Soups
Clear Soups
Take strong, well flavored stock, and clear it. For “additions,” each of which gives its name to the soup, a great many things may be used, as the various soup balls, rice, noodles, macaroni, poached eggs, cheese (grated), spaghetti, vermicelli (to any of which chopped parsley may be effectively added), and almost any vegetable, diced, chopped or grated in strings, and then cooked.–E. M. K.
Chicken Broth
Use the legs of a chicken for this dish. Break the joints and cut up the meat into small strips. Pour over it four cups of water, add one tablespoon of rice and half a teaspoon of salt, then allow it to simmer very slowly for an hour and a half. Strain out the rice and meat and cool. Skim off the fat and reheat as much of the broth as is required. In hot weather the rice may sour the broth, so make without and keep the soup in a tightly corked jar in the refrigerator.–E. M. K.
Clam Chowder
Two dozen clams, three-quarters pound of lean pork, three onions of medium size, one pint of tomatoes, celery to flavor, potatoes to thicken (about one quart), one pint of milk. Chop pork and brown in an iron kettle very brown. Then put in the water and other ingredients except milk. Cook one hour, then put in the milk just before removing from the fire.–Mrs S. F. Snow.
Consomme
This is a specially fine recipe, and is not given in any cook book. Put two pounds of perfectly lean round steak in a hot frying pan, and let it cook quickly to a deep brown on both sides; when so browned chop fine, cover with two quarts of cold, strong, highly flavored stock, add the half-beaten whites and crushed shells of two eggs, beat well and proceed as in clearing soup. When strained, it is ready for reheating and serving.–E. M. K.
orn Soup
Stew two chickens, or if preferred, a knuckle of veal. Grate twelve ears of uncooked corn. When the meat is tender, lift it out of the broth and to the latter add the grated corn and a teaspoon of tapioca farina. Cook for half an hour, then add pepper, salt, a little chopped parsley and a hard-boiled egg chopped fine. Make a thickening of three tablespoons of flour and add five minutes before serving the soup.
Quickly Made Beef Tea
Pour three-quarters of a cup of cold water over half a pound of raw hamburg steak. Allow it to stand ten minutes in a cool place, then set on the stove and let it cook slowly for ten minutes. Add a little salt, just before taking from the fire, and strain.
Fish Chowder
One pound of cod or haddock, four small potatoes, one small onion, one thin slice of fat salt pork, one cup of milk and one cup of fish stock, two tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper for seasoning. Place the bones, after removing them from the fish, in cold water, allowing it to heat gradually. Scald the potatoes, sliced thin, in boiling water for five minutes. Cut the pork in half inch cubes and try out the fat. Add the onions and heat in the fat. Then remove the pieces of pork and add the potatoes and the fish cut in medium-sized pieces. Dredge with flour and seasoning and then strain the fish stock over. Cook until the potatoes are done and the fish is tender, adding hot water if it is needed during the cooking. Add the milk, reheat and season again if necessary. Serve hot.
Hasty Tomato Soup
Boil one quart of milk, and add one cup of canned or cooked tomatoes, also cracker or bread crumbs to thicken sufficiently. Season with butter, pepper and salt, bring to a boil and serve.–Sarah M. Siewer, M. D.
Cream of Lima Bean Soup
Soak one cup of dried beans over night, in the morning drain and add three pints of cold water. Cook till soft and rub through a sieve. Cut two slices of onion and four slices of carrot in cubes and cook five minutes in two tablespoons of butter. Remove the vegetables, add two tablespoons of flour, one teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper, stir into the boiling soup. Just before straining into the tureen add one cup of cream.
Potato Soup
Eight large potatoes, one large onion, one-half pound of salt pork cut into strips, three whole cloves and one sprig of parsley. Boil all two hours, then strain through a sieve and season to taste, adding one tablespoon of butter and one pint of cream. Let it come to a boil and serve.–Mrs Frank Rockefeller.
