Soup's On, Ladies! (And Steve)

As everyone who's ever watched Top Chef knows, the ability to make a great soup is what separates the pro chefs from the posers.

So this week, we'll be spending some time in the soup section of the Woman's Exchange Cook Book.  

And y'know how I like to include recipes in these WECB posts?  

Well, this week's is a doozy.  Yum!

SOUP:

Soup, nourishing but simple, should form the first course at every dinner.

To make nutritious, healthful and palatable soup, is an art which requires study and practice, but it is surprising from what a scant allotment of material a delicate and appetizing dish may be produced.

An important point in making good soup is to have a porcelain or granite iron kettle. The juices of the meat are acid and will act upon a metallic kettle, thus giving the soup an unpleasant taste.  A close cover keeps in the steam and prevents evaporation-- therefore should always be used.

The most important point in making good soup is to have the best of materials.  To make soup nutritious we must change the meat into a liquid form; to do this, we must first soften the fibrin, so as to draw out the juices and blood.  Do not boil but simmer, as the albumen on the surface of the meat immediately coagulates.  Salt should never be added until the soup is done, as it hardens the water.  Soft water is the best.  When the water begins to heat a small portion of albumen coagulates, forming a fibrous net, entangling any substance that may be floating in.  Consequently, watch, and skim to have it clear.  This should always be done before vegetables are put in.

A good rule is to allow a quart or a little less of water to a pound of meat, this makes a rich soup; boil slowly, and when done, strain through a colander.  If a clear soup is desired it should be strained through a hair sieve on a clean towel.  All bones, pieces of beef, remnants of fowl, such as chicken and turkey, add a rich flavor to many kinds of soup.  Oftentimes, bits of meat, and the odds and ends of fowls alone make a nice soup, but by adding some fresh meat, a rich flavor is imparted.

In cold weather, you can cover up for several days the remnants of meat and let them stand, and when needed, cook in cold water, strain, and you have a soup stock.

Meat for soup should always be put on to cook in cold water, and allowed to simmer slowly for several hours, in order that the essence of the meat may be drawn out thoroughly.  If water is needed use boiling water from the teakettle; cold or lukewarm spoils the flavor.

Burnt brown sugar, commonly called caramel, is sometimes useful to color soups brown.

A handful of spinach leaves, pounded and added to the soup five minutes before taking it up, will produce a fine green color; parsley or green leaves can be substituted.

Potatoes,if boiled in the soup, are thought by some to render it unwholesome, from the opinion that the water in which potatoes have been cooked is almost a poison.  As potatoes are a part of every dinner, it is very easy to take a few out of the pot in which they have been boiled by themselves, and to cut them up and add them to the soup just before it goes to the table.  Remove all shreds of meat and bone.

MOCK-TURTLE SOUP

Clean and wash a calf's head, split it in two, save the brains, boil the head until tender in plenty of water; put a slice of fat ham, a bunch of parsley cut small, a sprig of thyme, two leeks cut small, six cloves, a teaspoonful of pepper, and three ounces of butter, into a stew-pan, and fry them a nice brown; then add the water in which the head was boiled, cut the meat from the head in neat square pieces, and put them to the soup; add a pint of Madeira and one lemon sliced thin, and Cayenne pepper and salt to taste; let simmer gently for two hours, then skim it clear and serve.

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Let me just say:  there is not enough Madeira in the world to make me eat that soup.

Comments

[bibi]

the mock-turtle one? why? (i've never realised it was an actual soup, i thought it would be something the queen of hearts would make. ha.)

[Chris]

OMGosh. You didn't explain why we'd save the calf's brains. Not to mention I'm pretty sure I don't have the right kitchen utensils to SPLIT a calf's head in two.....gag gag gag.

-C

PS-I think we should let Christi try out that recipe and let us know how it goes.

[Christi]

Since when would a calf's head ever be confused with a turtle? Maybe it's the getting the stuff out of the head part (like shelling a turtle.) I digress...

[Christi]

Sorry for the multiple comments... I want to know more about making poison out of the water that you boil potatoes in. That could come in REALLY handy.

[EscapeVelocity]

OK, add mock turtle soup to the list of things one shouldn't watch being made. I guess it would be even ickier if the brains were included, though. Brains are for zombies.

[Chris]

EscapeVelocity, did you watch the youtube video too? LOL

LOL Made you Google!!

-C

[Jen K.]

I think I'd take actual turtle soup over mock turtle.

[Shannon]

Well, there goes my plan to have soup for lunch today!