To finish it for the table, melt a quarter of a pound of nice fresh butter, add a handful of flour and stir over the fire till the butter and flour are brown; add to this a little of the soup, a few sprigs of parsley and sweet basil; boil it for fifteen minutes and add it to the soup, together with two tablespoonfuls of catsup, the juice of a lemon, and salt to taste. It is usual to add a pint of sherry. When dished in the tureen, put in two dozen egg balls.
EGG BALLS FOR MOCK-TURTLE SOUP
Make a paste of the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs and the white of two raw ones; season with salt and cayenne pepper. Take bits of the paste the size of small marbles, run them in flour and roll into balls; fry carefully in butter and drop into the soup.
OX-TAIL SOUP
Cut each joint of two ox-tails with a meat-saw, steep them in water for two hours; then place them in a stew-pan with three carrots, three turnips, three onions, two heads of celery, four cloves, and a blade of mace.
Fill up the stew-pan from the boiling stock-pot; boil this over a slow fire until done and the joints quite tender. Take them out, cool them, and clarify the broth. Strain this into a soup-pot, put with it the pieces of ox-tail, some olive shaped pieces of carrot and turnip which have been boiled in a little of the broth; add to this when it has boiled half an hour a small lump of sugar and a little red pepper. This soup is excellent, and may be served with any kind of vegetables strained in it, such as puree of peas, carrots, turnips, or celery.
RABBIT SOUP
Cut one or two rabbits into joints; lay them for an hour in cold water; dry and fry them in butter until they are half done; place the meat in a saucepan with four or five onions and a head of celery cut small; add to these three parts of cold water and a cup of peas, either green or dry; season with pepper and salt, then strain and serve it. Some like it unstrained.
REMARKS ON GOMBO OF OKRA OR FILEE
This is a most excellent form of soup, and is an economical way of using up the remains of any cold roasted chicken, turkey, game, or other meats. Cut up and season the chicken, meat, or other material to make the soup; fry to a light brown in a pot, and add boiling water in proportion to your meat. Two pounds of meat or chicken (bones and all), with a half pound of ham, or less of breakfast-bacon, will flavor a gallon of soup, which, when boiled down, will make gombo for six people. When the boiling water is added to the meat, let it simmer for at least two hours. Take the large bones from the pot, and add okra or a preparation of dried and pounded sassafras leaves, called filee. This makes the difference in gombo. For gombo for six people use one quart of sliced okra; if filee be used, put in a coffeecupful. Either gives the smoothness so desirable in this soup. Oysters, crabs, and shrimp may be added when in season, as all improve the gombo. Never strain gombo. Add green corn, tomatoes, etc., etc., if desired. Serve gombo with plain-boiled rice.