Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery Part 3

RICE SOUP.--Take a quarter of a pound of rice, and wash it in several waters till the water ceases to be discoloured. Take an onion, the white part of a head of celery, and a turnip, and cut them up and fry them in a little b.u.t.ter. Add a quart of stock, or water, and boil these vegetables until they are tender, and then rub them through a wire sieve. Boil the rice in this soup till it is tender, flavour with pepper and salt, add a little milk boiled separately, and serve grated Parmesan cheese with the soup.

RICE SOUP A LA ROYALE.--Take half a pound of rice and wash it thoroughly in several waters till the water ceases to be discoloured. Boil this rice in some stock that has been strongly flavoured with onion, carrot and celery, and strained off. When the rice is tender rub it through a wire sieve, then add some boiling milk, in which two or three bay-leaves have been boiled, and half a pint of cream, till the soup is a proper consistency.

Serve some egg force-meat b.a.l.l.s with the soup.

SORREL SOUP.--Take some sorrel and wash it very thoroughly. Like spinach, it requires a great deal of cleansing. Drain it off and place the sorrel in a stew-pan, and keep stirring it with a wooden spoon. When it has dissolved and boiled for two or three minutes, let it drain on a sieve till the water has run off. Next cut up a large onion and fry it in a little b.u.t.ter, but do not brown the onion. Add a tablespoonful of flour to every two ounces of b.u.t.ter used, also a teaspoonful of sugar, a little grated nutmeg, also a little pepper and salt; add the sorrel to this, with a small quant.i.ty of stock or water, then rub the whole through a wire sieve, and serve. In some parts of the Continent vinegar is added, but it is not adapted to English taste.

SAGO SOUP.--Take two ounces of sage, and having washed it very thoroughly, put it on to boil in a quart of stock strongly flavoured with onion, celery, and carrot, but which has been strained off. The sage must boil until it becomes quite transparent and tender. Flavour the soup with a little pepper and salt, a quarter of a nutmeg, grated, about half a teaspoonful of powdered sugar, and a teaspoonful of lemon juice from a hard lemon.

SEA-KALE SOUP.--This makes a very delicious soup, but it is somewhat rare.

Take a bundle of sea-kale, the whiter the better. Threw it into boiling water, and let it boil for a few minutes, then take it out and drain it; cut it up into small pieces and place it in a stew-pan with about two ounces of b.u.t.ter, add a little pepper and salt and grated nutmeg; stir it up until the b.u.t.ter is thoroughly melted, but do not let it turn colour in the slightest degree. Add some milk, and let it simmer very gently for about half an hour. Rub the whole through a wire sieve, and add a small quant.i.ty of cream. Serve with toasted or fried bread.

SCOTCH BROTH.--Take two or three ounces of pearl barley, wash it, and threw it into boiling water, and let it boil for five or ten minutes. Then drain it off and threw away the water. This is the only way to get pearl barley perfectly clean. Then put on the barley in some stock or water, and let it boil for four hours, till it is tender. Then add to it every kind of vegetable that is in season, such as onion, celery, carrot, turnip, peas, French beans, cut up into small pieces, hearts of lettuces cut up. Flavour with pepper and salt and serve altogether. If possible add leeks to this soup instead of onion, and just before serving the soup throw in a br.i.m.m.i.n.g dessertspoonful of chopped blanched parsley to every quart of soup. A pinch of thyme can also be added.

SPINACH SOUP.--Wash some young, freshly gathered spinach, cut it up with a lettuce, and, if possible, a few leaves of sorrel, and throw them into boiling water. Let them boil for five minutes, drain them off, and throw them into cold water in order to keep their colour. Next take them out of the water and squeeze all the moisture from them; then melt two ounces of b.u.t.ter in a stew-pan, and add two tablespoonfuls of flour. When this is thoroughly mixed together, and begins to frizzle, add the spinach, lettuce, &c., and stir them round and round in the stew-pan till all is well mixed together. Then add sufficient water or vegetable stock to moisten the vegetables (add also a pinch of thyme), and let it boil. When it has boiled for about twenty minutes add a quart of milk that has been boiled separately, flavour with pepper and salt, and serve.

TAPIOCA SOUP.--Clear tapioca soup is made by thickening some ordinary clear soup (_see_ CLEAR SOUP) with tapioca, allowing about two ounces of tapioca to every quart. The tapioca should be put into the soup when it is cold, and it is then far less likely to get lumpy. Tapioca can also be boiled in a little strongly flavoured stock that has not been coloured, and then add some boiling milk. Tapioca should be allowed to simmer for an hour and a half. Of course, a little cream is a great improvement when the soup is made with milk.

