Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Another way : — Take about 4 lbs. of the knuckle of veal, and cut it into five or six pieces, sawing through the bones neatly. Put these in a stewpan, pour over them as much cold water as will freely cover them, and let the liquor boil. Skim carefully, draw it to the side, and let it simmer for an hour. Throw in with it five or six turnips, two onions, and a few outer sticks of celery, and let it simmer gently for another hour. Mix a table-spoonful of flour or ground rice to a smooth paste with cold water, stir a little of the boiling liquor into it, and add it to the rest. Let it boil a short time longer. Half an hour before the soup is to be served throw into it a pinch of powdered mushrooms, six or eight sliced potatoes ; and ten or fifteen minutes before it is served put in half a dozen small dumplings. Add pepper and salt to taste. Serve the veal on a dish with the Vegetable Soup Wine Soups dumplings and vegetables round it, and send the soup to table in a tureen. If liked, a little sugar browning may be added to the soup to color it. Time, three hours to simmer the soup. Vegetable Soup. — The best soup may be made with little expense when vegetables are plentiful. What remains of a roast will serve very well for a basis, if no piece of fresh, uncooked meat is at hand. Let the vessel in which you make your soup be provided with a close cover, and allow yourself plenty of time, so that the soup need only simmer for five or six hours, but never boil. As the water evaporates, add more, but always let it be boiling water, after the first, which is poured cold over the meat. Add vegetables according to the taste of your family. For instance, a quart of ripe tomatoes, scalded and peeled, is not too much, but even two or three make their impression when more cannot be obtained ; a large handful of green corn, cut from the cob ; another of young tender okra ; and yet another of Irish potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces ; and, lastly, a handful of small lima beans. Season cautiously with salt and pepper, remembering that more can be easily added at table. In this kind of soup a pod of red pepper is regarded as preferable seasoning to black, the pod not to be broken. Stir the soup frequently, lest the vegetables stick to the bottom and burn. Skim carefully, and dish up hot. In the far South, where this soup is made to perfection, they let the vegetables cook so thoroughly as to form an indistinguishable mass, and strain it, moreover, so that the flavor is left without their substance. Velvet Soup. — Cook some tapioca in good stock or bouillon, being careful not to make the liquid too thick. When ready, place the yolks of eggs in the soup-tureen, one yolk for two persons. Then pour over them the tapioca, stirring the whole so that it may become thoroughly mixed and uniformly creamy. A grain of nutmeg improves this soup. Velvet Soup Maigre (made without meat). — Cook the tapioca in water, with a little pepper and salt. Put into the tureen a lump of butter and the yolks of eggs — two for three persons. Then pour over them the boiling tapioca. Stir up and serve. Vermicelli Soup. See Nouilles Soup.