To prepare rice for Calcutta curry, wash a pint in several waters, and put it into a kettle, containing a gallon of warm water, with salt in it. Cook it ten minutes from the time it begins to boil; then pour it into a sieve, and when the water is entirely drained out, shake the sieve, and the particles of rice will separate, and it is ready to serve.
SOUPS.
Soup is economical food, and by a little attention may be made good with very small materials. It should never be made of meat that has been kept too long. If meat is old, or has become tainted in the least, the defect is peculiarly offensive in soup. All meat and bones for soup should be boiled a long time, and set aside until the next day in order that the fat may be entirely removed. Then add the vegetables, rice, and herbs, and boil it from an hour to an hour and a half. The water in which fresh meat is boiled should be saved for soup and broth; and the bones of roast beef should never be thrown away without boiling, as they make excellent soup, and if not used for this purpose, should be boiled in order to save the fat which they contain.
A Rich Soup.
The richest soups are made by using several kinds of meat together; as beef, mutton, and veal. A shank of each of these with very little meat upon it, should be boiled several hours the first day; and vegetables, with various kinds of spice, added the day it is to be served. Nice soups should be strained; and they are good with macaroni, added afterwards, and boiled half or three quarters of an hour. If you have the water, in which chickens have been boiled, the soup will be much better if the beef, mutton, and veal are boiled in this, instead of pure water.
Roast Beef Bone Soup.
Boil the bones at least three hours, or until every particle of meat is loose; then take them out and scrape off the meat and set aside the water; the next day take from it all the fat, cut up an onion, two or three potatoes and a turnip, and put into it. Add, half an hour before dinner, powdered sweet marjoram, catsup, and some salt. Boil it an hour.
Shank Soup.
When you buy a shank, have the butcher cut it into several pieces, and split open the thickest part of the bone. Boil it three or four hours and set it aside. The next day, take off the fat, and if you do not wish to eat the meat in the soup, take that out also; add vegetables, etc., as in the preceding receipt. To make a convenient use of the meat, see the [receipt] for minced meat.