Corn Chowder
Chop a small piece of salt pork and in it fry one sliced onion for five minutes. Strain the browned butter into a saucepan. Parboil four cups of potatoes cut in cubes in boiling water. Drain and put them in the saucepan. Cover with one pint of boiling water, cook till the potatoes are softened, then add one can of chopped corn, one quart of scalded milk, heat to the boiling point. Season with pepper and salt, add three tablespoons of butter and eight crackers which have been soaked in cold milk. A cream corn soup made from chopped corn may be cooked after the directions given for celery soup.
Oyster Soup
Pour a quart of cold water over a pint of oysters. Drain through a colander. Put the water drained from the oysters into a saucepan. Simmer gently three minutes. Remove the scum. Add to the broth in the saucepan one tablespoon each of butter and flour stirred to a paste. Cook three minutes or until smooth, stirring meanwhile. Then add half a cup of unsweetened condensed milk, or common cream, and season to taste with salt and pepper. When the soup boils, add the drained oysters, and as soon as it again boils and the edges of the oysters curl and separate, remove from the fire and serve.
Cream of Cheese Soup
Heat, but not boil, in a double boiler, one full quart of milk, one blade of mace, one teaspoon of minced onion, one tablespoon of carrot. Blend together one-fourth cup of butter and two level tablespoons of flour. To this add the hot milk, half a cup at a time, stirring constantly and cooking between each addition. Strain back into the double boiler, add three-fourths cup of grated cheese and stir till melted. Season with salt and white pepper and pour over the beaten yolks of two eggs. Cook a moment, remove from the bath and beat with an egg beater till covered with a fine froth. Serve at once in hot cups.–Anne Warner.
Cauliflower Cream Soup
Cook one pint of finely chopped cauliflower in a double boiler with one quart of milk until perfectly tender. Then press through a coarse sieve and return to the fire, season to taste, add one tablespoon of butter and one dessertspoon of cornstarch stirred smoothly in a little cold milk. Cook and stir until perfectly smooth and serve at once with small squares of buttered brown bread.–Mary F. Snider.
Soup as Our Mothers Made It
The day before you want a soup buy a shank of beef. Wash clean and put to cook in two or three gallons of cold water. Bring slowly to a boil. Skim carefully as fast as the scum rises, so that none boils in; cook until the meat slips from the bone. Let the bone remain in the liquor all night and set away in a jar or other earthen vessel to cool; in the morning take off the fat from the top of the liquor and set it on the stove in your soup kettle. Have ready a large half teacup of whole rice and put it in when you set it to boil, which you must do in season to have three hours before the dinner hour. Wash and scrape two good sized carrots cut in inch pieces, teacup of chopped cabbage, three potatoes and two onions cut small. Boil slowly but constantly on the back of the stove to prevent burning. The rice should dissolve so as to thicken the soup. Just before you dish up add salt, pepper and other seasoning to taste. Keep hot water in the teakettle to add to the soup if needed.–Mrs Sears, Omaha.
Soup Balls
Chop the white meat of a chicken very fine and season highly with salt, pepper, onion juice and a little thyme or curry; add enough yolk of egg to bind together. Roll into very small balls, shake in a plate of flour till covered and poach in boiling water.
Tomato Soup
Into four cups of brown stock put three cups of cold stewed tomato, one stalk of celery, one carrot and one onion chopped, four cloves, four peppercorns and one teaspoon of salt. Allow it to simmer slowly till the tomato is reduced to a pulp. It will take about one hour to cook. Put it in a puree sieve and press all the pulp possible through it. Melt one tablespoon of butter with two tablespoons of flour, add it to the puree and stir, cooking it till smooth. If you dislike the bitter flavor of the tomatoes add half a teaspoon of soda and two teaspoons of sugar before pouring the soup in the tureen. Serve with croutons.
Asparagus Soup
One bundle of asparagus, one pint water, one pint milk or thin cream, one-half an onion, one tablespoon each of butter and flour, salt and pepper to taste. Cut the heads from the asparagus and cook for twenty minutes in boiling salted water. Cook the stalks and onion in one pint of water for twenty minutes. Rub this through a sieve. Blend butter and flour, add one pint of boiling milk, pepper and salt to taste. Mix with the cooked asparagus and boil for five minutes. Strain again, add the asparagus heads and serve very hot.
