Take four dozen chestnuts and peel them. This will be a very long process if we attempt to take off the skins while they are raw; but in order to save time and trouble, place the chestnuts in a stew-pan with a couple of ounces of butter. Place them on a slack fire and occasionally give them a stir. Heat them gradually till the husks come off without any difficulty. Having removed all the husks, add sufficient stock or water to the chestnuts, and let them boil gently till they are tender. Then pound them in a mortar and rub them through a wire sieve. Add a very little brown roux, if the soup is to be brown, and a few drops of Parisian essence (burnt sugar), or a little white roux and a little cream if the soup is to be white. Add also a little pepper and salt, sufficient butter to make the puree taste soft, and a little powdered sugar. Fried and toasted bread should be served with the soup.
Take half a dozen or more fine large leeks, and after trimming off the green part, throw them into boiling water for five minutes, then drain them off and dry them. Cut them into pieces about half an inch long, and stew them gently in a little butter till they are tender. Add three pints of milk, and let two bay-leaves boil in the milk, flavour with pepper and salt, and add a suspicion of grated nutmeg. Thicken the soup with a little white roux and take the crust of a French roll. Cut this up into small pieces or rings. The rings can be made by simply scooping out the crumb, and cutting the roll across. When the leeks have boiled in the milk till they are quite tender, pour the soup over the crusts placed at the bottom of the soup-tureen. Some cooks add blanched parsley. Of course, cream would be a great improvement.
3 oz. of rice, 4 oz. of grated cheese, a breakfastcupful of tomato juice, 1 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste. Boil the rice till tender in 2-1/2 pints of water, with the butter and seasoning. When quite soft, add the tomato juice and the cheese; stir until the soup boils and the cheese is dissolved, and serve. If too much of the water has boiled away, add a little more.
2 oz. of rice, 1 breakfastcupful of shelled green peas, 1 pint of milk, 1 quart of water, 1 oz. of butter. Boil the rice in the water for 10 minutes, add the peas, the butter and pepper and salt to taste. Let it cook until the rice and peas are tender, add the milk and boil the soup up before serving.
1/2 lb. of sorrel, 1-1/2 lbs. of potatoes, 1 oz. of butter, pepper and salt, 3 pints of water. Pick, wash, and chop fine the sorrel, peel and cut up in slices the potatoes, and set both over the fire with the water, butter, and seasoning to taste; when the potatoes are quite tender, pass the soup through a sieve. Serve with sippets of toast.
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 butter; add a little salt and sugar. Let them stew in the butter (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.
1 lb. of sorrel, 1 oz. of butter, 2 tablespoonfuls of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 2 quarts of water, pepper and salt, 2 eggs. Pick and wash the sorrel and drain the water. Set it over the fire with the butter and stew for 5 minutes, add the wheatmeal, and stir it with the sorrel for 5 minutes; add the water, pepper and salt to taste, and let the soup simmer for 1/2 an hour; before serving add the eggs well beaten, but do not allow them to boil, as this would make them curdle; serve with sippets of toast.
2 onions, 2 turnips, 1 head of celery, 3 pints of milk, 1 pint of water, 2 tablespoonfuls of Allinson fine wheatmeal, pepper and salt to taste. Chop up the vegetables and boil them in the water until quite tender. Rub them through a sieve, return the whole to the saucepan, add pepper and salt, rub the wheatmeal smooth in the milk, let the soup simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.
Light-coloured and dry cheese is necessary for this somewhat peculiar soup, but the best cheese of all is, undoubtedly, Gruyere. Grate half a pound of cheese and spread a layer of this at the bottom of the soup-tureen. Cover this layer of cheese with some very thin slices of stale crumb of bread. Then put another layer of cheese and another layer of bread till all the cheese is used up. Next take about two tablespoonfuls of brown roux, melt this in a small saucepan, and add two tablespoonfuls of chopped onion. Let the onion cook in the melted roux over the fire, and then add a quart of water, and stir it all up till it boils, adding pepper and salt and a few drops of Parisian essence (burnt sugar) to give it a dark brown colour. Now pour the boiling soup over the contents of the soup-tureen, and let it stand a few minutes so that the bread has time to soak, and serve.