TOMATO SOUP.--This is a very delicate soup, and the endeavour should be to try and retain the flavour of the tomato. Slice up an onion, or better still two shallots, and fry them in a little b.u.t.ter, to which can be added a broken-up, dried bay-leaf, a saltspoonful of thyme, and a very small quant.i.ty of grated nutmeg, Fry these in a little batter till the onion begins to turn colour, and then add a dozen ripe tomatoes from which the pips have been squeezed. Moisten with a very little stock or water, and let them stew till they are tender, then rub the whole through a wire sieve. The consistency should be that of pea soup. Add a little b.u.t.ter to soften the soup), and flavour with pepper and salt.

TURNIP SOUP.--Cut up some young turnips into small pieces, throw them into boiling water, let them boil for a few minutes, take them out and strain them, and put them into a stew-pan with about two ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter; add a little salt and sugar. Let them stew in the b.u.t.ter (taking great care that they don't turn colour) till they become soft, then add sufficient boiling milk to moisten them, so that when rubbed through a wire sieve the soup will be of the consistency of pea soup. Serve fried or toasted bread with the soup.

VEGETABLE MARROW SOUP.--Take a large vegetable marrow, peel it, cut it open, remove all the pips, and place it in a stew-pan with about two ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter. Add a br.i.m.m.i.n.g teaspoonful of powdered sugar, a little grated nutmeg, and pepper and salt. Keep turning the pieces of vegetable marrow over in the b.u.t.ter, taking care that they do not at all turn colour.

After frying these pieces gently for five or ten minutes, add some boiling milk, and let the whole simmer gently till it can be rubbed through a wire sieve. Care must be taken not to get this soup too thin, as the vegetable marrow itself contains a large quant.i.ty of water. Season with pepper and salt, and serve fried or toasted bread with the soup.

VEGETABLE SOUP.--(_See_ JARDINIERE SOUP.)

VERMICELLI SOUP.--Take a quarter of a pound of vermicelli and break it up into small pieces, throw it into boiling water, and let it boil for five minutes to get rid of the dirt and floury taste, then throw it immediately into about a quart of clear soup. The vermicelli must be taken from the boiling water and thrown into the boiling soup at once. If you were to boil the vermicelli, strain it off, and put it by to add to the soup, you would find it would stick together in one lump and be spoilt.

VERMICELLI SOUP, WHITE.--The vermicelli must be thrown into white soup instead of clear soup. (_See_ WHITE SOUP.)

WHITE SOUP.--Just as in ordinary white soup the secret of success is to have some strongly reduced stock, so in vegetarian white soup it is essential that we should have a small quant.i.ty of liquid strongly impregnated with the flavour of vegetables. For this purpose, place an onion, the white part of a head of celery, and a slice of turnip in a stew-pan with a little b.u.t.ter, and fry them till they are tender without becoming brown. Now add sufficient water to enable you to boil them, and let the water boil away till very little is left. Now rub this through a wire sieve and add it to a quart of milk in which a couple of bay-leaves have been boiled. Thicken the soup with a little white roux, add a suspicion of nutmeg, and also, if possible, a little cream. Flavour with pepper and salt. Serve fried or toasted bread with the soup.

CHAPTER II.

SAUCES.

SAUCE ALLEMANDE.--Take a pint of b.u.t.ter sauce--(_see_ b.u.t.tER SAUCE)--and add to it four yolks of eggs. In order to do this you must beat up the yolks separately in a basin and add the hot b.u.t.ter sauce gradually, otherwise the yolks of eggs will curdle and the sauce will be spoilt. In fact, it must be treated exactly like custard, and in warming up the sauce it is often a good plan, if you have no _bain-marie_, to put the sauce in a jug and place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water. The sauce should be flavoured with a little essence of mushroom if possible. Essence of mushroom can be made from the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of mushrooms, but mushroom ketchup must not be used on account of the colour. Essence of mushroom can be made by placing the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of mushrooms in a saucepan, stewing them gently, and extracting the flavour. The large black mushrooms, however, are not suited. In addition to this essence of mushroom, a little lemon juice--allowing the juice of half a lemon to every pint, should be added to the sauce, as well as a slight suspicion of nutmeg, a pint of sauce requiring about a dozen grates of a nutmeg. A little cream is a great improvement to this sauce, but is not absolutely necessary. The sauce should be perfectly smooth. Should it therefore contain any lumps, which is not unfrequently the case in b.u.t.ter sauce, pa.s.s the sauce through a sieve with a wooden spoon and then put it by in a _bain-marie_, or warm it up in a jug as directed.

