French dishes for American tables

73. Puree of Rabbit. Remove the fillets from an uncooked rabbit, and place them in a saucepan on a moderate fire, with half an ounce of butter, and simmer very gently. In another saucepan put the remainder of the rabbit with an onion, a clove, and a little nutmeg, and three pints of consomme (stock, Art. 1). Simmer gently three quarters of an hour, remove the meat from the thighs and shoulders, pound it together with two ounces of rice well boiled, moisten with the consomme in which your rabbit was cooked, and put through a sieve. Cut your fillets of rabbit, which you cooked in butter, into small pieces, and serve in your soup. 74. Tomato Soup. Cut a carrot and an onion in slices, add a slice of raw ham and a clove, and put into a saucepan with half an ounce of butter. As soon as your vegetables begin to color slightly, mix well with them an ounce of flour, add a quart of tomatoes, and boil for thirty minutes. Strain, then season with salt and pepper, put again on the fire, add a pint of consomme (stock), and boil for five minutes, and add an ounce of butter. Remove the grease from your soup, and serve with small squares of bread fried in butter. 75. Puree of Vegetables aux Croutons. Clean and cut in slices a medium-sized carrot, a turnip, an onion, a leek, some pieces of celery, and add two cloves. Boil them for a few moments, and afterward put them into cold water for a moment. Then place your vegetables in a saucepan, with four ounces of dried peas, moisten with three pints consomme (or stock, Art. i), boil for two hours, season with a little pepper, salt, and a pinch of sugar. Press through a sieve, put again on the fire with an ounce of butter, and serve in your soup, with small squares of bread fried in butter. 76. Rice Soup au Lait d'Amandes. Wash in cold water four ounces of rice, which boil for ten minutes, afterward put it in cold water, drain, then place it in a saucepan with three pints of milk, and boil very gently for forty-five minutes. Take four ounces of bitter-almonds with one of sweet, blanch them and pound them well, adding by degrees, as you pound, a glass of cold milk. Put through a sieve, add a pinch of salt and about a coffee-spoonful of sugar, and then with the rice and milk boil for a moment, and serve. 77. Bisque of Crawfish. Wash four dozen crawfish and put them in sufficient water to cover them, cut a carrot, an onion, and three cloves of garlic in slices, add two cloves, a few branches of parsley, a little salt, and a tablespoonful of vinegar, and boil for fifteen minutes. Drain them, and then pound them to a paste. Melt one ounce of butter in a saucepan, add two ounces of flour, which mix well with the butter. Then add the paste of craw- fish, not quite a quart of cream, the same of consomme (stock), three quarters of a cupful of tomatoes, salt and pepper, and a little cayenne. Boil, and stir with a spoon, press through a sieve, and put back on the fire, with one ounce of butter ; as soon as it boils up again, serve. 78. Bisque of Lobster. Take half a pound of boiled lobster from which you have removed the shell, and proceed as for the foregoing, adding half instead of three quarters of a cupful of tomatoes.