The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) | Page 9

squeeze out the seeds, and put
them into the soup with the other vegetables--or take the juice only, as
directed for spinach.
For white soups, which are of veal, lamb or chicken, none but white
vegetables are used; rice, pearl barley, vermicelli, or macaroni, for
thickening.
Grated carrot gives a fine amber color to soup; it must be put in as soon
as the soup is free from scum.
Hotel and private-house stock is quite different.
Hotels use meat in such large quantities that there is always more or
less trimmings and bones of meat to add to fresh meats; that makes
very strong stock, which they use in most all soups and gravies and
other made dishes.

The meat from which soup has been made is good to serve cold thus:
Take out all the bones, season with pepper and salt, and catsup, if liked,
then chop it small, tie it in a cloth, and lay it between two plates, with a
weight on the upper one; slice it thin for luncheon or supper; or make
sandwiches of it; or make a hash for breakfast; or make it into balls,
with the addition of a little wheat flour and an egg, and serve them fried
in fat, or boil in the soup.
An agreeable flavor is sometimes imparted to soup by sticking some
cloves into the meat used for making stock; a few slices of onions fried
very brown in butter are nice; also flour browned by simply putting it
into a saucepan over the fire and stirring it constantly until it is a dark
brown.
Clear soups must be perfectly transparent, and thickened soups about
the consistency of cream. When soups and gravies are kept from day to
day in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into
fresh-scalded pans or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar. In temperate
weather, every other day may be sufficient.
HERBS AND VEGETABLES USED IN SOUPS.
Of vegetables the principal ones are carrots, tomatoes, asparagus, green
peas, okra, macaroni, green corn, beans, rice, vermicelli, Scotch barley,
pearl barley, wheat flour, mushroom, or mushroom catsup, parsnips,
beetroot, turnips, leeks, garlic, shallots and onions; sliced onions fried
with butter and flour until they are browned, then rubbed through a
sieve, are excellent to heighten the color and flavor of brown sauces
and soups. The herbs usually used in soups are parsley, common thyme,
summer savory, knotted marjoram, and other seasonings, such as
bay-leaves, tarragon, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, black
and white pepper, red pepper, lemon peel and juice, orange peel and
juice. The latter imparts a finer flavor and the acid much milder. These
materials, with wine, and the various catsups, combined in various
proportions, are, with other ingredients, made into almost an endless
variety of excellent soups and gravies. Soups that are intended for the
principal part of a meal certainly ought not to be flavored like sauces,
which are only intended to give relish to some particular dish.

STOCK.
Six pounds of shin of beef, or six pounds of knuckle of veal; any bones,
trimmings of poultry, or fresh meat; one-quarter pound of lean bacon or
ham, two ounces of butter, two large onions, each stuck with cloves;
one turnip, three carrots, one head of celery, two ounces of salt,
one-half teaspoonful of whole pepper, one large blade of mace, one
bunch of savory herbs except sage, four quarts and one-half-pint of
cold water.
Cut up the meat and bacon, or ham, into pieces of about three inches
square; break the bones into small pieces, rub the butter on the bottom
of the stewpan; put in one-half a pint of water, the broken bones, then
meat and all other ingredients. Cover the stewpan, and place it on a
sharp fire, occasionally stirring its contents. When the bottom of the
pan becomes covered with a pale, jelly-like substance, add the four
quarts of cold water, and simmer very gently for five or six hours. As
we have said before, do not let it boil quickly. When nearly cooked,
throw in a tablespoonful of salt to assist the scum to rise. Remove every
particle of scum whilst it is doing, and strain it through a fine hair sieve;
when cool remove all grease. This stock will keep for many days in
cold weather.
Stock is the basis of many of the soups afterwards mentioned, and this
will be found quite strong enough for ordinary purposes. Keep it in
small jars, in a cool place. It makes a good gravy for hash meats; one
tablespoonful of it is sufficient to impart a fine flavor to a dish of
macaroni and various other dishes. Good soups of various kinds are
made from it at short notice; slice off a portion of the