ALMOND SAUCE.--This is suitable for puddings. The simplest way of making it is to make, say half a pint of b.u.t.ter sauce, or, cheaper, thicken half a pint of milk with a little corn-flour, sweeten it with white sugar, and then add a few drops of essence of almonds. About a dozen drops will be sufficient if the essence is strong, but essence of almonds varies greatly in strength. The sauce can be coloured pink with a few drops of cochineal.

ALMOND SAUCE (CLEAR).--Thicken half a pint of water with a little corn-flour, sweeten it with white sugar, add a dozen drops of essence of almonds and a few drops of cochineal to colour it pink. The sauce is very suitable to pour over custard puddings made in a basin or cup and turned out on to a dish. It is also very cheap.

APPLE SAUCE.--Peel say a dozen apples; cut them into quarters; and be very careful in removing all the core, as many a child is choked through carelessness in this respect. Stew the apples in a little water till they become a pulp, placing with them half a dozen cloves and half a dozen strips of the yellow part only of the outside of the rind of a _fresh_ lemon of the size and thickness of the thumb-nail; sweeten with brown sugar, that known as Porto Rico being the most economical. Add a small piece of b.u.t.ter before serving.

ARROWROOT SAUCE.--Thicken half a pint of water with about a dessertspoonful of arrowroot and sweeten it with white sugar. The sauce can be flavoured by rubbing a few lumps of sugar on the outside of a lemon, or with a few drops of essence of vanilla, or with the addition of a little sherry or spirit, the best spirit being rum. This sauce can, of course, be coloured pink with cochineal.

ARTICHOKE SAUCE.--Proceed exactly as if you were making artichoke soup, only make the puree thicker by using less liquid. A simple artichoke sauce can be made by boiling down a few Jerusalem artichokes to a pulp, rubbing them through a wire sieve, and flavouring with pepper and salt.

ASPARAGUS SAUCE.--Boil a bundle of asparagus and rub all the green, tender part through a wire sieve, till it is a thick pulp, flavour with a little pepper and salt, add a small piece of b.u.t.ter, and a little spinach extract (vegetable colouring sold in bottles) in order to give it a good colour.

BREAD SAUCE.--Take some dry crumb of bread, and rub through a wire sieve.

The simplest plan is to turn the wire sieve upside down on a large sheet of paper. The bread must be stale, and stale pieces can be put by for this purpose. Next take, say, a pint of milk, and let it boil; then throw in the bread-crumbs and let them _boil_ in the milk. This is the secret of good bread sauce. Add a dozen peppercorns, and place a whole onion in the saucepan containing the bread and milk, and place the saucepan beside the fire in order to allow the bread-crumbs to swell. It will be found that though at starting the bread sauce was quite thin and milky, yet after a time it becomes thick. Take out the onion, add a little piece of b.u.t.ter, stir it up, and serve. A little cream is a great improvement, but is not absolutely necessary. This sauce, though very simple, requires care: Many persons will probably recollect having met with bread sauce which in appearance resembled a poultice too much to be agreeable either to the palate or the eye.

b.u.t.tER SAUCE.--This is the most important of all the sauces with which we have to deal. The great mistake made by the vast majority of women cooks is that they will use milk. They thicken a pint of milk with a little b.u.t.ter and flour, and then call it melted b.u.t.ter, and, as a rule, send to table enough for twenty persons when only two or three are dining. As b.u.t.ter sauce will be served with the majority of vegetables, we would call the attention of vegetarians to the fact that, as a rule, ordinary cookery-books take for granted that vegetables will be served with the meat. When therefore vegetables are served separately, and are intended to be eaten with bread as a course by themselves, some alteration must be made in the method of serving them. Again, vegetarians should bear in mind that, except in cases where poverty necessitates rigid economy, a certain amount of b.u.t.ter may be considered almost a necessity, should the meal be wished to be both wholesome and nouris.h.i.+ng. Francatelli, who was _chef-de-cuisine_ to the Earl of Chesterfield, and was also chief cook to the Queen and _chef_ at the Reform Club, and afterwards manager of the Freemasons' Tavern, in writing on this subject observes:--"b.u.t.ter sauce, or, as it is more absurdly called, melted b.u.t.ter, is the foundation of the whole of the following sauces, and requires very great care in its preparation. Though simple, it is nevertheless a very useful and agreeable sauce when properly made. So far from this being usually the case, it is too generally left to a.s.sistants to prepare, as an insignificant matter; the result is therefore seldom satisfactory. When a large quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter sauce is required, put four ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter into a middle-sized stew-pan, with some grated nutmeg and minionette pepper; to these add four ounces of sifted flour, knead the whole well together, and moisten with a pint of cold spring water; stir the sauce on the fire till it boils, and after having kept it gently boiling for twenty minutes (observing that it be not thicker than the consistency of common white sauce), proceed to mix in one pound and a half of sweet fresh b.u.t.ter, taking care to stir the sauce quickly the whole time of the operation.

