Or: gravy-soup, or good beef broth, 5 pints: 1 hour. Rice flour, 5 oz.; soy and lemon-juice, each 1 tablespoonful; finely pounded sugar, 1 oz.; cayenne, 1/4 teaspoonful; sherry, 2 glassesful.
Obs.—When either cream or wine is objected to for these soups, a half-pint of the stock should be reserved to mix the thickening with.
CHESTNUT SOUP.
Strip the outer rind from some fine, sound Spanish chestnuts, throw them into a large pan of warm water, and as soon as it becomes too hot for the fingers to remain in it, take it from the fire, lift out the chestnuts, peel them quickly, and throw them into cold water as they are done; wipe, and weigh them; take three quarters of a pound for each quart of soup, cover them with good stock, and stew them gently for upwards of three quarters of an hour, or until they break when touched with a fork; drain, and pound them smoothly, or bruise them to a mash with a strong spoon, and rub them through a fine sieve reversed; mix with them by slow degrees the proper quantity of stock; add sufficient mace, cayenne, and salt to season the soup, and stir it often until it boils. Three quarters of a pint of rich cream, or even less, will greatly improve it. The stock in which the chestnuts are boiled can be used for the soup when its sweetness is not objected to; or it may in part be added to it.
Chestnuts, 1-1/2 lb.: stewed from 2/3 to 1 hour. Soup, 2 quarts; seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne: 1 to 3 minutes. Cream, 3/4 pint (when used).
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, OR PALESTINE SOUP.
Wash and pare quickly some freshly-dug artichokes, and to preserve their colour, throw them into spring water as they are done, but do not let them remain in it after all are ready. Boil three pounds of them in water for ten minutes; lift them out, and slice them into three pints of boiling stock; when they have stewed gently in this from fifteen to twenty minutes, press them with the soup, through a fine sieve, and put the whole into a clean saucepan with a pint and a half more of stock; add sufficient salt and cayenne to season it, skim it well, and after it has simmered for two or three minutes, stir it to a pint of rich boiling cream. Serve it immediately.
Artichokes, 3 lbs., boiled in water: 10 minutes. Veal stock, 3 pints 15 to 20 minutes. Additional stock, 1-1/2 pint; little cayenne and salt 2 to 3 minutes. Boiling cream, 1 pint.
Obs.—The palest veal stock, as for white soup, should be used for this; but for a family dinner, or where economy is a consideration excellent mutton-broth, made the day before and perfectly cleared from fat, will answer very well as a substitute; milk too may in part take the place of cream when this last is scarce: the proportion of artichokes should then be increased a little.
Vegetable-marrow, when young, makes a superior soup even to this, which is an excellent one. It should be well pared, trimmed, and sliced into a small quantity of boiling veal stock or broth, and when perfectly tender, pressed through a fine sieve, and mixed with more stock and some cream. In France the marrow is stewed, first in butter, with a large mild onion or two also sliced; and afterwards in a quart or more of water, which is poured gradually to it; it is next passed through a tammy,[[26]] seasoned with pepper and salt, and mixed with a pint or two of milk and a little cream.