A guide to modern cookery

Finely mince one lb. of very firm turnips, parboil, drain, and stew them in one and one-half oz. of butter, the necessary salt, and one-half oz. of sugar, until they are almost completely cooked. Moisten with one-half pint of white consommé, and complete the cooking. Meantime, cook two medium-sized, peeled and quartered potatoes in some consommé. Now put the turnips and the potato into the same stewpan; crush them, and rub them through tammy. Bring the purée to the proper consistence by means of boiled milk, and finish it in the usual way. Garnish with some small bread dice fried in butter. This soup may also be prepared as a velouté or a cream. 642—PUREE D’OSEILLE ET DE VERMICELLE A LA CREME Sprinkle three oz. of well-separated vermicelli into one pint of boiling milk or white consommé (according as to whether the preparation be a Lenten one or not). Let the vermicelli poach gently for twenty-five minutes, and then add four tablespoonfuls of sorrel cooked in butter. Rub the whole through tammy; finish the purée with sufficient milk or thin cream; heat until the boil is reached, and, when about to serve, complete by means of a leason composed of the yolks of two eggs and one-quarter pint of very fresh cream. For the garnish, refer to the remarks under No. 646. 643—PUREE D’OSEILLE ET DE SAGOU A LA CREME Proceed exactly as directed in the preceding recipe; but instead of vermicelli use three oz. of sago. Allow the usual time for cooking, and add the same quantity of sorrel cooked in butter. Use the same quantities of milk or consommé in order to bring the purée to the proper consistence, and make use of a precisely similar leason. 644—PUREE D’OSEILLE ET DE SEMOULE A LA CREME The same as the above, but use three oz. of semolina. All other particulars remain the same. 645—PUREE D’OSEILLE ET DE TAPIOCA A LA CREME Procedure like that of No. 642, using instead of the vermicelli three oz. of tapioca. 646—REMARKS RELATIVE TO THE POSSIBLE VARIATIONS OF THE FOUR PRECEDING RECIPES A large variety of this kind of soups may be prepared by using the quantity prescribed of salep, buckwheat, oatmeal, barley-meal, &c. These soups derive a particular and agreeable flavour from their cohering element. : The chief point to be remembered in their preparation is their consistence, which should be that of a thin cream. When too thick, these soups are pasty and disagreeable; when too thin, they are insipid; hence the desirability of aiming at a happy medium. Their garnish is exceedingly variable, the more preferable forms being small bread dice fried in clarified butter, pressed; peeled tomatoes cut into dice and tossed in butter; small printaniers, brunoises, juliennes, paysannes, or well-poached rice. Thus, from the typical recipe of these soups, a whole series may be prepared, which need not be gone into separately here. 647—PUREE DE POIS AUX CROUTONS Wash three-quarters of a pint of split peas in cold water and put them into a stewpan with one quart of cold water, a little salt, and one-half Ib. of raw ham. Set to boil, skim, and add two oz. of mirepoix, the minced green leaves of three leeks, a fragment of thyme and bay, salt, and one-half oz. of sugar. Set to cook very gently. Rub through tammy, bring the purée to the proper consistence by means of white consommé, despumate it sufficiently, and add butter to it when dishing up. Garnish with two tablespoonfuls of small bread dice fried in butter. 648—PUREE DE POIS FRAIS, otherwise SAINT-GERMAIN The two following methods may be employed, viz. :—