Crab Bisque

Boil crabs in water to cover twenty minutes. Remove meat, add rice, and cook in two tablespoons butter five minutes; add onion, cook five minutes, and press all through a sieve. Scald mace in milk. Thicken milk with butter and flour cooked together; add seasonings.

Combine mixtures, reheat and serve.

Lobster Bisque

Cook lobster, rice and white stock twenty minutes; press through a sieve. Thicken milk with flour and butter cooked together; add seasonings. Combine mixtures and thin with cream to desired consistency. Garnish with lobster coral pressed through a sieve.

Oyster Bisque

Cook oysters in white stock until edges curl. Strain, reserve liquor and chop oysters; press through a sieve; add butter and flour cooked together, seasonings and cream; cook five minutes, add to egg slightly beaten and serve.

Clam Bisque No. 2

Substitute clams for oysters and proceed as for Oyster Bisque.

Oyster Bisque à la Reine

Cook oysters in their own liquor until edges shrivel. Drain, reserve liquor; chop oysters. Melt butter, add cracker crumbs and milk. Cook five minutes, add seasonings, combine mixtures, strain thoroughly. Add beaten egg and chicken meat.

Bisque of Shrimps, Bretonne

Cook shrimps and vegetables in butter; add seasonings, white stock, and boil five minutes. Press through a sieve. Add wine and serve immediately.

By adding one cup of cream and two tablespoons of butter a much richer and smoother soup may be made.

Bouillon

Cover meat and bones with cold water; simmer four hours. Sauté vegetables in butter; add to stock with seasonings except sherry. Cook one hour longer, strain, cool, remove fat and clear. Add sherry and serve.

Brown Soup Stock

Is made like bouillon, with the addition of three sprigs of parsley, one sprig of thyme and omission of the sherry. If the stock is not sufficiently brown, add one teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet for each quart of stock, or one teaspoon of caramelized sugar.

Many prefer browning a portion of the meat before covering with cold water, to give color to the soup.

If this method is employed, use one quart less water.

St. Germain Soup

Reserve one fourth cup of peas for garnishing; cook remainder of peas, onion, bay leaf and parsley in stock ten minutes; mash through a sieve. Make a white sauce of butter, flour and milk; combine mixtures, cook five minutes, add peas, and serve with sippets of bread.

Consommé

Simmer beef, veal and fowl in water four hours; add vegetables, salt, and herbs tied in a bag; cook slowly one hour. Strain, cool, remove fat and serve.

Consommé is the foundation for all clear soups, each soup taking its name from the garnishing which is used.

Consommé with Barley

Cook barley in boiling water until tender; add salt, reheat in consommé and serve.

Consommé with Eggs

Poach eggs in salted water. Place in a tureen and pour hot consommé over them.

Consommé Claret

Cook cinnamon in consommé; add claret and hot water. Beat egg yolks; add hot mixture slowly to them. Cut and fold in the beaten whites. Serve immediately.

Vegetable Consommé

Cut carrots and turnips in inch straws, add remaining vegetables, and cook in boiling salted water until tender; add consommé, reheat and serve.

Consommé à l’Italienne

Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water; when tender, cut in rings. Cut mushrooms in slices and sauté with spaghetti in melted butter. Heat consommé, add spaghetti and mushrooms, and serve.

Consommé au Riz

Cook rice in boiling salted water until tender; drain, pour over rice six cups boiling water to wash off starch and separate kernels; drain, add hot consommé and serve.

Swiss Consommé

Melt butter, add vegetables and cook until yellow. Cook in boiling water until tender, being careful not to overcook. Drain, add hot consommé, chestnuts and chicken. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Chicken Consommé

Cover fowl with cold water, bring to the boiling point, then simmer four hours; add vegetables and seasonings, and simmer one hour. Strain, cool, remove fat, clear and serve.

If all the stock is not needed at once, remove fat from portion required only, as fat prevents the stock from spoiling.

Chicken Consommé with Macaroni

Reheat consommé and add macaroni rings.

