Soups

BOUILLABAISSE

(The national dish of Marseille)

Cut off the best parts of 3 medium-sized flounders and 6 butterfish and put them aside; the remaining parts of the fish—skin, bones, heads, etc.—boil in water 20 minutes; this should make 1 quart of fish stock when strained.

Put 3 tablespoons of olive oil in stew-pan, add 4 chopped onions, 3 cloves of chopped garlic, a few sprigs of parsley, 1 bayleaf, ¼ teaspoon fennel, ¼ teaspoon saffron, ½ teaspoon whole black pepper ground, salt, fry until golden brown. Then add 3 or 4 tomatoes and a pimento, ¹/₃ quart of white wine, ²/₃ quart of water, boil 15 minutes. Strain and return to the kettle; add the flounder and butterfish in pieces as large as possible, ½ lb. of codfish tongues, 1 lb. of eel; boil 10 minutes, add the fish stock, 1 lb. of scallops, boil 10 more minutes. Rub together 1 oz. of flour and 1 oz. of butter; drop this in the soup in little balls five minutes before serving. Then put in ½ lb. of shrimps and 1 large boiled lobster cut in large pieces. Rub with garlic some round slices of bread and serve the Bouillabaisse on them.

This will serve 12 persons.

One is not able to obtain here the varieties of fish of the Midi, but the above will make an excellent substitute.

BORCHT

(Russian)

Make a clear, light-coloured, highly seasoned stock of beef and veal or of chicken. Strain and remove all fat. A Russian gourmet will say that really good Borcht should be made with 2 ducks and a chicken in the stock. Cut up some red beets and boil them in the stock; about 4 large beets to 8 cups of stock. When the beets are cooked squeeze in enough lemon-juice to give it a slightly acid flavour, then clear by stirring in the whipped white of an egg and bringing it to the boiling point. Strain carefully. Serve in cups with a spoonful of sour cream. If the colour fails to be bright red, a few drops of vegetable colouring may be added.

MUSHROOM SOUP

(French)

Three-quarters lb. of fresh mushrooms, 1 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of flour, 4 cups of scalded milk, ½ cup of cream, a few gratings of nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

Put the mushrooms in a stew-pan with 1 tablespoon of butter, a few gratings of nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and 1 cup of water; cook over a good fire 20 minutes, then pass through a coarse sieve. Cream 1 tablespoon of butter with 2 tablespoons of flour, add this to 4 cups of scalded milk. When this thickens to a thin cream, add the mushrooms; just before serving add ½ cup of cream.

SERBIAN CHICKEN SOUP

Cut a fowl in four or five pieces. Put in a kettle with about one quart of water to each pound of fowl. When half cooked add salt and a carrot, parsnip, some celery and parsley, an onion, and a few whole black peppers.

In a separate pan put a tablespoon of lard and ½ tablespoon of flour. Stir this until it is brown and add some paprika, according to taste. Add this to the soup. Let it boil a few minutes. Just before serving the soup stir in well the yolk of an egg beaten with three tablespoons of cream.

VEGETABLE SOUP

(Minestrone alla Milanese)

One-half quart of stock, 2 slices of lean pork, or a ham bone; 2 tomatoes, fresh or canned; 1 cup of rice, 2 tablespoons of dried beans, 1 tablespoon of peas, fresh or canned; 2 onions.

Put into the stock the slices of pork, cut into small pieces; or, if desired, a ham bone may be substituted for the pork. Add the tomatoes, cut into small pieces also, the onions, in small pieces, and the rice. Boil all together until the rice is cooked. Then add the beans and the peas and cook a little longer. The soup is ready when it is thick. If desired, this chowder can be made with fish broth instead of the stock, and with the addition of shrimps which have been taken from their shells.

This dish can be served hot or cold.

LETTUCE SOUP

(Zuppa di Lattuga)

One small lettuce, meat stock, 2 potatoes, the leaves of a head of celery, 2 tablespoons of peas, fresh or canned, 1 heaping tablespoon of flour.

Put the potatoes, cold boiled, into the stock when it boils, add the celery leaves, the lettuce chopped up, the peas, and the flour mixed well with a little cold stock or water. Boil for one hour and a half, and serve with little squares of fried bread.

POT-AU-FEU

(French family soup)

Ingredients.—4 lbs. of brisket of beef, the legs and neck of a fowl, ½ a cabbage, 2 leeks, 1 large onion, 2 carrots, a bouquet-garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaf), 1 dessert-spoonful of chopped parsley, 4 cloves, 12 peppercorns, 1 tablespoonful of salt, ½ lb. of French bread, 6 quarts of cold water.

