Shchi.—The Russians, like the Germans and other northern nations, are fond of a subacid flavour in their food: many of their soups are thus flavoured; and where they are not, a very common thing is for a dish of clotted sour cream to be placed on the table, from which the consumer may take what is necessary to give his plat (whether soup, pork, or anything else) the degree of acidity which suits his palate. A very little of this sour cream goes a far way however, a spoonful or two being sufficient to convert a very excellent dish of brown soup into what, according to our lights, would be considered a sour and unpalatable mess; but the shchi has generally a sufficiently subacid flavour of its own. It is made in this way. At the beginning of winter a store of cabbages is laid in by almost every household; these are chopped up into shreds, and placed in barrels with vinegar and salt, when a certain amount of fermentation takes place, and the cabbage becomes a kind of sauerkraut. From these barrels a portion is taken as required, and that is pretty commonly daily, for the shchi is not only the most characteristic national food in Russia, but the regular daily food of the great mass of the people. The portion so taken is made with meat into a cabbage broth, which is the shchi. With the broth there is always served a number of lumps of the boiled meat that made it. To make the shchi good, the degree of fermentation that it passes through in the barrel has to be carefully watched, for, if it goes too far, putrefaction sets in, and, if not absolutely spoiled, the cabbage at least acquires a high flavour, which is not agreeable to everyone. The shchi which we have been describing is shchi pure and simple, but it can be infinitely varied; by grating and mixing with it other items, it can be made to assume the appearance of almost any vegetable soup, from green-pea soup to cock-a-leekie: but, under whatever guise it appears, its identity can always be traced by the subacid flavour which is ever present in greater or less force. Whatever form it takes, however, when well made it is excellent.
Siberian Pilemaignes.—Chop 2 onions, add slices of ham and fat bacon, and a tender piece of game. Chop all these together, adding some black pepper and a few cloves. For the paste, take 3 glasses flour, 2 eggs, 7 spoonfuls salt water, and 1 teaspoonful salt; work this into a tolerably stiff paste, and roll it out as thin as you can without breaking it. Place on it at equal distances balls of the forcemeat, cover them well with paste, and press them all round to prevent coming out. With a knife or mould divide them into little crescent-shaped tarts. Plunge them into boiling salted water, and look at them in 10 minutes and see if they are done. If so, take them out carefully with a slice, and place them in a deep dish. You can moisten them with a sauce made of stock and butter, with lemon juice or vinegar. If you have put plenty of bacon in do not make any sauce, as they will contain sufficient gravy. Do not forget that the forcemeat is put into the paste uncooked.
Stouffate—Salt a piece of beef, lard it with ham or smoked tongue, or else fat bacon. Put in an earthenware pot (not in a metal pan) several slices of bacon or butter, vegetables, and spice, and on this lay the meat. Pour over it some wine, and 2 spoonsful vinegar or lemon juice. Let this simmer, adding a little water sufficient to moisten the meat on all sides. When sufficiently cooked put the meat on a dish, remove all fat from the gravy, to which add a little stock; strain it if necessary, and pour it over the meat.
Scottish.—Brochan.—Brochan is excellent as a supper dish or as a hot nourishing drink in winter when coughs and colds are on the outlook for victims. This is the way it is made: A sufficiency of water is put in a pan on the fire and allowed to boil; for every pint water in the pan, 1 small dessertspoonful of meal is put into a basin and mixed with ½ breakfastcupful sweet cream, according to the quantity of meal; this, with salt to taste, is poured into the boiling water, and the whole allowed to boil for about 1 hour. It is served in cups or small basins; into each of these is put 1 tablespoonful golden syrup, or thin slices of cheese, and the boiling gruel is poured into each. The oatmeal used is that known in Scotland as medium ground.
Skink Soup.—A much-liked and often made soup, made from the shin of beef. A well-broken shin of beef is put into 1½ gal. boiling water and boiled for 2 hours; it is then taken out, and the meat cut from the bone in small neat pieces, the liquor being skimmed at the same time. The bone is returned to the liquor and boiled 4 hours longer. This part of the process is generally done the day before the soup is wanted. The vegetables are then added in about the same proportion as for mutton broth. Add the pieces of beef at the same time, with pepper and salt to taste, and boil till the vegetables are tender.
Sowens.—The sids of oats are made into a dish called sowens, which is delicious, and, being light and wholesome, is often recommended by doctors for invalids. The sids are the inner husks of the oat grain; they retain a fine floury substance, which is what sowens are made of. To make sowens, the sids are first put into a narrow-mouthed wooden tub, like a small barrel with an open end, called a “sowen bowy,” and cold water mixed with them. The sids rise in dry bubbles to the top of the water, and must be stirred with the spurtle till all are wet; they are then covered with cold water to the depth of 6-8 in., and allowed to set for a week in summer, and a few days longer in winter, to sour. When sour, a tin sieve, called the sowen sieve, is placed over a wide-mouthed jar or tub, and the tubful of sour sids poured through the sieve; the sids remain on the sieve, and a drab liquid runs into the tub below. The sids which remain on the sieve have some cold water poured over them to wash out any sediment, are squeezed between the hands for the same purpose, and then thrown away. The water in the wide tub is allowed to set for 2 days after the foregoing operation, and is then fit for use; a thick sediment will be at the bottom, and clear water at the top. When wanted for use, the water is poured off, and sufficient of the sediment put into a pan and boiled with a little water for ½ hour; it is then served in soup plates and eaten with new milk.
