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Forcemeat Balls for Soup
Season 1 cupful of any finely chopped cooked meat with salt, pepper, 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice, 1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley and 2 or 3 drops of onion juice. Moisten the meat with the yolk of 1 egg, roll in small balls, flour and sauté in thin butter, or poach in salted boiling water.
A thrift recipe for turning leftover roast into soup garnish. It works, but the binding is looser than a modern cook expects, so read the notes on moisture before you start rolling.
- The hinge: keep the mixture dryOne egg yolk is the only binder for a cup of meat, so the chopped meat must be dry and finely minced or the balls fall apart in the pot. If the meat is moist, add a spoonful of fine dry breadcrumbs rather than more yolk.
- "Onion juice"Grate a peeled onion on a fine rasp and use the liquid that collects, or press a grated onion in a cloth. Two or three drops is a scent, not a flavour; a quarter teaspoon of grated onion is a fair substitute.
- "Thin butter"Most likely a shallow film of butter in the pan rather than clarified or diluted butter, though the recipe does not explain the term. Enough to coat the base, over medium heat, turning the balls so they colour all round.
- PoachingThe recipe says salted boiling water, but a bare simmer treats them more kindly than a rolling boil, which knocks the balls apart. A few minutes should be enough since the meat is already cooked; they firm up as they poach.
- Size and yieldA cupful of chopped meat rolled small makes several dozen balls, enough to garnish a number of bowls of clear soup. Keep them small so they do not dominate the spoon.
- Add them lateDrop the finished balls into the hot soup at the table or a minute before serving. Held in broth they soften and cloud a consommé.
- Which meatCooked veal, chicken, turkey or lean beef all work. Cured or smoked meats push the salt too high once the mixture is seasoned, so cut the salt if you use ham.
Forcemeat -- from the French farce, stuffing, the English form often said to have arisen from a mishearing that turned it into something "forced" into a bird -- was one of the standing techniques of the kitchen, and the fine quenelles and forcemeat balls of grand cookery were made from raw meat pounded in a mortar with panada and butter. This version is the household economy of the same idea: the meat is already cooked, the mortar has been replaced by a knife, and the whole point is to use up Sunday's roast in Monday's soup. Low-cost cookbooks appear to have returned to this pattern, since a clear broth made from bones was cheap but thin, and a garnish of meat balls, dumplings or diced vegetable was what turned it into a course worth serving.