CLASS THREE.
VEGETABLE SOUPS.
Vegetable soup is made by cooking vegetables in either simple or compound stock; or a special stock may be prepared by adding water or milk to the juice extracted from vegetables. A vegetable soup may contain but a single vegetable; or it may contain a variety of vegetables, and be of any color desired. The vegetables may be cooked a longer or shorter time, and left in, or strained out of the soup according to taste or fancy.
No. 1.—PLAIN VEGETABLE SOUP.
To three quarts of stock add a gill each of sliced carrot, turnip, parsnip and onion, and simmer gently till tender. Half an hour before serving, add a stalk of celery cut in small pieces, or two or three sprigs of parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
A number of plain vegetable soups quite different in character can be very readily compounded by using a greater or smaller variety of vegetables, or by adapting the combination to the season and the appetite.
No. 2.—ONION SOUP.
Fry in an ounce of butter or clarified drippings, till a light brown, two or three large onions sliced thin; then add two ounces of flour and stir till about the same color. Mix thoroughly with a pint of cold stock, place over the fire in a soup kettle, and when it comes to a boil pour in a quart of boiling milk into which three boiled potatoes, mashed to a smooth paste have been stirred. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot. Water can be used instead of stock in this soup, if more convenient, and the soup still be delicious.
No. 3.—DRIED PEA SOUP.
Soak for several hours, or over night, a pint of dried peas in two quarts of cold water. Drain and put to cook in four quarts of cold water, with a quarter of a pound of breakfast bacon or salt pork, fried to a light brown. As soon as the water boils skim carefully, cover closely and let simmer gently three or four hours, or until the peas are very tender. Strain and return the soup to the kettle, add a teaspoonful of sugar, two quarts of stock, and, when boiling, a tablespoonful each of flour and butter. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with toasted bread cut in dice.
Pea soup can be made in this manner without the bacon or pork, in which case it is advisable to use a cup of sweet cream instead of the butter, and to season delicately with celery. Sweet corn is a very desirable mixture for pea soup, and sugar may be dispensed with when it is used. The addition of a little crushed spinach juice will convert this into a nice green pea soup.
If the spinach juice be omitted, and a cup of dark rich gravy, a spoonful of caramel, and a flavoring of herbs and spices be substituted, the entire character of the soup will be so changed that it must be transferred to the list of mixed soups.