Oyster Soup

Ingredients

• Two quarts of perfectly fresh oysters
• an equal amount of water
• one quart of milk
• one tablespoonful of salt
• half a teaspoonful of pepper

Method

1. 1

   Strain off oyster juice, add water, boil, skim carefully.

2. 2

   Add salt and pepper to milk, thicken as in hasty tomato soup, and set to boil.

3. 3

   When milk boils, add oysters.

Nutrition per serving

As published

This recipe was extracted from The easiest way in housekeeping and cooking (1881) by Helen Stuart Campbell, page 61. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

one tablespoonful of salt ; half a saltspoonful of pepper ; and four quarts of cold water. Cut all the meat from the beef bone in small pieces ; slice the onions ; fry the ham (or, if preferred, a thick slice of salt pork weighing not less than two ounces) ; fry the onions a bright brown in this fat ; add the pieces of beef, and brown them also. Now put all the materials, bones included, into the soup-kettle ; add the cold water, and let it very gradually come to a boil. Skim with the utmost care, and then boil slowly and steadily for not less than five hours, six: or even seven being preferable. 124 SOUPS. Strain, and set in a cold place. Next day remove the fat, and put the soup on the fire one hour before it will be wanted. Break the white and shell of an egg into a bowl ; add a spoonful of cold water, and beat a moment ; add a little of the hot soup, that the white may mix more thoroughly with the soup, and then pour it into the kettle. Let all boil slowly for ten minutes ; then strain, either through a jelly-bag, or through a thick cloth laid in a sieve or colander. Do not stir, as this would cloud the soup ; and, if not clear and sparkling, strain again. Re- turn to the fire, and heat to boiling-point, putting a lemon cut in thin slices, and, if liked, a glass of sherry, into the tureen before serving. A poached egg, or a boiled egg from which the shell has been peeled, is often served with each plate of this soup, which must be clear to deserve its name. White Soup. Yeal or chicken must be used for this soup ; and the stock must always be prepared the day beforehand, having been flavored with two chopped onions and a cup of cut celery, or celery-seed and other seasoning, in the propor- tions already given. On the day it is to be used, heat a quart of milk ; stir one tablespoonful of butter to a cream ; add a heaping tablespoonful of flour or corn-starch, a saltspoonful of mace, and the same amount of white pepper. Stir into the boiling milk, and add to the soup. Let all boil a moment, and then pour into the tureen. Three eggs, beaten very light and stirred into the hot milk without boiling, make a still richer soup. The bones of cold roast chicken or turkey may be used in this way ; and the broth of any meat, if perfectly clear, can serve as foundation, though veal or chicken is most delicate. SOUPS. 125 Mock Turtle Soup. A calf's head is usually taken for this soup ; but a set of calf's feet and a pound of lean veal answer equally well. In either case, boil the meat in four quarts of water for five hours, reducing the amount to two quarts, and treating as stock for clear soup. Remove all fat, and put on the fire next day, half an hour before dinner, seasoning it with a saltspoonful each of mace, powdered thyme, or sweet marjoram and clove. Melt a piece of butter the size of a walnut in a small saucepan ; add a heaping tablespoonful of flour, and stir both till a bright brown. Add soup till a smooth thicken- ing is made, and pour it into the soup-kettle. Cut about half a pound of the cold meat into small square pieces, — dice they are called, — and put into the tureen. Make forcemeat balls by chopping a large cup of meat very fine ; season with a saltspoonful each of pepper and thyme ; mix in the yolk of a raw egg ; make into little balls the size of a hickory-nut, and fiy brown in a little butter. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the tureen with (or without) a wine-glass of sherry. Pour in the soup, and serve. If egg-balls are desired, make them of the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs rubbed fine. Add the yolk of a raw egg, a tablespoonful of melted butter, a saltspoon of salt and half a one of pepper, and flour enough to make a dough which can be easily handled. Roll out ; cut into little dice, and make each into a ball by rolling between the palms of the hands. Boil five minutes in the soup. Mutton Broth. Prepare and boil as directed for stock. The broth from a boiled leg of mutton can be used, or any cheap 126 SOUPS. pieces and trimmings from chops. One small turnip and an onion will give flavoring enough. On the day it is to be used, add to two quarts of broth half a cup of rice, and boil for half an hour. Chicken Broth. Even an old fowl which is unusable in any other way makes excellent broth. Prepare as in any stock, and, when used, add a tablespoonful of rice to each quart of broth, boiling till tender. A white soup will be found the most savory mode of preparation, the plain broth with rice being best for children and invalids. Tomato Soup without Meat. Materials for this soup are : one large can, or twelve fresh tomatoes ; one quart of boiling water ; two onions ; a small carrot ; half a small turnip ; two or thi-ee sprigs of parsley, or a stalk of celery, — all cut fine, and boiled one hour. As the water boils away, add more to it, so that the quantity may remain the same. Season with one even tablespoonful each of salt and sugar, and half a teaspoonful of pepper. Cream a tablespoonful of but- ter with two heaping ones of flour, and add hot soup till it will pour easily. Pour into the soup ; boil all together for five minutes ; then strain through a sieve, and serve with toasted crackers or bread. Hasty Tomato Soup. Simple but excellent. One large can of tomatoes and one pint of water brought to the boiling-point, and rubbed through a sieve. Return to the fire. Add half a teaspoonful of soda, and stir till it stops foaming. Sea- SOUBS. 127 son with one even tablespoonful of salt, two of sugar, one saltspoonful of cayenne. Thicken with two heaping tablespoonfuls of flour, and one of butter rubbed to a * cream, with hot soup added till it pours easily. Boil a pint of milk separately, and, when ready to use, pour into the boiling tomato, and serve at once, as standing long makes the milk liable to curdle. Oyster Soup. Two quarts of perfectly fresh oysters. Strain off the juice, and add an equal amount of water, or, if they are solid, add one pint of water, and then strain and boil. Skim carefully. Add to one quart of milk one table- spoonful of salt, and half a teaspoonful of pepper

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.