Put the meat and water into a stock-pot or boiling pot; let it come gently to boiling point, and skim well. Wash and clean the vegetables, stick the cloves in the onion, tie up the cabbage and leeks, and put all in with the meat. Add the carrots cut into large pieces, the bouquet-garni, peppercorns, and salt, and let the whole simmer gently for 4 hours. Just before serving cut the bread into thin slices, place them in a soup tureen, and add some of the carrot, leeks, and onions cut into small pieces. Remove the meat from the pot, season the broth to taste, and strain it into the soup tureen. Sprinkle the chopped parsley on the top, and serve. The meat and remaining vegetables may be served as a separate course; they may also be used up in some form for another meal. Or the meat and vegetables may be served and the broth put aside and used on the following day as "Croute-au-pot."

ONION SOUP

(Soupe à l'Oignon)

Slice or chop two medium-sized onions; let them colour an instant in 1 oz. of butter; add a tablespoonful of flour; make a brown thickening. The onions must on no account be allowed to burn. Add 2½ quarts of water, salt, and a pinch of pepper; stir on the fire until it boils; let it cook five minutes. Cut some slices of bread very fine (like a leaf); dry them in an open oven. Place in the tureen a layer of bread, a layer of grated cheese, until the tureen is half full. Pass the soup through a sieve into the tureen. Allow a few minutes to well soak the bread; at the same time the soup must not be allowed to get cold. If onions are not objected to do not strain them off.

SOLDIERS' SOUP

(Soupe à la Bataille)

Wash well and chop fine a small white cabbage or lettuce (cos preferred), 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 3 leeks, 1 head of celery. Let these vegetables take colour for about three minutes in 2 ozs. of good fat or butter. Add 3 quarts of water and a pinch of salt; let it boil. Add five raw potatoes cut like the vegetables, a handful of green French beans cut up, the same quantity of green peas. Cook over a good fire for two hours. The soup should be quite smooth; if it is not so, beat it well with a whisk; if too much reduced add more water. Season to taste; at the last add a little chopped chervil. A bone of ham or the remains of bacon improve this soup immensely.

STSCHI

(Russian)

Cut up a cabbage, heat in butter, and moisten with 3 tablespoons of stock. Add 2 lbs. of beef brisket, cut into large dice, 3 pints of water, and cook 1½ hours. Chop up 2 onions, 2 leeks, and a parsnip in small dice, add 2 tablespoons of sour cream and 1 tablespoon of flour. Add this mixture to the soup about ½ hour before serving. Small buckwheat cakes are served with it.

BURAKI

(Russian)

Cut in cubes 4 or 5 lbs. of fat beef in enough water to make a good bouillon and boil it well. Cut some raw beets into small thin slices about an inch long, chop some onion, and with a tablespoon of butter stew them until tender and somewhat brown; add to the beef bouillon 1 spoonful of flour mixed with 2 spoonsful of vinegar, the beets, and onion and let all this cook in the oven until the beets and beef are quite tender. It should be closely covered. Sausages and some pieces of ham may be added if wished. Before you serve the bouillon, add some sour cream.

LENTIL SOUP

(French)

Soak overnight 1 cup of lentils; the next day boil them until tender enough to pass them through a sieve with 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 leeks, 1 quart of water, 1 dessert-spoonful of salt. Cut some slices of bread and place them in the bottom of a tureen and pour over them a little olive oil. When ready to serve pour the strained soup over the slices of bread.

BLACK BEAN SOUP

(Russian)

Soak 1 cup of black beans in cold water several hours. Pour off the water and boil in 1 quart of fresh water until soft enough to rub through a strainer; if it boils away, add more water to cover them. There should be about 1 pint when strained. Add the same quantity of stock or water and put on to boil again. When boiling, add 1 tablespoon of corn-starch in a little cold water and cook 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, a little mustard, juice of 1 lemon, or wine; serve with fried bread cut in little squares and slices of hard boiled egg or lemon.

FISH CHOWDER

(New England)

Four lbs. of fresh cod or haddock, 2 onions, 6 potatoes, ¼ lb. of salt pork, salt, pepper.

Put the onions and potatoes, sliced in layers, in a kettle, then a layer of fish until all is used. Fry the pork, cut in small pieces, brown, take the fat and pour over all. Cover with boiling water and cook 20 minutes. Then mix 2 spoonsful of flour with a cup of cream, stir into the boiling chowder, boil up, and serve.

Clams may be substituted for fish.