Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Meagre Soup ( Soupe Maigre.) — Wash thoroughly all green vegetables and throw them into cold water. The proportions of each must depend very much upon what you can get. The soup, when finished, should be of the thickness of ordinary pea soup. Take five or six handfuls of common sorrel, two large lettuces from which the withered leaves only have been removed, a small bunch of chervil, and two or three sprigs of parsley. Shred all these very fine. Slice and chop onions, carrots, and leeks very fine. Fry the vegetables till lightly browned in butter, put them into a saucepan with boiling water, and add a bay-leaf, a sprig of thyme, and a good lump of butter. Season with pepper and salt. Stir from time to time, to prevent any of the ingredients from sticking to the bottom. When they are thoroughly cooked, press the vegetables through a sieve. If necessary, add more water to the pulp, and boil the soup again before serving. The soup may be further thickened either with bread or boiled potatoes, steeped in a little of the liquor, and then broken up and mixed with the soup. Mock-crab Bisque. — One-half can tomatoes, one table-spoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of corn-starch, six raw eggs, one teaspoonful of minced parsley, one small onion, sliced. Stew the tomatoes and onion for twenty minutes, then press through a sieve ; return to the fire, and add the butter, parsley, and corn-starch mixed with a little water ; when boiling, remove from fire and add the eggs, beaten thoroughly ; serve on toasted bread. Mock-turtle Soup. — As its name implies, it is an imitation of turtle soup. The essential point in mockturtle must be the “lumpy delight” furnished by calf’s head ; and the choice of the head should be a matter of some importance. It should be large, firm, and fat, full of brain, with good tongue and cheeks. As the preparation of this soup will occupy time, this recipe will run in the order of arrangement. First, clean and blanch a calf’s head with the skin on. Take out the brains, and put the head into eight or nine quarts of spring water. Bring it gently to a boil, skim frequently, and keep it simmering a couple of hours, by which time it should be sufficiently done to remove the bones easily. Second, return the bones to the pot and add 3 lbs. of fillet of veal, 3 lbs. of leg of beef, cut into an inch and a half square pieces, 3 lbs. of delicate pickled pork, also cut into small pieces, three or four slices of good, sound old ham for flavoring, four large onions, sliced, three heads of celery, a large bunch of savory herbs, parsley, a few leaves of green basil. [illustration: Mulligatawny with Chicken]