An old hare, or birds, when so tough as to defy the teeth in any other form, will make very good soup.
Cut off the legs and shoulders; divide the body crossways, and stew them very gently in three quarts of water, with one carrot, about one ounce of onion, with four cloves, two blades of pounded mace, twenty-four black peppers, and a bundle of sweet herbs, till the hare is tender (most cooks add to the above a couple of slices of ham or bacon, and a bay leaf, &c., but my palate and purse both plead against such extravagance; the hare makes sufficiently savoury soup without them): the time this will take depends very much upon its age, and how long it has been kept before it is dressed: as a general rule, about three hours: in the mean time, make a dozen and a half of nice forcemeat balls (as big as nutmegs) of [No. 379]; when the hare is quite tender, take the meat off the back, and the upper joint of the legs; cut it into neat mouthfuls, and lay it aside; cut the rest of the meat off the legs, shoulders, &c., mince it and pound it in a mortar, with an ounce of butter, and two or three table-spoonfuls of flour moistened with a little soup; rub this through a hair-sieve, and put it into the soup to thicken it; let it simmer slowly half an hour longer, skimming it well; put it through the tamis into the pan again; and put in the meat with a glass of claret or port wine, and a table-spoonful of currant jelly to each quart of soup; season it with salt, put in the forcemeat balls, and when all is well warmed, the soup is ready.
Obs. Cold roast hare will make excellent soup. Chop it in pieces, and stew it in water (according to the quantity of hare) for about an hour, and manage it as in the above receipt: the stuffing of the hare will be a substitute for sweet herbs and seasoning.
N.B. This soup may be made with mock hare, see [No. 66].
Game Soup.—(No. 242.)
In the game season, it is easy for a cook to give her master a very good soup at a very little expense, by taking all the meat off the breasts of any cold birds which have been left the preceding day, and pounding it in a mortar, and beating to pieces the legs and bones, and boiling them in some broth for an hour. Boil six turnips; mash them, and strain them through a tamis-cloth with the meat that has been pounded in a mortar; strain your broth, and put a little of it at a time into the tamis to help you to strain all of it through. Put your soup-kettle near the fire, but do not let it boil: when ready to dish your dinner, have six yelks of eggs mixed with half a pint of cream; strain through a sieve; put your soup on the fire, and as it is coming to boil, put in the eggs, and stir well with a wooden spoon: do not let it boil, or it will curdle.
Goose or Duck Giblet Soup.[216-*]—(No. 244.)
Scald and pick very clean a couple sets of goose, or four of duck giblets (the fresher the better); wash them well in warm water, in two or three waters; cut off the noses and split the heads; divide the gizzards and necks into mouthfuls. If the gizzards are not cut into pieces before they are done enough, the rest of the meat, &c. will be done too much; and knives and forks have no business in a soup-plate. Crack the bones of the legs, and put them into a stew-pan; cover them with cold water: when they boil, take off the scum as it rises; then put in a bundle of herbs, such as lemon-thyme, winter savoury, or marjoram, about three sprigs of each, and double the quantity of parsley, an onion, twenty berries of allspice, the same of black pepper; tie them all up in a muslin bag, and set them to stew very gently till the gizzards are tender: this will take from an hour and a half to two hours, according to the size and age of the giblets: take them up with a skimmer, or a spoon full of holes, put them into the tureen, and cover down close to keep warm till the soup is ready.
To thicken the soup. Melt an ounce and a half of butter in a clean stew-pan; stir in as much flour as will make it into a paste; then pour to it by degrees a ladleful of the giblet liquor; add the remainder by degrees; let it boil about half an hour, stirring it all the while for fear it should burn; skim it, and strain it through a fine sieve into a basin; wash out the stew-pan; then return the soup into it, and season it with a glass of wine, a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup, and a little salt; let it have one boil up; and then put the giblets in to get hot, and the soup is ready.
Obs. Thus managed, one set of goose, or two of duck giblets (which latter may sometimes be had for 3d.), will make a quart of healthful, nourishing soup: if you think the giblets alone will not make the gravy savoury enough, add a pound of beef or mutton, or bone of a knuckle of veal, and heighten its “piquance” by adding a few leaves of sweet basil, the juice of half a Seville orange or lemon, and half a glass of wine, and a little of [No. 343*] to each quart of soup.