285. To pot lobster, No. 178.

*.* These fish come in about April, and continue plentiful till the oyster season returns; after that time they begin to spawn, and seldom open solid. _Crab._--(No. 177.) The above observations apply to crabs, which should neither be too small nor too large. The best size are those which measure about eight inches across the shoulders. *.* Crabs appear and disappear about the same time as lobsters. The cromer crabs are most esteemed; but numbers are brought from the Isle of Wight. _Potted Lobster or Crab._[188-*]--(No. 178). This must be made with fine hen lobsters, when full of spawn: boil them thoroughly (No. 176); when cold, pick out all the solid meat, and pound it in a mortar: it is usual to add, by degrees, (a very little) finely-pounded mace, black or Cayenne pepper, salt, and, while pounding, a little butter. When the whole is well mixed, and beat to the consistence of paste, press it down hard in a preserving-pot, pour clarified butter over it, and cover it with wetted bladder. _Obs._--Some put lobster without pounding it, and only cut it or pull it into such pieces as if it was prepared for sauce, and mince it with the spawn and soft parts and seasoning, and press it together as close as possible; in packing it, place the coral and spawn, &c. in layers, so that it may look regular and handsome when cut out. If you intend it as store (see N.B. to No. 284, to make sauce with), this is the best way to do it; but if for sandwiches, &c. the first is the best, and will keep much longer. Dressed or buttered lobsters and crabs, are favourite ornamental dishes with those who deck their table merely to please the eye. Our apology for not giving such receipts will be found in _Obs._ to No. 322. _OYSTERS._[189-*]--(No. 181.) The common[189-+] Colchester and Feversham oysters are brought to market on the 5th of August; the Milton, or, as they are commonly called, the melting natives,[189-++] do not come in till the beginning of October, continue in season till the 12th of May, and approach the meridian of their perfection about Christmas. Some piscivorous gourmands think that oysters are not best when quite fresh from their beds, and that their flavour is too brackish and harsh, and is much ameliorated by giving them a feed. To FEED[189-§] oysters.--Cover them with clean water, with a pint of salt to about two gallons (nothing else, no oatmeal, flour, nor any other trumpery); this will cleanse them from the mud and sand, &c. of the bed; after they have lain in it twelve hours, change it for fresh salt and water, and in twelve hours more they will be in prime order for the mouth, and remain so two or three days: at the time of high water you may see them open their shells, in expectation of receiving their usual food. This process of feeding oysters is only employed when a great many come up together. The real Colchester, or Pyfleet barrelled oysters, that are packed at the beds, are better without being put in water: they are carefully and tightly packed, and must not be disturbed till wanted for table. These, in moderate weather, will keep good for a week or ten days. If an oyster opens his mouth in the barrel, he dies immediately. To preserve the lives of barrelled oysters, put a heavy weight on the wooden top of the barrel, which is to be placed on the surface of the oysters. This is to be effected by removing the first hoop; the staves will then spread and stand erect, making a wide opening for the head of the barrel to fall down closely on the remaining fish, keeping them close together. MEM.--The oysters which are commonly sold as barrelled oysters, are merely the smallest natives, selected from the stock, and put into the tub when ordered; and, instead of being of superior quality, are often very inferior. To immature animals there is the same objection as to unripe vegetables. _Obs._--Common people are indifferent about the manner of opening oysters, and the time of eating them after they are opened; nothing, however, is more important in the enlightened eyes of the experienced oyster-eater. Those who wish to enjoy this delicious restorative in its utmost perfection, must eat it the moment it is opened, with its own gravy in the under shell; if not eaten while absolutely alive, its flavour and spirit are lost. The true lover of an oyster will have some regard for the feelings of his little favourite, and will never abandon it to the mercy of a bungling operator, but will open it himself, and contrive to detach the fish from the shell so dexterously, that the oyster is hardly conscious he has been ejected from his lodging, till he feels the teeth of the piscivorous gourmand tickling him to death. N.B. Fish is less nutritious than flesh: as a proof, when the trainer of Newmarket wishes to waste a jockey, he is not allowed meat, nor even pudding, if fish can be had. The white kinds of fish, turbots, soles, whiting, cod, haddock, flounders, smelts, &c. are less nutritious than the oily, fat fish, such as eels, salmon, herrings, sprats, &c.: the latter, however, are more difficult to digest, and often disturb weak stomachs, so that they are obliged to call in the assistance of Cayenne, Cognac, &c. Shell-fish have long held a high rank in the catalogue of easily digestible and speedily restorative foods; of these the oyster certainly deserves the best character, but we think it has acquired not a little more reputation for these qualities than it deserves; a well-dressed chop[191-*] or steak, see No. 94, will invigorate the heart in a much higher ratio; to recruit the animal spirits, and support strength, there is nothing equal to animal food; when kept till properly tender, none will give so little trouble to the digestive organs, and so much substantial excitement to the constitution. See note under No. 185. See Dr. WALLIS and Mr. TYSON'S Papers on men's feeding on flesh, in _Phil. Trans._ vol. xxii. p. 769 to 774; and PORPHYRY on Abstinence from Animal Food, translated by Thomas Taylor, 8vo. 1823. We could easily say as much in praise of mutton as Mr. Ritson has against it, in his "_Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food, as a Moral Duty_," 8vo. London, 1802, p. 102. He says, "The Pagan priests were the first eaters of animal food; it corrupted their taste, and so excited them to gluttony, that when they had eaten the same thing repeatedly, their luxurious appetites called for variety. He who had devoured the sheep, longed to masticate the shepherd!!! "Nature seems to have provided other animals for the food of man, from the astonishing increase of those which instinct points out to him as peculiarly desirable for that purpose. For instance; so quick is the produce of pigeons, that, in the space of four years, 14,760 may come from a single pair; and in the like period, 1,274,840 from a couple of rabbits, this is nothing to the millions of eggs in the milt of a codfish." _Scolloped Oysters._--(No. 182.) A good way to warm up any cold fish. Stew the oysters slowly in their own liquor for two or three minutes, take them out with a spoon, beard them, and skim the liquor, put a bit of butter into a stew-pan; when it is melted, add as much fine bread-crumbs as will dry it up, then put to it the oyster liquor, and give it a boil up, put the oysters into scollop-shells that you have buttered, and strewed with bread-crumbs, then a layer of oysters, then of bread-crumbs, and then some more oysters; moisten it with the oyster liquor, cover them with bread-crumbs, put about half a dozen little bits of butter on the top of each, and brown them in a Dutch oven. _Obs._ Essence of anchovy, catchup, Cayenne, grated lemon-peel, mace, and other spices, &c. are added by those who prefer piquance to the genuine flavour of the oyster. Cold fish may be re-dressed the same way. N.B. Small scollop-shells, or saucers that hold about half a dozen oysters, are the most convenient. _Stewed Oysters._--(No. 182*.) Large oysters will do for stewing, and by some are preferred; but we love the plump, juicy natives. Stew a couple of dozen of these in their own liquor; when they are coming to a boil, skim well, take them up and beard them; strain the liquor through a tamis-sieve, and lay the oysters on a dish. Put an ounce of butter into a stew-pan; when it is melted, put to it as much flour as will dry it up, the liquor of the oysters, and three table-spoonfuls of milk or cream, and a little white pepper and salt; to this some cooks add a little catchup, or finely-chopped parsley, grated lemon-peel, and juice; let it boil up for a couple of minutes, till it is smooth, then take it off the fire, put in the oysters, and let them get warm (they must not themselves be boiled, or they will become hard); line the bottom and sides of a hash-dish with bread-sippets, and pour your oysters and sauce into it. See _Obs._ to receipt No. 278. _Oysters fried._[192-*]--(No. 183.) The largest and finest oysters are to be chosen for this purpose; simmer them in their own liquor for a couple of minutes, take them out and lay them on a cloth to drain, beard them and then flour them, egg and bread-crumb them, put them into boiling fat, and fry them a delicate brown. _Obs._ An elegant garnish for made dishes, stewed rump-steaks, boiled or fried fish, &c.; but they are too hard and dry to be eaten. FOOTNOTES: [168-*] "I have ascertained, by many years' observation, that a turbot kept two or three days is much better eating than a very fresh one."--UDE'S _Cookery_, p. 238. "TURBOTS. The finest brought to the London market are caught off the Dutch coast, or German Ocean, and are brought in well-boats alive. The commencement of the season is generally about March and April, and continues all the summer. Turbots, like other fish, do not spawn all at the same time; therefore, there is always good and bad nearly all the year round. For this year or two past, there has been an immense quantity brought to London, from all parts, and of all qualities: a great many from a new fishery off Hartlepool, which are very handsome-looking turbot, but by no means equal to what are caught off the Dutch coast. Many excellent turbots are caught off Dover and Dungeness; and a large quantity brought from Scotland, packed in ice, which are of a very inferior quality, and are generally to be bought for about one-fourth the price of good turbots. "_Brills_ are generally caught at the same place as turbots, and are generally of the same quality as the turbot, from the different parts." [170-*] A large pair of soles will take the fourth part of a quartern loaf, which now costs twopence halfpenny. OATMEAL is a good substitute for bread-crumbs, and costs comparatively nothing!! [170-+] The FAT _will do two or three times_, if strained through a hair-sieve, and put by; if you do not find it enough, put a little fresh to it. Read No. 83, and the 3d chapter of the Rudiments of Cookery. [170-++] This requires a heat of upwards of 600 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer:--FRYING is, in fact, _boiling in fat_. [171-*] If you are in haste, lay the sole on a clean, soft cloth, cover it with it, and gently press it upon the fish, to suck up the fat from its surface. [171-+] The very indifferent manner in which the operation of frying fish is usually performed, we suppose, produced the following _jeu d'esprit_, which appeared in _The Morning Chronicle_:-- "The King's bench reports have cook'd up an odd dish, An action for damages, _fry_ versus _fish_. But, sure, if for damages action could lie, It certainly must have been _fish_ against _fry_." The author of _The Cook's Cookery_, 8vo. page 116, does not seem to think this fish can be too fresh; for he commences his directions with, "_If you can_, get a cod _hot_ out of the sea," &c. [172-*] The skate comes to the New-York market in the spring, but is not esteemed, as we have many better fish. The part about the flap or side-fin is best. A. [172-+] The TAIL is so much thinner than the thick part of the body, that, if boiled together, the former will be boiled too much, before the latter is done enough; therefore it should be dressed separate; and the