Batter-cream Soup.—Mix 2-3 tablespoonfuls flour with water enough to make as thick a batter as you can stir, then add as many eggs as there are spoonfuls of flour, and stir well. Have ready some boiling broth which has been seasoned and strained; pour it into the batter, stirring all the while; set it over the fire to boil a few minutes, and serve.
Bean Soup.—See Haricot.
Beer Soup.—Simmer together 2 qt. beer, not bitter, a stick of cinnamon, a few cloves, the thin rind of a lemon, and sugar to taste. Beat in a tureen or bowl the yolks of 6 eggs and ½ pint cream. Strain on these the scalding beer, stirring all to a foam with the wire whisk. Serve hot, with toast.
Birds’-nests Soup.—One bird’s nest is needed for each person; soak for 12 hours in fresh water; drain and wipe, separating the fibres, and carefully removing all feathers &c., by washing through several waters, until the nests are perfectly clean. Put them in a saucepan, cover with chicken broth, place the saucepan in a bain-marie, and cook very gently for 2 hours in the broth. At the moment of serving, place the nests in a soup dish, and cover with enough very rich, clear, hot chicken broth for the number of guests. Add pepper and salt to taste, and serve at once.
Bone Soup.—Take a good quantity of bones of any kind, cover with water, add carrots, celery, a bunch of all kinds of herbs, a little parsley, onions, a blade or two of mace, and a few cloves, according to the quantity. Make it boil up quick, then pour in a little cold water to make the scum rise, and skim just as you would clear soup. Boil for several hours, then strain off and let it stand till next day. Take off the grease, whip up the whites of 2 eggs in a little cold water, add the shells, and beat all well together in the soup; set it on the fire to boil for ½ hour, till it looks clear, and strain off. Do not let it boil too fast.
Bonne Femme Soup.—Cut up a good-sized onion into very thin rounds, and place these in a saucepan with a good allowance of butter. Take care not to let the onion get brown, and when it is half done throw in 2-3 handfuls of sorrel, 1 lettuce, and a small quantity of chervil, all finely cut; add pepper, salt, a little nutmeg, and keep stirring until the vegetables are nearly done. Then put in 1 tablespoonful pounded loaf sugar, and half a cupful of stock or broth free from fat. Let the mixture reduce nearly to a glaze, when about 1 qt. of stock or broth of the same kind as that used before should be added, and, after the soup has given one boil, it can be put aside until the time of serving. Meanwhile prepare about 18 very thin slices of bread, about 1 in. wide and 2 in. long, taking care that they have a crust along one of their sides. Dry these slices in the oven. When it is time to send up the soup, first remove the superfluous fat from it, then set it to boil, and when it boils take it off the fire and stir into it the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs beaten up with ¼ pint of cream or milk. Pour the soup over the slices of bread, and serve in 3 minutes. (The G. C.)
Brunoise Soup.—Take equal parts of carrots, turnips, onions, and celery; cut them all in the shape of very small dice. Put a good piece of butter in a saucepan, with a little pepper and salt, and a teaspoonful of powdered lump sugar. Toss the carrots in this till they begin to take colour; then put in the celery, after a little time the turnips, and then the onions. When all the vegetables are equally coloured, add as much stock as you want soup, and set the saucepan by the side of the fire to simmer gently for 2 hours. Then skim, and serve. (The G. C.)
Calf’s Head Soup.—Having well washed and soaked the head, put it on the fire in cold water, and simmer it 2½ hours from the time of its coming to a scalding heat. When quite done, take it out. Cut the meat off in neat slices; slice the tongue also, and take out the brains. Throw back the bones into the soup. Dry a pinch of saffron, rub it to powder, put it in the soup, with a small wineglassful of pale vinegar, a tablespoonful of sugar, a little nutmeg, and salt to taste. Shred parsley may be added if approved. The brains, divided into small pieces, must be put into the tureen, with 3 or 4 yolks of eggs beaten, and the scalding soup poured on them. Dip the slices of meat in egg and breadcrumbs, fry them a delicate brown in butter, and serve them after the soup, with any white vegetable.
