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Soup

Cocoa-nut Soup

A soup made by simmering grated cocoa-nut in stock, thickened with rice flour and flavored with mace, cayenne, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Cocoa-nut Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the coconut

  1. Pare the dark rind from a very fresh cocoa-nut.

  2. Grate the cocoa-nut finely on a clean grater.

  3. Weigh the grated cocoa-nut and allow two ounces for each quart of soup.

Make the soup

  1. Simmer the grated cocoa-nut gently for one hour in the stock.

  2. Strain the stock closely.

  3. Thicken the soup for table.

  4. Simmer veal stock, gravy-soup, or broth (5 pints) with grated cocoa-nut (5 oz.) for one hour.

  5. Add flour of rice (5 oz.), mace (½ teaspoonful), little cayenne, and salt, and mix with ¼ pint of cream.

  6. Cook for 10 minutes.

  7. Simmer gravy-soup or good beef broth (5 pints) for one hour.

  8. Add rice flour (5 oz.), soy and lemon‑juice (each 1 tablespoonful), finely pounded sugar (1 oz.), cayenne (¼ teaspoonful), and sherry (2 glassesful).

  9. If cream or wine is omitted, reserve a half‑pint of the stock to mix with the thickening.

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cocoa-nut (in the method)
Provides the main coconut flavour and body as it simmers into the stock.
Rice flour (in the method)
Thickens the soup as it cooks, giving it a smooth, body-rich texture.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the thickened soup.
Sherry (in the method)
Adds acidity and aroma to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Thicken the soup with the rice flour. Starch must be mixed smoothly with cold liquid before it goes into hot soup, or it clumps. Once added, the soup must cook long enough for the starch to swell fully and thicken evenly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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