Potage A La Grande Duchesse - Fish Soup, Grand Duchess Style

Prepare 3 quarts of lightly thickened fish stock, add 1 quart of tomato puree, and 1 pint of onion puree, let boil for 30 minutes, during which time clear off the scum as it rises to the surface, and season to taste with salt and paprika.

Before serving, bind with 8 egg yolks, 1 pint of cream, 3 ounces of sweet butter, and 1 ounce of crayfish or lobster butter; garnish with lobster or crayfish tails cut in small pieces, small quenelles made with fish forcemeat, and green asparagus tips cut in 1/2-mch pieces.

Barscz A La Polonaise - Polish Beet Soup

Cut in Julienne (i. e., shred finely) 6 beet roots, 4 leeks, 4 onions, a small head of Savoy cabbage and 4 celery knobs; smother these vegetables in butter over a slow fire and moisten with 5 quarts of broth and 1 quart of strained fermented beetroot juice, add 3 pounds of brisket of beef (previously parboiled) and 1 duck partially roasted. Soak a handful of dried mushrooms in cold water, cut in Julienne and add to the soup. Add also a faggot of herbs composed of parsley, a sprig of marjoram, 2 bay leaves and 1 clove.

Remove the duck as soon as tender, and let the soup simmer until the beef is cooked. Then remove the faggot of herbs and the fat.

Cut the beef and the duck into small pieces. Cook a dozen small sausages (chipolata) and remove the skin (when done). Add these and both meats to the soup.

Before serving, scrape 12 sour beets and press their liquid through a cloth; add this to the soup and heat well.

Serve with sour cream separate.

A pinch of chopped fennel should be added before serving. If no fresh fennel is at hand, a sprig of dried fennel may be added to the faggot of herbs.

Note. - The characteristic feature of this soup is that it should be of a light acid taste, and of a reddish tint. If, though, it is cooked in an ordinary saucepan or kept in a retinned bain-marie, it is impossible to retain this peculiar tint. Some cooks recommend one to add claret to the broth; but this is not necessary if the above directions are carefully carried out, and if an earthen vessel is used.

Sour beets are prepared by peeling 18 beetroots, putting into a jar, covering with lukewarm water, adding 2 handfuls of soft breadcrumbs, covering well, and keeping in a warm place for five or six days - by that time fermentation should have set in.

Creme De Volaille - Cream Of Chicken

Thicken 5 quarts of chicken stock with a roux made with J4 pound of butter and 1/4 pound of rice flour (creme de riz). Truss a tender fowl (or, better still, a roasting chicken) and put it to cook in the soup.

Garnish the soup with 3 leeks, 1 onion stuck with 2 cloves, I small carrot and a piece of celery; simmer until the chicken is tender, then remove the latter and the vegetables and strain the cream.

Pick all the meat from the bones of the chicken, and pound it in the mortar with 3 ounces of butter and a pint of cream; rub through a fine sieve and add to the soup; bind it with 5 egg yolks, 1 pint of cream and 2 ounces of butter (but do not allow to boil); season to taste and serve with croutons souffles, separate.