How Clear Soup Should Be Made

It must be understood that clear meat soups do not contain nourishment, but when served warm they are stimulating and draw into the stomach the gastric secretions which prepare it for the heavy food which is to follow.

Clear soups are the best dinner soups. Soups containing milk, thickening of butter and flour, rice, etc., are nutritious, and make excellent luncheon soups.

Clear soup is made from a shin of beef, or from beef and veal; the latter makes a fine consomme. Bouillon, also a clear soup, is made from lean beef. Stock is made from lean meat and bone in the proportion of one pound of meat to three-quarters of a pound of bone.

Long, slow cooking is necessary to draw out the extractives and to dissolve the gelatine. The fibre of beef, which holds a large proportion of nourishment, is not soluble in water; the albumin is the only nutrient extracted, but in boiling this is coagulated and strained out, and is lost to the soup. All bones left from roasts, steaks and the car casses of poultry should be used for stock and bits of meat.

Crack the bones, put them in the bottom of a kettle, cut the meat into small bits, or chop it, and put it on top of the bones ; cover with cold water in the proportion of one quart of water to half a pound of meat and its proportion of bone. Bring quickly to the boiling point and skim. An ordinary shin of beef requires five quarts of water, while the leg, from the hindquarter being heavier, requires seven quarts.

Push the kettle to the back of the stove where it will simmer at 180° Fahrenheit for five hours. Make stock twice a week in summer; once in winter.

To save fuel, make the stock on ironing or baking days, or over the simmering burner of a gas-stove. To have good, clear soup the cooking must be evenly done from beginning to end. If it boils rapidly for five minutes it is clouded; if it drops below the simmering point, 180° Fahrenheit, it is greasy, has a bad flavor, and will not solidify when cold.

One hour before the stock is finished add the flavorings—an onion with twelve whole cloves stuck in, two bay leaves, a small carrot chopped fine, a level teaspoonful of celery seed, a teaspoonful of whole peppercorns, and a tablespoonful of salt.

At the end of the cooking strain and stand it aside to cool. When cold remove the fat from the surface and it will be ready for use. Stock made in this way will keep a week in winter and three or four days in summer ; from it almost all clear soups are made.

Below is the list of top 20 clear soups:

Consomme a la colbert
Consomme with macaroni
Consomme a la royale
Soup Julienne
German Consomme
Grandmother’s Soup
Celery Bisque
Mock Oyster Soup
Cream of corn soup
Vegetable puree
East Indian curry soup
Egg Soup
Rabbit Soup
Fifteen-minute soup
Lentil soup
German brown broth
Bisque of rice
Cream of spinach
Puree of chestnuts
Peanut soup

1. Consomme a la colbert

Drop poached eggs into hot, clear soup just as you send it to the table.

2. Consomme with macaroni

Put small bits of carefully cooked macaroni into hot, clear soup.

3. Consomme a la royale

Beat the whites and yolks of two eggs until well mixed. Add four tablespoonfuls of consomme, two drops of onion juice, a palatable seasoning of salt and pepper. Put the mixture in a cup and stand it in hot water until the custard is set. Cut into blocks, and add to hot consomme at serving-time.

4. Soup Julienne

Add all kinds of cooked green vegetables to hot clear soup and serve.

5. German Consomme

Beat two eggs without separating until light; add six tablespoonfuls of farina slowly, and salt and pepper to taste ; saute in olive oil or suet, cut into blocks, and drop them in hot consomme at serving-time.

6. Grandmother’s Soup

Put two level tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour in a saucepan ; mix. Add a quart of consomme; stir until boiling. Add half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper and a teaspoonful of kitchen bouquet.

Beat an egg without separating until light; add half a cupful of grated bread; add this to the boiling brown soup. Stir and boil for a moment, and serve.

7. Celery Bisque

Chop fine sufficient celery tops to make half a pint; put them in a saucepan with a pint of water and simmer slowly for fifteen minutes; drain, press perfectly dry.

Put this water in a double boiler; add a pint of milk, two level tablespoonfuls of butter rubbed with two of flour ; stir until thick and smooth, and add twenty-five oysters that have been drained and washed. Cook until the gills curl, and serve at once.

8. Mock Oyster Soup

Wash a quarter of a pound of salt codfish; simmer gently for thirty minutes with a quart of water; and six roots of salsify that have been scraped and cut into slices.

Remove the codfish; add a pint of milk, a level teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper and two level tablespoonfuls of butter rubbed with three of flour. Stir the mixture until it reaches the boiling point, and serve with oyster crackers.

9. Cream of corn soup

Put a can of corn, a tablespoonful of grated onion, a bay leaf, a level teaspoonful of salt, a quart of milk and a saltspoonful of pepper in a double boiler. Rub together two tablespoonfuls of butter and three of flour ; add to the hot mixture, stir constantly until the water boils in the outside boiler; press through a colander, reheat, and serve with croutons.

10. Vegetable puree

Put two ounces of suet or olive oil in a saucepan. When hot add two tablespoonfuls of chopped carrots, a chopped turnip, half a pint of celery chopped in blocks, one good-sized onion, and half a teaspoonful of red pepper ; stir over the fire until the vegetables are slightly browned ; add a quarter of a cupful of rice and two quarts of cold water ; bring slowly to boiling point and simmer gently for one hour.

Press through a colander. Moisten three tablespoonfuls of cornstarch in half a pint of milk; add this to the mixture; bring to boiling point; add a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of pepper; take from the fire, stir in a level tablespoonful of butter, and serve with croutons.

