Pare and slice five or six cucumbers, the inside of as many cos lettuces, a sprig or two of mint, two or three onions, some pepper and salt, a pint and half of young peas, and a little parsley. Put these, with half a pound of fresh butter, into a saucepan to stew in their own liquor near a gentle fire half an hour; then pour two quarts of boiling water to the vegetables, and stew them two hours: rub down a little flour into a teacup of water; boil it with the rest fifteen or twenty minutes, and serve it.
Another Vegetable Soup.
Peel and slice six large onions, six potatoes, six carrots, and four turnips: fry them in half a pound of butter: pour on them four quarts of boiling water, and toast a crust of bread as brown and hard as possible, but do not burn it: put that, some celery, sweet herbs, white pepper and salt, to the above: stew gently four hours, strain through a coarse cloth: have ready sliced carrot, celery, and a little turnip, and add to your liking; and stew them tender in the soup. If approved, you may add an anchovy, and a spoonful of catsup.
Spinach Soup.
Shred two handfuls of spinach, a turnip, two onions, a head of celery, two carrots, and a little thyme and parsley. Put all into a stewpot, with, a bit of butter the size of a walnut, and a pint of broth, or the water in which meat has been boiled; stew till the vegetables are quite tender: work them through a coarse cloth or sieve with a spoon; then with the pulp of the vegetables, and liquor, a quart of fresh water, pepper and salt, boil all together. Have ready some suet dumplings, the size of a walnut, and before you put the soup into the tureen, put them into it. The suet must not be shred too fine; and take care that it is perfectly fresh.
Scotch Leek Soup.
Put the boiling of a leg of mutton into a stew pot, with a quantity of chopped leeks, and pepper and salt; simmer them an hour, then mix some oatmeal with a little cold water quite smooth, pour it into the soup, and setting it on a slow part of the fire, let it simmer gently; but take care that it does not burn to the bottom.
Hare Soup.
Take an old hare that is good for nothing else than soup, cut in pieces, and put it with a pound and a half of lean beef, two or three shankbones of mutton well cleaned, a slice of lean bacon or ham; an onion, and a bunch of sweet herbs: pour on it two quarts of boiling water: cover the jar, in which you put these, with bladder and paper, and set it in a kettle of water: simmer till the hare is stewed to pieces: strain off the liquor, and give it one boil, with an anchovy cut in pieces, and add a spoonful of soy, and a little Cayenne and salt. A few fine forcemeat balls, fried of a good brown, should be served in the tureen.