Soups, Etc
the horny part, which cut into two-inch square pieces; clean and dry them well in a cloth, and put them into a stew-pan, with 4 quarts of water made as follows: Take 6 or 7 pounds of beef, a calf's foot, a shank of ham, on onion, 2 carrots, a turnip, a head of celery, some cloves and whole pepper, a bunch of sweet herbs, a little lemon-peel, and a few truffles. Put these into 8 quarts of water, and stew them gently till the liquid is reduced one-half; then strain it off, and put into the stewpan with the horny parts of the calf's head. Add some knotted marjoram, savory, thyme, parsley chopped small, with some cloves and mace pounded, a little Cayenne pepper, some green onions, an eschalot cut fine, a few chopped mushrooms, and pint Madeira wine. Stew these gently till the soup is reduced to 2 quarts, then heat a little broth.
Mix some flour, smoothing it with the yolks of 2 eggs, and stir it over a gentle fire till it is near boiling. Add this to the soup; keep stirring as you pour it in, and continue stewing for another hour. When done, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, half an orange, and throw in some boiled force-meat balls. Serve it up in a tureen hot.
This soup is deliciously gratifying and nutritive.
Ox-tail Soup.
Procure 2 fresh ox-tails, cut each joint after dividing them into inch lengths with a small meatsaw, steep them in water for two hours and then place them in a stewpan with 3 carrots, 3 turnips, 3 onions, 2 heads of celery, 4 cloves, and a blade of mace. Fill up the stewpan with broth from the boiling stockpot, boil this by the side of the stove fire till done, drain the pieces of ox-tail on a large sieve, allow them to cool, trim them neatly, and place them in a soup pot. Clarify the broth the ox-tails were boiled in, strain it through a napkin into a basin, and then pour it into the soup pot containing the trimmed pieces of oxtails, and also some small olive-shaped pieces of carrot and turnip that have been boiled in a little of the broth, and a small lump of sugar; add a pinch of pepper, and previously to sending the soup to table let it boil gently by the side of the stove fire for a few minutes. This soup may be served also in various other ways, by adding thereto a purée of any sort of vegetables, such for instance as a purée of peas, carrots, turnips, celery, lentils. Ox-cheek Soup.
Procure a fresh ox-cheek and put it to braize in a small stockpot with a knuckle of veal and some roast-beef bones, fill the pot up from the boiling stockpot or with water, garnish with the same complement of stock vegetables used for ox-tail soup, adding 6 cloves, a blade of mace, and a few peppercorns. As soon as the ox-cheek is done take the meat off the cheek-bone and put it in press between 2 dishes. Strain off the broth, add ing to it a ladleful of gravy to color it, and proceed to clarify it with a couple of whites of eggs while the consommé is clarifying; trim the ox-cheek and cut it into neat scallops 1 inch square and an inch thick; put these into a small soup pot and add to them some small carrots and turnips cut in fancy shapes and boiled in a little broth, a lump of sugar, and also 1½ dozen of very small white button onions. Strain the clarified consommé thus prepared into the soup pot, and having allowed the soup to boil a few minutes by the side of the stove fire, just before serving add 2 dozen blanched Brussels sprouts and a pinch of pepper, and send to table.
Bread Panada for Quenelles.
Take the crumb of 2 new French rolls, and steep in tepid water for ten minutes; then put it into a napkin and wring it tightly, in order to remove the water from the bread. Put the crumb into a stewpan, with 2 ounces of fresh butter, a little salt, and 2 spoonfuls of white broth; put these on the stove fire, continuing to stir the panada the whole time with a wooden spoon, until it assumes the appearance of paste, and no longer adheres to the bottom of the stewpan; then add 3 yolks of eggs, and turn it out on a plate. Smoothe it over the surface with the blade of a knife, and, having covered it with a round piece of buttered paper, place it in the larder until required for use.
Pâte à Choux Panada. of fresh butter and a little salt; put the stewpan containing these on the fire. As soon as it begins To pint of white chicken-broth add 4 ounces to simmer mix in with the aforementioned ingredients 5 ounces of sifted flour; and, by continuing to stir this batter on the fire for five minutes, it will become a delicately firm paste, which must be worked over the fire until it freely leaves the side of the pan; then take 3 yolks of eggs and quickly mix them in the batter; put it on a plate, cover it with a buttered paper, and keep it in the cool till wanted for use. This kind of panada is preferred by some cooks to bread panada, being considered by them more delicate, and less liable to produce fermentation in warm weather. However, bread panada has the advantage of not collapsing, as is the case with the pâte à choux panada, if prepared some time before the quenelle in which it is used be eaten.
Chicken Panada. and pound them with the crumb of a French roll Roast off a young fowl, take all the white parts soaked in broth; dilute these with a little chicken to the consistency of a soft batter or creamy subbroth (made from the remains of the roasted fowl) stance, pass it through a tammy as in preparing any other purée.
Previous to serving this panada it should be In the composition of dietetic preparations for moderately warmed and put into custard cups. infants and invalids, it is necessary to avoid the use of herbs and spices.
Corn Oysters.
Take 6 ears of boiled corn, 4 eggs, 2 tablespoonsful of flour. Cut the corn off the cob, season it with pepper and salt, mix it with the yolks of the eggs beaten thoroughly, and add the flour. Whisk the whites to a stiff froth and stir them in; put butter and fry until they are a light brown color a tablespoonful at a time in a pan of hot lard or on both sides.
Egg Plants.
After paring cut them in slices as thin as possible, let them lie an hour in salt water; then season with pepper and salt, dredge fine powdered cracker or stale bread-crumbs over each přece, beat up an egg as for veal cutlet and dip in each alternately and put in a pan with some hot butter or beef drippings. Fry slowly until quite soft and a dark brown on both sides. Serve them up hot.
Potatoes, a la Maître d'Hôtel.
The small French kidney potatoes are best adapted for this purpose. Boil or steam them in the ordinary way and when done cut them into slices about the eighth of an inch thick, put them into a stewpan with a tablespoonful of white sauce or broth, 4 ounces of butter, some pepper and salt, chopped parsely and a little lemon-juice; toss them over the stove fire until the butter, etc., is either with or without croutons round them, and mixed in with the potatoes, then dish them up, serve.
New Potatoes a la Creme.