The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) written by Mrs. F.L. Gillette

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SPLIT PEA SOUP. No. 1.

Wash well a pint of split peas and cover them well with cold water,
adding a third of a teaspoonful of soda; let them remain in it over
night to swell. In the morning put them in a kettle with a close
fitting cover. Pour over them three quarts of cold water, adding half
a pound of lean ham or bacon cut into slices or pieces; also a
teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper, and some celery chopped fine.
When the soup begins to boil, skim the froth from the surface. Cook
slowly from three to four hours, stirring occasionally till the peas
are all dissolved, adding a little more boiling water to keep up the
quantity as it boils away. Strain through a colander, and leave out
the meat. It should be quite quick. Serve with small squares of
toasted bread, cut up and added. If not rich enough, add a small piece
of butter.

CREAM OF ASPARAGUS.

For making two quarts of soup, use two bundles of fresh asparagus. Cut
the tops from one of the bunches and cook them twenty minutes in
salted water, enough to cover them. Cook the remainder of the
asparagus about twenty minutes in a quart of stock or water. Cut an
onion into thin slices and fry in three tablespoonfuls of butter ten
minutes, being careful not to scorch it; then add the asparagus that
has been boiled in the stock; cook this five minutes, stirring
constantly; then add three tablespoonfuls of dissolved flour, cook
five minutes longer. Turn this mixture into the boiling stock and boil
twenty minutes. Rub through a sieve; add the milk and cream and the
asparagus heads. If water is used in place of stock, use all cream.

GREEN PEA SOUP.

Wash a small quarter of lamb in cold water, and put it into a soup-pot
with six quarts of cold water; add to it two tablespoonfuls of salt,
and set it over a moderate fire--let it boil gently for two hours,
then skim it clear; add a quart of shelled peas, and a teaspoonful of
pepper; cover it, and let it boil for half an hour; then having
scraped the skins from a quart of small young potatoes, add them to
the soup; cover the pot and let it boil for half an hour longer; work
quarter of a pound of butter and a dessertspoonful of flour together,
and add them to the soup ten or twelve minutes before taking it off
the fire.

Serve the meat on a dish with parsley sauce over it, and the soup in a
tureen.

DRIED BEAN SOUP.

Put two quarts of dried white beans to soak the night before you make
the soup, which should be put on as early in the day as possible.

Take two pounds of the lean of fresh beef--the coarse pieces will do.
Cut them up and put them into your soup-pot with the bones belonging
to them (which should be broken in pieces), and a pound of lean bacon,
cut very small. If you have the remains of a piece of beef that has
been roasted the day before, and so much underdone that the juices
remain in it, you may put it into the pot and its bones along with it.
Season the meat with pepper only, and pour on it six quarts of water.
As soon as it boils, take off the scum, and put in the beans (having
first drained them) and a head of celery cut small, or a tablespoonful
of pounded celery seed. Boil it slowly till the meat is done to
shreds, and the beans all dissolved. Then strain it through a colander
into the tureen, and put into it small squares of toasted bread with
the crust cut off.

TURTLE SOUP FROM BEANS.

Soak over night one quart of black beans; next day boil them in the
proper quantity of water, say a gallon, then dip the beans out of the
pot and strain them through a colander. Then return the flour of the
beans, thus pressed, into the pot in which they were boiled. Tie up in
a thin cloth some thyme, a teaspoonful of summer savory and parsley,
and let it boil in the mixture. Add a tablespoonful of cold butter,
salt and pepper. Have ready four hard-boiled yolks of eggs quartered,
and a few force meat balls; add this to the soup with a sliced lemon,
and half a glass of wine just before serving the soup.

This approaches so near in flavor to the real turtle soup that few are
able to distinguish the difference.

PHILADELPHIA PEPPER POT.

