SOUPS FOR WINTRY WEATHER

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 154, 5 June 1942, Page 22

SOUPS FOR WINTRY WEATHER

URING this "War time Winter," let us give sensible and practical consideration to soup, not so much as a thin, clear, hot liquid, which is an appetiser and a good beginning for the meal because it starts the flow of digestive juicesy but more in the light of a "One Pot Dinner "’-like the old Scotch Broth and Cocka-leekie, the Hare Soup of Carnarvonshire, and the Fish Soups of the north of England. These all contain various vegetables, besides rice and barley and sago; and very often tiny suet dumplings have been popped into the pot for the last 20 minutes. Then the soup is served as a first course, and the pieces of meat, or hare, or fish, with the vegetables and a dumpling or two make a very nourishing and appetising second course. All that is necessary then is to provide some fruit, raw if possible, to complete the meal. If sufficient raw fruit is not available-though, of course, there are plenty of apples just now!-try baked rhubarb, cut up and cooked in a covered casserole with only a very little water, and a couple of spoonfuls of honey or golden syrup and some lemon rind, which is removed before serving. Rhubarb tastes extra good when cooked this way. Cream and Milk Soups ‘These soups contain the additional nourishment of milk, or, if possible, cream, They are made by straining the stock obtained by boiling cracked bones, and cut-up shin of beef, or neck of mutton, or any of the cheaper cuts of meat, or mixed vegetables, through a wire strainer; and then mixing the resultant liquid or puree with an equal quantity © of milk, and thickening with arrowroot or cornflour. Alternatively, you may thicken the milk first, by melting-a little butter in a small pan, adding an equal quantity of flour, and cooking together for a few minutes till thoroughly

blended, and then stirring in gradually the warmed milk, making really a sauce, This is less likely to curdle than plain milk, when added to the stock; but most busy housewives find it much easier and more practical to use the first method (besides having mo extra saucepan to wash up), Puree : This is made by boiling either fruit or vegetables with very little water till quite soft, and then rubbing through a fine sieve. You may have either fruit or vegetable puree, or a mixture of bothtomatoes, carrots, potatoes, artichokes, apples, spinach, and so on, may all be made into puree. Vegetable puree is mixed with milk, seasoned and heated, to form a cream soup. Fruit puree is sweetened and dissolved gelatine added, to make desserts. Food Value in Soup People often wonder if there is much food value in soup. Well, as an American Student of Food Value has said, no one claims that soup is a complete food; but when you consider what goes into its making, calcium and gelatine from meat bones, and essences from the meat, minerals, soluble proteins and vitamins from vegetables and fish, as well as cereals like rice and barley; and dried vegetables such as beans, and peas and lentils, you will see that it is a very practical form of nourishment, besides being savoury, appetising, and last but not least, hot! Scotch Broth Two pounds neck of mutton, 4 pints of cold water, 1 turnip diced, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 carrot diced, 3 tablespoons pearl barley, 1 good sized onion diced, pepper and salt, 2 leeks cut small, a small cauliflower (or 4% small cabbage), cut up small. Cut mutton into small pieces, put in saucepan with the cold water, bring slowly to the boil, then skim. Add the prepared vegetables and barley. Simmer gently for 2 to 3 hours with lid on. Just before serving add parsley and season to a with pepper and salt. Cream of Barley Soup A knuckle of veal about 2 Ibs., 3 ozs, pearl barley, 4 pints cold water. Wash barley and soak overnight. Cut up the meat from the knuckle, put it with bone into saucepan, with water, 1 teaspoon salt, and the barley. Bring slowly to the boil, skim, and simmer slowly 3 or 4 hours. Strain through sieve, rubbing through as much as possible of the meat and barley. Return this to saucepan and add an equal quantity of milk, or sufficient to make the desired thickness. Scotch Lamb and Cauliflower Soup This is not unlike the first recipe, but there are some differences, Like the French " pot-au-feu," the meat may be served separately, or in the broth. Three pounds neck or forequarter of lamb, 3 quarts cold water, 3 medium sized

