A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes | Page 4

dripping fat, or butter, or a bit of fat bacon; add rather
better than three quarts of water, and set the whole to boil on the fire
for ten minutes; then throw in four pounds of peeled and sliced-up
potatoes, pepper and salt, and with a wooden spoon stir the soup on the
fire for about twenty-five minutes, by which time the potatoes will be
done to a pulp, and the soup ready for dinner or breakfast.
No. 5. PEA SOUP FOR SIX PERSONS.
Cut up two and a-half pounds of pickled pork, or some pork cuttings, or
else the same quantity of scrag end of neck of mutton, or leg of beef,
and put any one of these kinds of meat into a pot with a gallon of water,
three pints 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