Crust Soup (Croûte au pot).—Cut off the bottom crust of a quartern loaf, leaving the same thickness of crumb as there is crust. Cut it out in rounds the size of a sixpence. Soak the rounds in broth; put them (in a tin with some butter) into the oven, and let them be until they are quite dried up (gratinés). Then lay them in the soup tureen with rounds of carrots, turnips, leeks, or cabbages boiled in stock, and cut the same size, pour some well-flavoured clear stock over, and after the lapse of 3 or 4 minutes serve. (The G. C.)
Custard Soup.—See Clear soup with custard.
Flemish Soup.—Boil equal parts of potatoes and turnips in water, with one onion and a head of celery, adding pepper and salt to taste. When the vegetables are quite done, pass the whole through a hair sieve. Put the soup in a saucepan on the fire, and as soon as it boils, add a pat of fresh butter, and plenty of chervil, a pinch of parsley, and a few tarragon leaves, all finely minced; then pour it over slices of toast, and serve.
French Soup.—Take one sheep’s head, remove the brains, and steep it. Put it into a saucepan with 3 qt. water, one teacupful pearl barley, 6 onions, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a few cloves. Let it simmer gently for about 5 hours, then remove the head; strain and rub the vegetables through a sieve, or leave them whole, according to taste. Let it stand all night, and when cold take off every particle of fat; cut up the meat from the head into small pieces, and warm it up in the soup. Season to taste, add a wineglass of white wine, a little mushroom ketchup, and thicken with butter and flour. Very little inferior to mock turtle soup.
Fried Soup.—3 potatoes, 3 turnips, 3 parsnips, 3 onions, 3 heads of celery, thinly sliced and fried; stew for some hours in weak stock. When quite tender, keep some pieces of each vegetable to put in the soup; pass all the rest through the sieve, and add a good cupful of pea soup, or soaked and boiled peas, to thicken the purée. Season to taste; warm it up; add the fried pieces to it at the last.
Game Soup (de Gibier).—Take the remnants of any kind of game not high, put them in a saucepan with an onion or carrot, 2 or 3 cloves, a small piece of mace, a bay leaf, some parsley, whole pepper and salt to taste. Cover the whole with veal or poultry stock, and set the saucepan to boil gently for 2 hours. Strain off the soup and set it to boil again, then throw in 1 oz. raw beef or liver coarsely chopped, let it give one boil, and strain the soup through a napkin. If not quite clear, the clarifying process must be repeated. A very small quantity of sherry may be put in before clarifying.
Giblet Soup (gibelette).—This is generally a favourite soup, is very nutritious, and if flavoured simply, need not be unwholesome. Prepare the giblets as usual. Brown a slice of lean ham in a pan, adding a little water occasionally to collect the brown gravy from it; put this with the ham, giblets, and a teaspoonful of pearl barley, into a stewpan with enough cold water to cover them well; simmer gently until the gizzards are perfectly tender. Take them out, and stew the remainder of the giblets, with a clove or two, celery leaves, and any flavourings considered suitable, until the meat is quite done to rags. If necessary, add a little hot water now and then to keep the giblets covered. Strain off the stock, and allow it to become cold, when every particle of fat must be removed. To ensure this, not only skim, but wipe the surface with a soft cloth dipped into hot water. Mix with this an equal quantity of stock; flavour with a little wine and mushroom ketchup, or the latter only; cut up the gizzards into convenient pieces, and simmer them in the soup for a few minutes. Serve with this a slice of French roll or whole-meal bread as preferred. If salt meat be objected to, brown the soup with a little Liebig instead of the ham. To avoid richness, the gizzards are the only part of the giblets that should be served in the soup, and these are said to be particularly nourishing.
Gniocchi Soup.—Put 1 oz. butter into a saucepan with 1 pint water and a pinch of salt; when the water boils, stir with a spoon (and throw in gradually with the other hand) as much flour as will make a stiff paste that will not stick to the spoon; then add 2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese, mix well, and, removing the saucepan from the fire, work into it 2 or 3 eggs. Next put the paste into a biscuit forcer, and as it is forced out cut it off in even lengths of 1 in., letting them drop into some well-flavoured stock boiling on the fire. A few minutes’ poaching will cook the gniocchi, but expedition is necessary, so that the first that is cut off may not be overdone by the time the last is cut off. The knife used should be dipped now and then in hot water, else the paste will stick to it.
Gravy Soup (Consommé).—Place a layer of slices of onions in a saucepan holding a gallon, over this a layer of fat bacon, and over all about 2 lb. shin of beef chopped up in small pieces; 1 pint common stock, or even water, being poured on the whole, set the saucepan on the fire for 1 hour, or until the liquor is almost evaporated—what is called reduced to a “glaze”; then add sufficient cold common stock or cold water to cover the contents of the saucepan, and 2 or 3 carrots cut in slices, 1 leek, a head of celery (when in season), or some celery seed, a handful of parsley, have a clove of garlic, a sprig of marjoram and one of thyme, a bay leaf, 4 or 5 cloves, white pepper and salt to taste. After boiling about 3 hours strain off the liquor, and, being absolutely freed from fat, it is ready for use.
Green Corn Soup.—Boil unripe green corn in broth or water till quite soft; pass it through a sieve, in the manner of peas. Add it to some good broth, in which celery or parsley-roots have been boiled, or any flavouring herbs. Give a quick boil, and serve with sippets of toast. The broth or soup should be clear and colourless, not to alter the green tint of the corn. A few spinach leaves may be boiled with it, to give a deeper green.