Should it appear to turn oily, add now and then a spoonful of cold spring water; finish with the juice of half a lemon, and salt to palate; then pa.s.s the sauce through a tammy into a large _bain-marie_ for use."

We have quoted the recipe of the late M. Francatelli in full, as we believe it is necessary to refer to some very great authority in order to knock out the prejudice from the minds of many who think that they not only can themselves cook, but teach others, but who are bound in the chains of prejudice and tradition which, too often, in the most simple recipes, lead them to follow in the footsteps of their grandmothers.

Real b.u.t.ter sauce can be made as follows, on a small scale:--Take a claret-gla.s.s of water, and about a small teaspoonful of flour mixed with rather more than the same quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter, and mix this in the water over the fire till it is of the consistency of very thin gruel. If it is thicker than this, add a little more water. Now take any quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter, and gradually dissolve as much as you can in this thin gruel, adding say half an ounce at a time, till the sauce becomes a rich oily compound. After a time, if you add too much b.u.t.ter, the sauce will curdle and turn oily, as described by Francatelli.

Of course, in everyday life it is not necessary to have the b.u.t.ter sauce so rich, still it is simply ridiculous to thicken a pint of milk, or a pint of water, with a little b.u.t.ter and flour, and then call it b.u.t.ter sauce or melted b.u.t.ter. Suppose we have a large white cabbage, like those met with in the West of England, and we are going to make a meal off it in conjunction with plenty of bread. Suppose the cabbage is sufficiently large for six persons, surely half a pound of b.u.t.ter is not an excessive quant.i.ty to use in making b.u.t.ter sauce for the purpose. Yet prejudice is such that if we use half a pound of b.u.t.ter for the b.u.t.ter sauce, housekeepers consider it extravagant. On the other hand, if the b.u.t.ter were placed on the table, and the six persons helped themselves, and ate bread and b.u.t.ter with the cabbage and finished the half-pound, it would not be considered extravagant. Of course, this is simply prejudice.

A simple way of making melted b.u.t.ter is as follows:--Take half a pint of cold water, put it in a saucepan, and add sufficient white roux, or b.u.t.ter and flour mixed, till it is of the consistency of thin gruel. Now gradually dissolve in this, adding a little piece at a time, as much b.u.t.ter as you can afford; add a suspicion of nutmeg, a little pepper and salt, and a few drops of lemon-juice from a fresh lemon, if you have one in use.

b.u.t.tER, MELTED, OR OILED b.u.t.tER.--Melted b.u.t.ter, properly speaking, is rarely met with in this country, but is a common everyday sauce on the Continent. It is simply what it says. A piece of b.u.t.ter is placed in a little sauce-boat and placed in the oven till the b.u.t.ter runs to oil, and then sent to table with all kinds of fish with which in our present work we have nothing to do; but it is also sent to table with all kinds of vegetables, such as French artichokes, &c.; sometimes a spoonful of French capers is added to the oiled b.u.t.ter.

b.u.t.tER, BLACK, OR BEURRE NOIR.--Take two ounces of b.u.t.ter, and dissolve it in a frying-pan, and let it frizzle till the b.u.t.ter turns a brown colour; then add a tablespoonful of French vinegar, a teaspoonful of chopped capers, a teaspoonful of Harvey's sauce, and a teaspoonful of mushroom ketchup. Let it remain on the fire till the acidity of the vinegar is removed by evaporation. This is a very delicious sauce, and can be served with Jerusalem artichokes boiled whole, fried eggs, &c.

CAPER SAUCE.--Make some b.u.t.ter sauce, and to every half-pint of sauce add a dessertspoonful of chopped French capers. If the sauce is liked sharp, add some of the vinegar from the bottle of capers.