Spanish.—Ajo blanco.—This soup is extensively eaten in Andalusia. Pound 1 clove of garlic and 7 well-dried beans, or better still, almonds, in a small spice mortar to a smooth paste. Moisten this paste with olive oil, drop by drop, then water by degrees, so as to thoroughly incorporate and amalgamate the whole. Add until it is sufficiently wet to soak some bread, which must be added later on, pouring in some vinegar and a little salt. Then put in the breadcrumbs, size of half an almond, and allow it to soak. A final mixing of the bowl, and this quaint and perfectly national dish awaits consumption.
Bacalao.—Bacalao, or salted cod, in this land of rigid Catholicism, is almost indispensable as food on the many last days in the calendar. (a) Cut up the cod after it has been soaked for 24 hours, and lay the pieces so as to cover the bottom of a pipkin; pour on this a thick stratum of grated bread, garlic and parsley in profusion, then more codfish, then bread again, and so on till the pipkin is full to the top. Fill all the crevices with raw oil, garlic, pepper and salt; close the pipkin, and boil till the contents are nearly dry, when serve. (b) Lay onions, cut in thick circles, at the bottom of a pipkin, with tomatoes, a grain of garlic, and cinnamon; on these place a layer of codfish sliced, and so on in alternate layers. Pour in plenty of oil, cloves, peppers, whole and ground, and then set on the fire to boil, without adding any stock, till the juice of the tomatoes and onions is nearly absorbed. (c) Codfish with honey or sugar may be eaten by boiling the pieces, draining them dry, soaking in honey, flouring, and then frying; or the pieces may be covered with yolk of egg, floured, and powdered over with sugar. (d) Codfish a la vizcaino (in the Biscayan method) may be nice. After soaking and cutting in bits, put it on to boil; meanwhile toast a few tomatoes before the fire, skin them, and mash them well up with a wooden spoon; chop up plenty of onions very small, and put them to boil in oil. Just before they turn colour add the tomatoes. Now place the cod in a pipkin, throw in the onions and tomatoes with the oil in which they were cooked, and set on a slow fire to simmer gently till quite done. (e) Codfish con ajo de arriero (with muleteer’s garlic) is prepared by boiling the fish first, then adding a sauce at the time of serving, made by frying garlic in oil, and adding peppers, green and red, with vinegar in equal quantity with the oil.
Chorizos.—The ordinary chorizos, or plain sausages, are prepared thus: the lean of pork chopped very small is steeped in a small tub with salt, pepper, white and red, to give it a colour, wild marjoram, which has been well pounded and passed through a sieve, and garlic bruised. It is here beaten up well, so that the meat and condiments may become well incorporated, and it is so kept for 3-4 days, taking care to turn it over once or twice a day, and to work it with the hands. After that time fry a little to taste and try, adding such seasoning or other ingredients as may appear necessary; when ready fill the skins, having prepared them the day previous with an infusion of wild marjoram, a little salt, and water sufficient to cover them. Longaniza, which are larger, longer, and very tender, are made in the same way, but without hot pepper, and with the addition of a little aniseed boiled in white wine. The coarse longanizas is made by chopping up the liver, tongue, heart, kidney, and intestines. Some sausages are scented by drenching the mincemeat in white wine flavoured with powdered cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg; and occasionally this sauce is further thickened with eggs beaten up with or without sugar, the meat being minced small, so as to form a thick paste, adding sometimes honey or cream.
Cocido.—First and foremost on the list of soups comes the cocido, or far-famed olla podrida, so supremely dear to the national heart. Every province has some particular method for the concoction of cocido, to which mode it faithfully adheres. The following method is that of the Spanish capital, Madrid, that being the most general. Throw 1½ lb. either mutton or veal into a vessel, with water (the Spaniards use a pipkin, called in the vernacular a “marmite”), 1½ lb. garbanzos, or chickpeas, one good slice of lean raw ham, and any debris (no matter how small) of game or poultry. Cook gently with the lid on, skim, and add a little bacon cut small, and as much salt as necessary; cook for another ½ hour, then pour off the broth slowly, to be used afterwards for the soup and sauce; add as much vegetable as you please, thoroughly well washed, and cook over a clear fire until done. About 5 minutes before the olla is ready, throw in a piece of chorizo (black pudding). Serve the meat separately on one dish, the vegetables on another, and in a third the sauce for the whole.