Obs.—A rich, old-fashioned English brown gravy-soup may be made with beef only. It should be cut from the bones, dredged with flour, seasoned with pepper and salt, and fried a clear brown; then stewed for six hours, if the quantity be large, with a pint of water to each pound of meat, and vegetables as above, except onions, of which four moderate-sized ones, also fried, are to be added to every three quarts of the soup, which, after it has been strained and cleared from fat, may be thickened with six ounces of fresh butter, worked up very smoothly with five of flour. In twenty minutes afterwards, a tablespoonful of the best soy, half a pint of sherry, and a little cayenne, may be added to the soup, which will then be ready to serve.
CHEAP, CLEAR GRAVY SOUP.
The shin or leg of beef, if not large or coarse, will answer extremely well for this soup, and afford at the same time a highly economical dish of boiled meat, which will be found very tender, and very palatable also, if it be served with a sauce of some piquancy. From about ten pounds of the meat let the butcher cut evenly off five or six from the thick fleshy part, and again divide the knuckle, that the whole may lie compactly in the vessel in which it is to be stewed. Pour in three quarts of cold water, and when it has been brought slowly to boil, and been well skimmed, as directed for bouillon (Page [8]), throw in an ounce and a half of salt, half a large teaspoonful of peppercorns, eight cloves, two blades of mace, a faggot of savoury herbs, a couple of small carrots, and the heart of a root of celery; to these add a mild onion or not, at choice. When the whole has stewed very softly for four hours, probe the larger bit of beef, and if quite tender, lift it out for table; let the soup be simmered from two to three hours longer, and then strain it through a fine sieve, into a clean pan. When it is perfectly cold, clear off every particle of fat; heat a couple of quarts, stir in, when it boils, half an ounce of sugar, a small tablespoonful of good soy, and twice as much of Harvey’s sauce, or instead of this, of clear and fine mushroom catsup. If carefully made, the soup will be perfectly transparent and of good colour and flavour. A thick slice of lean ham will improve it, and a pound or so of the neck of beef with an additional pint of water, will likewise enrich its quality. A small quantity of good broth may be made of the fragments of the whole boiled down with a few fresh vegetables.
Brown caper, or hot horseradish sauce, or sauce Robert, or sauce piquante, made with the liquor in which it is boiled, may be served with the portion of the meat which is sent to table.
VERMICELLI SOUP.
(Potage au Vermicelle.)
Drop very lightly, and by degrees, six ounces of vermicelli, broken rather small, into three quarts of boiling bouillon or clear gravy soup; let it simmer for half an hour[[18]] over a gentle fire, and stir it often. This is the common French mode of making vermicelli soup, and we can recommend it as a particularly good one for family use. In England it is customary to soak, or to blanch the vermicelli, then to drain it well, and to stew it for a shorter time in the soup; the quantity also, must be reduced quite two ounces, to suit modern taste.
[18]. When of very fine quality, the vermicelli will usually require less boiling than this. We have named to the reader, in another part of the volume, Mr. Cobbett, 18, Pall Mall, as supplying all the Italian pastes extremely good. There are, of course, many other houses in London where they may be procured equally so; but in naming Mr. Cobbett, who is personally unknown to us, we merely give the result of our own experience of many years. Some articles of very superior quality purchased for us at his warehouse by a person merely commissioned to procure the best that could be had “from Town,” first directed our attention to his house (a long established one, we believe), which is justly noted, especially amongst affluent country families, for the excellence of the goods which it sends out. We give this explanation, because it seems invidious to select, from the large number of deservedly celebrated establishments of the same class which are to be found here, any one in particular for mention in a work of this nature.
Bouillon, or gravy soup, 3 quarts; vermicelli, 6 oz.; 30 minutes. Or, soup, 3 quarts; vermicelli, 4 oz.; blanched in boiling water 5 minutes; stewed in soup 10 to 15 minutes.