best way of cooking it is to fry it in slices or fillets. See No. 151. "_Cod_ generally comes into good season in October, when, if the weather is cold, it eats as fine as at any time in the year; towards the latter end of January and February, and part of March, they are mostly poor; but the latter end of March, April, and May, they are generally particularly fine; having shot their spawn, they come in fine order. _The Dogger-bank cod_ are the most esteemed, as they generally cut in large, fine flakes; the north-country cod, which are caught off the Orkney Isles, are generally very stringy, or what is commonly called _woolly_, and sell at a very inferior price, but are caught in much greater abundance than the Dogger cod. The cod are all caught with hook, and brought alive in well-boats to the London markets. The cod cured on the Dogger-bank is remarkably fine, and seldom cured above two or three weeks before brought to market; the _barrel cod_ is commonly cured on the coast of Scotland and Yorkshire. There is a great deal of inferior cured salt-fish brought from Newfoundland and Iceland. "The SKULL of a Dogger-bank cod is one of those concatenations of _tit-bits_ which some epicures are fond of, either baked or boiled: it is composed of lots of pretty playthings or such finery, but will not do for those who want a good meal: it may be bought for about 2_s._: either boil it whole, or cut it into pieces, flour and dry them, and then egg and crumb, and fry them, or stew it (No. 158). "The TAIL of a cod cut in fillets or slices, and fried, makes a good dish, and is generally to be bought at a very reasonable rate; if boiled, it is soft and watery. _The skull and tail_ of a cod is a favourite and excellent Scotch dish, stewed, and served up with anchovy or oyster sauce, with the liquor it is boiled in, in a tureen. "_Ling_ is brought to the London market in the same manner as cod, but is very inferior to it, either fresh or salt." [173-*] There are several species of codfish sold alive in the New-York markets: of these, the common cod is the best, and is in season from November till spring. The price varies from three to six cents the pound, as the market is well or scantily supplied. The head and shoulders of a large cod, boiled, is the best part to grace the dinner-table. It is full of rich gelatinous matter, which is savoury and easy of digestion. Cod's sounds and tongues are found on the stalls of the fishmongers in the winter season. They are rich and nourishing, and may be prepared to garnish the dish, or served up separately boiled. A. [173-+] "In the sea-port towns of the New-England states in North America, it has been a custom, time immemorial, among people of fashion, to dine one day in the week (Saturday) on salt fish; and a long habit of preparing the same dish has, as might have been expected, led to very considerable improvements in the art of cooking it. I have often heard foreigners declare, that they never tasted salt fish dressed in such perfection: the secret of cooking it, is to keep it for several hours in water that is _just scalding hot_, but which is never made actually to boil."--COUNT RUMFORD'S _10th Essay_, p. 18. [174-*] That part of a cod which is near the tail, is considered, in America, as the poorest part of the fish. A. [174-+] Sturgeons, though sea-fish, ascend the fresh water rivers, and in the Hudson are taken 80 miles above the salt water. They were formerly called Albany beef, having been in plenty and cheap in the market of that city. They are not, however, esteemed even there; and since the running of the steamboats, and the quickness of their passages, all the valuable fish of the sea-coast are found in that inland city. A. [174-++] The French do not flay them, but split them, dip them in flour, and fry them in hot dripping. [175-*] One of my culinary counsellors says, the heading of this receipt should be, "_How to dress a good dish of fish while the cloth is laying_." If the articles are ready, twelve minutes will do it, with very little trouble or expense. For richer stewed fish, see No. 164. [176-*] Our experience goes to substantiate the same point. A. [179-*] The perch of New-York are a small fresh-water fish, and seldom boiled, being better calculated for frying or broiling, as a relish at breakfast. A. [180-*] SALMON. The earliest that comes in season to the London market is brought from the Severn, and begins to come into season the beginning of November, but very few so early, perhaps not above one in fifty, as many of them will not shoot their spawn till January, or after, and then continue in season till October, when they begin to get very thin and poor. The principal supply of salmon is from different parts of Scotland, packed in ice, and brought by water: if the vessels have a fair wind, they will be in London in three days; but it frequently happens that they are at sea perhaps a fortnight, when the greater part of the fish is perished, and has, for a year or two past, sold as low as twopence per pound, and up to as much as eighteen pence per pound at the same time, owing to its different degrees of goodness. This accounts for the very low prices at which the itinerant fishmongers cry their "_delicate_ salmon," "_dainty fresh_ salmon," and "_live_ cod," "_new_ mackerel," &c. &c. "Salmon gwilts, or salmon peel, are the small salmon which run from about five or six pounds to ten pounds, are very good fish, and make handsome dishes of fish, sent to table crooked in the form of an S. "Berwick trout are a distinct fish from the gwilts, and are caught in the river Tweed, and dressed in the same manner as the gwilt. "Calvered salmon is the salmon caught in the Thames, and cut into slices alive; and some few salmon are brought from Oxford to London alive, and cut. A few slices make a handsome, genteel dish, but it is generally very expensive; sometimes 15_s._ per pound." [Fresh salmon comes to the New-York market from the eastern states, and mostly from Maine. It is also occasionally brought from the lakes and rivers of the northern part of New-York in winter. A.] [181-*] Small fish and fillets of whiting, turbots, brills, &c. and slices of cod, or the head or tail of it, are excellent dressed the same way. [181-+] The yellow eels taste muddy; the whiteness of the belly of the fish is not the only mark to know the best; the right colour of the back is a very bright coppery hue: the olive-coloured are inferior; and those tending to a green are worse. [183-*] There are several species of mackerel in their season in the New-York market. That which arrives in the spring is most esteemed, and in greatest plenty. Spring mackerel is a migrating fish, and succeeds the shad, or commences its run along the coast of New-Jersey and Long Island, just before the shad disappears. It does not ascend the rivers, but continues its course north-eastward in immense shoals, and is taken by the fishermen with the hook and line, while sailing in smacks along the coast, from the mouth of the Delaware to Nova Scotia. These fish are kept in cars, and sold alive in the markets. They are mostly broiled, and brought to the breakfast-table. The larger ones sometimes grace the dining-table. They may be boiled, but are best when stuffed and baked in an oven. A. [183-+] The roe of the male fish is soft, like the brains of a calf; that of the female is full of small eggs, and called hard roe. [184-*] Mackerel of large size may be stuffed like a fowl, leaving the head on, and baked in an oven. A. [187-*] Lobsters are in great plenty and perfection in the New-York markets. They are taken in Long Island Sound, and along the rocky shores of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. A. [188-*] Crabs are not esteemed as a delicacy by epicures unless they are soft, when they are fried whole. In July and August they shed their coats, and in this state may be cooked and eaten without being incommoded with their shells. A. [189-*] Oyster sauce, No. 278; preserved oysters, No. 280. [189-+] Those are called common oysters, which are picked up on the French coast, and laid in the Colchester beds. These are never so fine and fat as the natives, and seldom recover the shock their feelings receive from being transported from their native place: delicate little creatures, they are as exquisite in their own taste as they are to the taste of others! [189-++] Oysters are thus called, that are born, as well as bred and fed, in this country, and are mostly spit in the Burnham and Mersey rivers: they do not come to their finest condition till they are near four years old. [189-§] WILL RABISHA, in his receipt to "broil oysters," (see his Cookery, page 144,) directs, that while they are undergoing this operation, they should be _fed_ with white wine and grated bread. In BOYLE'S Works, 4to. 1772, vol. ii. p. 450, there is a very curious chapter on the eating of oysters. [191-*] "Animal food being composed of the most nutritious parts of the food on which the animal lived, and having already been digested by the proper organs of an animal, requires only solution and mixture; whereas vegetable food must be converted into a substance of an animal nature, by the proper action of our own viscera, and consequently requires more labour of the stomach, and other digestive organs."--BURTON _on the Non-naturals_, page 213. [192-*] New-York and other places on the sea-coast of the United States, afford oysters in great plenty and perfection, and the various methods of preparing them are well known. A. BROTHS, GRAVIES, AND SOUPS. _Beef Broth._[193-*]--(No. 185.) Wash a leg or shin of beef very clean, crack the bone in two or three places (this you should desire the butcher to do for you), add thereto any trimmings you have of meat, game, or poultry (_i. e._ heads, necks, gizzards, feet, &c.), and cover them with cold water; watch and stir it up well from the bottom, and the moment it begins to simmer, skim it carefully; your broth must be perfectly clear and limpid, on this depends the goodness of the soups, sauces, and gravies, of which it is the basis: then add some cold water to make the remaining scum rise, and skim it again; when the scum is done rising, and the surface of the broth is quite clear, put in one moderate-sized carrot, a head of celery, two turnips, and two onions, it should not have any taste of sweet herbs, spice, or garlic, &c.; either of these flavours can easily be added immediately after, if desired, by Nos. 420, 421, 422, &c. cover it close, set it by the side of the fire, and let it simmer very gently (so as not to waste the broth) for four or five hours, or more, according to the weight of the meat; strain it through a sieve into a clean and dry stone pan, and set it in the coldest place you have. _Obs._ This is the foundation for all sorts of soups and sauce, brown or white. Stew no longer than the meat is thoroughly done to eat, and you will obtain excellent broth, without depriving the meat of its nutritious succulence: to boil it to rags, as is the common practice, will not enrich your broths, but make them thick and grouty. The meat,[193-+] when gently stewed for only four or five hours till it is just tender, remains abundantly sapid and nourishing, and will afford a relishing and wholesome meal for half a dozen people; or make potted beef (No. 503): or when you have strained off the broth, cover the meat again with water, and let it go on boiling for four hours longer, and make what some cooks call "second stock;" it will produce some very good glaze, or portable soup; see No. 252, and the _Obs._ thereon. _Beef Gravy._[194-*]--(No. 186.) Cover the bottom of a stew-pan that is well tinned and quite clean, with a slice of good ham, or lean bacon, four or five pounds of gravy beef cut into half-pound pieces, a carrot, an onion with two cloves stuck in it, and a head of celery; put a pint of broth or water to it, cover it close, and set it over a moderate fire till the water is reduced to as little as will just save the ingredients from burning; then turn it all about, and let it brown slightly and equally all over; then put in three quarts of boiling