Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Other vegetables may be used as well as turnips and carrots, such as French beans, green pease, asparagus, celery, or onions. Put these into a saucepan, pour the clarified stock over them, and simmer gently until the vegetables are tender. Heat the pieces of ox -tail, pour the soup upon them, and serve as hot as possible. Time, about three hours to simmer the ox-tail. Ox -tail Soup, Thick. — This soup is, of course, much better if made with stock instead of water. If no stock is at hand, fresh bones simmered gently with three quarts of water for six hours, and carefully skimmed, will make good stock ; or, if preferred, it can be made from fresh meat. Take two fine ox-tails, wash them, cut them into pieces about an inch long, and divide the thick pieces into four. Put them into a stewpan with 2 ozs. of fresh butter, and fry them until they are brightly browned. Slice some vegetables — two carrots, one turnip, two onions, and half a dozen sticks of celery — and fry them in the same butter, and with them 2 ozs. of lean ham cut into dice. Pour over them a quart of water, and stir it over a quick fire for a quarter of an hour; then add two quarts of stock, a bunch of sweet herbs, a bay-leaf, a dessert-spoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of peppercorns, three cloves, and a lump of sugar. Simmer gently until the meat is tender and parts easily from the bones; then take it out, strain the soup, skim the fat from the top of the liquid, brown it in a saucepan, and mix smoothly with it 2 ozs. of fine flour. Thicken the soup with this, and flavor it with two table-spoonfuls of mushroom catsup, add the pieces of tail, simmer a quarter of an hour longer, and serve. If preferred, the vegetables may be crushed through a colander and added to the soup in the form of a puree. A glassful of port may be added or not. Serve fresh rolls with this soup. Time, four hours to simmer the soup. Oyster Soup. — Take three quarts of oysters and strain the liquor from them. Put the liquor on to boil with half a pint of chopped celery, one onion, two or three blades of mace, pepper, and salt. When it boils, add the oysters ; but care should be taken not to let them cook too much. Just before taking it off, the thickening must be added, viz., one spoonful of flour creamed into the well-beaten Pancake Soup Potage a la Cr6cy yolks of three eggs. Pour a little of the hot soup gradually upon the eggs and flour, stirring all the while, and as soon as well mixed pour into the soup, with a little cream. Then add one quart of rich, unskimmed milk; let all come to a boil, and pour into a tureen over some small squares of cold bread. Serve it very hot. Pancakes, Soup of. — Make very thin plain pancakes in the usual way, and be careful to put no more fat into the pan with them than is required to prevent them sticking. Drain them on blotting-paper, to free them from grease, and cut them into narrow strips about an inch long, or into small diamonds or squares. Throw them into a saucepan containing two pints of clear brown gravy soup, boiling hot ; let them boil quickly for a minute or two, and serve. Time, ten minutes to fry the pancakes. Parmesan and Soup. — Grated Parmesan should be served with macaroni and all other soups made with Italian pastes.