CREAM SLAW

Mrs. Dr. Skinner, Somerset.

One gallon cabbage cut very fine, pint vinegar, pint sour cream, half cup sugar, teaspoon flour, two eggs and a piece of butter the size of a walnut ; put vinegar, sugar and butter in a saucepan and let boil ; stir eggs, cream and flour, previously well mixed, into the vinegar, boil thoroughly and throw over the cabbage, previously sprinkled with one teaspoon salt, one of black pepper and one of mustard.

276 THE BUCKEYE COOK BOOK.

To make nutritious, healthful and palatable soup, with flavors properly commingled, is an art and re- quires study and practice ; but it is surprising from what a scant allotment of material a delicate and ap- petizing soup may be produced. Pieces of gristle, odds and ends of meat, trimmings of steak and cut- lets, bones (first thoroughly cracked), liquors left from boiling poultry, fresh or salt meats, (but not the small- est bit of fat) are good soup stock. Place in a large kettle with one quart water to each pound of meat, stir frequently, skim well and let simmer for six or eight hours, strain into a stone jar, and when cold remove the cake of fat from off the top, and the liquor may be used for almost any kind of soup.

A rich soup stock can be best made from a shank or shin of beef, (knuckle of veal is next best). Cut in several pieces, crack the bones, add four quarts of water and simmer until the liquor is reduced one-half; strain, cool and skim, and if properly boiled and long enough, you will have an excellent- jelly. Stock made from any other beef than the shank or shin will not jelly, but will taste very like good beef tea.

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Never boil vegetables with it, as they will cause it to be sour.

To make the soup, put on as much stock as needed, (if in jelly, scrape the sediment from off the bottom), add seasoning,, water and vegetables. The potatoes should be peeled, sliced and laid in salt and water for half an hour, the cabbage parboiled and drained, and all others either sliced or cut fine before adding them to the soup ; boil until thoroughly dissolved, strain through a colander and serve at once, or omit the strain- ing if you choose. Always use cold water for mak- ing soups, but if necessary to add more, add hot; skim well, especially during the first hour ; some throw in a little salt, others add now and then a cup of cold water to cause the scum to rise. Keep kettle closely covered so that the flavor may not be lost.

Thickened soups require nearly double the season- ing used for thin ; if wanted very clear and delicate, strain through a hair sieve.

Every kitchen should be provided with a soup kettle, made with a double bottom so as to prevent burning. In making oyster soups, add oysters to boiling water, and allow to stew about five minutes, or until the body is plump and the edges ruffled ; too much cooking ruins the soup, and if underdone, they are wholly unpalatable.

278 THE BUCKEYE COOK BOOK.

CLAM SOUP.*

First catch your clams — along the ebbing edges

Of saline coves you'll find the precious wedges

With backs up lurliing in the sandy bottom ;

Pull in your iron rake, and lo ! you've got 'em !

Take thirty large ones, put a basin under

And cleave, vifith knife, their stony jaws asunder ;

Add water (three quarts) to the native liquor,

Bring to a boil (and, by the way, the quicker

It boils the better, if you'd do it cutely.)

Now add the clams, chopped up and minced minutely.

Allow a longer boil of just three minutes,

And while it bubbles, quickly stir within its

Tumultuous depths where still the molluscs mutter.

Four tablespoons of flour and four of butter,

A pint of milk, some pepper to your notion,

And clams need salting, although born of ocean.

Remove from fire ; (if much boiled they will suffer —

You'll find that India-rubber isn't tougher.)

After 'tis off, add three fresh eggs, well beaten,

Stir once more, and it's ready to be eaten.

Fruit of the wave ! O, dainty and delicious !

Food for the gods ! Ambrosia for Apicius !

Worthy to thrill the soul of sea-born Venus,

Or titillate the palate of Silenus !

BEEF SOUP. Take cracked joints of beef, and after putting the meat in the pot and cooking it well with water, let it come to a boil, when it should be well skimmed. Set the pot where the meat will simmer slowly until it is thoroughly done, keeping it closely covered all the time. The next day or when cold remove the fat which hardens on the top of the soup. Peel, wash and slice three good sized potatoes, and put them

* This rhyme recipe was written for "The Buckeye Cook Book" by "W. A. Croffut, Editor of Daily Graphic, New York.

SOUPS. 279

into the soup ; cut up half a head of white cabbage in shreds, and add to this a pint of Shaker corn that has been soaked over night, two onions, one head of celery, and tomatoes as you like. When these are done, and they should simmer slowly — care being taken that they do not burn, strain the soup and serve. Noodle soup may be made by adding noodles to the soup after straining ; these will cook in fifteen or twenty minutes, and are prepared in the following manner : To one egg add as much sifted flour as it will absorb, with a little salt ; roll out as thin as a wafer, dredge very lightly with flour, roll over and over into a large roll, slice from the ends, shake out the strips loosely and drop into the soup. The different varieties of beef soup are formed by this method of seasoning and the different vegetables used in pre- paring it after the joints have been well boiled. Be- sides onions, celery, cabbages, tomatoes and potatoes, many use a few carrots, turnips, beets, and force meat- balls seasoned with spice ; rice or barley will give the soup consistency, and are to be preferred to flour for the purpose. Parsley, thyme and sage are the favorite herbs for seasoning, but should be used sparingly. To make force meat-balls, add" to one pound chopped beef, one egg, a small lump butter, a cup or less of bread crumbs ; season with salt and pepper, and moisten with the water from stewed meat ; make in balls and fry brown, or make egg balls by boiling eggs, mashing the yolks with a silver spoon, and

280 THE BUCKEYE COOK BOOK.

mixing with one raw yolk and one teaspoon flour; season with salt and pepper, make into balls, drop in soup just before serving.

GRANDMOTHER'S BEAN SOUP. Take one pint beans, wash well, put on to cook in one quart of cold water ; when water boils pour off and add quart cold water again; put in piece of pork the size of your hand, salt to your taste ; as water boils away add so as to keep covered with water ; cook till you can mash the beans easily ; beat two eggs well, add two tablespoons water and a pinch of salt, stir in flour till as stiff as you can stir, then drop the batter with a spoon into the soup, (having previously taken two-thirds of the beans out into a pan, laid the piece of pork on the top, with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and put all into the oven to brown) when the dumplings swell up, pepper slightly and the soup is done. If one does not like the pork taste, use butter instead of pork.