and cheap. Where, however, it is not, get for the
previous day’s lunch, or dinner, a pound or a pound
and a half of the ordinary fresh eels ; cut them into
small pieces about two inches long, and let them boil
gently in the stock till they are quite tender. Take
them out with a strainer, throw them into a saucepan
of boiling water for a minute, and then place them in
a dish with enough boiling water to cover them,
throwing in a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley. It is
an exceedingly nice dish, often served at fish dinners,
and called eel souchet. Brown bread and butter
should be handed with it. By this means the soup
gets a fish stock added to it, and there is no waste, as
the fish is eaten. Of course the ordinary method of
cooking the fish is to boil it in water. When this is
done it will be found that the water in which the fish
is boiled, when it is cold, becomes quite a jelly.
Now all this glutinous substance helps the soup. The
soup must be again carefully strained, and, if it is
necessary, cleared with a couple of whites of eggs, and
then run through a jelly-bag a few times in front of
the fire. The soup must then be placed in an
enamelled saucepan, and the turtle-flesh added to it
and boiled till it is as tender as thoroughly-cooked
calf’s head ; during this process of boiling, the soup
will probably reduce itself to the desired quantity —
viz., about three pints ; to this must be then added a
Turtle Soup.
217
claret-glassful of madeira, which can now be obtained
really good at forty shillings a dozen from any re-
spectable wine-merchant. If, however, it is not
thought necessary to have madeira bought on purpose
— and it is a somewhat rare wine in the present day
— a similar quantity of good golden sherry will do.
The soup is now done, and only requires a few drops
of lemon-juice✪ Turtle Soup added to it after it is put in the tureen.
One of the greatest mistakes in the use of wine for
cooking is to think that any wine will do. I have
known cases where people have ordered a few bottles
of what they chose to call cooking sherry from the
grocers, and filthy stuff it has been — enough to spoil
anything. If you think turtle soup does not deserve a
glass of good wine, my advice is, do not make any.
It is no use adding a glass of some horrible concoc-
tion called sherry or madeira, and then tasting the
soup and saying, “ Ah ! it is not a bit like what we
had at Francatelli’s.” Of course it is not, and you
have only yourselves to blame. The same thing applies
to real mock-turtle. “ What does he mean by real mock-
turtle ?” I can imagine you saying. But we live and
learn. This is exactly the question I asked a waiter
many years ago. We were discussing the important
subject of what I should have for dinner.
“Soup, sir? yes, sir; very nice mock-turtle sir —
real mock-turtle, sir.”
218 Common-sense Cookery.
This led to the disclosure — it was in the country —
that it was made from calf’s head, not pig’s head.
«
Page 88 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1880. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
and cheap. Where, however, it is not, get for the previous day’s lunch, or dinner, a pound or a pound and a half of the ordinary fresh eels ; cut them into small pieces about two inches long, and let them boil gently in the stock till they are quite tender. Take them out with a strainer, throw them into a saucepan of boiling water for a minute, and then place them in a dish with enough boiling water to cover them, throwing in a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley. It is an exceedingly nice dish, often served at fish dinners, and called eel souchet. Brown bread and butter should be handed with it. By this means the soup gets a fish stock added to it, and there is no waste, as the fish is eaten. Of course the ordinary method of cooking the fish is to boil it in water. When this is done it will be found that the water in which the fish is boiled, when it is cold, becomes quite a jelly. Now all this glutinous substance helps the soup. The soup must be again carefully strained, and, if it is necessary, cleared with a couple of whites of eggs, and then run through a jelly-bag a few times in front of the fire. The soup must then be placed in an enamelled saucepan, and the turtle-flesh added to it and boiled till it is as tender as thoroughly-cooked calf’s head ; during this process of boiling, the soup will probably reduce itself to the desired quantity — viz., about three pints ; to this must be then added a
Turtle Soup.
claret-glassful of madeira, which can now be obtained really good at forty shillings a dozen from any respectable wine-merchant. If, however, it is not thought necessary to have madeira bought on purpose — and it is a somewhat rare wine in the present day — a similar quantity of good golden sherry will do. The soup is now done, and only requires a few drops of lemon-juice added to it after it is put in the tureen.
One of the greatest mistakes in the use of wine for cooking is to think that any wine will do. I have known cases where people have ordered a few bottles of what they chose to call cooking sherry from the grocers, and filthy stuff it has been — enough to spoil anything. If you think turtle soup does not deserve a glass of good wine, my advice is, do not make any. It is no use adding a glass of some horrible concoction called sherry or madeira, and then tasting the soup and saying, “ Ah ! it is not a bit like what we had at Francatelli’s.” Of course it is not, and you have only yourselves to blame. The same thing applies to real mock-turtle. “ What does he mean by real mockturtle ?” I can imagine you saying. But we live and learn. This is exactly the question I asked a waiter many years ago. We were discussing the important subject of what I should have for dinner.
“Soup, sir? yes, sir; very nice mock-turtle sir — real mock-turtle, sir.”
218 Common-sense Cookery.
This led to the disclosure — it was in the country —
that it was made from calf’s head, not pig’s head.
«
Records on this page
Turtle Soup