Let the peas or beans soak over night in three quarts of cold water. Put the soaked peas or beans into a saucepan with two quarts of water and a ham-bone, if you have it, otherwise it may be omitted. Let simmer for four or five hours, or until the peas or beans are perfectly soft. (Add more water from time to time, if necessary.) Then pass them through a sieve; add to the pulp enough stock, or milk, or water to make a soup of the consistency of cream. Put it again into a saucepan on the fire; season, and add a roux made of one tablespoonful of butter and one tablespoonful of flour cooked together; dilute the roux to smoothness with a little of the soup before adding it to the pot.
The roux will hold the particles of peas or beans in suspension. Without it they are liable to precipitate.
An onion may be boiled with the peas or beans if desired.
Serve croûtons on the soup, or pass them.
BLACK-BEAN SOUP
- 2 cupfuls of black beans.
- Brown stock.
- Brown roux.
- Bouquet of herbs, made of a sprig of parsley, a sprig of thyme, one clove.
- 4 peppercorns, 1 onion.
- Egg balls.
- Thin slices of lemon.
- Force-meat balls.
- White of hard-boiled egg.
- ¼ cupful of sherry or red wine.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Soak two cupfuls of black beans over night. Put the soaked beans into a saucepan with a bouquet of herbs, and cover them with cold water. Let them boil slowly until tender, which will take several hours, adding more water if necessary. When the beans are very soft remove the bouquet, drain off the water, and pass the beans through a purée sieve. Add to the pulp enough brown stock to make a soup of the consistency of thin cream. Place it again on the fire and add a brown roux made of one tablespoonful of butter and one tablespoonful of flour, cooked together until brown; dilute it to smoothness before adding and cook it with the soup for five minutes. This will prevent the soup from separating. Season with salt and pepper. Strain it through a sieve into the tureen; then add thin slices of lemon, egg balls, and force-meat balls, allowing one of each to each portion of soup; add also the white of one hard-boiled egg cut into small dice, and one quarter of a cupful of sherry or red wine.
This resembles mock-turtle soup.
CALF’S-HEAD OR MOCK-TURTLE SOUP
Make a brown roux by putting in a saucepan one tablespoonful of butter, let it brown, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, and let that brown; then add, slowly at first, one and a half or two quarts of water in which a calf’s head has been boiled, white wine instead of vinegar being used in the boiling (see boiled calf’s head, page [175]). Add three or four strained tomatoes and simmer for one half hour. Skim off any fat and season with salt and pepper. Add some pieces of boiled calf’s head cut in pieces one half inch square, a few egg balls, two or three tablespoonfuls of sherry, and a few very thin slices of lemon.