338. Eel Soup A La Richmond

Fillet three Thames eels, and cut the fillets into small scollops; place these, in circular order, in a large sauta-pan containing about four ounces of clarified butter; season with cayenne pepper, salt, lemon-juice, and chopped parsley; set the covered sauta-pan on the stove-fire to simmer gently for about twenty minutes, then add two glasses of sherry, after which let it boil sharply for a few minutes longer. Put the scollops of eels thus prepared into the soup-tureen, with three dozen tails of crayfish, and instantly pour over these a soup sauce, previously prepared according to the following directions :

Cut into shreds or dice, carrot, celery, parsley-roots, one shalot, and half a pottle of mushrooms. Put these into a stewpan with a sprig of thyme, a small bay-leaf, a little sweet basil, a few peppercorns, and one blade of mace. Fry these ingredients with four ounces of butter until they begin to be of a light brown color; then throw in the bones and trimmings of the eels, three dozen bruised crayfish, and a pint of Chablis wine. Allow this to boil briskly on the fire for five minutes, then add three pints of blond of veal, and after it has boiled gently by the side of the stove-fire for three-quarters of an hour, strain the stock through a tammy-cloth with considerable pressure, in order to extract all the goodness from the vegetables, etc.

Put the broth thus prepared into a stewpan, and having thickened it with some white roux to the consistency of a thin sauce, work it according to the method observed for all sauces. Observe, that as this sauce is for soup, it should be lighter in substance. Finish with a leason of eight yelks of egg and season accordingly, and mix in with it a spoonful of chopped and blanched parsley.

339. Soup Of Fillets Of Thames Flounders A L Anglaise

Fillet ten Thames flounders, simmer the fillets in a little fresh butter, seasoned with pepper, salt, and lemon-juice. When done, place them in the soup-tureen with three dozen quenelles of Spey trout, and pour on them a soup made according to the following directions :

Put the bones and the trimmings of the flounders and the trout, from which the small quenelles are to be made, into a stewpan with carrot, celery, parsley-roots, a sprig of thyme, and a few peppercorns. To these add three pints of common broth from the boiling stockpot (if possible) and a couple of glasses of Sauterne. When it has boiled for three-quarters of an hour, strain off the broth into a small soup-pot, and make it into a smooth white Veloute sauce; just before pouring it into the soup-tureen (containing the fillets of flounders and the small quenelles of trout already mentioned) finish it by mixing in with it a leason of six yelks of egg, a gill of cream, and a dessert-spoonful of chopped and blanched parsley, a little lemon-juice, and cayenne pepper.

340. Sturgeon Soup A L'Americaine

Procure six pounds of fresh sturgeon, one-third of which must be trimmed and tied so as to preserve it from falling to pieces while being braized, then put it in a stewpan, and cover it with some mirepoix (No. 236) or wine braize prepared as directed. Let it boil, and then set it in the oven for about an hour and a half, more or less, according to the size of the fish. When this portion of the sturgeon is done, let it be put away in the larder to get cold, in order that it may be afterward cut into scollops to be put into the soup.

While the above is in course of preparation, make a brown sauce with the remainder of the sturgeon, as follows :

Butter a large stewpan, then cut two onions in slices and strew them over the bottom; on these place the sturgeon cut in thick slices, also two old hens partly roasted, and well colored, a carrot, one head of celery, some parsley-roots, thyme, bay-leaf, six cloves, two blades of mace, and a dozen peppercorns; then add a large ladle-ful of good stock, and put the whole to boil briskly on the tire until the broth is nearly reduced; slacken the stove to prevent the glaze thus obtained from being burnt, by which the unctuousness would be lost. Then proceed with this sauce exactly as shown for the treatment of brown sauce or Espagnole. Having thus produced a bright, thin, brown sauce, finish the soup by mixing in a ragout-spoonful of puree of turtle herbs, a piece of anchovy butter, a little grated nutmeg, cayenne pepper, lemon-juice, and a glass of Madeira. Let the scollops boil a few minutes in the soup previously to adding the butter, etc. When about to serve up the soup, pour it into a tureen containing three dozen small quenelles of lobster, and send to table.