Put two pounds of tripe and four calves' feet into the soup-pot and
cover them with cold water; add a red pepper, and boil closely until
the calves' feet are boiled very tender; take out the meat, skim the
liquid, stir it, cut the tripe into small pieces, and put it back into
the liquid; if there is not enough liquid, add boiling water; add half
a teaspoonful of sweet marjoram, sweet basil, and thyme, two sliced
onions, sliced potatoes, salt. When the vegetables have boiled until
almost tender, add a piece of butter rolled in flour, drop in some egg
balls, and boil fifteen minutes more. Take up and serve hot.

SQUIRREL SOUP.

Wash and quarter three or four good sized squirrels; put them on, with
a small tablespoonful of salt, directly after breakfast, in a gallon
of cold water. Cover the pot close, and set it on the back part of
the stove to simmer gently, _not_ boil. Add vegetables just the same
as you do in case of other meat soups in the summer season, but
especially good will you find corn, Irish potatoes, tomatoes and Lima
beans. Strain the soup through a coarse colander when the meat has
boiled to shreds, so as to get rid of the squirrels' troublesome
little bones. Then return to the pot, and after boiling a while
longer, thicken with a piece of butter rubbed in flour. Celery and
parsley leaves chopped up are also considered an improvement by many.
Toast two slices of bread, cut them into dice one-half inch square,
fry them in butter, put them into the bottom of your tureen, and then
pour the soup boiling hot upon them. Very good.

TOMATO SOUP. No. 1.

Place in a kettle four pounds of beef. Pour over it one gallon of cold
water. Let the meat and water boil slowly for three hours, or until
the liquid is reduced to about one-half. Remove the meat and put into
the broth a quart of tomatoes, and one chopped onion; salt and pepper
to taste. A teaspoonful of flour should be dissolved and stirred in,
then allowed to boil half an hour longer. Strain and serve hot. Canned
tomatoes in place of fresh ones may be used.

TOMATO SOUP. No. 2.

Place over the fire a quart of peeled tomatoes, stew them soft with a
pinch of soda. Strain it so that no seeds remain, set it over the fire
again, and add a quart of hot boiled milk; season with salt and
pepper, a piece of butter the size of an egg, add three tablespoonfuls
of rolled cracker, and serve hot. Canned tomatoes may be used in place
of fresh ones.

TOMATO SOUP. No. 3.

Peel two quarts of tomatoes, boil them in a saucepan with an onion,
and other soup vegetables; strain and add a level tablespoonful of
flour dissolved in a third of a cup of melted butter; add pepper and
salt. Serve very hot over little squares of bread fried brown and
crisp in butter.

An excellent addition to a cold meat lunch.

MULLAGATAWNY SOUP. (As made in India.)

Cut four onions, one carrot, two turnips, and one head of celery into
three quarts of liquor, in which one or two fowls have been boiled;
keep it over a brisk fire till it boils, then place it on a corner of
the fire, and let it simmer twenty minutes; add one tablespoonful of
currie powder, and one tablespoonful of flour; mix the whole well
together, and let it boil three minutes; pass it through a colander;
serve with pieces of roast chicken in it; add boiled rice in a
separate dish. It must be of good yellow color, and not too thick. If
you find it too thick, add a little boiling water and a teaspoonful of
sugar. Half veal and half chicken answers as well.

A dish of rice, to be served separately with this soup, must be thus
prepared: put three pints of water in a saucepan and one tablespoonful
of salt; let this boil. Wash well, in three waters, half a pound of
rice; strain it, and put it into the boiling water in saucepan. After
it has come to the boil--which it will do in about two minutes--let it
boil twenty minutes; strain it through a colander, and pour over it
two quarts of cold water. This will separate the grains of rice. Put
it back in the saucepan, and place it near the fire until hot enough
to send to the table. This is also the proper way to boil rice for
curries. If these directions are strictly carried out every grain of
the rice will separate, and be thoroughly cooked.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP, OF CALF'S HEAD.

