. 4 oz., which had been the weight of the tail ; the length had been 2 feet 10 inches, which is noted for eventual comparison of size. It might be supposed that at least a part of the reputa- tion of this soup might be due to a particularly nice flavour derived from the ox-tails. But as the body of the soup con- sists, in ail recipes which we have seen, of stock produced with the usual materials other than the tails, and enriched as usual, the ox-tail goes for very little in its quality. The soup is mostly thickened with purde of peas, carrots, turnips, lentils, and celery, but then becomes heavy. A recipe for Thick Ox-tail Soup may be quoted as an illustration of the superstition relating to bones : Take two pennyworth of fresh bones, simmer gently with three quarts 14 •210 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY of water for six hours, then add the ox-tail and the vegetable symphony and one quart of water ; ultimately add two quarts of stock✪ Thick Ox-tail Soup. This gives a total of six quarts of liquid, of which four are water, and two stock of no defined strength. Such a process necessarily yields bad soup, unless, indeed, two-thirds of the volume of the liquid were evaporated. And this would, of course, be a great waste of time and coal. In opposition to the advice to boil bones of the value of twopence for six hours, we counsel our readers to avoid bones, and to produce ox-tail soup, if the fancy moves them, on the principles developed in our general chapters on broths and soups. Calj’s-tail Sozq:) is an imitation of the foregoing : calf’s head, brain, ears, liver, udder, have been glorified by other cooks ; a modern writer adds the tail. Calfs-feet Soup is broth with slices of calf’s feet, not the skin, but merely the tendons, immersed in it ; it is to be made nutritious with quenelles, eggs, Parma cheese, and boiled macaroni. It is a compound of which the philo- sophy is difficult to discover. The calf’s feet require four hours’ gentle ebullition✪ Calf's-feet Soup 5 the tendons are to have a trans- parent appearance,* to be cut into slices, and to be put into the soup. CHAPTEK XVII. NATIONAL SOUPS AND COMPOUND DISHES. 011a and Puchero. OuA is not a soup, but a bouilli, a ragout immersed iu bouillon only, without thick sauce ; it is eaten not with a spoon, but with knife and fork. It is a Spanish dish, and * Cf. F., 3.55. Cow heel from the tripe-shop would be a good material to replace calf’s feet.

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Ox- tail SoiqJ derives its speciflcity from the pieces of ox-tail v?hich are cooked in, and are to be served with it. Ox-tail was the first ingredient in the old recipe for julienne by Marc Heliot, cook of Louis XV. It is related that this soup was not known in England before the abrogation of the Edict of Nantes, and that ox-tails had little value. French Huguenot emigres are said to have invented the soup ; it has, however, become so popular that it is now considered a national English soup, and cannot any longer be considered as economical as it formerly was on account of the cheapness of its principal material. For an ox-tail of first quality at present costs from 2s. 6d. to 3s., and, as it bears at the most but 1^ lb. of flesh, the purchaser pays from Is. 8d. to 2s. for the pound of beef, or much more than he would pay for prime rump steak. An ox-tail dissected gave : (a) Pure flesh, 1 lb. 7f oz. ; (6) fat, gristle, and tendons, 13f oz. ; (c) hones, 14f oz. Total, 3 lb. 4 oz., which had been the weight of the tail ; the length had been 2 feet 10 inches, which is noted for eventual comparison of size. It might be supposed that at least a part of the reputa- tion of this soup might be due to a particularly nice flavour derived from the ox-tails. But as the body of the soup con- sists, in ail recipes which we have seen, of stock produced with the usual materials other than the tails, and enriched as usual, the ox-tail goes for very little in its quality. The soup is mostly thickened with purde of peas, carrots, turnips, lentils, and celery, but then becomes heavy. A recipe for Thick Ox-tail Soup may be quoted as an illustration of the superstition relating to bones : Take two pennyworth of fresh bones, simmer gently with three quarts 14 •210 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY of water for six hours, then add the ox-tail and the vegetable symphony and one quart of water ; ultimately add two quarts of stock. This gives a total of six quarts of liquid, of which four are water, and two stock of no defined strength. Such a process necessarily yields bad soup, unless, indeed, two-thirds of the volume of the liquid were evaporated. And this would, of course, be a great waste of time and coal. In opposition to the advice to boil bones of the value of twopence for six hours, we counsel our readers to avoid bones, and to produce ox-tail soup, if the fancy moves them, on the principles developed in our general chapters on broths and soups. Calj’s-tail Sozq:) is an imitation of the foregoing : calf’s head, brain, ears, liver, udder, have been glorified by other cooks ; a modern writer adds the tail. Calfs-feet Soup is broth with slices of calf’s feet, not the skin, but merely the tendons, immersed in it ; it is to be made nutritious with quenelles, eggs, Parma cheese, and boiled macaroni. It is a compound of which the philo- sophy is difficult to discover. The calf’s feet require four hours’ gentle ebullition 5 the tendons are to have a trans- parent appearance,* to be cut into slices, and to be put into the soup. CHAPTEK XVII. NATIONAL SOUPS AND COMPOUND DISHES. 011a and Puchero. OuA is not a soup, but a bouilli, a ragout immersed iu bouillon only, without thick sauce ; it is eaten not with a spoon, but with knife and fork. It is a Spanish dish, and * Cf. F., 3.55. Cow heel from the tripe-shop would be a good material to replace calf’s feet.

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