Chicken Consommé with Custard

Scald milk with onion and bay leaf. Strain; beat egg slightly; add seasonings and milk. Bake in shallow pan until firm. Cool; remove from pan; cut in fancy shapes. Heat consommé, add custard and serve.

White Soup Stock No. 1

Break the knuckle of veal in small pieces; add cut and disjointed fowl and water, allowing one quart to each pound of meat and bone. Cook three hours, keeping below the boiling point. Add remaining ingredients; simmer one hour; strain; cool; use as needed.

White Soup Stock No. 2

Break knuckle in pieces; add chopped veal; cover with water; let stand one hour. Simmer four hours; add vegetables; simmer one hour; add seasonings and strain.

The meat used in this receipt or in [ White Soup Stock No. 1] may be chopped and used for croquettes, soufflés, veal loaf, or hash, but as it lacks flavor, the dishes must be highly seasoned to be palatable.

White Soup

Make a white sauce of butter, flour and cream. Add white stock, cooked rice, seasonings; reheat and serve.

Chicken Stock

Cook a fowl in cold water to cover; add seasonings, strain, and use for stock.

Peanut Soup

Chop peanuts in meat chopper. Cook chopped nuts, onion and celery in white stock twenty minutes. Melt butter; add flour, milk and seasonings; cook five minutes. Combine mixtures, strain and serve.

Mushroom Soup

Clean and chop mushrooms; cook in water until tender; press through a sieve. Melt butter; add flour, white stock; cook five minutes; add mushroom mixture, cream and seasonings; reheat, strain and serve.

Chicken Gumbo

Cook salt pork in frying pan five minutes; add chicken, and sauté a golden brown. Remove chicken; add onion, garlic, okra cut in slices, and sauté one half hour. Add to chicken and cover with boiling water. Add red pepper, seasonings, and cook slowly until chicken is tender. Melt butter; add flour and cream; cook five minutes; add chicken mixture. Serve garnished with rice.

Oyster Gumbo

Melt butter, add chicken, and sauté. Remove chicken; add onion, okra, pepper. Cook ten minutes. Add to chicken and cover with boiling water. When chicken is tender, add oysters and cook until edges curl. Melt butter, add flour, and thicken soup. Serve garnished with rice.

Crab Gumbo

Prepare same as Chicken Gumbo, substituting one quart crab meat for chicken and using the crab liquor.

Mulligatawny Soup

Melt butter, add vegetables, and cook five minutes. Add remaining ingredients, except lemon, and cook one half hour. Serve garnished with lemon.

Green Turtle Soup

Separate the green fat from the rest of the turtle. Cut fat in cubes. Cook turtle and herbs in four cups of stock one half hour. Melt butter; add onion, flour, salt, cayenne and two cups stock; boil five minutes; add turtle mixture; cook five minutes; add fat cubes. Pour into tureen, and garnish with lemon; add sherry. Serve.

Terrapin Soup

Cook terrapin, stock and mace twenty minutes. Melt butter, add flour, cream and egg yolks; combine mixtures, add sherry, and garnish with rice balls.

Mock Turtle Soup

Cover calf’s head with cold water, add vinegar, vegetables, seasonings, and simmer two hours. Remove one cupful of meat. Simmer two hours longer. Strain; cool; remove fat. Brown butter; add flour, and brown; add brown stock, strained liquor, chopped ham, calf’s head meat, lemon, Madeira and mushrooms. Reheat and serve.

Should it be necessary to keep the soup hot, delay adding wine until serving.

Ox-tail Soup

Cut ox-tails at joints, add onion, and sauté in pork fat; add cold water, and simmer four hours; add vegetables and seasonings; simmer one hour. Strain; cool; remove fat. Brown butter; add flour and brown; add strained stock, brown stock and meat cut from bones. Reheat, add Madeira, and serve.

CHAPTER III
FISH

For convenience’ sake we divide fish into two classes—vertebrate and shellfish.

The freshness of fish is best determined by the odor. If the flesh of the fish is soft and flabby, the fish has been frozen, or has been kept too long.