Scald a well-cleansed calf's head, remove the brain, tie it up in a
cloth, and boil an hour, or until the meat will easily slip from the
bone; take out, save the broth; cut it in small square pieces, and
throw them into cold water; when cool, put it in a stewpan, and cover
with some of the broth; let it boil until quite tender, and set aside.

In another stewpan melt some butter, and in it put a quarter of a
pound of lean ham, cut small, with fine herbs to taste; also parsley
and one onion; add about a pint of the broth; let it simmer for two
hours, and then dredge in a small quantity of flour; now add the
remainder of the broth, and a quarter bottle of Madeira or sherry; let
all stew quietly for ten minutes and rub it through a medium sieve;
add the calf's head, season with a very little cayenne pepper, a
little salt, the juice of one lemon, and, if desired, a quarter
teaspoonful pounded mace and a dessert-spoon sugar.

Having previously prepared force meat balls, add them to the soup, and
five minutes after serve hot.

GREEN TURTLE SOUP.

One turtle, two onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, juice of one lemon,
five quarts of water, a glass of Madeira.

After removing the entrails, cut up the coarser parts of the turtle
meat and bones. Add four quarts of water, and stew four hours with the
herbs, onions, pepper and salt. Stew very slowly, do not let it cease
boiling during this time. At the end of four hours strain the soup,
and add the finer parts of the turtle and the green fat, which has
been simmered one hour in two quarts of water. Thicken with brown
flour; return to the soup-pot, and simmer gently for an hour longer.
If there are eggs in the turtle, boil them in a separate vessel for
four hours, and throw into the soup before taking up. If not, put in
force meat balls; then the juice of the lemon, and the wine; beat up
at once and pour out.

Some cooks add the finer meat before straining, boiling all together
five hours; then strain, thicken and put in the green fat, cut into
lumps an inch long. This makes a handsomer soup than if the meat is
left in.

Green turtle can now be purchased preserved in air-tight cans.

_Force Meat Balls for the Above._--Six tablespoonfuls of turtle meat
chopped very fine. Rub to a paste, with the yolk of two hard-boiled
eggs, a tablespoonful of butter, and, if convenient, a little oyster
liquor. Season with cayenne, mace, half a teaspoonful of white sugar
and a pinch of salt. Bind all with a well-beaten egg; shape into small
balls; dip in egg, then powdered cracker; fry in butter, and drop into
the soup when it is served.

MACARONI SOUP.

To a rich beef or other soup, in which there is no seasoning other
than pepper or salt, take half a pound of small pipe macaroni, boil it
in clear water until it is tender, then drain it and cut it in pieces
of an inch length; boil it for fifteen minutes in the soup and serve.

TURKEY SOUP.

Take the turkey bones and boil three-quarters of an hour in water
enough to cover them; add a little summer savory and celery chopped
fine. Just before serving, thicken with a little flour (browned), and
season with pepper, salt and a small piece of butter. This is a cheap
but good soup, using the remains of cold turkey which might otherwise
be thrown away.

GUMBO OR OKRA SOUP.

Fry out the fat of a slice of bacon or fat ham, drain it off, and in
it fry the slices of a large onion brown; scald, peel and cut up two
quarts fresh tomatoes, when in season (use canned tomatoes otherwise),
and cut thin one quart okra; put them, together with a little chopped
parsley, in a stew-kettle with about three quarts of hot broth of any
kind; cook slowly for three hours, season with salt and pepper. Serve
hot.

In chicken broth the same quantity of okra pods, used for thickening
instead of tomatoes, forms a chicken gumbo soup.

TAPIOCA CREAM SOUP.

One quart of white stock; one pint of cream or milk; one onion; two
stalks celery; one-third of a cupful of tapioca; two cupfuls of cold
water; one tablespoonful of butter; a small piece of mace; salt,
pepper. Wash the tapioca and soak over night in cold water. Cook it
and the stock together very gently for one hour. Cut the onion and
celery into small pieces, and put on to cook for twenty minutes with
the milk and mace. Strain on the tapioca and stock. Season with salt
and pepper, add butter and serve.

SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT.

ONION SOUP.

One quart of milk, six large onions, yolks of four eggs, three
tablespoonfuls of butter, a large one of flour, one cup full of cream,
salt, pepper. Put the butter in a frying pan. Cut the onions into thin
slices and drop in the butter. Stir until they begin to cook; then
cover tight and set back where they will simmer, but not burn, for
half an hour. Now put the milk on to boil, and then add the dry flour
to the onions and stir constantly for three minutes over the fire;
then turn the mixture into the milk and cook fifteen minutes. Rub the
soup through a strainer, return to the fire, season with salt and
pepper. Beat the yolks of the eggs well, add the cream to them and
stir into the soup. Cook three minutes, stirring constantly. If you
have no cream, use milk, in which case add a tablespoonful of butter
at the same time. Pour over fried croutons in a soup tureen.

This is a refreshing dish when one is fatigued.

WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP.

Scrape and slice three turnips and three carrots and peel three
onions, and fry all with a little butter until a light yellow; add a
bunch of celery and three or four leeks cut in pieces; stir and fry
all the ingredients for six minutes; when fried, add one clove of
garlic, two stalks of parsley, two cloves, salt, pepper and a little
grated nutmeg; cover with three quarts of water and simmer for three
hours, taking off the scum carefully. Strain and use. Croutons,
vermicelli, Italian pastes, or rice may be added.

VERMICELLI SOUP.

Swell quarter of a pound of vermicelli in a quart of warm water, then
add it to a good beef, veal, lamb, or chicken soup or broth, with
quarter of a pound of sweet butter; let the soup boil for fifteen
minutes after it is added.

SWISS WHITE SOUP.

A sufficient quantity of broth for six people; boil it; beat up three
eggs well, two spoonfuls of flour, one cup milk; pour these gradually
through a sieve into the boiling soup; salt and pepper.

SPRING VEGETABLE SOUP.

Half pint green peas, two shredded lettuces, one onion, a small bunch
of parsley, two ounces butter, the yolks of three eggs, one pint of
water, one and a half quarts of soup stock. Put in a stewpan the
lettuce, onion, parsley and butter, with one pint of water, and let
them simmer till tender. Season with salt and pepper. When done,
strain off the vegetables, and put two-thirds of the liquor with the
stock. Beat up the yolks of the eggs with the other third, toss it
over the fire, and at the moment of serving add this with the
vegetables to the strained-off soup.

CELERY SOUP.

Celery soup may be made with _white stock_. Cut down the white of half
a dozen heads of celery into little pieces and boil it in four pints
of white stock, with a quarter of a pound of lean ham and two ounces
of butter. Simmer gently for a full hour, then strain through a sieve,
return the liquor to the pan, and stir in a few spoonfuls of cream
with great care. Serve with toasted bread, and if liked, thicken with
a little flour. Season to taste.

IRISH POTATO SOUP.

Peel and boil eight medium-sized potatoes with a large onion sliced,
some herbs, salt and pepper; press all through a colander; then thin
it with rich milk and add a lump of butter, more seasoning, if
necessary; let it heat well and serve hot.

PEA SOUP.

Put a quart of dried peas into five quarts of water; boil for four
hours; then add three or four large onions, two heads of celery, a
carrot, two turnips, all cut up rather fine. Season with pepper and
salt. Boil two hours longer, and if the soup becomes too thick add
more water. Strain through a colander and stir in a tablespoonful of
cold butter. Serve hot, with small pieces of toasted bread placed in
the bottom of the tureen.

NOODLES FOR SOUP.

