67.—GRAVY SOUP. (Fr.—Potage au Jus.)
Ingredients.—3 pints of second stock or gravy stock, 1 lb. of neck or shin of beef (lean), 1 carrot, 1 onion, ½ a turnip, 1 strip of celery, bouquet-garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaf), 8 peppercorns, 2 cloves, 1 oz. of butter, 1 oz. of flour, salt and pepper.
Method.—Cut the meat into small pieces. Make the butter hot in the stewpan, put in the meat and sliced vegetables, and fry until brown. Add the stock, herbs, peppercorns, cloves, and seasoning, and cook very gently for 2½ to 3 hours, strain, return to the saucepan, boil up, mix the flour smoothly with a little cold stock, pour it into the soup, simmer 5 minutes longer, add seasoning to taste, and serve.
Time.—3½ to 4 hours. Average Cost, 10d. to 1s. without the stock. Seasonable at any time. Sufficient for 4 persons.
68.—GUMBO SOUP. (Fr.—Potage Gombo.)
Ingredients.—1 quart okras, 3 pints beef stock (see Recipe No. 3, p. 139), 6 tomatoes, ¼ pint Lima beans, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley.
Method.—Mince the okras, and cook them in the stock with the sliced tomatoes and the beans. When tender, rub all through a fine sieve, re-heat, season with salt and pepper, and add 1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley.
Time.—1 hour. Average Cost, 2s. 6d. to 3s. Seasonable at any time. Sufficient for 6 persons.
69.—HARE SOUP. (Fr.—Purée de Lièvre.)
Ingredients.—3 quarts of second stock, 1 hare or the bones and inferior parts of a hare, 2 ozs. of butter, 1 tablespoonful of cornflour, 1 small onion, 1 small carrot, ½ a small turnip, 1 strip of celery, a bouquet-garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaf), 12 peppercorns, 1 glass of port wine, salt.
Method.—Wipe the hare with a clean damp cloth and cut it into small joints. Melt the butter in a stewpan, put in the hare, the vegetables sliced, and the herbs, and fry until brown. Add the stock, salt and peppercorns, and simmer gently for 3 hours. Strain, remove the meat from the bones, and pound it well in a mortar. Rub it through a fine sieve, then return it and the stock to the stewpan, and when boiling add the wine and the cornflour, previously mixed smoothly together. Stir and cook for a few minutes, season to taste, and serve.
Time. 4 hours. Average Cost, 4s. to 5s., when made from a whole hare, not including the stock. Seasonable from August to March. Sufficient for 10 persons.
