Before it goes into the tureen, see that there are no shreds of meat or bits of bone left in the soup.
FAMILY TOMATO SOUP.—
Take four pounds of the lean of a good piece of fresh beef. The fat is of no use for soup, as it must be skimmed off when boiling. Cut the meat in pieces, season them with a little salt and pepper, and put them into a pot with three quarts of water. The tomatos will supply abundance of liquid. Of these you should have a large quarter of a peck. They should be full-grown, and quite ripe. Cut each tomato into four pieces, and put them into the soup; after it has come to a boil and been skimmed. It will be greatly improved by adding a quarter of a peck of ochras cut into thin round slices. Both tomatos and ochras require long and steady boiling with the meat. To lessen the extreme acid of the tomatos, stir in a heaped table-spoonful of sugar. Add also one large onion, peeled and minced small; and add two or three bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. The soup must boil till the meat is all to rags and the tomatos and ochras entirely dissolved, and their forms undistinguishable. Pour it off carefully from the sediment into the tureen, in the bottom of which have ready some toasted bread, cut into small squares.
FINE TOMATO SOUP.—
Take some nice fresh beef, and divest it of the bone and fat. Sprinkle it with a little salt and pepper, and pour on water, allowing to each pound of meat a pint and a half (not more) of water, and boil and skim it till it is very thick and clear, and all the essence seems to be drawn out of the meat. Scald and peel a large portion of ripe tomatos—cut them in quarters, and laying them in a stew-pan, let them cook in their own juice till they are entirely dissolved. When quite done, strain the tomato liquid, and stir into it a little sugar. In a third pan stew an equal quantity of sliced ochras with a very little water; they must be stewed till their shape can no longer be discerned. Strain separately the meat liquor, the tomatos, and the ochras. Mix butter and flour together into a lump; knead it a little, and when all the liquids are done and strained put them into a clean soup-pan, stir in the flour and butter, and give the soup one boil up. Transfer it to your tureen, and stir altogether. The soup made precisely as above will be perfectly smooth and nice. Have little rolls or milk biscuits to eat with it.
This is a tomato soup for dinner company.