onions, peeled and diced; 2 leeks, if liked; 1 medium sized cauliflower, 3 teaspoons salt, 42 teaspoon pepper, and 3 tablespoons of pearl barley. Remove as much fat from the lamb as possible, but keep the meat in a single whole piece, Put in a big saucepan with the water, onions, leaks with the tops removed, and the salt. Cover with a lid and cook about 2 hours and a-half. At the end of one hour, add the barley, and at the end of two hours, add the cauliflower broken into small flowerettes. At serving time remove the meat. Cut some of it into small pieces and place in the tureen with the soup. Serve the meat itself as @ second course. Hare, Soup (Simple) Skin a hare and hold it over a basin to catch the blood. Cut it up in pieces, keep the thinnest parts for the soup, and place them with a quart of cold water in a pan. Add the blood, which has been sieved. Add a turnip, a carrot, and one or two sliced onions, Simmer gently for 244 hours, and season. The fleshy parts of the hare, such as legs and back, may be stewed separately and served with vegetables and gravy. Mulligatawnay Soup (Indian) Melt % Ib. butter in saucepan and fry in it a carrot, 2 or 3 onions, and a green apple peeled and chopped. Add a small chicken, boned and cut up small, or a young rabbit, or about 114 Ibs. of lean neck of mutton cut small, Let it brown slowly, adding pepper and salt to taste. Add 144 tablespoons good Indian curry powder, and continue frying, stirring, for about 10 minutes. Then add about a quart of stock, made by boiling the bones from the chicken or rabbit — or some mutton broth; also 2 tablespoons of rice, and 2 potatoes cut small. Simmer all slowly for a hour or so. Allow to cook, skim off the fat, heat up again, and serve, adding sugar to taste. Lentil Soup One breakfast cup lentils, 214 pints stock or water, 1 or 2 onions, 2 stalke celery, parsley, pepper, and salt, 1 blade mace, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 oz, butter, (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) 1% pint milk. Wash the lentils, put into a pot with the water, sliced vegetables, and mace. Simmer until the lentils are tender-about 1 hour. Rub through a sieve into a saucepan. Make a sauce of the butter, flour and milk, and pour the soup on it. Season. Mock Oyster Soup Two parsnips, 2 potatoes, 1 large onion, Cut up vegetables small, put in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil till soft, then mash through a colander, Put the mashed vegetables back in the saucepan, together with the water they were boiled in. Add 1 pint of milk, pepper and salt to taste, a knob of butter, and a pinch of powdered mace. Bring to the boil, and thicken with cornflour. Tomato Milk Soup Two pounds of tomatoes, 1 quart milk, 2 ozs. butter, pinch bicarbonate of soda, pepper and salt to taste. Cut tomatoes up and let them stew 20 minutes in their own liquor, throw in the soda, then strain and press through a colander into the boiling milk and other ingredients, already thickened with a little cornflour. The soup must not boil after the tomatoes are in, or it will curdle. Oxtail Soup One ox tail, a slice of ham, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 2 small onions, 14% quarts water, 1 oz. butter, 1 leek, 1 head of celery, 1 bunch. herbs, 1 bay leaf, 4 cloves, 12 peppercorns, 1 dessertspoon salt, or to taste. Cut the tail into pieces and fry in pot with the butter and sliced onion. Shake the pot occasionally to prevent sticking. Then add the sliced vegetables, herbs, peppercorns and a cup of water. Cook hard for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add rest of cold water and salt. Simmer gently 3 or 4 hours, or until the tail is tender. Take out the tail, strain the soup, thicken with flour, and put back some of the pieces of meat. Re-heat. Tomato and Bean Soup Three pints water, 3 cups cooked lime or haricot beans, 2 small sliced onions, and 2 stalks celery. Simmer 30 minutes, then rub through a sieve. Melt 2 tablespoons butter, add 2 tablespoons flour, and stir still smooth. Add 114 cups cooked and strained tomatoes, and stir till hot. Then add the bean mixture, 4% teaspoon pepper, and 1 teaspoon salt. Heat all thoroughly.

Rabbit Soup Cut up a rabbit, cover with water. Add a cut up onion and carrot, and boil till the meat leaves the benes. Spring onions may be used, and also a turnip if liked. Strain, and return to saucepan. Add % pint of milk, thicken with flour or cornflour, and season to taste. Some of the rabbit meat should be put back into the soup. Good and nourishing. Cock-a-Leekie One fowl, 2 quarts stock, 2 bunches leeks, pepper and salt to taste. Wash the leeks, fake off roots and part of the heads. Scald in boiling water for five minutes then cut small. Truss the fowl as for boiling, put it in with the leeks and stock, and boil for 1% hours slowly, or longer if the fowl is not young. Take out the fowl and serve whole, separately, or cut into neat pieces and serve with the soup. Thicken the soup with fine oatmeal or cornflour. Artichoke Soup About 6 artichokes, and 2 onions. Melt 1 oz. butter in stew-pan, add cut up onions, and simmer a few minutes without browning. Add about 2 pints of water, and the artichokes cut up finely. Cook all gently about 40 minutes or so. Strain through sieve, pressing well. Return to pan, add equal quantities of milk, bring to the boil, and thicken with flour or cornflour. Season to taste.