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Cream of Lettuce
Cleanse carefully about 3 heads of lettuce, removing all the dead leaves. Place into the inner pan of a double boiler, and bring to boiling as quickly as possible, so as to retain the color. When tender press through a fine sieve, place back into the saucepan over the fire; add 1-1/2 pints of white stock and bring to a boil. Stir smooth a tablespoon of flour with a little milk or water, and add to the soup, stirring briskly, until of a creamy consistency. Then add a tablespoonful of butter; season with salt and pepper, a little sugar, and a dash of mace. Serve very hot.
A late-Victorian way of using up lettuce that has gone slightly limp, turned into a pale green velouté. Two things decide the result: cooking the leaves fast so the colour survives, and not letting the finished soup boil hard once the butter is in.
- Choose the right lettuceThe recipe specifies only three heads. A crisp, upright lettuce such as cos or romaine, or the outer leaves of several butterhead heads, suits it best; modern iceberg carries more water and less flavour.
- The cooking liquidThe recipe puts the lettuce in the inner pan of a double boiler, which will not reach a fast boil on the leaves' own moisture; a little water or stock in the pan helps. A covered pan over direct heat steams the leaves down more quickly, which is what the instruction asks for.
- Keeping the colourSpeed is the whole point of "as quickly as possible." Prolonged heat turns lettuce olive. Cook covered over high heat only until the leaves collapse, then puree at once.
- 1-1/2 pints of white stockThree cups by US measure (nearer three and three-quarter cups if the pint is imperial). White stock is an unbrowned veal or chicken stock; a light chicken stock is the direct substitute. Vegetable stock works but shifts the flavour.
- Sieve or blenderPressing through a fine sieve was the usual route to smoothness in a period kitchen. A blender does it in seconds, though passing the puree through a sieve afterwards still catches the tougher rib fibres.
- The thickeningA tablespoon of flour slaked in cold milk is a thin binding, not a heavy one. Add it in a stream while whisking and simmer two or three minutes to cook out the raw starch, then drop the heat before the butter goes in.
- MaceMace is the lacy covering of the nutmeg seed, and the two are close in flavour. Nutmeg, used sparingly, is the nearest substitute; the recipe's "dash" is meant to be barely detectable.
- YieldAbout four cups finished, enough for four small first-course servings. It does not reheat well — the green fades and the flour thickens further.