9. Spinach Soup.—Blanch two quarts of spinach, by putting it into a large pot full of boiling water, with two tablespoonfuls of salt, cover until it boils up once; then remove the cover, and with a wooden spoon press the spinach under water as fast as it rises to the surface; boil it steadily until it is tender enough to pierce easily with the finger nail; then drain it; run plenty of cold water from the faucet over it, while it is still in the colander; drain it again, chop it fine, and pass it through a kitchen sieve with the aid of a wooden spoon; boil two quarts of milk, add the spinach to it, thicken it by stirring in one tablespoonful of corn starch dissolved in cold milk; season it with one teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a saltspoonful of white pepper, and the same of nutmeg; and serve it as soon as it boils up.
10. Sorrel Soup.—Put one pint of sorrel into a sauce-pan with a dessertspoonful of salt, and one gill of cold water; cover it, and cook until it is tender enough to pierce with the finger nail, then drain, wash it well with cold water, chop it and pass it through the kitchen sieve with a wooden spoon; meantime brown half an ounce of chopped onion in a sauce-pan with one ounce of butter; add one ounce of flour, and stir till brown; then add two quarts of hot water, or hot water and stock, and the sorrel, and season with one teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a saltspoonful of pepper, and the same of nutmeg; mix the yolks of two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of cold water, add to them half a pint of boiling soup, and gradually stir the mixture into the soup, boiling it a minute after it is thoroughly blended; meantime cut two slices of bread into half inch dice, fry them brown in smoking hot fat, drain them free from grease on a napkin, put them into a soup tureen, pour the soup on them, and serve at once.
11. Pea Soup.—Use half a pint of dried peas for thick soup, or one pint for a purée, to two quarts of stock or cold water. Bring slowly to a boil; add a bone or bit of ham, one turnip and one carrot peeled, one onion stuck with three cloves, and simmer three hours stirring occasionally to prevent burning; then pass the soup through a sieve with the aid of a potato masher; and if it shows any sign of settling stir into it one tablespoonful each of butter and flour mixed together dry; this will hold the meal in solution; meantime fry some dice of stale bread, about two slices, cut half an inch square, in hot fat, drain them on a napkin, and put them in the bottom of the soup tureen in which the pea soup is served.
12. Lentil Soup.—The seed of the lentil tare commonly cultivated in France and Germany as an article of food, ranks nearly as high as meat, as a valuable food, being capable of sustaining life and vigor for a long time; this vegetable is gradually becoming known in this country, from the use of it by our French and German citizens; and from its nutritive value it deserves to rank as high as our favorite New England beans. For two quarts of lentil soup half a pint of yellow lentils should be well washed, and put to boil in three pints of cold water, with a small carrot, an onion, two sprigs of parsley, and two bay leaves, and boiled gently until the lentils are soft enough to break easily between the fingers; every half hour one gill of cold water should be added, and the lentils again raised to the boiling point, until they are done; they should then be drained in a colander, and passed through a sieve with a wooden spoon, using enough of the liquor to make them pass easy, and mixed with the rest of the soup; it is then ready to simmer for half an hour, and serve hot; with dice of fried bread half an inch square, like those used for pea soup. These dice of fried bread are called Condé crusts.
CHAPTER III.
FISH.
When fish is rather deficient in flavor, a little vinegar rubbed over the skin; and a few sweet herbs boiled with it will greatly improve it. For boiling, large fish should be placed on the fire in cold water, and small ones in hot water; both are done when the fins pull out easily. Fish soup is the most economical of all fish dishes; baked fish the second best; broiled fish retains nearly all its nourishment; and boiled fish is the poorest of all. The following technical terms are used to denote different methods of cooking fish: to dress fish à la Hollandaise is to boil it in sea water; à l'eau de sel, in salt and water; au court bouillon, with cold water, white wine or vinegar, sweet herbs, soup vegetables, lemon, and whole spices; à la bonne eau, with sweet herbs and cold water; au bleu, in equal quantities of red wine and cold water, highly flavored with spices and aromatic herbs.
13. Boiled Cod with Oyster Sauce.—Lay two pounds of cod in enough cold water to cover it, with a tablespoonful of salt, for an hour or more before cooking; then put it to boil in three quarts of cold water, with two tablespoonfuls of salt; as soon as the fish is done, set the kettle containing it off the fire, and let the fish stand in it until you are ready to use it; meantime put a pint of oysters on the fire to boil in their own liquor; as soon as they boil drain them, and put the liquor again on the fire to boil; mix together in a sauce-pan over the fire one ounce of butter and one ounce of flour, as soon as it bubbles, gradually pour in the boiling oyster liquor, and stir with an egg whip until the sauce is quite smooth; season with half a teaspoonful of salt, an eighth of a saltspoonful of pepper, and the same of nutmeg; and add the oysters. Take up the fish, serve it on a napkin, and send it to the table with a bowl containing the oyster sauce.