Beat up one egg light, add a pinch of salt, and flour enough to make a
_very stiff_ dough; roll out very thin, like thin pie crust, dredge
with flour to keep from sticking. Let it remain on the bread board to
dry for an hour or more; then roll it up into a tight scroll, like a
sheet of music. Begin at the end and slice it into slips as thin as
straws. After all are cut, mix them lightly together, and to prevent
them sticking, keep them floured a little until you are ready to drop
them into your soup which should be done shortly before dinner, for if
boiled _too long_ they will go to pieces.

FORCE MEAT BALLS FOR SOUP.

One cupful of cooked veal or fowl meat, minced; mix with this a
handful of fine bread crumbs, the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs
rubbed smooth together with a tablespoon of milk; season with pepper
and salt; add a half teaspoon of flour, and bind all together with two
beaten eggs; the hands to be well floured, and the mixture to be made
into little balls the size of a nutmeg; drop into the soup about
twenty minutes before serving.

EGG BALLS FOR SOUP.

Take the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs and half a tablespoonful of
wheat flour, rub them smooth with the yolks of two raw eggs and a
teaspoonful of salt; mix all well together; make it in balls, and drop
them into the boiling soup a few minutes before taking it up.

Used in green turtle soup.

EGG DUMPLINGS FOR SOUP.

To half a pint of milk put two well-beaten eggs, and as much wheat
flour as will make a smooth, rather _thick_ batter free from lumps;
drop this batter, a tablespoonful at a time, into boiling soup.

_Another Mode._--One cupful of sour cream and one cupful of sour milk,
three eggs, well beaten, whites and yolks separately; one teaspoonful
of salt, one level teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a spoonful of
water, and enough flour added to make a _very stiff_ batter. To be
dropped by spoonfuls into the broth and boiled twenty minutes, or
until no raw dough shows on the outside.

SUET DUMPLINGS FOR SOUP.

Three cups of sifted flour in which three teaspoonfuls of baking
powder have been sifted; one cup of finely chopped suet, well rubbed
into the flour, with a teaspoonful of salt. Wet all with sweet milk to
make a dough as stiff as biscuit. Make into small balls as large as
peaches, well floured. Drop into the soup three-quarters of an hour
before being served. This requires steady boiling, being closely
covered, and the cover not to be removed until taken up to serve. A
very good form of pot-pie.

SOYER'S RECIPE FOR FORCE MEATS.

Take 1-1/2 lbs. of lean veal from the fillet, and cut it in long thin
slices; scrape with a knife till nothing but the fibre remains; put it
in a mortar, pound it ten minutes or until in a puree; pass it through
a wire sieve (use the remainder in stock), then take 1 lb. of good
fresh beef suet, which skin, shred and chop very fine; put it in a
mortar and pound it, then add 6 oz. of panada (that is, bread soaked
in milk, and boiled till nearly dry) with the suet; pound them well
together, and add the veal, season with 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1/4
teaspoonful of pepper, 1/2 that of nutmeg; work all well together;
then add four eggs by degrees, continually pounding the contents of
the mortar. When well mixed, take a small piece in a spoon, and poach
it in some boiling water, and if it is delicate, firm, and of a good
flavor, it is ready for use.

CROUTONS FOR SOUP.

In a frying pan have the depth of an inch of boiling fat; also have
prepared slices of stale bread cut up into little half-inch squares;
drop into the frying pan enough of these bits of bread to cover the
surface of the fat. When browned, remove with a skimmer and drain; add
to the hot soup and serve.

Some prefer them prepared in this manner:

Take very thin slices of bread, butter them well; cut them up into
little squares three-fourths of an inch thick, place them in a baking
pan, buttered side up, and brown in a quick oven.

FISH STOCK.

Place a saucepan over the fire with a good-sized piece of sweet butter
and a sliced onion; put into that some sliced tomatoes, then add as
many different kinds of fish as you can get--oysters, clams, smelts,
pawns, crabs, shrimps and all kinds of pan-fish; cook all together
until the onions are well browned; then add a bunch of sweet herbs,
salt and pepper, and sufficient water to make the required amount of
stock. After this has cooked for half an hour pound it with a wooden
pestle, then strain and cook again until it jellies.