Red Bisque with Snowballs
Chop fine one pint each of oysters and clams, add to these and their liquor enough hot water to make two quarts. Add the mashed coral from one lobster, one teaspoon of salt, one-half teaspoon of paprika, a bit of mace, an onion and one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, cook three minutes, pour into a sauce made of two tablespoons of butter, two of flour, one and one-half cups of hot milk, and one cup of tomato pulp. When boiling, strain and serve, putting a snowball in each plate on its way to the table.
Snowballs
Beat white of one egg, add one cup of whipped cream, season with salt and a few drops of lemon juice, take up with two dessert spoons, forming a ball. The coral and tomatoes will color the soup, and the remainder of the lobster may be used in the salad course.
Black Bean Soup
Soak one pint of black beans over night, in the morning wash and drain them, put in a kettle with two quarts of cold water. In one and one-half tablespoons of butter fry one small onion delicately brown and add to the beans with two stalks of celery broken in pieces. Simmer gently until the beans are quite soft, adding more water if the liquor cooks away. Rub through a sieve, obtaining all the pulp possible; reheat to the boiling point and season with half a teaspoon of salt, one-eighth teaspoon of pepper, a fourth of a teaspoon of mustard and a dash of cayenne. Make a binding from one and a half tablespoons each of flour and butter cooked together, and stir into the soup. Cut two hard-boiled eggs and one lemon in thin slices, put them in the tureen, then strain the soup over it and serve.–Stella A. Downing.
Pea and Bean Purees
An estimate of the food value of these purees may be inferred from the use made of these two dried vegetables in the rations of soldiers and sailors. Soak the beans or peas (split or Scotch) over night, then cook to a mush, rub through a soup strainer, and thin to the proper consistency with flavored stock. When unflavored stock is used, add some thyme to the vegetable while cooking. Add a little thickening to hold the vegetable solids in suspension.
A Heavy Vegetable Soup
Put some lean meat two or three times through a patent chopper (so that it may be reduced almost to a paste), add cold water and chopped vegetables, cook long and slowly, and serve without straining.
A Nutritious Barley Soup
Prepare lean mutton as in the last recipe, or leave it on the bone (removing all fat), add pearl barley, and cook to a thick puree, in which there should still be grains that have not lost shape. Remove bones and large pieces of meat, and serve without straining.
Velvet Soups
To a quart of strong, well flavored consomme (beef, chicken, mutton, game, or “combination”) add a large cup of rich cream which has been poured boiling hot in the beaten yolks of four eggs mixed with four tablespoons of cold cream. As a last touch of seasoning, in reheating, add a little powdered mace.
Boiled chestnuts or blanched almonds, pounded to a paste, may be added, if desired.
Vegetable Purees
Cook the vegetable to a mush, rub through a soup strainer and add the stock, as in dry bean and pea purees.
Cream Purees
Proceed exactly as in the vegetable puree, using milk or mixed milk and cream instead of stock. The thickening (for holding the solids in suspension) in cream soups should be made of butter and flour rubbed to a paste.–Ella Morris Kretschmar.
Consomme Royale
Have four pounds of shin beef cut into small pieces. Wash it and place it in a kettle with four quarts of cold water, and set the kettle over the fire. Cut into fine pieces one carrot, one turnip, two small onions, four sprigs of parsley and two stalks of celery. Fry them brown in butter. When the juices are drawn from the meat, add the vegetables, four teaspoons of salt, one saltspoon of white pepper and four teaspoons of mixed herbs (sage, summer savory, marjoram, bay leaves and thyme), tied up in a bit of muslin with eight cloves and eight allspices. Let the water boil, then set the kettle where it will simmer for six or seven hours. Strain through a cloth into a stone jar and let it stand for twenty-four hours. When ready to serve, remove the cake of fat from the top, heat two quarts of the consomme, color with a little caramel and flavor with lemon juice and sherry.
