In times of scarcity and distress, when the question has arisen of how to feed the largest number of persons upon the least quantity of food, the aliment chosen has always been soup. There are two reasons for this: first, by the addition of water to the ingredients used we secure the aid of this important agent in distributing nutrition equally throughout the blood, to await final absorption; and, second, we gain that sense of repletion so necessary to the satisfaction of hunger—the fact being acknowledged that the sensation we call hunger is often allayed by the presence of even innutritious substances in the stomach.
Good soup is literally the juice of any ingredient from which it is made—the extract of the meat, grains, or vegetables composing it. The most economical of soups, eaten with bread, will satisfy the hunger of the hardest worker. The absolute nutritive value of soup depends, of course, upon its ingredients; and these can easily be chosen in reference to the maintenance of health. For instance, the pot-liquor in which meat has been boiled needs only the addition of a few dumplings or cereals, and seasoning, to form a perfect nutriment. That produced from skin and bones can be made equally palatable and nutritious by boiling with it a few vegetables and sweet herbs, and some rice, barley, or oatmeal. Even the gelatinous residue produced by long-continued boiling, without the presence of any foreign matter, is a useful emollient application to the inflamed mucous surfaces in some diseases, while it affords at the same time the degree of distention necessary to prevent flatulency.
The time required to make the most palatable and nutritious soup is short. Lean meat should be chopped fine, placed in cold water, in the proportion of a pint to each pound, slowly heated, and thoroughly skimmed. Five minutes' boiling will extract from the meat every particle of its nutriment and flavor. The liquor can then be strained off, seasoned, and eaten with bread, biscuit, or vegetables. Peas or beans boiled and added to the soup make it the most perfect food for sustaining health and strength. It is the pure juice of the meat and contains all its savory and life-giving principles.
If your family is large, it will be well for you to keep a clean saucepan, or pot on the back of the stove to receive all the clean scraps of meat, bones, and remains of poultry and game, which are found in every kitchen; but vegetables should not be put into it, as they are apt to sour. The proper proportions for soup are one pound of meat and bone to one and a half quarts of cold water; the meat and bones to be well chopped and broken up, and put over the fire in cold water, being brought slowly to a boil, and carefully skimmed as often as any scum rises; and being maintained at a steady boiling point from two to six hours, as time permits; one hour before the stock is done, add to it one carrot and one turnip pared, one onion stuck with three cloves, and a bouquet of sweet herbs.
When soup is to be boiled six hours you must allow two quarts of water to every pound of meat, and you must see that the pot boils slowly and regularly, and is well skimmed. When you want to keep soup from one meal to another, or over night, you must pour it into an earthen pot, or bowl, because it will turn by being allowed to remain in the metal pot.
I shall give you first some receipts for making soups without meat, and then some of the cheapest meat soups I have tried. The first is very cheap and nutritious, and should be served at meals where no meat is to be used; bread, and a cheap pudding, will be sufficient to use with it.
Scotch Broth without Meat.—Steep four ounces of pearl barley, (cost three cents,) over night in cold water, and wash it well in fresh water; cut in dice half an inch square, six ounces of yellow turnip, six ounces of carrot, four ounces of onion, two ounces of celery, or use in its place quarter of a saltspoonful of celery seed, (cost of all about one cent,) put all these into two and a half quarts of boiling water, season with a teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a saltspoonful of pepper, and as much cayenne as you can take up on the point of a very small pen-knife blade, (cost one cent;) boil slowly for two hours; then stir in quarter of a pound of oatmeal, (cost two cents,) mixed to a smooth batter with cold water, see if seasoning be correct, add two or three grates of nutmeg, and boil half an hour. Meantime, cut two slices of bread, (cost one cent,) in half inch dice, fry light brown in hot fat, (cost two cents,) and lay the bits in the soup tureen; when the soup is ready pour it over them, and serve. This soup, which costs only about ten cents, is palatable as well as economical.
Pea Soup.—Use half a pint, or seven ounces of dried peas, (cost three cents,) for every two quarts of soup you want. Put them in three quarts of cold water, after washing them well; bring them slowly to a boil; add a bone, or bit of ham, if you have it to spare, one turnip, and one carrot peeled, one onion stuck with three cloves, (cost three cents,) 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, (cost two cents;) this will prevent settling; meantime fry some dice of stale bread, about two slices, cut half an inch square, in hot fat, drain them on a sieve, and put them in the bottom of the soup tureen in which the pea soup is served; or cut some bits of very hard stale bread, or dry toast, to use instead of the fried bread. By the time the soup is done it will have boiled down to two quarts, and will be very thick and good. This receipt will cost you about ten cents.
Thick Pea Soup.—Fry one sliced onion, (cost half a cent,) in one ounce of suet or drippings, (cost half a cent,) using an iron pot to fry it in; as soon as it is brown, put into the same pot, three quarts of cold water, one pint, or fourteen ounces of well washed peas, (cost five cents,) and boil as above; this quantity of peas does not need any crusts in the soup; it will be thick enough; but bread may be eaten with it, if you want it. This soup costs six cents.
Bean Soup.—For this, use the receipt for pea soup, using beans instead of peas; the cost will be about the same.