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Regent's Soup
Take the bones, trimmings, and remains of cold game. Break them into small pieces, put them into a stewpan, and pour over them two quarts of stock made from meat-bones. Add a large carrot, a large onion, a small turnip, and three or four heads of celery, all cut up small. Let the soup boil, skim carefully, draw it to the side of the fire, and let it simmer gently for two hours. Strain, and remove the fat. Wash four ounces of pearl barley, and boil it in a separate saucepan until it is done enough. Drain, and put aside one-half. Pound the other half with the yolks of three eggs boiled hard, rub the mixture through a fine sieve, moisten with a quarter of a pint of cream, and add it gradually to the soup. Stir the whole over the fire until it is very hot without boiling, add the barley that was put aside, and serve immediately. Time, three hours. Probable cost, exclusive of the price of the game, 6d. per quart. Sufficient for eight or ten persons.
A game-scrap soup thickened with pounded barley and hard egg yolk rather than flour — an economical dish that depends entirely on not letting it boil once the liaison goes in.
- The hinge: no boiling after the yolk creamThe pounded barley, hard yolks and cream form a liaison that curdles and turns grainy if it simmers. Bring the finished soup to about 165–175F, stirring, and serve at once; if it must wait, hold it off direct heat.
- Imperial measuresTwo quarts here is imperial, about 2.4 US quarts (9.5 cups) of stock. A quarter pint of cream is 5 imperial fl oz, or a generous half cup. Four ounces of pearl barley is roughly half to two-thirds of a cup dry.
- "Heads of celery"In Victorian usage a head of celery is a whole bunch, not a rib. Three or four bunches would swamp two quarts of stock — one head, trimmed and sliced, is closer to the intended flavour balance for this quantity.
- The gameAny roast pheasant, partridge, grouse, duck, venison or rabbit carcass works, bones and skin included. If the bones are pale, browning them in a hot oven first will deepen the flavour.
- "Boil until done enough"Pearl barley needs 35–45 minutes at a simmer until fully soft — undercooked grains will not pound or sieve smoothly. Cook it in water or a ladle of the stock, not salted heavily, since the soup reduces.
- Pounding and sievingA mortar and a drum sieve are the period tools; a blender or food processor does the same job in seconds. Blitz the cooked barley, yolks and cream together to a smooth cream, then whisk it into the hot soup a ladleful at a time.
- DegreasingGame bones give up a good deal of fat. Chilling the strained stock and lifting the set fat off is far more effective than skimming hot, and costs nothing but time.
- Yield and seasoningEight to ten small servings, as the original states — closer to six modern bowls. The recipe gives no salt or pepper; season the strained stock before the liaison goes in, and finish with a little cayenne or lemon if the game is very rich.
Soups called "Regent's" appear in nineteenth-century English kitchens, the name generally understood to borrow the prestige of the Prince Regent, later George IV; it signalled luxury rather than any fixed formula. What is consistent in this version is the technique: a liaison of pounded starch and hard-boiled egg yolk loosened with cream, an older method of thickening that predates the roux-based purecause without dying the flavour of game. The frugality is equally characteristic of Cassell's, which repeatedly turns the wreckage of a roast into a second dinner een been eabeen already, and the costing pointedly excludes it.