FISH SOUP.

Select a large, fine fish, clean it thoroughly, put it over the fire
with a sufficient quantity of water, allowing for each pound of fish
one quart of water; add an onion cut fine and a bunch of sweet herbs.
When the fish is cooked, and is quite tasteless, strain all through a
colander, return to the fire, add some butter, salt and pepper to
taste. A small tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce may be added if
liked. Serve with small squares of fried bread and thin slices of
lemon.

LOBSTER SOUP, OR BISQUE.

Have ready a good broth made of three pounds of veal boiled slowly in
as much water as will cover it, till the meat is reduced to shreds. It
must then be well strained.

Having boiled one fine middle-sized lobster, extract all the meat from
the body and claws. Bruise part of the coral in a mortar, and also an
equal quantity of the meat. Mix them well together. Add mace, cayenne,
salt and pepper, and make them up into force meat balls, binding the
mixture with the yolk of an egg slightly beaten.

Take three quarts of the veal broth and put it into the meat of the
lobster cut into mouthfuls. Boil it together about twenty minutes.
Then thicken it with the remaining coral (which you must first rub
through a sieve), and add the force meat balls and a little butter
rolled in flour. Simmer it gently for ten minutes, but do not let it
come to a boil, as that will injure the color. Serve with small dice
of bread fried brown in butter.

OYSTER SOUP, No. 1.

Two quarts of oysters, one quart of milk, two tablespoonfuls of
butter, one teacupful of hot water; pepper, salt.

Strain all the liquor from the oysters; add the water, and heat. When
near the boil, add the seasoning, then the oysters. Cook about five
minutes from the time they begin to simmer, until they "ruffle." Stir
in the butter, cook one minute, and pour into the tureen. Stir in the
boiling milk and send to table. Some prefer all water in place of
milk.

[Illustration: IDA SAXTON McKINLEY.]

OYSTER SOUP. No. 2.

Scald one gallon of oysters in their own liquor. Add one quart of rich
milk to the liquor, and when it comes to a boil, skim out the oysters
and set aside. Add the yolks of four eggs, two good tablespoonfuls of
butter, and one of flour, all mixed well together, but in this
order--first, the milk, then, after beating the eggs, add a little of
the hot liquor to them gradually, and stir them rapidly into the soup.
Lastly, add the butter and whatever seasoning you fancy besides plain
pepper and salt, which must both be put in to taste with caution.

Celery salt most persons like extremely; others would prefer a little
marjoram or thyme; others again mace and a bit of onion. Use your own
discretion in this regard.

CLAM SOUP. (French Style.)

Mince two dozen hard shell clams very fine. Fry half a minced onion in
an ounce of butter; add to it a pint of hot water, a pinch of mace,
four cloves, one allspice and six whole pepper corns. Boil fifteen
minutes and strain into a saucepan; add the chopped clams and a pint
of clam-juice or hot water; simmer slowly two hours; strain and rub
the pulp through a sieve into the liquid. Return it to the saucepan
and keep it lukewarm. Boil three half-pints of milk in a saucepan
(previously wet with cold water, which prevents burning) and whisk it
into the soup. Dissolve a teaspoonful of flour in cold milk, add it to
the soup, taste for seasoning; heat it gently to near the boiling
point; pour into a tureen previously heated with hot water, and serve
with or without pieces of fried bread--called _croutons_ in kitchen
French.

CLAM SOUP.

Twenty-five clams chopped fine. Put over the fire the liquor that was
drained from them, and a cup of water; add the chopped clams and boil
half an hour; then season to taste with pepper and salt and a piece of
butter as large as an egg; boil up again and add one quart of milk
boiling hot, stir in a tablespoon of flour made to a cream with a
little cold milk, or two crackers rolled fine. Some like a little mace
and lemon juice in the seasoning.