Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches | Page 7

extract the essence from the meat. Then
skim it well, and pour in four quarts of boiling water, and let it boil
gently till all the meat is reduced to rags. Strain it, set it again on the
fire, and add a quarter of a pound of vermicelli, which has first been
scalded in boiling water. Season it to your taste with salt and cayenne
pepper, and let it boil five minutes. Lay a large slice of bread in the
bottom of your tureen, and pour the soup upon it.
For the veal or mutton you may substitute a pair of large fowls cut into
pieces; always adding the ham or a few slices of bacon, without which
it will be insipid. Old fowls that are fit for no other purpose will do
very well for soup.

MILK SOUP.
Boil two quarts of milk with a quarter of a pound of sweet
almonds,
and two ounces of bitter ones, blanched and broken to pieces, and a
large stick of cinnamon broken up. Stir in sugar enough to make it very
sweet. When it has boiled strain it. Cut some thin slices of bread, and
(having pared off the crust) toast them. Lay them in the bottom of a
tureen, pour a little of the hot milk over them, and cover them close,
that they may soak. Beat the yolks of five eggs very light Set the milk
on hot coals, and add the eggs to it by degrees; stirring it all the time till
it thickens. Then take it off instantly, lest it curdle, and pour it into the
tureen, boiling hot, over the bread.
This will be still better if you cover the bottom with slices of baked
apple.
RICH BROWN SOUP.
Take six pounds of the lean of fresh beef, cut from the bone. Stick it
over with four dozen cloves. Season it with a tea-spoonful of salt, a
tea-spoonful of pepper, a tea-spoonful of
mace, and a beaten nutmeg.
Slice half a dozen onions; fry them in butter; chop them, and spread
them over the meat after you have put it into the soup-pot. Pour in five
quarts of water, and stew it slowly for five or six hours; skimming it
well. When the meat has dissolved into shreds, strain it, and return the
liquid to the pot. Then add a tumbler and a half, or six wine glasses of
claret or port wine. Simmer it again slowly till dinner time. When the
soup is reduced to three quarts, it is done enough. Put it into a tureen,
and send it to table.
RICH WHITE SOUP.
Take a pair of large fat fowls. Cut them up. Butter the inside of the
soup-pot, and put in the pieces of fowl with two pounds of the lean of
veal, cut into pieces, or with four calf's feet cut in half. Season them
with a tea-spoonful of salt, a half tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, and a
dozen blades of mace. Cover them with water, and stew it slowly for an
hour, skimming it well. Then take out the breasts and wings of the

fowls, and having cut off the flesh, chop it fine. Keep the pot covered,
and the veal and the remainder of the fowls still stewing.
Mix the chopped chicken with the grated crumb of about one quarter of
a loaf of stale bread, (a six cent loaf,) having soaked the crumbs in a
little warm milk. Have ready the yolks of four hard boiled eggs, a
dozen sweet almonds, and half a dozen bitter ones blanched and broken
small. Mix the egg and almonds with the chopped chicken and grated
bread, and pound all in a mortar till it is well incorporated. Strain the
soup from the meat and fowl, and stir this mixture into the liquid, after
it has stewed till reduced to two quarts. Having boiled separately a
quart of cream or rich milk, add it hot to the soup, a little at a time.
Cover it, and let it simmer a few minutes longer. Then send it to table.
These two soups (the brown and the white) are suited to dinner parties.
MEG MERRILIES' SOUP.
Take four pounds of venison, or if you cannot procure venison you may
substitute the lean of fresh beef or mutton. Season it with pepper and
salt, put it into a large pot, (break the bones and lay them on the meat,)
pour in four quarts of water, and boil it three hours, skimming it well.
Then strain it, and put it into another pot.
Cut up a hare or a rabbit, a pair of partridges, and a pair of grouse; or
one of each, with a pheasant, a woodcock, or any other game that you
can most easily obtain. Season them and