Oyster Soup.—Wet a saucepan with cold water; pour into it two quarts of milk. When at boiling point, add two dozen oysters and a pint of oyster liquor well seasoned with salt and pepper. Dissolve a tablespoonful of rice flour in a little cold milk; finally add a large tablespoonful of table butter; do not let the soup boil again as it will contract the oysters. Pour into a tureen, taste for salting, and serve, a few broken crackers may be added. The object in wetting the pan is to prevent the milk from burning.
Pea Soup.—Cut two large slices of ham into dice, with a sliced onion, and fry them in a little bacon fat until they are lightly browned. Cut up one turnip, one large carrot, four outer stalks of celery, and one leek into small pieces; add these last ingredients to the ham and onion, and let them simmer for fifteen minutes; then pour over them three quarts of corned-beef water or hot water, and add a pint of split peas which have been soaked in cold water over night.
Boil gently until the peas are quite tender stirring constantly to prevent burning; then add salt and pepper to taste, and a teaspoonful of brown sugar. Remove the soup from the fire, and rub through a sieve; if it is not thick enough to suit your taste, add a few ounces of flour mixed smoothly in a little cold milk; return the soup to the fire, and simmer for half an hour. Cut up four slices of American bread into small dice, and fry the pieces in very hot fat until nicely browned; place them on a napkin or towel, and add a few to each plate or tureen of soup just before it goes to table.
Pea Soup, Economical.—Boil for four hours two quarts of green pea hulls in four quarts of water, in which beef, mutton, or fowl has been boiled, then add a bunch or bouquet of herbs, salt and pepper, a teaspoonful of butter, and a quart of milk. Rub through a hair sieve, thicken with a little flour, and serve with croutons, as in the foregoing receipt.
Potato Soup.—Wash and peel two dozen small sized potatoes; put them into a saucepan with two onions; add three quarts of corned-beef water; boil for one hour and a half until the potatoes fall to pieces. Pour the soup through a sieve, and rub the potato through it to a fine pulp; put the whole into the saucepan again; when very hot add a pint of hot rich cream, salt and pepper, if necessary; whisk thoroughly; pour into a tureen, add croutons, and serve.
Purée of Beans.—Soak two quarts of small, white beans over night; change the water twice; drain, put them into a pot or saucepan, and cover them with cold water. Boil slowly for six hours; as the water evaporates, add hot water. One hour before the beans are cooked add one pound of salt pork, a bunch of fresh herbs, half a dozen whole cloves, salt if necessary; when done pour the soup through a sieve, remove the pork and seasoning, and rub the soup through a sieve; add the pulp to the stock; taste for seasoning; pour the soup into a tureen, add croutons and serve. Many prefer a ham bone to pork.
Purée of Clams.—Chop twenty-five large hard-shell clams, very fine, and put them aside; fry half a chopped red onion in an ounce of hot butter; add a teaspoonful of chopped celery tops, a blade of mace, one salted anchovy, six whole peppers, and a pint of soup stock. Let it boil; then strain into a saucepan; add the chopped clams and one quart of stock or hot water. Boil slowly one hour; strain all the clams through a sieve twice, and return to the stock; season with salt and cayenne. Keep the soup warm, but do not let it boil again; taste for seasoning. Boil one pint of cream in a saucepan previously wet with cold water; strain it, and add to the soup slowly. Mix a teaspoonful of rice flour in a little cold milk; add to the soup; whisk the soup; taste again for seasoning; pour it into a hot tureen, and serve.
Rabbit Soup.—Cut up two jack rabbits into neat pieces; put them into a stewpan containing one quarter of a pound of melted butter; add a slice of fat bacon cut into small pieces. Fry for five minutes in the butter; slice two small carrots, and two red onions, and add to the saucepan with one bay leaf, one blade of mace, four cloves, a few green celery stalks, one ounce of salt, and one long red pepper.
Pour over all, one gallon of stock; simmer gently for nearly three hours; skim carefully; strain into a saucepan, and set on back of range to keep hot, but not to boil. Add half a pint of dry sherry, and serve with croutons. If not dark enough add a little glaze.
Scotch Broth.—Take two pounds of mutton trimmings; cut into neat pieces; put into a saucepan with three quarts of water, one large red onion, salt, and a dozen whole peppers. Boil gently, and remove the scum as it rises; wash half a pint of barley; soak it while the soup is boiling, and add it at the end of the first hour. Let the soup boil for two hours longer; taste for seasoning; pour slowly into a soup tureen, leaving the meat in the saucepan. Some prefer to take the meat out of the soup, and after removing the bones they return the meat to the soup.