16.—FRENCH FAMILY SOUP. (Fr.—Croûte au Pot.)
Ingredients.—2 quarts of good beef stock, 1 carrot, ½ a turnip, ½ a small cabbage, 1 teaspoonful of finely-chopped parsley, 2 ozs. of butter, salt and pepper, nutmeg, 1 dinner roll.
Method.—Parboil the cabbage, carrot and turnip, and drain well. Cut the cabbage into small pieces, and the other vegetables into small rounds or squares. Melt the butter in a large stewpan, put in the vegetables, season with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg, cover and cook slowly for about 10 minutes. Add the stock and simmer gently for ½ an hour. Cut the roll into thin round slices, brown them in the oven, then put them into the tureen, and add the chopped parsley. Season the soup if necessary, and serve.
Time.—About 1 hour. Average Cost, 2s. 6d. Seasonable at any time. Sufficient for 8 persons.
Parsley (Fr. persil).—This well-known culinary vegetable, with its fresh crisp aromatic leaves, has been long cultivated for seasoning and garnishing dishes. Its native country is uncertain, but it was known to the Greeks, who awarded a crown of parsley to victors in the Nemaean and Isthmian games; and the poet Anacreon uses this herb as the symbol of joy and festivity. It was probably introduced into Britain during the sixteenth century. There are several varieties of parsley, the curled-leaved, celery-leaved, and Hamburg-parsley; the more curled varieties are used for garnishing. Celery-leaved parsley is sometimes grown for its leaf stalks, which are blanched and used in the same manner as celery. Hamburg parsley is cultivated only for its roots, which are eaten with meat as parsnips or carrots.
17.—FRENCH HOTCH POTCH. (Fr.—Pot-au-Feu.)
Ingredients.—5 quarts of cold water, 4 lb. of brisket, rump, or leg of beef (not the shin, which is too tough for this purpose), 3 onions, 2 leeks, 2 carrots, 1 turnip, 1 parsnip, 1 small head of celery, 1 small cabbage, 20 peppercorns, 4 cloves, a bouquet-garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaf), 1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley, salt and pepper, 1 or 2 French rolls.
Method.—Tie the meat to keep it in shape, and put it and the water into a large stewpan (an earthenware one with a close-fitting lid answers admirably). When it boils, add a dessertspoonful of salt and let it simmer gently for 2 hours. Meanwhile prepare the vegetables, but leave the carrots, turnip, and parsnip whole, unless very large, when they should be cut into 2 or 3 pieces. Quarter the celery, and remove the outer stalks, cut the cabbage in two, trim, and wash it well, then tie the two halves together. When the meat has been boiling for 2 hours, put in the bouquet-garni, cloves (stuck in one of the onions) peppercorns, and all the vegetables, but only a few at a time so that the temperature of the stock is not too much reduced. Cut the crust of the French rolls into small rounds, and either fry them or crisp them in the oven. Continue the cooking for 2 hours, after adding the vegetables, then strain some of the soup into a tureen, cut a little carrot, turnip, and leek into dice or cubes, and add them, with the chopped
