The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

ONIONS, BURNT.— Burnt onions are very valuable for imparting both flavour and colour to soups and gravies. They are, however, better suited for thick soups than for thin. Cooks would do well to bear in mind the importance of noticing the difference between imparting flavour from uncooked and cooked material. Under the heading of Roux, Brown, I have entered more fully into this subject. I would not recommend burnt onion to be used in the case of making real turtle soup or mock turtle soup from calves’ head, but I would strongly recommend it in the case of making soup from ox feet or pig’s head. When the material from which the soup is made is somewhat coarse, it of course requires richer flavouring. Burnt onion is especially adapted for flavouring soups made from ox feet. I would recommend housekeepers who have not hitherto tried soup made from ox feet to make the experiment. Ox-feet soup is best suited for winter. It is a question of patience. The foot should be first scalded, but not boiled. On the Continent, especially in Belgium, ox feet J are sold in the shops ready cooked, but the whole of the goodness has already been extracted from them, and this goodness is sold in the shape of glaze. n England ox feet can be obtained from butchers, and as a rule the butcher will scald it. This is all that is necessary. The foot should now be placed in say a gallon or half a gallon of water, with a head of celery or celery trimmings, carrot, onions, etc., and be left to stew for a long time. At the end of the first day the soup should be strained off into an open pan, and in the morning the fat should be removed. The foot and soup should be put on the second day, and some burnt onions added. These burnt onions impart a very delicious flavour, in addition to which they also improve the colour. Of course if the cook has in the house a ham bone, veal bones, beef bones, etc., these bones may be added with advantage. The foot should be allowed to stew till the meat literally drops from the bone. The bones should then be taken out, and the meat, if it has been stewed properly, will be quite as tender as calves’ head. The cook should endeavour to cut up the meat as far as possible in two-inch slices, so as to resemble the meat in mock turtle soup. The soup can now be thickened with a little brown roux (see Roux, Brown). Pepper and salt should be added to taste, and I would strongly recommend soluble cayenne pepper. Before serving I would suggest the addition of a glass of sherry, or, better still, madeira. If sherry be added, golden or brown sherry is far better than the pale sherry known as amontillado. This soup is not only very cheap but very economical, and it contains a very great amount of nourishment. It will be a hard jelly when cold, and is admirably adapted for families where there are children — indeed when well made this soup is nearly or quite equal to mock turtle soup made from calves’ head. Half a calf’s head will probably cost three shillings, while an ox foot can be obtained for one. The burnt onion imparts a peculiar richness to the soup, but, as I have said, it is better adapted to soups that have stewed for a long time. I have already given a receipt for making mock turtle soup from pig’s head, and for flavouring this burnt onion is also specially adapted.