This is a sweet soup, and is simply juice from stewed rhubarb sweetened and flavoured with lemon-peel and added either to cream or beaten-up yolks of eggs and a little white wine. It is rarely met with in this country.
Take an onion, a very small head of celery, and a carrot, and cut them into little pieces, and put them into a frying-pan with a little butter, a saltspoonful of thyme, one or two dried bay-leaves, and about a quarter of a grated nutmeg and two or three sprigs of parsley. Fry these till they turn a light-brown colour, then add a little stock or water, and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Let this boil in the frying-pan for about half an hour, till the liquid is reduced in quantity. Thicken it with a little brown roux, and rub it through a wire sieve, make it hot, and serve. If wine is allowed, the addition of a little sherry is a great improvement to this sauce.
4 oz. of macaroons, a little raisin wine and 1 pint of custard, made with Allinson custard powder; lay the macaroons in a glass dish and pour over enough raisin wine to soak them, make the custard in the usual way, let it cool and then pour over the cakes; when quite cold garnish with pieces of bright coloured jelly.
Take a quarter of a pound of dried cherries, a small saltspoonful of powdered cinnamon, and a few strips of lemon peel, and put them in a small saucepan with about a quarter of a pint of water, or still better, claret, if wine is allowed, and let them simmer on the fire gently for about half an hour; then rub the cherries through a wire sieve with the liquor--(of course, the lemon peel and cloves will not rub through)--and add this to a quarter of a pound of stewed prunes. This is a very popular sauce abroad.
Take two or three tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise sauce, and add to this a brimming teaspoonful of chopped blanched parsley, as well as a piece of onion or shallot about as big as the top of the thumb down to the first joint, chopped very fine, and a brimming teaspoonful of French mustard. Mix the whole well together. N.B.--A teaspoonful of anchovy sauce would be a great improvement were anchovy sauce allowed in vegetarian cookery. TOMATO SAUCE.--The great secret of tomato sauce is to taste nothing but the tomato. Take a dozen ripe tomatoes, cut off the stalks, and squeeze out the pips, and put them in a stew-pan with a little butter, and let them stew till they are tender, and then rub the whole through a wire sieve. This, in our opinion, is the best tomato sauce that can be made, the only seasoning being a little pepper and salt. This wholesome and delicious sauce can, however, be spoilt in a variety of ways--by the addition of mace, cloves, shallots, onions, thyme, &c. It can also be made very unwholesome by the addition of a quantity of vinegar. TRUFFLE SAUCE.--This sauce is very expensive if made from whole fresh truffles, but can be made more cheaply if you can obtain some truffle chips or parings. These must be stewed in a little stock, thickened with brown roux, and then rubbed through a wire sieve, a little sherry being a great improvement if wine is allowed.
Peel and cut out the cores of the apples, and stew them gently in some syrup composed of about half a pound of white sugar and rather more than a pint of water. A small stick of cinnamon, or a few cloves, and a strip of lemon-peel can be added to the syrup, but should be taken out when finished. The apples should be stewed till they are tender, but must not be broken. The syrup in which the apples are stewed should of course be served with them. This syrup can be coloured slightly with a few drops of cochineal, but should not be coloured more than very slightly. The syrup looks a great deal better if it is clear and bright. It can be strained and clarified. Apples are very nice stewed in white French wine, such as Chablis or Graves.
The prunes should be washed before they are stewed. They will not take more than half an hour to stew, and a strip of lemon-peel should be placed in the juice. Stewed prunes are much improved by the addition of a little port wine.
Pare, core, and slice six or eight large pears. Put them into a stew-pan with a penny roll cut into thin slices, half a dozen cloves, and three pints of water. Let them simmer until they are quite tender, then pass them through a coarse sieve, and return the puree to the saucepan, with two ounces of sugar, the strained juice of a fresh lemon, and half a tumblerful of light wine. Let the soup boil five or ten minutes, when it will be ready for serving. Send some sponge-cake to table with this dish.
Take a quarter of a pound of dried cherries, and put them into a small stew-pan, with a dessertspoonful of black currant jelly, a small stick of cinnamon, with half a dozen cloves, and add rather less than half a pint of water, and let the whole simmer gently for about ten minutes, when you must take out the spices and send the rest to table. N.B.--If wine is not objected to in cooking, it is a very good plan to add claret instead of water.
Boiled salsify makes a very delicious salad. Take some white salsify, scrape it, and instantly throw it into vinegar and water, by which means you will keep it a pure white. Then, when you have all ready, throw it into boiling water, slightly salted, boil it till it is tender, throw it into cold water, and when cold take it out, drain it and dry it, cut it up into small half-inch pieces (or put it in whole, in sticks, into a salad-bowl), sprinkle a little chopped blanched parsley over the top, dress in the ordinary way with oil and white French vinegar, and be sure to use white pepper, not black, if white wine vinegar is objected to, the juice of a hard fresh lemon is equally good, if not better.