water;[194-+] when it boils up, skim it carefully, and wipe off with a clean cloth what sticks round the edge and inside of the stew-pan, that your gravy may be delicately clean and clear. Set it by the side of a fire, where it will stew gently (to keep it clear, and that it may not be reduced too much) for about four hours: if it has not boiled too fast, there should be two quarts of good gravy; strain through a silk, or tamis-sieve; take very particular care to skim it well, and set it in a cold place. _Strong savoury Gravy_ (No. 188), _alias "Brown Sauce," alias_ "GRAND ESPAGNOL." Take a stew-pan that will hold four quarts, lay a slice or two of ham or bacon (about a quarter of an inch thick) at the bottom (undressed is the best), and two pounds of beef or veal, a carrot, a large onion with four cloves stuck in it, one head of celery, a bundle of parsley, lemon-thyme, and savoury, about as big round as your little finger, when tied close, a few leaves of sweet basil (one bay-leaf, and an eschalot, if you like it), a piece of lemon-peel, and a dozen corns of allspice;[195-*] pour on this half a pint of water, cover it close, and let it simmer gently on a slow fire for half an hour, in which time it will be almost dry; watch it very carefully, and let it catch a nice brown colour; turn the meat, &c. let it brown on all sides; add three pints of boiling water,[195-+] and boil for a couple of hours. It is now rich gravy. To convert it into _Cullis, or thickened Gravy._--(No. 189.) To a quart of gravy, put a table-spoonful of thickening (No. 257), or from one to two table-spoonfuls of flour, according to the thickness you wish the gravy to be, into a basin, with a ladleful of the gravy; stir it quick; add the rest by degrees, till it is all well mixed; then pour it back into a stew-pan, and leave it by the side of the fire to simmer for half an hour longer, that the thickening may thoroughly incorporate with the gravy, the stew-pan being only half covered, stirring it every now and then; a sort of scum will gather on the top, which it is best not to take off till you are ready to strain it through a tamis.[195-++] Take care it is neither of too pale nor too dark a colour; if it is not thick enough, let it stew longer, till it is reduced to the desired thickness; or add a bit of glaze, or portable soup to it, see No. 252: if it is too thick, you can easily thin it with a spoonful or two of warm broth, or water. When your sauce is done, stir it in the basin you put it into once or twice, while it is cooling. _Veal Broth._--(No. 191.) A knuckle of veal is best; manage it as directed in the receipt for beef broth (No. 185), only take care not to let it catch any colour, as this and the following and richer preparation of veal, are chiefly used for white soups, sauces, &c. To make white sauce, see No. 364*. _Veal Gravy._--(No. 192.) About three pounds of the nut of the leg of veal, cut into half-pound slices, with a quarter of a pound of ham in small dice; proceed as directed for the beef gravy (No. 186), but watch the time of putting in the water; if this is poured in too soon, the gravy will not have its true flavour, if it be let alone till the meat sticks too much to the pan, it will catch too brown a colour. _Knuckle of Veal, or Shin or Leg of Beef, Soup._--(No. 193.) A knuckle of veal of six pounds weight will make a large tureen of excellent soup, and is thus easily prepared: cut half a pound of bacon into slices about half an inch thick, lay it at the bottom of a soup-kettle, or deep stew-pan, and on this place the knuckle of veal, having first chopped the bone in two or three places; furnish it with two carrots, two turnips, a head of celery, two large onions, with two or three cloves stuck in one of them, a dozen corns of black, and the same of Jamaica pepper, and a good bundle of lemon-thyme, winter savoury, and parsley. Just cover the meat with cold water, and set it over a quick fire till it boils; having skimmed it well, remove your soup-kettle to the side of the fire; let it stew very gently till it is quite tender, _i. e._ about four hours; then take out the bacon and veal, strain the soup, and set it by in a cool place till you want it, when you must take off the fat from the surface of your liquor, and decant it (keeping back the settlings at the bottom) into a clean pan. If you like a thickened soup, put three table-spoonfuls of the fat you have taken off the soup into a small stew-pan, and mix it with four table-spoonfuls of flour, pour a ladleful of soup to it, and mix it with the rest by degrees, and boil it up till it is smooth. Cut the meat and gristle of the knuckle and the bacon into mouthfuls, and put them into the soup, and let them get warm. _Obs._ You may make this more savoury by adding catchup (No. 439), &c. Shin of beef may be dressed in the same way; see Knuckle of Veal stewed with Rice (No. 523). _Mutton Broth._--(No. 194.) Take two pounds of scrag of mutton; to take the blood out, put it into a stew-pan, and cover it with cold water; when the water becomes milk-warm, pour it off; then put it in four or five pints of water, with a tea-spoonful of salt, a table-spoonful of best grits, and an onion; set it on a slow fire, and when you have taken all the scum off, put in two or three turnips; let it simmer very slowly for two hours, and strain it through a clean sieve. This usual method of making mutton broth with the scrag, is by no means the most economical method of obtaining it; for which see Nos. 490 and 564. _Obs._ You may thicken broth by boiling with it a little oatmeal, rice, Scotch or pearl barley; when you make it for a sick person, read the _Obs._ on Broths, &c. in the last page of the 7th chapter of the Rudiments of Cookery, and No. 564. _Mock Mutton Broth, without Meat, in five minutes._--(No. 195.) Boil a few leaves of parsley with two tea-spoonfuls of mushroom catchup, in three-quarters of a pint of very thin gruel[197-*] (No. 572). Season with a little salt. _Obs._ This is improved by a few drops of eschalot wine (No. 402), and the same of essence of sweet herbs (No. 419). See also Portable Soup (No. 252). _The Queen's Morning "Bouillon de Santé_,"--(No. 196.) Sir Kenelm Digby, in his "_Closet of Cookery_," p. 149, London, 1669, informs us, was made with "a brawny hen, or young cock, a handful of parsley, one sprig of thyme, three of spearmint, a little balm, half a great onion, a little pepper and salt, and a clove, with as much water as will cover them; and this boiled to less than a pint for one good porringerful." _Ox-heel Jelly._--(No. 198.) Slit them in two, and take away the fat between the claws. The proportion of water to each heel is about a quart: let it simmer gently for eight hours (keeping it clean skimmed); it will make a pint and a half of strong jelly, which is frequently used to make calves' feet jelly (No. 481), or to add to mock turtle and other soups. See No. 240*. This jelly evaporated, as directed in No. 252, will give about three ounces and a half of strong glaze. An unboiled heel costs one shilling and threepence: so this glaze, which is very inferior in flavour to No. 252, is quite as expensive as that is. N.B. To dress the heels, see No. 18. _Obs._ Get a heel that has only been scalded, not one of those usually sold at the tripe-shops, which have been boiled till almost all the gelatine is extracted. _Clear Gravy Soups._--(No. 200.) Cut half a pound of ham into slices, and lay them at the bottom of a large stew-pan or stock-pot, with two or three pounds of lean beef, and as much veal; break the bones, and lay them on the meat; take off the outer skin of two large onions and two turnips; wash, clean, and cut into pieces a couple of large carrots, and two heads of celery; and put in three cloves and a large blade of mace. Cover the stew-pan close, and set it over a smart fire. When the meat begins to stick to the bottom of the stew-pan, turn it; and when there is a nice brown glaze at the bottom of the stew-pan, cover the meat with hot water: watch it, and when it is coming to boil put in half a pint of cold water; take off the scum; then put in half a pint more cold water, and skim it again, and continue to do so till no more scum rises. Now set it on one side of the fire to boil gently for about four hours; strain it through a clean tamis or napkin (do not squeeze it, or the soup will be thick) into a clean stone pan; let it remain till it is cold, and then remove all the fat. When you decant it, be careful not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the pan. The broth should be of a fine amber colour, and as clear as rock water. If it is not quite so bright as you wish it, put it into a stew-pan; break two whites and shells of eggs into a basin; beat them well together; put them into the soup: set it on a quick fire, and stir it with a whisk till it boils; then set it on one side of the fire to settle for ten minutes; run it through a fine napkin into a basin, and it is ready. However, if your broth is carefully skimmed, &c. according to the directions above given, it will be clear enough without clarifying; which process impairs the flavour of it in a higher proportion than it improves its appearance. _Obs._--This is the basis of almost all gravy soups, which are called by the name of the vegetables that are put into them. Carrots, turnips, onions, celery, and a few leaves of chervil, make what is called spring soup, or soup santé; to this a pint of green pease, or asparagus pease, or French beans cut into pieces, or a cabbage lettuce, are an improvement. With rice or Scotch barley, with macaroni or vermicelli, or celery, cut into lengths, it will be the soup usually called by those names. Or turnips scooped round, or young onions, will give you a clear turnip or onion soup; and all these vegetables mixed together, soup GRESSI. The gravy for all these soups may be produced _extempore_ with No. 252. The roots and vegetables you use must be boiled first, or they will impregnate the soup with too strong a flavour. The seasoning for all these soups is the same, viz. salt and a very little Cayenne pepper. N.B. To make excellent vegetable gravy soup for 4-1/2_d._ a quart, see No. 224. _Scotch Barley Broth_;--a good and substantial dinner for fivepence per head.--(No. 204.) Wash three-quarters of a pound of Scotch barley in a little cold water; put it in a soup-pot with a shin or leg of beef, of about ten pounds weight, sawed into four pieces (tell the butcher to do this for you); cover it well with cold water; set it on the fire: when it boils skim it very clean, and put in two onions of about three ounces weight each; set it by the side of the fire to simmer very gently about two hours; then skim all the fat clean off, and put in two heads of celery, and a large turnip cut into small squares; season it with salt, and let it boil an hour and a half longer, and it is ready: take out the meat (carefully with a slice, and cover it up, and set it by the fire to keep warm), and skim the broth well before you put it in the tureen. _s._ _d._ Shin of beef of 10lbs 2 0 3/4 pound of barley 0 4-1/2 2 onions, of about 3 oz. weight each 0 0-1/2 Celery 0 1 Large turnip 0 1 ---------- 2 7 Thus you get four quarts of good soup at 8_d._ per quart, besides another quart to make sauce for the meat, in the following manner: Put a quart of the soup into a basin; put about an ounce of flour into a stew-pan, and pour the broth to it by degrees, stirring it well together; set it on the fire, and stir it till it boils; then (some put in a glass of port wine, or mushroom catchup, No. 439) let it boil up, and it is ready. Put the meat in a ragoût dish, and strain the sauce through a sieve over the meat; you may put to it some capers, or minced gherkins or walnuts, &c. If the beef has been stewed with proper care in a very gentle manner, and be taken up at "the critical moment when it is just tender," you will obtain an excellent and savoury meal for eight people for fivepence; _i. e._ for only the cost of the glass of port wine. If you use veal, cover the meat with No. 364--2. _Obs._--This is a most frugal, agreeable, and nutritive