Beat two eggs with a spoon, add two tablespoons of milk, one-fourth teaspoon of salt and a dash of white pepper. Turn this into a buttered cup and place it in the oven in a pan of warm water. Let it bake until firm in the center when tried with a knife–from five to ten minutes.
Cool, cut into small fancy shapes, place in the tureen and pour the boiling soup over the pieces. Serve at once with saltine crackers buttered and browned lightly. To save time in preparation, canned consomme or soup made from beef extract may be used, but it will not have the flavor of the homemade soup stock.–Annabel Lee.
Salmon Bisque
Drain the oil from one-third can of salmon, remove the bones and skin and rub through a sieve. Add gradually one quart of scalded milk, one and a half teaspoons of salt, a dust of pepper, four tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of butter rubbed into a paste to bind the soup. This is a very nice way to utilize the remains of a can of salmon, remains not large enough to re-serve in any other way. Crab meat or lobster can be made into a bisque in the same way.
Du Barry Soup
Boil one cup of rice in two quarts of clear chicken bouillon, rub through and add one cup of cold cauliflower pressed through a potato ricer. Season with white pepper and salt, add a pint of cream and bring again to the boil. Serve in bouillon cups, garnish with small flowerets of cauliflower.
Before pouring the chowder into the tureen, add two cups of scalding milk, two tablespoons of butter, one teaspoon of salt, a dash of pepper and cayenne and a dozen small crackers.
Fish Chowder
Cut three pounds of any kind of fresh fish (codfish is especially good), one and one-half pounds of potatoes and one large onion into slices; and half a pound of salt pork into half-inch squares or dice. Put the pork and onions into a saucepan and fry them a light brown; then add a cup of claret, and when it boils take it from the fire. Butter a large stewpan and put in first a layer of potatoes, then a layer of fish, then a sprinkle of onions and pork (strained from the claret), pepper and salt, and continue these alternations until it is all in, having the potatoes on top. Now pour the claret over the top and barely cover the whole with boiling water. Cover closely and let it simmer for fifteen minutes without disturbing it.
Mock Bisque Soup
One quart of tomatoes cooked tender in one quart of water. Strain this and put the liquor back upon the stove; add one teaspoon of soda, a little butter, salt and pepper to taste, and, just before it is served, one quart of boiling milk. A little thickening and onion improves it for some tastes.–Mrs C. B. Stoddard.
Rhode Island Chowder
Put into a spider one-third of a cup of fine cubes of fat salt pork, one large onion finely sliced and half a cup of water. Cook till reduced to a small quantity of rich liquor. To four cups of potato cubes which have been parboiled, add this liquor, the strained juice from one quart of claims, the hard portions of the clams finely chopped, and one pint of boiling water. Cook till the potatoes are nearly done, then add one cup of stewed, strained tomato, a quarter of a teaspoon of baking soda and the soft part of the clams. Allow this to simmer gently.
Tapioca Cream Soup
One quart of white stock, one pint of cream or milk, one onion, two stalks of celery, one-third cup of tapioca, two cups of cold water, one tablespoon of butter, small piece of mace, salt, pepper. Wash the tapioca and soak. Cook it and the stock together, very gently, for one hour. Cut the onion and celery into small pieces, and put on to cook for twenty minutes with the milk and mace. Strain on the tapioca and stock. Season, add butter and serve.–B. C. J
Noodles
Noodles are an excellent accompaniment to soup and very easily made. Beat one egg slightly, add half a teaspoon of salt, then work in as much flour as the wetting will take up. Knead it well, toss on a floured board and roll out as thin as a sheet of paper. Cover with a towel and set aside for twenty minutes. Cut into fancy shapes with French vegetable cutters. There may be diamonds, hearts, clover leaves or circles. The sheet may be shredded finely with a sharp vegetable knife or rolled like a jelly roll and cut into the finest shavings. Set aside to dry and use when required, cooking the noodles for twenty minutes before they are needed in boiling salted water. Drain and add to the soup just before sending to the table. Noodles may also be cooked in stock, seasoned and served as a side dish.
Good housekeeping woman’s home cook book by Isabel Gordon Curtis