Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesLeslie, Eliza
General
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Leslie, Eliza
Cooking, American
Mix the whole together, and set it in a closely covered vessel over a
slow fire. When it comes to a boil, put in the oysters; and when it
comes to a boil again, they will be sufficiently done.
Before you send it to table put into the tureen some toasted bread cut
into small squares, omitting the crust.
PLAIN OYSTER SOUP.
Take two quarts of large oysters. Strain their liquor into a soup pan;
season it with a tea-spoonful of whole pepper, a tea-spoonful of whole
allspice, the same quantity of whole cloves, and seven or eight blades
of mace. If the oysters are fresh, add a large tea-spoonful of salt; if
they are salt oysters, none is requisite. Set the pan on hot coals, and
boil it slowly (skimming it when necessary) till you find that it is
sufficiently flavoured with the taste of the spice. In the mean time
(having cut out the hard part) chop the oysters fine, and season them
with a powdered nutmeg. Take the liquor from the fire, and strain out
the spice from it. Then return it to the soup pan, and put the chopped
oysters into it, with whatever liquid may have continued about them.
Add a quarter of a pound of butter, divided into little bits and rolled
in flour. Cover the pan, and let it boil hard about five minutes. If
oysters are cooked too much they become tough and tasteless.
CLAM SOUP.
Having put your clams into a pot of boiling water to make them open
easily, take them from the shells, carefully saving the liquor. To the
liquor of a quart of opened clams, allow three quarts of water. Mix the
water with the liquor of the clams and put it into a large pot with a
knuckle of veal, the bone of which should be chopped in four places.
When it has simmered slowly for four hours, put in a large bunch of
sweet herbs, a beaten nutmeg, a tea-spoonful of mace, and a
table-spoonful of whole pepper, but no salt, as the salt of the clam
liquor will be sufficient. Stew it slowly an hour longer, and then
strain it. When you have returned the liquor to the pot, add a quarter
of a pound of butter divided into four and each bit rolled in flour.
Then put in the clams, (having cut them, in pieces,) and let it boil
fifteen minutes. Send it to table with toasted bread in it cut into
dice.
This soup will be greatly improved by the addition of small force-meat
balls. Make them of cold minced veal or chicken, mixed with equal
quantities of chopped suet and sweet marjoram, and a smaller proportion
of hard-boiled egg, grated lemon-peel, and powdered nutmeg. Pound all
the ingredients together in a mortar, adding a little pepper and salt.
Break in a raw egg or two (in proportion to the quantity) to bind the
whole together and prevent it from crumbling to pieces. When thoroughly
mixed, make the force-meat into small balls, and let them boil ten
minutes in the soup, shortly before you send it to table. If you are
obliged to make them of raw veal or raw chicken they must boil longer.
It will be a great improvement to cut up a yam and boil it in the soup.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account