meal; it will neither lighten the purse, nor lie heavy on the stomach, and will furnish a plentiful and pleasant soup and meat for eight persons. So you may give a good dinner for 5_d._ per head!!! See also Nos. 229 and 239. N.B. If you will draw your purse-strings a little wider, and allow 1_d._ per mouth more, prepare a pint of young onions as directed in No. 296, and garnish the dish with them, or some carrots or turnips cut into squares; and for 6_d._ per head you will have as good a RAGOUT as "_le Cuisinier Impérial de France_" can give you for as many shillings. Read _Obs._ to No. 493. You may vary the flavour by adding a little curry powder (No. 455), ragoût (No. 457, &c.), or any of the store sauces and flavouring essences between Nos. 396 and 463; you may garnish the dish with split pickled mangoes, walnuts, gherkins, onions, &c. See Wow wow Sauce, No. 328. If it is made the evening before the soup is wanted, and suffered to stand till it is cold, much fat[200-*] may be removed from the surface of the soup, which is, when clarified (No. 83), useful for all the purposes that drippings are applied to. _Scotch Soups._--(No. 205.) The three following receipts are the contribution of a friend at Edinburgh. _Winter Hotch-potch._ Take the best end of a neck or loin of mutton; cut it into neat chops; cut four carrots, and as many turnips into slices; put on four quarts of water, with half the carrots and turnips, and a whole one of each, with a pound of dried green pease, which must be put to soak the night before; let it boil two hours, then take out the whole carrot and turnip; bruise and return them; put in the meat, and the rest of the carrot and turnip, some pepper and salt, and boil slowly three-quarters of an hour; a short time before serving, add an onion cut small and a head of celery. _Cocky-leeky Soup._ Take a scrag of mutton, or shank of veal, three quarts of water (or liquor in which meat has been boiled), and a good-sized fowl, with two or three leeks cut in pieces about an inch long, pepper and salt; boil slowly about an hour: then put in as many more leeks, and give it three-quarters of an hour longer: this is very good, made of good beef-stock, and leeks put in it twice. _Lamb Stove, or Lamb Stew._ Take a lamb's head and lights; open the jaws of the head, and wash them thoroughly; put them in a pot with some beef-stock, made with three quarts of water, and two pounds of shin of beef, strained; boil very slowly for an hour; wash and string two or three good handfuls of spinach (or spinage); put it in twenty minutes before serving; add a little parsley, and one or two onions, a short time before it comes off the fire; season with pepper and salt, and serve all together in a tureen. _Scotch Brose._--(No. 205*.) "This favourite Scotch dish is generally made with the liquor meat has been boiled in. "Put half a pint of oatmeal into a porringer with a little salt, if there be not enough in the broth, of which add as much as will mix it to the consistence of hasty-pudding, or a little thicker; lastly, take a little of the fat that swims on the broth, and put it on the crowdie, and eat it in the same way as hasty-pudding." _Obs._--This Scotsman's dish is easily prepared at very little expense, and is pleasant-tasted and nutritious. To dress a haggies, see No. 488*, and Minced Collops, following it. N.B. For various methods of making and flavouring oatmeal gruel, see No. 572. _Carrot Soup._--(No. 212.) Scrape and wash half a dozen large carrots; peel off the red outside (which is the only part used for this soup); put it into a gallon stew-pan, with one head of celery, and an onion, cut into thin pieces; take two quarts of beef, veal, or mutton broth, or if you have any cold roast-beef bones (or liquor, in which mutton or beef has been boiled), you may make very good broth for this soup: when you have put the broth to the roots, cover the stew-pan close, and set it on a slow stove for two hours and a half, when the carrots will be soft enough (some cooks put in a tea-cupful of bread-crumbs); boil for two or three minutes; rub it through a tamis, or hair-sieve, with a wooden spoon, and add as much broth as will make it a proper thickness, _i. e._ almost as thick as pease soup: put it into a clean stew-pan; make it hot; season it with a little salt, and send it up with some toasted bread, cut into pieces half an inch square. Some put it into the soup; but the best way is to send it up on a plate, as a side-dish. _Obs._ This is neither expensive nor troublesome to prepare. In the kitchens of some opulent epicures, to make this soup make a little stronger impression on the gustatory organs of "grands gourmands," the celery and onions are sliced, and fried in butter of a light brown, the soup is poured into the stew-pan to them, and all is boiled up together. But this must be done very carefully with butter, or very nicely clarified fat; and the "grand cuisinier" adds spices, &c. "_ad libitum_." _Turnip and Parsnip Soups_,--(No. 213.) Are made in the same manner as the carrot soup (No. 212.) _Celery Soup._--(No. 214.) Split half a dozen heads of celery into slips about two inches long; wash them well; lay them on a hair-sieve to drain, and put them into three quarts of No. 200 in a gallon soup-pot; set it by the side of the fire to stew very gently till the celery is tender (this will take about an hour). If any scum rises, take it off; season with a little salt. _Obs._ When celery cannot be procured, half a drachm of the seed, pounded fine, which may be considered as the essence of celery (costs only one-third of a farthing, and can be had at any season), put in a quarter of an hour before the soup is done, and a little sugar, will give as much flavour to half a gallon of soup as two heads of celery weighing seven ounces, and costing 2_d._; or add a little essence of celery, No. 409. _Green Pease Soup._--(No. 216.) A peck of pease will make you a good tureen of soup. In shelling them, put the old ones in one basin, and the young ones in another, and keep out a pint of them, and boil them separately to put into your soup when it is finished: put a large saucepan on the fire half full of water; when it boils, put the pease in, with a handful of salt; let them boil till they are done enough, _i. e._ from twenty to thirty minutes, according to their age and size; then drain them in a colander, and put them into a clean gallon stew-pan, and three quarts of plain veal or mutton broth (drawn from meat without any spices or herbs, &c. which would overpower the flavour of the soup); cover the stew-pan close, and set it over a slow fire to stew gently for an hour; add a tea-cupful of bread-crumbs, and then rub it through a tamis into another stew-pan; stir it with a wooden spoon, and if it is too thick, add a little more broth: have ready boiled as for eating, a pint of young pease, and put them into the soup; season with a little salt and sugar. N.B. Some cooks, while this soup is going on, slice a couple of cucumbers (as you would for eating); take out the seeds; lay them on a cloth to drain, and then flour them, and fry them a light brown in a little butter; put them into the soup the last thing before it goes to table. _Obs._ If the soup is not green enough, pound a handful of pea-hulls or spinage, and squeeze the juice through a cloth into the soup: some leaves of mint may be added, if approved. _Plain green Pease Soup without Meat._--(No. 217.) Take a quart of green pease (keep out half a pint of the youngest; boil them separately, and put them in the soup when it is finished); put them on in boiling water; boil them tender, and then pour off the water, and set it by to make the soup with: put the pease into a mortar, and pound them to a mash; then put them into two quarts of the water you boiled the pease in; stir all well together; let it boil up for about five minutes, and then rub it through a hair-sieve or tamis. If the pease are good, it will be as thick and fine a vegetable soup as need be sent to table. _Pease Soup._--(No. 218.) The common way of making pease soup[203-*] is--to a quart of split pease put three quarts of cold soft water, not more, (or it will be what "Jack Ros-bif" calls "soup maigre,") notwithstanding Mother Glasse orders a gallon (and her ladyship's directions have been copied by almost every cookery-book maker who has strung receipts together since), with half a pound of bacon (not very fat), or roast-beef bones, or four anchovies: or, instead of the water, three quarts of the liquor in which beef, mutton, pork, or poultry has been boiled, tasting it first, to make sure it is not too salt.[204-*] Wash two heads of celery;[204-+] cut it, and put it in, with two onions peeled, and a sprig of savoury, or sweet marjoram, or lemon-thyme; set it on the trivet, and let it simmer very gently over a slow fire, stirring it every quarter of an hour (to keep the pease from sticking to, and burning at, the bottom of the soup-pot) till the pease are tender, which will be in about three hours. Some cooks now slice a head of celery, and half an ounce of onions, and fry them in a little butter, and put them into the soup till they are lightly browned; then work the whole through a coarse hair-sieve, and then through a fine sieve, or (what is better) through a tamis, with the back of a wooden spoon: put it into a clean stew-pan, with half a tea-spoonful of ground black pepper;[204-++] let it boil again for ten minutes, and if any fat arises, skim it off. Send up on a plate, toasted bread cut into little pieces a quarter of an inch square, or cut a slice of bread (that has been baked two days) into dice, not more than half an inch square; put half a pound of perfectly clean drippings or lard into an iron frying-pan; when it is hot, fry the bread; take care and turn it about with a slice, or by shaking of the pan as it is frying, that it may be on each side of a delicate light brown, (No. 319;) take it up with a fish-slice, and lay it on a sheet of paper to drain the fat: be careful that this is done nicely: send these up in one side-dish, and dried and powdered mint or savoury, or sweet marjoram, &c. in another. Those who are for a double relish, and are true lovers of "_haut goût_," may have some bacon cut into small squares like the bread, and fried till it is crisp, or some little lumps of boiled pickled pork; or put cucumber fried into this soup, as you have directions in No. 216. _Obs._ The most economical method of making pease soup, is to save the bones of a joint of roast beef, and put them into the liquor in which mutton, or beef, or pork, or poultry, has been boiled, and proceed as in the above receipt. A hock, or shank-bone of ham, a ham-bone, the root of a tongue, or a red or pickled herring, are favourite additions with some cooks; others send up rice or vermicelli with pease soup.[205-*] N.B. To make pease soup extempore, see No. 555. If you wish to make soup the same day you boil meat or poultry, prepare the pease the same as for pease pudding (No. 555), to which you may add an onion and a head of celery, when you rub the pease through the sieve; instead of putting eggs and butter, add some of the liquor from the pot to make it a proper thickness; put it on to boil for five minutes, and it is ready. _Obs._ This latter is by far the easiest and the best way of making pease soup. Pease soup may be made savoury and agreeable to the palate, without any meat, by incorporating two ounces of fresh and nicely-clarified beef, mutton, or pork drippings (see No. 83), with two ounces of oatmeal, and mixing this well into the gallon of soup, made as above directed: see also No. 229. _Pease Soup and pickled Pork._--(No. 220.) A couple of pounds of the belly part of pickled pork will make very good broth for pease soup, if the pork be not too salt; if it has been in salt more than two days, it must be laid in water the night before it is used. Put on the ingredients mentioned in No. 218, in three quarts of water; boil gently for two hours, then put in the pork, and boil very gently till it is done enough to eat; this will take about an hour and a half, or two hours longer, according to its thickness; when done, wash the pork clean in hot water, send it up in a dish, or cut it into mouthfuls, and put it into the soup in the tureen, with the accompaniments ordered in No. 218. _Obs._ The meat being boiled no longer than to be done enough to be eaten, you get excellent soup, without any expense of meat destroyed. "In Canada, the inhabitants live three-fourths of the year on pease soup, prepared with salt pork, which is boiled till the fat is entirely dissolved among the soup, giving it a rich flavour."--The Hon. J. COCHRANE'S _Seaman's Guide_, 8vo. 1797, p. 31. _Plain Pease Soup._--(No. 221.) To a quart of split pease, and two heads of celery, (and most cooks would put a large onion,) put three quarts of broth or soft water; let them simmer gently on a trivet over a slow fire for three hours, stirring up every quarter of an hour to prevent the pease burning at the bottom of the soup-kettle (if the water boils away, and the soup gets too thick, add some boiling water to it); when they are well softened, work them through a coarse sieve, and then through a fine sieve or a tamis; wash out your stew-pan, and then return the soup into it, and give it a boil up; take off any scum that comes up, and it is ready. Prepare fried bread, and dried mint, as directed in No. 218, and send them up with it on two side dishes. _Obs._ This is an excellent family soup, produced with very little trouble or expense. Most of the receipts for pease soup are crowded with ingredients which entirely overpower the flavour of the pease. See No. 555. _Asparagus Soup._--(No. 222.) This is made with the points of asparagus, in the same manner as the green pease soup (No. 216 or 17) is with pease: let half the asparagus be rubbed through a sieve, and the other cut in pieces about an inch long, and boiled till done enough, and sent up in the soup: to make two quarts, there must be a pint of heads to thicken it, and half a pint cut in; take care to preserve these green and a little crisp. This soup is sometimes made by adding the asparagus heads to common pease soup. _Obs._ Some cooks fry half an ounce of onion in a little butter, and rub it through a sieve, and add it with the other ingredients; the _haut goût_ of the onion will entirely overcome the delicate flavour of the asparagus, and we protest against all such combinations. _Maigre, or Vegetable Gravy Soup._[207-*]--(No. 224.) Put into a gallon stew-pan three ounces of butter; set it over a slow fire; while it is melting, slice four ounces of onion; cut in small pieces one turnip, one carrot, and a head of celery; put them in the stewpan, cover it close, let it fry till they are lightly browned; this will take about twenty-five minutes: have ready, in a sauce-pan, a pint of pease, with four quarts of water; when the roots in the stew-pan are quite brown, and the pease come to a boil, put the pease and water to them; put it on the fire; when it boils, skim it clean, and put in a crust of bread about as big as the top of a twopenny loaf, twenty-four berries of allspice, the same of black pepper, and two blades of mace; cover it close, let it simmer gently for one hour and a half; then set it from the fire for ten minutes; then pour it off very gently (so as not to disturb the sediment at the bottom of the stew-pan) into a large basin; let it stand (about two hours) till it is quite clear: while this is doing, shred one large turnip, the red part of a large carrot, three ounces of onion minced, and one large head of celery cut into small bits; put the turnips and carrots on the fire in cold water, let them boil five minutes, then drain them on a sieve, then pour off the soup clear into a stew-pan, put in the roots, put the soup on the fire, let it simmer gently till the herbs are tender (from thirty to forty minutes), season it with salt and a little Cayenne, and it is ready. You may add a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup (No. 439). _Obs._ You will have three quarts of soup, as well coloured, and almost as well flavoured, as if made with gravy meat. N.B. To make this it requires nearly five hours. To fry the herbs requires twenty-five minutes; to boil all together, one hour and a half; to settle, at the least, two hours; when clear, and put on the fire again, half an hour more. _FISH SOUPS._--(No. 225.) _Eel Soup._ To make a tureenful, take a couple of middling-sized onions, cut them in half, and cross your knife over them two or three times; put two ounces of butter into a stew-pan when it is melted, put in the onions, stir them about till they are lightly browned; cut into pieces three pounds of unskinned eels, put them into your stew-pan, and shake them over the fire for five minutes; then add three quarts of boiling water, and when they come to a boil, take the scum off very clean; then put in a quarter of an ounce of the green leaves (not dried) of winter savoury, the same of lemon thyme, and twice the quantity of parsley, two drachms of allspice, the same of black pepper; cover it close, and let it boil gently for two hours; then strain it off, and skim it very clean. To thicken it, put three ounces of butter into a clean stew-pan; when it is melted, stir in as much flour as will make it of a stiff paste, then add the liquor by degrees; let it simmer for ten minutes, and pass it through a sieve; then put your soup on in a clean stew-pan, and have ready some little square pieces of fish fried of a nice light brown, either eels, soles, plaice, or skate will do; the fried fish should be added about ten minutes before the soup is served up. Forcemeat balls (Nos. 375, 378, &c.) are sometimes added. _Obs._ Excellent fish soups may be made with a cod's skull, or skate, or flounders, &c. boiled in no more water than will just cover them, and the liquor thickened with oatmeal, &c. _Cheap Soups._--(No. 229.) Among the variety of schemes that have been suggested for "bettering the condition of the poor," a more useful or extensive charity cannot be devised, than that of instructing them in economical cookery: it is one of the most-important objects to which the attention of any real well-wisher to the public interest can possibly be directed. The best and cheapest method of making a nourishing soup, is least known to those who have most need of it; it will enable those who have small incomes and large families to make the most of the little they possess, without pinching their children of that wholesome nourishment which is necessary for the purpose of rearing them up to maturity in health and strength. The labouring classes seldom purchase what are called the coarser pieces of meat, because they do not know how to dress them, but lay out their money in pieces for roasting, &c., of which the bones, &c. enhance the price of the actual meat to nearly a shilling per pound, and the diminution of weight by roasting amounts to 32 per cent. This, for the sake of saving time, trouble, and fire, is generally sent to an oven to be baked; the nourishing parts are evaporated and dried up, its weight is diminished nearly one-third, and all that a poor man can afford to purchase with his week's earnings, perhaps does not half satisfy the appetites of himself and family for a couple of days. If a hard-working man cannot get a comfortable meal at home, he soon finds his way to the public-house, the poor wife contents herself with tea and bread and butter, and the children are half starved. DR. KITCHINER'S receipt to make a cheap, nutritive, and palatable soup, fully adequate to satisfy appetite and support strength, will open a new source to those benevolent housekeepers who are disposed to relieve the poor; will show the industrious classes how much they have it in their power to assist themselves; and rescue them from being dependent on the precarious bounty of others, by teaching them how they may obtain an abundant, salubrious, and agreeable aliment for themselves and families, for one penny per quart. See page 210. For various economical soups, see Nos. 204, 239, 240, 224, 221, and _Obs._ to Nos. 244 and 252, and Nos. 493 and 502. _Obs._ Dripping intended for soup should be taken out of the pan almost as soon as it has dropped from the meat; if it is not quite clean, clarify it. See receipt, No. 83. Dripping thus prepared is a very different thing from that which has remained in the dripping-pan all the time the meat has been roasting, and perhaps live coals have dropped into it.[209-*] Distributing soup does not answer half so well as teaching people how to make it, and improve their comfort at home: the time lost in waiting at the soup-house is seldom less than three hours; in which time, by any industrious occupation, however poorly paid, they could earn more money than the quart of soup is worth. DR. KITCHINER'S _Receipt to make a Gallon of Barley Broth for a Groat_. See also No. 204. Put four ounces of Scotch barley (previously washed in cold water), and four ounces of sliced onions, into five quarts of water; boil gently for one hour, and pour it into a pan; then put into the saucepan from one to two ounces of clean beef or mutton drippings, or melted suet, (to clarify these, see No. 83) or two or three ounces of fat bacon minced; when melted, stir into it four ounces of oatmeal; rub these together till you make a paste (if this be properly managed, the whole of the fat will combine with the barley broth, and not a particle appear on the surface to offend the most delicate stomach); now add the barley broth, at first a spoonful at a time, then the rest by degrees, stirring it well together till it boils. To season it, put a drachm of finely-pounded celery, or cress-seed, or half a drachm of each, and a quarter of a drachm of finely-pounded Cayenne (No. 404), or a drachm and a half of ground black pepper, or allspice, into a tea-cup, and mix it up with a little of the soup, and then pour it into the rest; stir it thoroughly together; let it simmer gently a quarter of an hour longer, season it with salt, and it is ready. The flavour may be varied by doubling the portion of onions, or adding a clove of garlic or eschalot, and leaving out the celery-seed (No. 572), or put in shredded roots as in No. 224; or, instead of oatmeal, thicken it with ground rice, or pease, &c., and make it savoury with fried onions. This preparation, excellent as it is, would, without variety, soon become less agreeable. Nothing so completely disarms poverty of its sting, as the means of rendering a scanty pittance capable of yielding a comfortable variety. Change of flavour is absolutely necessary, not merely as a matter of pleasure and comfort, but of health; _toujours perdrix_ is a true proverb. This soup will be much improved, if, instead of water, it be made with the liquor meat has been boiled in; at tripe, cow-heel, and cook-shops, this may be had for little or nothing. This soup has the advantage of being very soon and easily made, with no more fuel than is necessary to warm a room; those who have not tasted it, cannot imagine what a savoury and satisfying meal is produced by the combination of these cheap and homely ingredients. If the generally-received opinion be true, that animal and vegetable foods afford nourishment in proportion to the quantity of oil, jelly, and mucilage, that can be extracted from them, this soup has strong claims to the attention of rational economists. _Craw-fish Soup._--(No. 235.) This soup is sometimes made with beef, or veal broth, or with fish, in the following manner: Take flounders, eels, gudgeons, &c., and set them on to boil in cold water; when it is pretty nigh boiling, skim it well; and to three quarts put in a couple of onions, and as many carrots cut to pieces, some parsley, a dozen berries of black and Jamaica pepper, and about half a hundred craw-fish; take off the small claws and shells of the tails; pound them fine, and boil them with the broth about an hour; strain off, and break in some crusts of bread to thicken it, and, if you can get it, the spawn of a lobster; pound it, and put it to the soup; let it simmer very gently for a couple of minutes; put in your craw-fish to get hot, and the soup is ready. _Obs._--One of my predecessors recommends craw-fish pounded alive, to sweeten the sharpness of the blood. Vide CLERMONT'S _Cookery_, p. 5, London, 1776. "_Un des grands hommes de bouche de France_" says, "_Un bon coulis d'ecrevisses est le paradis sur la terre, et digne de la table des dieux_; and of all the tribe of shell-fish, which our industry and our sensuality bring from the bottom of the sea, the river, or the pond, the craw-fish is incomparably the most useful and the most delicious." _Lobster Soup._--(No. 237.) You must have three fine lively[211-*] young hen lobsters, and boil them, see No. 176; when cold, split the tails; take out the fish, crack the claws, and cut the meat into mouthfuls: take out the coral, and soft part of the body; bruise part of the coral in a mortar; pick out the fish from the chines; beat part of it with the coral, and with this make forcemeat balls, finely-flavoured with mace or nutmeg, a little grated lemon-peel, anchovy, and Cayenne; pound these with the yelk of an egg. Have three quarts of veal broth; bruise the small legs and the chine, and put them into it, to boil for twenty minutes, then strain it; and then to thicken it, take the live spawn and bruise it in a mortar with a little butter and flour; rub it through a sieve, and add it to the soup with the meat of the lobsters, and the remaining coral; let it simmer very gently for ten minutes; do not let it boil, or its fine red colour will immediately fade; turn it into a tureen; add the juice of a good lemon, and a little essence of anchovy. _Soup and Bouilli._--(No. 238. See also No. 5.) The best parts for this purpose are the leg or shin, or a piece of the middle of a brisket of beef, of about seven or eight pounds weight; lay it on a fish-drainer, or when you take it up put a slice under it, which will enable you to place it on the dish entire; put it into a soup-pot or deep stew-pan, with cold water enough to cover it, and a quart over; set it on a quick fire to get the scum up, which remove as it rises; then put in two carrots, two turnips, two leeks, or two large onions, two heads of celery, two or three cloves, and a fagot of parsley and sweet herbs; set the pot by the side of the fire to simmer very gently, till the meat is just tender enough to eat: this will require about four or five hours. Put a large carrot, a turnip, a large onion, and a head or two of celery, into the soup whole; take them out as soon as they are done enough; lay them on a dish till they are cold; then cut them into small squares: when the beef is done, take it out carefully: to dish it up, see No. 204, or No. 493: strain the soup through a hair-sieve into a clean stew-pan; take off the fat, and put the vegetables that are cut into the soup, the flavour of which you may heighten by adding a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup. If a thickened soup is preferred, take four large table-spoonfuls of the clear fat from the top of the pot, and four spoonfuls of flour; mix it smooth together; then by degrees stir it well into the soup, which simmer for ten minutes longer at least; skim it well, and pass it through a tamis, or fine sieve, and add the vegetables and seasoning the same as directed in the clear soup. Keep the beef hot, and send it up (as a remove to the soup) with finely-chopped parsley sprinkled on the top, and a sauce-boat of No. 328. _Ox-head Soup_,--(No. 239.) Should be prepared the day before it is to be eaten, as you cannot cut the meat off the head into neat mouthfuls unless it is cold: therefore, the day before you want this soup, put half an ox-cheek into a tub of cold water to soak for a couple of hours; then break the bones that have not been broken at the butcher's, and wash it very well in warm water; put it into a pot, and cover it with cold water; when it boils, skim it very clean, and then put in one head of celery, a couple of carrots, a turnip, two large onions, two dozen berries of black pepper, same of allspice, and a bundle of sweet herbs, such as marjoram, lemon-thyme, savoury, and a handful of parsley; cover the soup-pot close, and set it on a slow fire; take off the scum, which will rise when it is coming to a boil, and set it by the fireside to stew very gently for about three hours; take out the head, lay it on a dish, pour the soup through a fine sieve into a stone-ware pan, and set it and the head by in a cool place till the next day: then cut the meat into neat mouthfuls, skim and strain off the broth, put two quarts of it and the meat into a clean stew-pan, let it simmer very gently for half an hour longer, and it is ready. If you wish it thickened (which we do not recommend, for the reasons given in the 7th chapter of the Rudiments of Cookery), put two ounces of butter into a stew-pan; when it is melted, throw in as much flour as will dry it up; when they are all well mixed together, and browned by degrees, pour to this your soup, and stir it well together; let it simmer for half an hour longer; strain it through a hair-sieve into a clean stew-pan, and put to it the meat of the head; let it stew half an hour longer, and season it with Cayenne pepper, salt, and a glass of good wine, or a table-spoonful of brandy. See Ox-cheek stewed, No. 507. _Obs._--Those who wish this soup still more savoury, &c. for the means of making it so, we refer to No. 247. N.B. This is an excellent and economical soup. See also Nos. 204 and 229. If you serve it as soup for a dozen people, thicken one tureen, and send up the meat in that; and send up the other as a clear gravy soup, with some of the carrots and turnips shredded, or cut into shapes. _Ox-tail Soup._--(No. 240.) Three tails, costing about 7_d._ each, will make a tureen of soup (desire the butcher to divide them at the joints); lay them to soak in warm water, while you get ready the vegetables. Put into a gallon stew-pan eight cloves, two or three onions, half a drachm of allspice, and the same of black pepper, and the tails;[214-*] cover them with cold water; skim it carefully, when and as long as you see any scum rise; then cover the pot as close as possible, and set it on the side of the fire to keep gently simmering till the meat becomes tender and will leave the bones easily, because it is to be eaten with a spoon, without the assistance of a knife or fork; see N.B. to No. 244; this will require about two hours: mind it is not done too much: when perfectly tender, take out the meat and cut it off the bones, in neat mouthfuls; skim the broth, and strain it through a sieve; if you prefer a thickened soup, put flour and butter, as directed in the preceding receipt; or put two table-spoonfuls of the fat you have taken off the broth into a clean stew-pan, with as much flour as will make it into a paste; set this over the fire, and stir them well together; then pour in the broth by degrees, stirring it, and mixing it with the thickening; let it simmer for another half hour, and when you have well skimmed it, and it is quite smooth, then strain it through a tamis into a clean stew-pan, put in the meat, with a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup (No. 439), a glass of wine, and season it with salt. For increasing the _piquance_ of this soup, read No. 247. _Obs._--See N.B. to No. 244; if the meat is cut off the bones, you must have three tails for a tureen, see N.B. to No. 244: some put an ox-cheek or tails in an earthen pan, with all the ingredients as above, and send them to a slow oven for five or six hours. To stew ox-tails, see No. 531. _Ox-heel Soup_,--(No. 240*.) Must be made the day before it is to be eaten. Procure an ox-heel undressed, or only scalded (not one that has been already boiled, as they are at the tripe-shops, till almost all the gelatinous parts are extracted), and two that have been boiled as they usually are at the tripe-shops. Cut the meat off the boiled heels into neat mouthfuls, and set it by on a plate; put the trimmings and bones into a stew-pan, with three quarts of water, and the unboiled heel cut into quarters; furnish a stew-pan with two onions, and two turnips pared and sliced; pare off the red part of a couple of large carrots, add a couple of eschalots cut in half, a bunch of savoury or lemon-thyme, and double the quantity of parsley; set this over, or by the side of a slow, steady fire, and keep it closely covered and simmering very gently (or the soup liquor will evaporate) for at least seven hours: during which, take care to remove the fat and scum that will rise to the surface of the soup, which must be kept as clean as possible. Now strain the liquor through a sieve, and put two ounces of butter into a clean stew-pan; when it is melted, stir into it as much flour as will make it a stiff paste; add to it by degrees the soup liquor; give it a boil up; strain it through a sieve, and put in the peel of a lemon pared as thin as possible, and a couple of bay-leaves, and the meat of the boiled heels; let it go on simmering for half an hour longer, _i. e._ till the meat is tender. Put in the juice of a lemon, a glass of wine, and a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup, and the soup is ready for the tureen. _Obs._ Those who are disposed to make this a more substantial dish, may introduce a couple of sets of goose or duck giblets, or ox-tails, or a pound of veal cutlets, cut into mouthfuls. _Hare, Rabbit, or Partridge Soup._--(No. 241.) An old hare, or birds, when so tough as to defy the teeth in any other form, will make very good soup. Cut off the legs and shoulders; divide the body crossways, and stew them very gently in three quarts of water, with one carrot, about one ounce of onion, with four cloves, two blades of pounded mace, twenty-four black peppers, and a bundle of sweet herbs, till the hare is tender (most cooks add to the above a couple of slices of ham or bacon, and a bay leaf, &c., but my palate and purse both plead against such extravagance; the hare makes sufficiently savoury soup without them): the time this will take depends very much upon its age, and how long it has been kept before it is dressed: as a general rule, about three hours: in the mean time, make a dozen and a half of nice forcemeat balls (as big as nutmegs) of No. 379; when the hare is quite tender, take the meat off the back, and the upper joint of the legs; cut it into neat mouthfuls, and lay it aside; cut the rest of the meat off the legs, shoulders, &c., mince it and pound it in a mortar, with an ounce of butter, and two or three table-spoonfuls of flour moistened with a little soup; rub this through a hair-sieve, and put it into the soup to thicken it; let it simmer slowly half an hour longer, skimming it well; put it through the tamis into the pan again; and put in the meat with a glass of claret or port wine, and a table-spoonful of currant jelly to each quart of soup; season it with salt, put in the forcemeat balls, and when all is well warmed, the soup is ready. _Obs._ Cold roast hare will make excellent soup. Chop it in pieces, and stew it in water (according to the quantity of hare) for about an hour, and manage it as in the above receipt: the stuffing of the hare will be a substitute for sweet herbs and seasoning. N.B. This soup may be made with mock hare, see No. 66. _Game Soup._--(No. 242.) In the game season, it is easy for a cook to give her master a very good soup at a very little expense, by taking all the meat off the breasts of any cold birds which have been left the preceding day, and pounding it in a mortar, and beating to pieces the legs and bones, and boiling them in some broth for an hour. Boil six turnips; mash them, and strain them through a tamis-cloth with the meat that has been pounded in a mortar; strain your broth, and put a little of it at a time into the tamis to help you to strain all of it through. Put your soup-kettle near the fire, but do not let it boil: when ready to dish your dinner, have six yelks of eggs mixed with half a pint of cream; strain through a sieve; put your soup on the fire, and as it is coming to boil, put in the eggs, and stir well with a wooden spoon: do not let it boil, or it will curdle. _Goose