Italian Soup.—(a) Take the flesh left from the cowheel or calves’ feet that jelly has been made from; cut it into dice. Boil 2 tablespoonfuls of sago, well washed, until it is clear, either in water or inferior stock, and warm just to boiling point some soup stock. Just before dinner, put the pieces of meat into some boiling stock until warmed through, then put them at the bottom of the tureen, also the sago and a large tablespoonful of grated Parmesan cheese, and pour the boiling stock upon these and send to table.
(b) Minestrone.—Take equal quantities marrowfat peas and carrots cut to the size of peas; boil separately in salted water till done; take as much rice boiled in salted water as there are peas and carrots; put all into a saucepan with sufficient common stock free from fat; add enough French tomato sauce to give the stock a rich colour. Let the whole come to the boil, and serve. Grated Parmesan cheese to be handed round with the soup.
Julienne Soup.—Take about equal quantities carrots, turnips, leeks, onions, and celery; cut them all in thin strips, not much more than ⅛ in. square and about 1½ in. long; put them in a saucepan with a lump of fresh butter, a good pinch of pounded loaf sugar, add pepper and salt to taste; toss them lightly on the fire until they begin to colour, then add one lettuce finely shredded, and a small handful of chervil and sorrel, also finely shred; and, after giving the whole a tossing on the fire for about 5 minutes, moisten with some clear stock, and keep the soup hot by the side of the fire for 2 hours. When wanted, add as much more stock as is necessary, and serve.
Kidney Soup.—Take 3 pints well-flavoured white stock, slice finely one or two gherkins, have ready 6 small button mushrooms previously cooked in a little lemon juice. Slice a small onion, and put it into a saucepan with a little butter, let it just take colour, add to it a veal kidney cut in small dice, season with pepper and salt, and toss together for a few minutes, but do not overcook the kidney; drain them from the butter, and put them into the soup tureen with the gherkins and the mushroom. Make the soup hot, and add to it, off the fire, the yolks of 2 eggs and a little milk or cream; pour it over the kidney, &c., add a dash of cayenne, and serve very hot.
Leek Soup.—Take the green leafy part of the leeks, rejecting any leaves which may be otherwise than quite fresh and tender; soak them in cold water so as to be quite crisp; cut them into lengths of about 1-1½ in., and boil them in as much good stock as may be required for the size of the party. Let them boil until perfectly soft and tender, season with a little salt and a slight shake of pepper stirred in, and serve. This soup should be quite thick from the quantity of leeks in it, and not just gravy soup with a few pieces of leek floating about it.
Lentil Soup (Conti).—Well wash about 1 pint lentils, and soak them for several hours; add to them 3 qt. water, some bones, which can be purchased for 3d., or 2 lb. of shin of beef cut up, 3 or 4 good-sized onions, and the same of carrots and turnips, with the outside leaves of a stick of celery if at hand; add a little seasoning, but be careful not to put too much pepper, and let the soup simmer gently on the side of the hob all day. When the vegetables are quite soft they can be rubbed through a colander, or many people prefer to leave them whole. The latter plan would perhaps answer best for poor people, especially if there is meat in the soup. You can make lentil soup with only the liquor in which meat has been boiled, but if the meat is salted, the lentils, &c., must be cooked first, or they will harden, and the liquor added when they are nearly done, care being taken not to make it too salt. A cowheel makes excellent stock for soup, and can be eaten separately, or cut up and left in the soup. They can be bought for 8d. each, and are most nutritious if poor people could only be taught the value of such food. If eaten separately the cowheel should be allowed to simmer gently for about 3 hours. The meat will then separate readily from the bone, and can be fried in batter. The bones should be left to boil up again in the soup, and thus two dinners may be provided at a small cost; but as it is always very difficult to persuade poor people to expend so much time on cookery, it would possibly be better to cut up the meat and let it be eaten with the soup.
Lettuce Soup (aux Laitues).—Boil some lettuces in salted water, when quite done drain them well, and pass through a hair sieve. Mix a small piece of butter with a tablespoonful of flour in a saucepan, add a little stock, then the purée of lettuce, let it boil for a minute or so, season with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste, add as much stock as is necessary to make the soup, and serve with small dice of bread fried in butter.
Liebig’s Beef Tea.—This is rendered much more nourishing and palatable by the addition of milk or cream. If with milk, make with equal parts of milk and water; if cream, add a tablespoonful or two to a breakfastcupful of beef tea. Season with salt. When milk cannot be taken, thin pearl barley water is excellent with Liebig stirred in it, and any approved flavouring. A little stock will also be found very nice with a little Liebig and salt only. Either of these, while containing nutriment, can be taken as simple beverages.
Liver Soup.—Slice ½ lb. liver, dredge with flour, and fry brown in butter, with an onion cut in slices. Then pound the liver quite smooth, season with salt, black pepper, and a grate of nutmeg. Stir in about 3 pints good brown soup, and boil 10 minutes with a French roll sliced in, crust included. Strain, and again make hot, nearly boiling. Pour it on 2 well-beaten eggs in the tureen. Offer lemon juice and cayenne pepper at table.
Lobster Soup (Bisque de Homard).—Pick out all the meat from a lobster, pound it in a mortar with an equal quantity of butter until a fine orange-coloured pulp is obtained; to this add pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste; take as much breadcrumbs as there is lobster pulp, soak them in stock, then melt a piece of butter in a saucepan, amalgamate with it a heaped tablespoonful of flour, mix the lobster pulp with the breadcrumbs, and put both in the saucepan on the fire, stirring the contents until they thicken and boil, draw it then on one side, and carefully skim off superfluous fat; then strain the soup through a hair sieve, make boiling hot, and serve with small dice of bread fried in butter.