Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches | Page 6

cold water. Watch it well, and when it is just
coming to a boil, put in half a pint of cold water. This will cause the
scum to rise. Skim it well, and then pour in another half pint of cold
water; skim it again; pour in cold water as before, half a pint at a time,
and repeat this till no more scum rises. In skimming, carefully avoid
stirring the soup, as that will injure its clearness.
In the mean time prepare your vegetables. Peel off the outer skin of
three large white onions and slice them. Pare three large turnips, and
slice them also. Wash clean and cut into small pieces three carrots, and
three large heads of celery. If you cannot obtain fresh celery, substitute
a large table-spoonful of celery seed, tied up in a bit of clear muslin.
Put the vegetables into the soup, and then place the pot on one side of
the fire, where the heat is not so great as in the middle. Let it boil
gently for four hours. Then strain the soup through a fine towel or linen

bag into a large stone pan, but do not squeeze the bag, or the soup will
be cloudy, and look dull instead of clear. In pouring it into the straining
cloth, be careful not to disturb the ingredients at the bottom of the
soup-pot.
This soup should be of a fine clear amber colour. If not perfectly bright
after straining, you may clarify it in this manner. Put it into the
stew-pan. Break the whites of two eggs into a basin, carefully avoiding
the smallest particle of the yolk. Beat the white of egg to a stiff froth,
and then mix it gradually with the soup. Set it over the fire, and stir it
till it boils briskly. Then take it off, and set it beside the fire to settle for
ten minutes. Strain it then through a clean napkin, and it will be fit for
use. But it is better to have the soup clear by making it carefully, than
to depend on clarifying it afterward, as the white of egg weakens the
taste.
In making this (which is quite a show-soup) it is customary to reverse
the general rule, and pour in cold water.
SOUPE À LA JULIENNE.
Make a gravy soup as in the preceding receipt, and strain it before you
put in the vegetables. Cut some turnips and carrots into ribands, and
some onions and celery into lozenges or long diamond-shaped pieces.
Boil them separately. When the vegetables are thoroughly boiled, put
them with the soup into the tureen, and then lay gently on the top some
small squares of toasted bread without crust; taking care that they do
not crumble down and disturb the brightness of the soup, which should
be of a clear amber colour.
MACCARONI SOUP.
This also is made of clear gravy soup. Cut up and boil the
maccaroni
by itself in a very little water, allowing a quarter of a pound to a quart
of soup. The pieces should be about an inch long. Put a small piece of
butter with it. It must boil till tender, but not till it breaks. Throw it into
the soup shortly before it goes to table, and give it one boil up. Send to
table with it a plate or glass of rasped Parmesan or other rich cheese,

with a dessert spoon in it, that those who like it may put it into their
soup on the plate.
While the maccaroni is boiling, take care that it does not get into
lumps.
RICH MACCARONI SOUP.
Take a quart of clear gravy soup, and boil in it a pound of the best
maccaroni cut into pieces. When it is tender, take out half of the
maccaroni, and add to the remainder two quarts more of the soup. Boil
it till the maccaroni is entirely dissolved and
incorporated with the
liquid. Strain it; then return it to the soup-pan, and add to it the
remainder of the maccaroni, (that was taken out before the pieces
broke,) and put in a quarter of a pound of grated Parmesan cheese. Let
it simmer awhile, but take it up before it comes to a boil.
It may be made with milk instead of gravy soup.
VERMICELLI SOUP.
Cut a knuckle of veal, or a neck of mutton into small pieces, and put
them, with the bones broken up, into a large stew-pan. Add the meat
sliced from a hock or shank of ham, a quarter of a pound of butter, two
large onions sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a head of celery cut
small. Cover the pan closely, and set it without any water over a slow
fire for an hour or more, to