The Golden Age Cook Book. Dwight Henrietta Latham

peel and slice three celery roots, put them in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, cook until tender, and mash them through a purée sieve with the water in which they were boiled. Melt a good heaping tablespoonful of butter, stir into it a small tablespoonful of flour, and add to it the celery purée, season with a little cayenne pepper and salt to taste. Add three-quarters of a cup of macaroni previously boiled in water. As soon as it comes to a boil remove from the fire and add as much boiling milk as will make it the proper consistency. Beat two egg yolks with half a cup of cream and stir in quickly just before pouring the soup into the tureen. Care must be taken to do this off the fire, as celery soup is liable to curdle.

      MOCK CLAM SOUP

      Soak a pint of marrowfat beans over night in water enough to cover them. In the morning drain, and put them on the fire with a small onion and a gallon of cold water, boil until tender and strain. Add to the stock a little summer savory, two ounces of butter and a cup of cream or rich milk, season with salt and pepper. When the soup comes to a boil, cut two slices of toast into dice, and four hard-boiled eggs in slices, put in the tureen and pour the soup over them and serve.

      CORN AND TOMATO SOUP

      Grate the corn from six ears of sweet corn. Put the cobs into a quart and a pint of water and cook until all the sweetness is extracted – about half an hour. Remove the cobs and add a pint of tomatoes after they are skinned and sliced, a small onion cut in slices, a French carrot cut in dice, a quarter of a green pepper chopped fine, and the grated corn. Let it cook slowly until all are tender. Stir in two good tablespoonfuls of butter, salt and pepper to taste, pour into the tureen and serve.

      SOUP CRÉCY

      Take three large carrots, wash and scrape and cut them into slices, put them in a saucepan with half an onion, a stick of celery, and a bay leaf, more than cover with boiling water and cook until tender. Remove from the fire, take out the bay leaf and rub the vegetables through a sieve with the water they were boiled in. Put back in the saucepan. Rub a generous tablespoonful of butter with half a tablespoonful of flour, and stir into the purée, add to it a cup and a half of boiling milk, stir until thick, add pepper and salt to taste. Take from the fire, and stir into it one egg yolk beaten with two tablespoonfuls of cream. Serve at once.

      CURRY SOUP

      Prepare for cooking two small white onions, two French carrots and half a turnip cut in slices, and cook slowly in a pint of boiling water until they fall to pieces, cook with them until tender a celeriac root, remove from the other vegetables and put one side. Melt two ounces of butter in a saucepan, and stir in a slightly heaping tablespoonful of flour, an even dessertspoonful of curry powder, mix well together and then add a pint of milk. Strain the vegetables through a fine sieve, but do not press them, and add the stock therefrom to the milk, etc., in the saucepan, and salt to taste. Beat half a cup of cream with two egg yolks until light, remove the soup from the fire, mix a little of it with the eggs and cream, turn it back into the saucepan, stir well together and pour at once into the tureen in which you have already placed the celeriac cut in slices. If liked, two tablespoonfuls of Madeira may be added just before the soup is turned into the tureen. Serve with croutons.

      MOCK FISH SOUP

      It is better to prepare the balls for this soup first, as follows: Put in a saucepan a tablespoonful of white flour and two tablespoonfuls of Groult's potato flour, stir together and add a tablespoonful of butter and a cup of milk, mix all together and place on the stove where it is not very hot. Stir constantly until it is smooth and no longer sticks to the pan, remove from the fire, let it cool, and beat in two eggs, one at a time, season with a dash of cayenne, a few grains of powdered mace, a few drops of onion juice, a little salt and half a teaspoonful of sugar. These balls must be seasoned very delicately. Cook and drain as the spinach balls are done, using a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon. Put to one side while the soup is being made. For the soup take three French carrots, half a parsnip, half a white onion and a little green pepper chopped fine, cover with boiling water and cook until tender. Melt a generous tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan, and when it bubbles stir into it a small tablespoonful of flour, then add three cups of milk and let it come to a boil. When the vegetables are tender stir them into the thickened milk with the water they were boiled in, together with half a teaspoonful of sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Then put the balls in and let the soup come to a boil, add a teaspoonful of finely minced parsley and remove from the fire. Have one egg yolk beaten with two tablespoonfuls of cream and stir in carefully so as not to break the balls just before turning the soup into the tureen.

      A NORWEGIAN SWEET SOUP

      Put a quarter of a cup of rice into three cups of boiling water with a small stick of cinnamon, and let it boil nearly an hour. About fifteen minutes before it is done add half a cup of raisins stoned. Beat two egg yolks with a heaping tablespoonful of sugar until white and creamy, then stir into them about half a cup of sweet cider, remove the soup from the fire, add a little of it to the eggs and cider, stir well, and mix all together rapidly and serve at once. Two tablespoonfuls of good sherry improves it.

      ONION SOUP

      Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter in a spider, when it bubbles add four large onions, washed, skinned and cut in slices, let them simmer without browning about half an hour, then stir in a slightly heaping tablespoonful of flour. When it thickens pour in gradually a pint and a half of boiling milk, season with salt and pepper to taste, press through a purée sieve, and return to the fire. While it is getting hot, beat together two egg yolks and half a cup of cream, remove from the stove and stir the eggs and cream into it rapidly, pour at once into the tureen and serve.

      SOUP OF GREEN PEAS. – No. 1

      Take from a pint of green peas two heaping tablespoonfuls and set aside. Put the rest in a saucepan with half a white onion, in boiling water. Cover tightly, letting them cook until quite tender, then mash through a purée sieve with the water in which they were boiled and using a little more to take out all that is good of the peas through the sieve. Put back on the stove, rub a good heaping tablespoonful of butter with a small tablespoonful of flour and add to the purée of peas. Have a heaping tablespoonful of turnips and two of carrots cut into dice and cooked in as little water as possible, and the two tablespoonfuls of peas cooked until tender, add to the soup with half a teaspoonful of sugar and pepper and salt to taste. Let all this cook together while enough milk to make the soup the proper consistency is coming to a boil. Mix together, add a teaspoonful of finely minced parsley, pour into the tureen and serve.

      SOUP OF GREEN PEAS. – No. 2

      Put one quart of green peas over the fire in three quarts of boiling water with three French carrots, a small turnip cut into dice and a small white onion chopped. Cover tightly and let the vegetables cook until tender. Rub two ounces of butter with a small tablespoonful of flour, add a little of the soup to this to thin it and then stir all together, add an even tablespoonful of finely minced parsley, an even teaspoonful of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste; let it come to a boil and then serve.

      POTATO SOUP

      Take four large potatoes, peel and boil them tender in water, mash very fine with a small tablespoonful of butter, add as much boiling milk as will make it the right consistency. Boil in as little water as possible one tablespoonful of turnips and two of carrots cut into dice; when tender turn all into the soup, add a little cayenne and salt to taste. Just before serving beat a quarter of a cup of cream with one egg yolk, remove the soup from the fire and stir the two together as in other cream soups, and serve at once with fried croutons.

      PURÉE OF VEGETABLES

      Cut fine three onions, one turnip, two French carrots and four potatoes, put in a saucepan with four tablespoonfuls of butter and a little parsley; let them cook about ten minutes, then add a tablespoonful of flour. Stir well and add two quarts of boiling milk, season with salt and pepper and a tiny bit of sugar, and when it boils take out the parsley, press the soup through a sieve and serve with croutons of fried bread.

      PURÉE