Obs.—Three pounds of beef or mutton, with two or three slices of ham, and vegetables in proportion to the above receipt, all chopped fine, and boiled in three quarts of water for an hour and a half, will make an excellent family soup on an emergency: additional boiling will of course improve it, and a little spice should be added after it has been skimmed and salted. It may easily be converted into carrot, turnip, or ground-rice soup after it is strained.
VEAL OR MUTTON BROTH.
To each pound of meat add a quart of cold water, bring it gently to boil, skim it very clean, add salt in the same proportion as for bouillon (see page [7]), with spices and vegetables also, unless unflavoured broth be required, when a few peppercorns, a blade or two of mace, and a bunch of savoury herbs, will be sufficient; though for some purposes even these, with the exception of the salt, are better omitted. Simmer the broth for about four hours, unless the quantity be very small, when from two and a half to three, will be sufficient. A little rice boiled down with the meat will both thicken the broth, and render it more nutritious. Strain it off when done, and let it stand till quite cold that the fat may be entirely cleared from it: this is especially needful when it is to be served to an invalid.
Veal or mutton, 4 lbs.; water, 4 quarts; salt. (For vegetables, &c., see page [7];) rice (if used), 4 oz.: 4 hours or more.
MILK SOUP WITH VERMICELLI.
Throw into five pints of boiling milk a small quantity of salt, and then drop lightly into it five ounces of good fresh vermicelli; keep the milk stirred as this is added, to prevent its gathering into lumps, and continue to stir it very frequently from fifteen to twenty minutes, or until it is perfectly tender. The addition of a little pounded sugar and powdered cinnamon renders this a very agreeable dish. In Catholic countries, milk soups of various kinds constantly supply the place of those made with meat, on maigre days; and with us they are sometimes very acceptable, as giving a change of diet for the nursery or sick room. Rice, semoulina, sago, cocoa-nut, and maccaroni may all in turn be used for them as directed for other soups in this chapter, but they will be required in rather smaller proportions with the milk.
Milk, 5 pints; vermicelli, 5 oz.: 15 to 20 minutes.
CHEAP RICE SOUP.
Place a gallon of water on the fire (more or less according to the quantity of soup required), and when it boils, throw in a moderate-sized tablespoonful of salt, and two or three onions, thickly sliced, a faggot of sweet herbs, a root of celery, and three or four large carrots split down into many divisions, and cut into short lengths. Boil these gently for an hour and a half, or two hours, and then strain the liquor from them. When time will permit, let it become cold; then for each quart, take from three to four ounces of well washed rice, pour the soup on it, heat it very slowly, giving it an occasional stir, and stew it gently until it is perfectly tender, and the potage quite thick. A moderate seasoning of pepper, and an ounce or two of fresh butter well blended with a teaspoonful of flour, may be thoroughly stirred up with the soup before it is served; or, in lieu of the butter, the yolks of two or three new-laid eggs, mixed with a little milk, may be carefully added to it.
It may be more quickly prepared by substituting vermicelli, semoulina, or soujee for the rice, as this last will require three quarters of an hour or more of stewing after it begins to boil, and the three other ingredients—either of which must be dropped gradually into the soup when it is in full ebullition—will be done in from twenty to thirty minutes; and two ounces will thicken sufficiently a quart of broth.