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Prince of Wales's Soup
INGREDIENTS for soup for 8 persons. -12 turnips, 1 lump of sugar, 2 spoonfuls of strong veal stock, salt and white pepper to taste, 2 quarts of very bright stock. AVERAGE COST, 2s.
Cost, 10d.
Boil the sugar and water together a few minutes, then wash the fruit and put it in and let it boil gently for 2 hours, till it is perfectly tender. Take out the prunes and boil the syrup till it is very thick, then put back the fruit and let it stand till the next day.
TIME, 2 hours.
SEASONABLE when fresh fruit is scarce Ptarmigan, The, or White Grouse. This bird is nearly the same size as red grouse, and is fond of lofty situations, where it braves the severest weather, and is found in most parts of Europe, as well as in Greenland. At Hudson's Bay they appear in such multitudes that so many as sixty or seventy are frequently taken at once in a net. As they are as tame as chickens, this is done without difficulty.
Buffon says that the ptarmigan avoids the solar heat, and prefers the frosts of the summits of the mountains; for, as the snow melts on the sides of the mountains, it ascends till it gains the top, where it makes THE PTARMIGAN. a hole and burrows in the snow. In winter, it flies in flocks, and feeds on the wild vegetation of the hills, which imparts to its flesh a bitter, but not altogether unpalathing of the flavour of the hare, and is greatly table taste. It is dark-coloured, has some- It is dark-coloured, has somerelished and much sought after by some sportsmen.
Peel the turnips, and, with a cutter, cut them into balls as round as possible, but very small. Put them in the stock, which must be very bright, and simmer till tender. Add the veal stock and seasoning.
Have little pieces of bread cut round, about the size of a shilling; moisten them with stock; put them into a tureen, and pour the soup over without shaking, for fear of crumbling the bread, which would spoil the appearance of the soup and make | gan, being much of the same size, and it look thick.
TIME.-2 hours.
SEASONABLE in the winter.
A clear turnip consommé garnished with tiny scooped turnip balls and rounds of soaked bread. Everything depends on the clarity of the stock, since there is nothing else to hide behind.
- The hinge: a bright stock"Very bright" means clarified and sparkling, not merely well-flavoured. Strain a good veal or chicken stock through muslin, chill and lift off every trace of fat, and clarify with egg white if it is at all cloudy; the turnip balls should be visible through it.
- Quantities2 quarts of stock is about 2.3 litres in imperial measure, serving eight as a first course (the ingredient heading says 'for 8 persons'). Twelve turnips assumes the small young roots of a Victorian market; a few modern supermarket turnips will give plenty of trimmings for scooping.
- "2 spoonfuls of strong veal stock"'strong' here means a rich, reduced stock used as a flavour booster rather than a thin broth. Two tablespoons of reduced veal stock, or a little good meat glaze, does much the same work.
- Cutting the ballsThe recipe says only 'with a cutter'; a small melon baller or Parisienne scoop is the nearest modern equivalent. Work them from thick slices of peeled turnip and keep them uniform, since the recipe's own concern is with appearance.
- TimingThe stated 2 hours probably covers the whole operation including the stock, since balls that small should be tender in roughly 10 minutes of gentle simmering; they will soften further if left much longer.
- The bread garnishAn old shilling was about 24 mm across, so cut rounds roughly an inch wide from stale white bread. Moisten them in a little hot stock rather than soaking them through, and pour the soup down the side of the tureen so they stay intact.
- SeasoningWhite pepper is specified so no dark specks show. Salt at the end: reduced stock concentrates quickly and turnip gives up a little sweetness of its own.
- The lump of sugarA single lump, roughly a teaspoon, appears in the ingredients although the method never says when to add it; it is usually read as offsetting any bitterness in the turnips rather than sweetening the soup. Taste before adding more.
Naming soups after royalty was standard practice in nineteenth-century British kitchens, and "Prince of Wales's Soup" belongs to the run of dishes christened for the future Edward VII, who was Prince of Wales for the whole of Mrs Beeton's publishing life and long after. The recipe is a good example of the period's clear-soup aesthetic: minimal ingredients, an obsession with transparency, and garnishes cut to a decorative uniformity that took far more labour than the cooking itself. Turnip was cheap and plentiful through the English winter, which is why a soup fit for a prince could be costed at a couple of shillings; the expense sat entirely in the veal stock behind it.