or Duck Giblet Soup._[216-*]--(No. 244.) Scald and pick very clean a couple sets of goose, or four of duck giblets (the fresher the better); wash them well in warm water, in two or three waters; cut off the noses and split the heads; divide the gizzards and necks into mouthfuls. If the gizzards are not cut into pieces before they are done enough, the rest of the meat, &c. will be done too much; and knives and forks have no business in a soup-plate. Crack the bones of the legs, and put them into a stew-pan; cover them with cold water: when they boil, take off the scum as it rises; then put in a bundle of herbs, such as lemon-thyme, winter savoury, or marjoram, about three sprigs of each, and double the quantity of parsley, an onion, twenty berries of allspice, the same of black pepper; tie them all up in a muslin bag, and set them to stew very gently till the gizzards are tender: this will take from an hour and a half to two hours, according to the size and age of the giblets: take them up with a skimmer, or a spoon full of holes, put them into the tureen, and cover down close to keep warm till the soup is ready. To thicken the soup. Melt an ounce and a half of butter in a clean stew-pan; stir in as much flour as will make it into a paste; then pour to it by degrees a ladleful of the giblet liquor; add the remainder by degrees; let it boil about half an hour, stirring it all the while for fear it should burn; skim it, and strain it through a fine sieve into a basin; wash out the stew-pan; then return the soup into it, and season it with a glass of wine, a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup, and a little salt; let it have one boil up; and then put the giblets in to get hot, and the soup is ready. _Obs._ Thus managed, one set of goose, or two of duck giblets (which latter may sometimes be had for 3_d._), will make a quart of healthful, nourishing soup: if you think the giblets alone will not make the gravy savoury enough, add a pound of beef or mutton, or bone of a knuckle of veal, and heighten its "_piquance_" by adding a few leaves of sweet basil, the juice of half a Seville orange or lemon, and half a glass of wine, and a little of No. 343* to each quart of soup. Those who are fond of forcemeat may slip the skin off the neck, and fill it with No. 378; tie up the other end tight; put it into the soup about half an hour before you take it up, or make some nice savoury balls of the duck stuffing, No. 61. _Obs._ Bespeak the giblets a couple of days before you desire to have them: this is a favourite soup when the giblets are done till nicely tender, but yet not overboiled. Giblets may be had from July to January; the fresher they are the better. N.B. This is rather a family-dish than a company one; the bones cannot be well picked without the help of alive pincers. Since Tom Coryat introduced forks, A. D. 1642, it has not been the fashion to put "pickers and stealers" into soup. _Mock Mock Turtle_,--(No. 245.) _As made by_ Elizabeth Lister (_late cook to Dr. Kitchiner_), _bread and biscuit baker, No. 6 Salcombe Place, York Terrace, Regent's Park._ _Goes out to dress dinners on reasonable terms._ Line the bottom of a stew-pan that will hold five pints, with an ounce of nice lean bacon or ham, a pound and a half of lean gravy beef, a cow-heel, the inner rind of a carrot, a sprig of lemons-thyme, winter savoury, three times the quantity of parsley, a few green leaves of sweet basil,[218-*] and two eschalots; put in a large onion, with four cloves stuck in it, eighteen corns of allspice, the same of black pepper; pour on these a quarter of a pint of cold water, cover the stew-pan, and set it on a slow fire, to boil gently for a quarter of an hour; then, for fear the meat should catch, take off the cover, and watch it; and when it has got a good brown colour, fill up the stew-pan with boiling water, and let it simmer very gently for two hours: if you wish to have the full benefit of the meat, only stew it till it is just tender, cut it into mouthfuls, and put it into the soup. To thicken it, pour two or three table-spoonfuls of flour, a ladleful of the gravy, and stir it quick till it is well mixed; pour it back into the stew-pan where the gravy is, and let it simmer gently for half an hour longer; skim it, and then strain it through a tamis into the stew-pan: cut the cow-heel into pieces about an inch square, squeeze through a sieve the juice of a lemon, a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup, a tea-spoonful of salt, half a tea-spoonful of ground black pepper, as much grated nutmeg as will lie on a sixpence, and a glass of Madeira or sherry wine; let it all simmer together for five minutes longer. Forcemeat or egg balls may be added if you please; you will find a receipt for these, No. 380, &c. *.* A pound of veal cutlets, or the belly part of pickled pork, or nice double tripe cut into pieces about an inch square, and half an inch thick, and rounded and trimmed neatly from all skin, gristle, &c. and stewed till they are tender, will be a great addition. _Mock Turtle_,--(No. 247.) Is the "_bonne bouche_" which "the officers of the mouth" of old England[219-*] prepare, when they choose to rival "_les grands cuisiniers de France_" in a "_ragoût sans pareil_." The following receipt is an attempt (and the committee of taste pronounced it a successful one), to imitate the excellent and generally approved mock turtle made by Messrs. Birch, Cornhill. Endeavour to have the head and the broth ready for the soup,[219-+] the day before it is to be eaten. It will take eight hours to prepare it properly. _hours._ Cleaning and soaking the head 1 To parboil it to cut up 1 Cooling, nearly 1 Making the broth and finishing the soup 5 --- 8 Get a calf's head with the skin on (the fresher the better); take out the brains, wash the head several times in cold water, let it soak for about an hour in spring-water, then lay it in a stew-pan, and cover it with cold water, and half a gallon over; as it becomes warm, a great deal of scum will rise, which must be immediately removed; let it boil gently for one hour, take it up, and when almost cold, cut the head into pieces about an inch and a half by an inch and a quarter, and the tongue into mouthfuls, or rather make a side-dish of the tongue and brains, as in No. 10. When the head is taken out, put in the stock meat,[219-++] about five pounds of knuckle of veal, and as much beef; add to the stock all the trimmings and bones of the head, skim it well, and then cover it close, and let it boil five hours (reserve a couple of quarts of this to make gravy sauces, &c. see No. 307); then strain it off, and let it stand till the next morning; then take off the fat, set a large stew-pan on the fire with half a pound of good fresh butter, twelve ounces of onions sliced, and four ounces of green sage; chop it a little; let these fry one hour; then rub in half a pound of flour, and by degrees add your broth till it is the thickness of cream; season it with a quarter of an ounce of ground allspice and half an ounce of black pepper ground very fine, salt to your taste, and the rind of one lemon peeled very thin; let it simmer very gently for one hour and a half, then strain it through a hair-sieve; do not rub your soup to get it through the sieve, or it will make it grouty; if it does not run through easily, knock your wooden-spoon against the side of your sieve; put it in a clean stew-pan with the head, and season it by adding to each gallon of soup half a pint of wine; this should be Madeira, or, if you wish to darken the colour of your soup, claret, and two table-spoonfuls of lemon-juice, see No. 407*; let it simmer gently till the meat is tender; this may take from half an hour to an hour: take care it is not over-done; stir it frequently to prevent the meat sticking to the bottom of the stew-pan, and when the meat is quite tender the soup is ready. A head weighing twenty pounds, and ten pounds of stock meat, will make ten quarts of excellent soup, besides the two quarts of stock you have put by for made dishes, &c. _Obs._ If there is more meat on the head than you wish to put in the soup, prepare it for a pie, and, with the addition of a calf's foot boiled tender, it will make an excellent ragoût pie; season it with zest, and a little minced onion, put in half a tea-cupful of stock, cover it with puff paste, and bake it one hour: when the soup comes from table, if there is a deal of meat and no soup, put it into a pie-dish, season it a little, and add some little stock to it; then cover it with paste, bake it one hour, and you have a good mock turtle pie. This soup was eaten by the committee of taste with unanimous applause, and they pronounced it a very satisfactory substitute[220-*] for "the far-fetch'd and dear-bought" turtle; which is entirely indebted for its title of "sovereign of savouriness," to the rich soup with which it is surrounded. Without its paraphernalia of subtle double relishes, a "starved turtle," has not more intrinsic sapidity than a "fatted calf." Friendly reader, it is really neither half so wholesome, nor half so toothsome. See Essence of Turtle, No. 343*, and _Obs._ to No. 493. To warm this soup, see No. 485. To season it, to each gallon of soup put two table-spoonfuls of lemon-juice, see No. 407*, same of mushroom catchup (No. 439), and one of essence of anchovy (No. 433), half a pint of wine (this should be Madeira, or, if you wish to darken the colour of your soup, claret), a tea-spoonful of curry powder (No. 455), or a quarter of a drachm of Cayenne, and the peel of a lemon pared as thin as possible; let it simmer five minutes more, take out the lemon-peel, and the soup is ready for the tureen. While the soup is doing, prepare for each tureen a dozen and a half of mock turtle forcemeat balls (to make these, see No. 375 or No. 376, No. 390 to No. 396); we prefer the stuffing ordered in No. 61, and a dozen egg balls; and put them into the tureen. Brain balls, or cakes, are a very elegant addition, and are made by boiling the brains for ten minutes, then putting them in cold water, and cutting them into pieces about as big as a large nutmeg; take savoury, or lemon-thyme dried and finely-powdered, nutmeg grated, and pepper and salt, and pound them all together; beat up an egg, dip the brains in it, and then roll them in this mixture, and make as much of it as possible stick to them; dip them in the egg again, and then in finely-grated and sifted bread-crumbs; fry them in hot fat, and send them up as a side-dish. A veal sweetbread, prepared as in No. 89, not too much done or it will break, cut into pieces the same size as you cut the calf's head, and put in the soup, just to get warm before it goes to table, is a superb "_bonne bouche_;" and pickled tongue, stewed till very tender, and cut into mouthfuls, is a favourite addition. We order the meat to be cut into mouthfuls, that it may be eaten with a spoon: the knife and fork have no business in a soup-plate. *.