Turtle
The Soup is the most elaborate of all, and quite beyond the reach of ordinary households. It must be purchased ready made. For the Turtle Ragout or Relish, used chiefly with calf's head, see Relish No. 3.
Mock Turtle Soup. - Clear: After Francatelli. First bone and then parboil a calf's head in plenty of water and a small handful of salt for about twenty minutes. Cool the head in cold water and then trim away the rough parts. Next place it in a large stewpan with a good-sized knuckle of veal; about a pound of raw ham; two carrots; two onions-one of them stuck with twelve cloves; a head of celery, a bunch of basil; marjoram, lemon thyme, a sprig of common thyme, some parsley, winter savory, Turtle spring onions, and two blades of mace. Add a quart of good stock, and set the stewpan over the fire to boil sharply, until the liquid is reduced to a glaze. Next fill up the stewpan either with stock or water, and when it boils again skim it carefully, keeping it gently boiling by the side of the fire until the calf's head is nearly done. The head must now be carefully lifted out of the stock with a skimmer, and after being washed in a large pan of cold water, and well drained upon a sieve or cloth, placed in press, between two large dishes in the larder to become cold. The calf's head stock is now to be strained into a clean stewpan through a sieve, and the grease being entirely removed from its surface, to be clarified by mixing into it three whites of eggs previously whipt with a pint of cold water. Set the stock on the fire, whisk it until it boils, and then lift it to the side of the stove, there to boil gently until it has become bright, which will take about twenty minutes. The stock must now be strained through a napkin into a soup-pot; the calf's head cut into pieces an inch square, and placed in the mock turtle stock, to which add half a pint of white wine (Marsala), a pinch of cayenne, and then allow the soup to boil gently by the side of the fire until the pieces of meat are thoroughly done. When about to send to table add some very small quenelles or egg balls and a little lemon-juice.
Mock Turtle Soup. - Thick Prepare this as in the foregoing receipt up to the point when the head has been placed in press, and the stock has been strained into a fresh stewpan. To the stock add about a pound and a half of roux, and stir it over the fire until it boils; then set it on the side of the stove to simmer gently, and to throw up all grease, etc., which must be skimmed off. Strain the stock next through the pointed strainer, into a soup-pot, add the calf's head in pieces, and proceed as before.
Vanilla DDER is not over-abundant in the market; for heifers are too valuable to be killed, and cow-beef is not greatly prized at the butcher's.
When the udder of veal can be obtained it is mostly used for kromeskis. It is to be plain-boiled with salt, allowed to cool, and then cut into slices to wrap round the croquette, which thus becomes a kromeski.
It is also used instead of butter for the more delicate forcemeats-as quenelles. In days of old, however, it appears that cow-udder had a recognised position in French cookery. It was well washed; it was soaked in water for hours, to clear it of blood; it was then blanched; then trimmed; then boiled with a good seasoning of vegetables; then allowed to get cool; lastly, cut up and prepared for table in any of the ways applicable to tripe.