Carrot Soup (Crécy, Nivernaise).—Fry a large onion a nice brown colour without burning it, scrape, wash, and well dry 2 or 3 large carrots, cutting out all specks; cut them into thin slices and put them into a stewpan with about 3 pints of stock, let them cook gently over the fire until quite tender, then strain them from the soup, rub them through a tammy with the fried onion back into the soup, warm it again, and season with a very little pepper and salt. Serve with fried croutons on a napkin in a plate to hand round with it. This soup should be made the day before or early in the day on which it is to be used; this gives the fat in which the onions have been fried time to rise to the top, and it can easily be removed when cold. If a very nice colour is wished, only the red parts of the carrots should be used, of course more carrots will then be required; it should be of about the consistency of pea soup. Almost any other vegetable suitable for a purée may be used in the same way, such as turnip, parsnip, vegetable marrow, or potato; or if the stock chance not to be particularly good, it may be thickened either with semolina, tapioca, or sago in the proportion of about three ounces to a quart of stock. For semolina, drop it into the stock when boiling, keep stirring it, and let it simmer gently for about ½ hour. Sago should be washed in boiling water, and added gradually to the boiling stock, stirring and simmering until perfectly soft and transparent. Tapioca must be put into the stock while cold, and must be allowed to boil gradually, it must then be simmered gently till quite soft as for sago; but even greater care will be necessary to keep stirring, or the tapioca will cling together and be lumpy. Should there not be likely to be any sufficiently good stock for next day’s dinner, an excellent soup, as well as a most useful cold dish for family use, may be made by stewing a piece of the thick brisket of beef the day before the soup is wanted. To 6 lb. of beef allow 3 large onions, 2 medium-sized carrots, 12 cloves, a sprig or two of parsley, and a tiny bunch of sweet herbs tied in muslin. Fry one of the onions a dark brown, without burning it, slice up one of the carrots and the remaining onions into a large stewpan, adding the second carrot, merely cut into 2 or 3 pieces, add a small piece of sweet dripping, and set the stewpan on the fire, stirring the vegetables until they are about half cooked, and are slightly browned; then take out half the vegetables; to those remaining in the stewpan add half the fried onion, 6 of the cloves, the bunch of herbs, and the parsley; slightly rub the beef with a small quantity of salt, place it above the vegetables, adding those that were taken from the stewpan, the other half of the fried onion, and 6 cloves, to rest on the top of the beef. Pour in as much of any stock you may happen to have as will well cover the beef, or, if you have no stock, use cold water; set it on the fire, which should not be a very fierce one, and let it remain till it begins to bubble; then remove it to the side, and let it remain simmering for 4-5 hours, or until done enough to be able to draw out the bones; it will require watching to ascertain this, as, when once tender enough for this, it should not cook any more. When the bones are removed, set the beef in a cool place between 2 dishes, with a heavy weight on the top; the next day it will be ready to trim and glaze, and serve as pressed beef. The soup and vegetables should be poured into a basin to stand all night; in the morning remove the fat which has risen to the top, warm the soup, and strain the vegetables from it. Trim off the outer discoloured parts of the larger pieces of carrot and cut them into thin slips, putting them back into the soup to be served in it; the rest of the vegetables may go into the stockpot, as there will still be much goodness in them. A slight shake of pepper will complete the soup, which should be a dark brown gravy soup of excellent flavour. If preferred to the carrots, a small quantity of Naples macaroni may be served in it; boil it in water till tender, then strain it and cut it into fine rings and add it to the soup.
Cauliflower Soup.—Make a clear white soup of mutton, or veal, properly seasoned with salt and white pepper. Mix 2 or 3 spoonfuls of flour in milk to thicken the soup to the consistence of cream. Break up a cauliflower into small tufts; boil them in salted water; drain carefully, and add them unbroken to the soup when about to serve. If extra richness is desired, add the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs, with a little cream beaten up.