* Some of our culinary contemporaries order the haut goût of this (as above directed, sufficiently relishing) soup to be combustibled and bedevilled with a copious addition of anchovies, mushrooms, truffles, morelles, curry-powder, artichoke bottoms, salmon's head and liver, or the soft part of oysters or lobsters, soles cut in mouthfuls, a bottle of Madeira, a pint of brandy, &c.; and to complete their surfeiting and burn-gullet olio, they put in such a tremendous quantity of Cayenne pepper, that only a fire-proof palate, lined with asbestos, or indurated by Indian diet, can endure it. See note under No. 493. N.B. In helping this soup, the distributer of it should serve out the meat, forcemeat, and gravy, in equal parts; however trifling or needless this remark may appear, the writer has often suffered from the want of such a hint being given to the soup-server, who has sometimes sent a plate of mere gravy without meat, at others, of meat without gravy, and sometimes scarcely any thing but forcemeat balls. _Obs._ This is a delicious soup, within the reach of those who "eat to live;" but if it had been composed expressly for those who only "live to eat," I do not know how it could have been made more agreeable: as it is, the lover of good eating will "wish his throat a mile long, and every inch of it palate." N.B. Cucumber in a side-plate is a laudable vegetable accompaniment. _English Turtle._--(No. 248.) See No. 502. "A-la-mode beef." _Curry, or Mullaga-tawny[222-*] Soup._--(No. 249.) Cut four pounds of a breast of veal into pieces, about two inches by one; put the trimmings into a stew-pan with two quarts of water, with twelve corns of black pepper, and the same of allspice; when it boils, skim it clean, and let it boil an hour and a half, then strain it off; while it is boiling, fry of a nice brown in butter the bits of veal and four onions; when they are done, put the broth to them; put it on the fire; when it boils, skim it clean; let it simmer half an hour; then mix two spoonfuls of curry, and the same of flour, with a little cold water and a tea-spoonful of salt; add these to the soup, and simmer it gently till the veal is quite tender, and it is ready; or bone a couple of fowls or rabbits, and stew them in the manner directed above for the veal, and you may put in a bruised eschalot, and some mace and ginger, instead of black pepper and allspice. _Obs._ Read No. 497. _Turtle[223-*] Soup._--(No. 250.) As it is our wish that this work should be given to the public at the lowest possible price, the receipt for dressing a turtle is taken out, as a professed cook is always hired for the purpose of dressing it. The space this long receipt occupied is now filled with directions for making useful pickles. See No. 462. _Portable[223-+] Soup, or Glaze._--(No. 252.) Desire the butcher to break the bones of a leg or a shin of beef, of ten pounds weight (the fresher killed the better); put it into a soup-pot (a digester[223-++] is the best utensil for this purpose) that will well hold it; just cover it with cold water, and set it on the fire to heat gradually till it nearly boils (this should be at least an hour); skim it attentively while any scum rises; pour in a little cold water, to throw up the scum that may remain; let it come to a boil again, and again skim it carefully: when no more scum rises, and the broth appears clear (put in neither roots, nor herbs, nor salt), let it boil for eight or ten hours, and then strain it through a hair-sieve into a brown stone pan; set the broth where it will cool quickly; put the meat into a sieve, let it drain, make potted beef (No. 503), or it will be very acceptable to many poor families. Next day remove every particle of fat from the top of it, and pour it through a tamis, or fine sieve, as quietly as possible, into a stew-pan, taking care not to let any of the settlings at the bottom of the stone pan go into the stew-pan, which should be of thick copper, perfectly well tinned; add a quarter of an ounce of whole black pepper to it; let it boil briskly, with the stew-pan uncovered, on a quick fire; if any scum rises, take it off with a skimmer: when it begins to thicken, and is reduced to about a quart, put it into a smaller stew-pan; set it over a gentler fire, till it is reduced to the thickness of a very thick syrup; take care that it does not burn, a moment's inattention now will lose you all your labour, and the soup will be spoiled: take a little of it out in a spoon and let it cool; if it sets into a strong jelly, it is done enough; if it does not, boil it a little longer till it does; have ready some little pots, such as are used for potted meats, about an inch and a half deep, taking care that they are quite dry; we recommend it to be kept in these pots, if it is for home consumption (the less it is reduced, the better is the flavour of the soup), if it be sufficiently concentrated to keep for six months; if you wish to preserve it longer, put it into such bladders as are used for German sausages, or if you prefer it in the form of cakes, pour it into a dish about a quarter of an inch deep; when it is cold, turn it out and weigh the cake, and divide it with a paste-cutter into pieces of half an ounce and an ounce each; place them in a warm room, and turn them frequently till they are thoroughly dried; this will take a week or ten days; turn them twice a day; when well hardened, and kept in a dry place, they may be preserved for several years in any climate. This extract of meat makes excellent "_tablettes de Bouillon_," for those who are obliged to endure long fasting. If the surface becomes mouldy, wipe it with a little warm water; the mouldy taste does not penetrate the mass. If, after several days' drying, it does not become so hard as you wish, put it into a bainmarie stew-pan, or milk-boiler, till it is evaporated to the consistence you wish; or, set the pots in a cool oven, or in a cheese-toaster, at a considerable distance from the fire: this is the only safe way of reducing it very much, without the risk of its burning, and acquiring an extremely disagreeable, acrid flavour, &c. _Obs._ The uses of this concentrated essence of meat are numerous. It is equally economical and convenient for making extempore broths enumerated in the _Obs._ to No. 200, sauces and gravies for hashed or stewed meat, game, or poultry, &c. You may thicken it and flavour it as directed in No. 329; to make gravy, sauces, &c. take double the quantity ordered for broth. If you have time and opportunity, as there is no seasoning in the soup, either of roots, herbs, or spice, boil an onion with or without a bit of parsley and sweet herbs, and a few corns of allspice, or other spice, in the water you melt the soup in, which may be flavoured with mushroom catchup (No. 439), or eschalot wine (No. 402), essence of sweet herbs (No. 417), savoury spice (No. 421, or No. 457), essence of celery (No. 409), &c. or zest (No. 255); these may be combined in the proportions most agreeable to the palate of the eater, and are as portable as portable soup, for a very small portion will flavour a pint. The editor adds nothing to the solution of this soup, but a very little ground black pepper and some salt. N.B. If you are a careful manager, you need not always purchase meat on purpose to make this; when you dress a large dinner, you can make glaze at very small cost, by taking care of the trimmings and parings of the meat, game, and poultry, you use: wash them well, put them into a stew-pan, cover them with the liquor you have boiled meat in, and proceed as in the above receipt; and see _Obs._ on No. 185. MEM. This portable soup is a most convenient article in cookery; especially in small families, where it will save a great deal of time and trouble. It is also economical, for no more will be melted than is wanted; so there is no waste. Nine pounds of neck of beef, costing 2_s._ 7-1/2_d._ produced nine ounces of very nice soup; the bones, when boiled, weighed ten ounces. Half an ox-cheek, costing 1_s._ 9_d._ and weighing 14-3/4 pounds, produced thirteen ounces; but not so firm or clear, and far inferior in flavour to that obtained from a shin of beef. A sheep's head, costing 9_d._, produced three ounces and a half. Two pounds of lean meat, from the blade-bone of beef, produced hardly an ounce. The addition of an ounce of gum arabic, and two ounces of isinglass, to four ounces of the extract from a leg of beef, considerably diminished the consistence of the mass, without adding to its bulk. It has been thought that the portable soup which is manufactured for sale, is partly made with ox-heels; but the experiment (No. 198) proves this cannot be, as an ounce of the jelly from ox-heel costs 5_d._ For the cheapest method of procuring a hard jelly, see N.B. to No. 481; nineteen bones, costing 4-1/2_d._ produced three ounces: almost as cheap as Salisbury glue. A knuckle of veal, weighing 4-3/4 pounds, and costing 2_s._ 4_d._ produced five ounces. A shin of beef, weighing nine pounds, and costing 1_s._ 10-1/2_d._ produced nine ounces of concentrated soup, sufficiently reduced to keep for several months. After the boiling, the bones in this joint weighed two pounds and a quarter, and the meat two pounds and a quarter. The result of these experiments is, that the product from legs and shins of beef was almost as large in quantity, and of much superior quality and flavour, as that obtained from any of the other materials; the flavour of the product from mutton, veal, &c. is comparatively insipid. As it is difficult to obtain this ready-made of good quality, and we could not find any proper and circumstantial directions for making it, which, on trial, answered the purpose, and it is really a great acquisition to the army and navy, to travellers, invalids, &c. the editor has bestowed some time, &c. in endeavouring to learn, and to teach, how it may be prepared in the easiest, most economical, and perfect manner. The ordinary selling price is from 10_s._ to 12_s._, but you may make it according to the above receipt for 3_s._ 6_d._ per pound, _i. e._ for 2-1/2_d._ per ounce, which will make you a pint of broth. Those who do not regard the expense, and like the flavour, may add the lean of ham, in the proportion of a pound to eight pounds of leg of beef. It may also be flavoured, by adding to it, at the time you put the broth into the smaller stew-pan, mushroom catchup, eschalot wine, essences of spice or herbs, &c.; we prefer it quite plain; it is then ready to be converted, in an instant, into a basin of beef tea, for an invalid, and any flavour may be immediately communicated to it by the magazine of taste (No. 462). _To clarify Broth or Gravy._--(No. 252*.) Put on the broth in a clean stew-pan; break the white and shell of an egg, beat them together, put them into the broth, stir it with a whisk; when it has boiled a few minutes, strain it through a tamis or a napkin. _Obs._ A careful cook will seldom have occasion to clarify her broths, &c. if prepared according to the directions given in No. 200. FOOTNOTES: [193-*] In culinary technicals, is called FIRST STOCK, or long broth; in the French kitchen, "_le grand bouillon_." [193-+] A dog was fed on the richest broth, yet could not be kept alive; while another, which had only the meat boiled to a chip (and water), throve very well. This shows the folly of attempting to nourish men by concentrated soups, jellies, &c.--SINCLAIR, _Code of Health_, p. 356. If this experiment be accurate, what becomes of the theoretic visions of those who have written about nourishing broths, &c.? The best test of the restorative quality of food, is a small quantity of it satisfying hunger, the strength of the pulse after it, and the length of time which elapses before appetite returns again. According to this rule, we give our verdict in favour of No. 19 or 24. See N.B. to No. 181. This subject is fully discussed in _The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life, by Diet_, &c. published by G. B. Whittaker, 13 Ave-Maria lane. [194-*] Called, in some cookery books, "SECOND STOCK;" in the French kitchen, "_jus de boeuf_." [194-+] A great deal of care is to be taken to watch the time of putting in the water: if it is poured in too soon, the gravy will not have its true flavour and colour: and if it be let alone till the meat sticks to the pan, it will get a burnt taste. [195-*] Truffles, morells, and mushrooms, catchups and wines, &c. are added by those who are for the extreme of _haut goût_. [195-+] The general rule is to put in about a pint of water to a pound of meat, if it only simmers very gently. [195-++] A tamis is a worsted cloth, sold at the oil shops, made on purpose for straining sauces: the best way for using it is for two people to twist it contrary ways. This is a better way of straining sauce than through a sieve, and refines it much more completely. [197-*] By this method, it is said, an ingenious cook long deceived a large family, who were all fond of weak mutton broth. Mushroom gravy, or catchup (No. 439), approaches the nature and flavour of meat gravy, more than any vegetable juice, and is the best substitute for it in maigre soups and extempore sauces, that culinary chemistry has yet produced. [200-*] See "_L'Art de Cuisinier_," par A. Beauvillier, Paris, 1814, p.