A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes | Page 4

of split or dried peas, previously soaked in cold water over-night, two carrots, four onions, and a head of celery, all chopped small; season with pepper, but _no_ salt, as the pork, if pork is used, will season the soup sufficiently; set the whole to boil very gently for at least three hours, taking care to skim it occasionally, and do not forget that the peas, etc., must be stirred from the bottom of the pot now and then; from three to four hours' gentle boiling will suffice to cook a good mess of this most excellent and satisfying soup. If fresh meat is used for this purpose, salt must be added to season it. Dried mint may be strewn over the soup when eaten.
No. 6. ONION SOUP FOR SIX PERSONS.
Chop fine six onions, and fry them in a gallon saucepan with two ounces of butter or dripping fat, stirring them continuously until they become of a very light colour; then add six ounces of flour or oatmeal, and moisten with three quarts of water; season with pepper and salt, and stir the soup while boiling for twenty minutes, and when done, pour it out into a pan or bowl containing slices of bread.
No. 7. BROTH MADE FROM BONES FOR SOUP.
Fresh bones are always to be purchased from butchers at about a farthing per pound; they must be broken up small, and put into a boiling-pot with a quart of water to every pound of bones; and being placed on the fire, the broth must be well skimmed, seasoned with pepper and salt, a few carrots, onions, turnips, celery, and thyme, and boiled very gently for six hours; it is then to be strained off, and put back into the pot, with any bits of meat or gristle which may have fallen from the bones (the bones left are still worth a farthing per pound, and can be sold to the bone-dealers). Let this broth be thickened with peasemeal or oatmeal, in the proportion of a large table-spoonful to every pint of broth, and stirred over the fire while boiling for twenty-five minutes, by which time the soup will be done. It will be apparent to all good housewives that, with a little trouble and good management, a savoury and substantial meal may thus be prepared for a mere trifle.
No. 8. THICK MILK FOR BREAKFAST.
Milk, buttermilk, or even skim-milk, will serve for this purpose. To every pint of milk, mix a piled-up table-spoonful of flour, and stir the mixture while boiling on the fire for ten minutes; season with a little salt, and eat it with bread or a boiled potato. This kind of food is well adapted for the breakfast of women and children, and is far preferable to a sloppy mess of tea, which comes to more money.
No. 9. OATMEAL PORRIDGE FOR SIX PERSONS.
To five pints of skim or buttermilk, add a couple of onions chopped fine, and set them to boil on the fire; meanwhile, mix six?table-spoonfuls of oatmeal with a pint of milk or water very smoothly, pour it into the boiling milk and onions, and stir the porridge on the fire for ten minutes; season with salt to taste.
No. 10. OX-CHEEK SOUP.
An ox-cheek is always to be bought cheap; let it be thoroughly washed in several waters, place it whole in a three gallon boiling-pot filled up with water, and set it to boil on the fire; skim it well, season with carrots, turnips, onions, celery, allspice, pepper, and salt; and allow the whole to boil very gently by the side of the hob for about three hours and a-half, by which time the ox-cheek, etc., will be done quite tender; the cheek must then be taken out on to a dish, the meat removed from the bone, and after being cut up in pieces, put back into the soup again. Next mix smoothly twelve ounces of flour with a quart of cold water, pour this into the soup, and stir the whole on the fire, keeping it boiling for about twenty-five minutes longer; when it will be ready for dinner. One ox-cheek, properly managed, will, by attending to the foregoing instructions, furnish an ample quantity of substantial and nutritious food, equal to the wants of a large family, for three days' consumption.
No. 11. SHEEP'S-HEAD BROTH.
Get the butcher to split the sheep's head into halves, wash these clean, and put them into a boiling-pot with two gallons of water; set this on the fire to boil, skim it well, add carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, celery, thyme or winter savory, season with pepper and salt; add a pint of Patna rice, or Scotch barley; and all the whole to keep gently boiling by the side of the fire for three hours, adding a little water to