Joe Tilden's recipes for epicures

Boil one small cupful of rice in three pints of milk, or two pints of milk and one of cream, until it is tender. Then rub it through a sieve and add one quart of veal stock, salt, cayenne, and three heads of celery (the white stalks only) which have been previously grated. Boil until the celery is tender. Bisque of Prawns or Shrimps Boil three dozen prawns twenty minutes in salted water to cover them. Meanwhile in two small tablespoonfuls of butter, fry an onion and a carrot sliced, and a small piece of salt pork chopped. Take the prawns out of the boiling water and add to it the fried mixture with salt, pepper, a bunch of sweet herbs and one-half the prawns added again. Simmer one hour. Pound the shells of the prawns in a mortar with a little butter, to form a smooth paste. Stir this into the soup and boil twenty minutes. Strain through a sieve. Add one quart of milk and one teaspoonful of cornstarch stirred into a little of the cold milk. Let it boil up, and serve. It should be as thick as rich cream. Lobster Soup Pick the meat from a five pound lobster and pound it in a mortar, adding from time to time a little milk or cream. When perfectly smooth, add two teaspoonfuls of salt, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley (if liked), cayenne and mace. Take out enough to make a dozen small balls, mix this with the yolk of an egg and fry it in butter. Mix the rest of the pounded lobster with two quarts of milk and rub through a sieve. Put this in a saucepan and simmer ten minutes. Add two ounces of butter and stir until melted and smooth. Pour over the fried balls in the tureen and serve very hot. » * Venison Soup Cut six pounds of lean venison into medium sized pieces and place in a soup kettle with two gallons of cold water, to which add two dozen cloves and four blades of mace. Boil slowly three hours. Then add two pounds of venison, cut into pieces about an inch square and one dozen force meat balls. Boil for thirty minutes. Then season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and half a glass of lime juice, letting the soup cook ten minutes longer. It should be served in hot bowls in each of which is poured a half glass of port before serving. Crisp croutons may be added. Puree of Venison Cut up the remains of venison that had been roasted for a former dinner, put a few slices of ham into a stew pan, then the venison, two whole onions, a blade of mace, two quarts of stock, and a small piece of a sprig of thyme, parsley, and two cloves. Set it on the stove to simmer, two hours or more. Strain it off, and pull all the meat to pieces. Pound it with the lean ham that was boiled with it, the crust of two French rolls which has been soaked in consomme. Rub the whole through a colander with a glass of claret or port and enough consomme to bring it to the consistency of cream. Put it back on the fire in a double boiler. Stir a little butter into it, and serve with bread fried in dice. Clear Soup Stock