Fast-Day Cookery; or, Meals without Meat

by Grace Johnson

4. Cockle Soup.

Cut up an onion into thin rings, and chop two beads of garlic, fry in two ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves a delicate brown, then add two tablespoons of tarragon vinegar, two tablespoons mushroom ketchup, two teaspoons of Chili vinegar, and three pints of water; thicken with two ounces of flour that has been rubbed smooth in a bowl to the consistence of cream; then add a stick of celery, a pinch of thyme, parsley, basil and sage. Let these simmer for one hour; add pepper and salt to taste, and strain through a sieve. Lastly, add one pint of picked cockles, with their liquor. Serve hot.