Home › The Principles of Cookery › Hessian Soup

Hessian Soup

Take half an ox's head, clean and rub it well with salt, and let it soak in lukewarm water for four or five hours. Put it into a large stewpan with six quarts of water, and let it simmer until tender, then take it out; when the broth is cool, remove the fat, return the broth to the saucepan, and put with it a pint of soaked split peas, six carrots, six onions, three turnips, a tea-spoonful of bruised celery-seed, tied in muslin, a bunch of savoury herbs, and a blade of mace. Simmer again without the ox's head until the vegetables are tender. Press them through a colander and afterwards through a sieve. Put the pulp into the soup, add salt and Jamaica pepper to taste, and a lump of sugar. Let it boil up once more and serve. It should be as thick as ordinary pea-soup. Time, four hours. Probable cost, 10d. per quart. Sufficient for twelve or fourteen persons.