11. East Indian curry soup

Put a rounding tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan ; add a good-sized onion sliced, and cook slowly, without browning the butter ; add a large sour apple pared, cored and sliced, a teaspoonful of thyme, a teaspoonful of curry powder, a sprig of parsley, a level teaspoonful of salt and a tablespoonful of lemon juice. Stir; add a quart of good chicken stock and two tablespoonfuls of rice. Cover and simmer gently for fifteen minutes, and then send to the table without straining.

12. Egg Soup

Put four tablespoonfuls of washed rice in a quart of good stock and simmer gently for twenty minutes. Press through a sieve, return to the kettle; add a saltspoonful of pepper and half a teaspoonful of salt.

Beat the yolks of two eggs; add a little of the hot soup, and then turn the mixture into the kettle. Stir for a moment, do not boil, take from the fire, and serve with large squares of toasted bread.

13. Rabbit Soup

It is a well-known fact that clear soap made from rabbit or Belgian hare, especially the latter, has a greater amount of nourishment than clear soup made from beef and mutton. Skin, clean and singe a good-sized hare; cut off the hindlegs and shoulders, divide the remaining part into three pieces.

Put two tablespoonfuls of olive oil in a saucepan ; add an onion sliced. Cook slowly without browning. Cut the rabbit into pieces ; roll each piece in flour, drop the pieces in the oil, shake until a golden brown, being careful not to brown the oil.

Add a bay leaf, a saltspoonful of celery seed, and two quarts of boiling water ; bring to boiling point and skim ; cover and simmer gently for an hour and a half; add a level teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of pepper.

Take up the hare, remove the meat from the bones, cut it in blocks. Strain the soup, return it to the kettle; add the meat, a teaspoonful of kitchen bouquet and a teaspoonful of mushroom ketchup. Put into a tureen two hard-boiled eggs, and half a lemon cut in thin slices; pour the soup over this, and serve at once with crescent-shaped croutons.

14. Fifteen-minute soup

Put a quart can of tomatoes, a slice of onion, a level teaspoonful of salt, a bay leaf, a blade of mace and a pint of water or stock in a saucepan; bring to boiling point, and add two level tablespoonfuls of butter rubbed with four tablespoonfuls of flour; stir constantly until boiling; press through a sieve, reheat, and serve with croutons.

15. Lentil soup

Lentil soup has meat value. Wash the lentils, cover them with cold water, and soak over night in the morning, drain. Add a quart of stock, a pint of water, a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, a saltspoonful of pepper, a level teaspoonful of salt, and simmer for about two hours, until the lentils are tender.

Press through a colander, then through a sieve, and return the puree to the kettle. Rub a tablespoonful of butter and one of flour together, add them to the soup, and stir until boiling. Add a small onion grated, bring to boiling point, and turn at once into the soup-tureen. Sprinkle over the soup a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and serve with croutons.

To give variety moisten a tablespoonful of flour gradually in a half a cupful of milk, and add it to the soup instead of the butter.

16. German brown broth

Scrape and cut into dice two carrots; pare and cut into the same shape one potato; slice an onion. Put four tablespoonfuls of olive oil in saucepan ; add the vegetables and shake until they are a golden brown.

Take them out with a skimmer and put them in a kettle; add one quart of boiling water, a bay leaf, a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of pepper. Simmer gently for twenty minutes. Press through a puree-sieve; return to the kettle, and add a teaspoonful of kitchen bouquet. Pour into a hot tureen, and serve at once with a dozen cheese balls.

17. Bisque of rice

Wash half a cupful of rice, throw it into a quart of boiling water and boil rapidly for ten minutes ; drain. Put it in a double boiler with one quart of milk, half a cupful of finely chopped celery and a bay leaf; cover and cook slowly for thirty minutes.

While this is cooking cut a good sized onion into slices, put it with two tablespoonfuls of olive oil or butter in a shallow frying-pan; cook slowly until the onion is tender, but not brown; add this to the mixture in the farina boiler; press the whole through a colander, return to the double boiler; add hastily a tablespoonful of butter ; press through a fine sieve, and serve.

18. Cream of spinach

Cut the leaves from two quarts of spinach, wash them thoroughly and throw them in a perfectly dry soup-kettle; stand the kettle over the fire and stir constantly for fifteen minutes until the spinach is wilted and cooked. Drain, saving the water. Chop the spinach very fine, then press it through a puree-sieve ; add it to the water and a small onion grated ; put this with a quart of milk in a double boiler.

Rub a rounding tablespoonful of butter and two of flour together, add them to the milk, stir until smooth ; add a level teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and if you have it, half a teaspoonful of beef extract that has been dissolved in a little of the soup. Strain at once into a tureen, and serve with croutons or breadsticks.

19. Puree of chestnuts

Shell and blanch a pint of chestnuts; cover them with a quart of boiling water ; add a slice of onion, a little chopped celery, a bay leaf and half a teaspoonful of paprika. Boil gently for thirty minutes.

Press through a colander, add a pint of chicken stock and a pint of milk. Allow this to come slowly to the boiling point. Rub together two rounding tablespoonfuls of butter and one of flour; stir this into the soup carefully until you have a perfectly smooth mixture. Add a level teaspoonful of salt. Strain through a fine sieve, reheat, and serve with croutons.

20. Peanut soup

Put a quart of milk in a double boiler; add half a pint of peanut butter, a small onion grated, half a cupful of finely chopped celery and a dash of white pepper ; cover and cook slowly for twenty minutes.

Moisten a level tablespoonful of cornstarch in a little cold milk; add to the hot soup,stir until smooth and thick. Strain into a hot tureen, add a teaspoonful of paprika, and serve.

Post Views: 300

You may also like: