From the 1905 book, New England Cookbook distributed “Compliments of Metropolitan Coal Company,” Boston.

EDITORS NOTE: Many currently popular recipes were chosen out of 35 given to perhaps, illustrate a smooth transition in our cooking style. Other recipes illustrate the consumption of animal parts which, in modern times probably end up ground into animal feed.

EDITORS NOTE (continued): After the recipes, “General Suggestions” for making soups give an overview to the knowledge we had about cooking in 1905. This was originally placed before the soup recipes. Some of you may want to read it first.

RECIPES

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BEEF SOUP—Boil a shin of beef or a piece off the shoulder, slowly and thoroughly, the day before desiring to use it; skim well the next day and thin the jelly, if necessary, withwater; add a little brandy, a grated carrot, two tablespoonfuls of butter rubbed smooth in brown flour, a little vermicelli, and spices to taste.

Two or three eggs may be boiled hard, mashed smooth, and placed in the tureen before turning in the soup.

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OX-TAIL Soup—Chop the ox-tail into small pieces; set on the fire with a tablespoonful of butter, and stir until brown, and then pour off the fat; add broth to taste, and boil gently until the pieces of tail are well cooked.

Season with pepper, salt, and three or four tomatoes; boil fifteen minutes and then serve.

This soup can be made with water, instead of the stock broth, in which case season with carrot, onion, turnip, and parsley.

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MUTTON BROTH—After the steaks have been cut from the leg, the lower part is just adapted for a soup. The neck-piece is also very nice.

Boil the meat very gently in cold water, adding a turnip, a carrot, and a spoonful of rice. All the fat should be removed. Toward the last, add a little minced parsley. Dumplings are an excellent addition.

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BLACK BEAN SOUP—Three pounds soup bone, one quart black beans, soaked over night and drained; one onion, chopped fine; juice of one lemon. Pepper, salt, and Durkee’s Challenge Sauce to taste.

Boil the soup bone, beans, and onions together six hours; strain, and add seasoning. Slice lemon and put on top when served.

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TOMATO SOUP—Take a knuckle of veal, a bony piece of beef a neck of mutton, or almost any piece of meat you may happen to have; set it over the fire in a small quantity of water, cover it closely, and boil very gently, to extract the juices of the meat.

When nearly done, add a quantity of peeled tomatoes, and stew till the tomatoes are done; add salt and pepper to your taste. This is a very cheap, healthful, and easily made soup.

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MOCK-TURTLE SOUP, NO. 2—Take a calf’s head and about two pounds of delicate fat pork. Put both into a soup-kettle, with two onions, sweet herbs, celery, pepper, and mace.

Fill the kettle with water, and boil very gently till the meat is tender.

Take out the head and the pork, return the bones of the head into the soup; let it stew several hours longer; and, when cold, take off the fat, strain the soup, and thicken; add the juice of a lemon and half a pint of white wine.

Cut up the head and pork into pieces; warm them up in the soup, adding some choice meat balls made from finely minced, savory meat.

The pork will be found quite an addition to the soup and a substitute for the fat of the turtle.

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JULIENNE SOUP—Scrape two carrots and two turnips, and cut in pieces an inch long; cut slices lengthwise about one-eighth of an inch thick; then cut again, so as to make square strips; put them in a saucepan, with two ounces of butter, three tablespoonfuls of cabbage chopped fine, and half an onion chopped; set on the fire and stir until half fried; add broth as you wish to make thick or thin; boil until done; salt to taste; skim off the fat, and serve; it takes about two hours to prepare this soup properly.

It can be served with rice or barley.

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MACARONI OR VERMICELLI SOUP—Two small carrots, four onions, two turnips, two cloves, one tablespoonful salt, pepper to taste. Herbs—marjoram, parsley, and thyme.

Put any cooked or uncooked meat and its bones in enough water to cover them; when they boil, skim them and add the vegetables. Simmer three or four hours, then strain through a colander and put back in the saucepan to reheat.

Boil one-half pound macaroni until quite tender, and place in the soup tureen, and pour the soup over it—the last thing.

Vermicelli will need to be soaked a short time only—not to be boiled.

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WHITE SOUP—Boil a knuckle of veal for three hours.

Add a quarter of a pound of macaroni, and when done, a pint of cream. Season with lemon-peel and mace.

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TURKEY SOUP—Take the turkey bones and boil three-quarters of an hour in water enough to cover them; add a little summer savory and celery chopped fine.

Just before serving, thicken with a little browned flour, and season with pepper, salt, and a small piece of butter.

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CHICKEN SOUP—To the broth in which chickens have been boiled for salad, etc., add one onion and eight or ten tomatoes; season with pepper and salt; add Challenge Sauce or Salpicant, if desired; boil thirty minutes; add two well beaten eggs just before sending to the table.

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LOBSTER SOUP—To boil a lobster, put it in a fish-kettle and cover it with cold water, cooking it on a quick fire.

Remove the small bladder found near the head, and take out a small vein found immediately under the shell all along the back of the lobster, and use the rest. Two lobsters will make soup for six or eight persons, and salad also.

All the under shell and small claws are pounded in a mortar to make the soup; when pounded, put it into a pan and set it on the fire with broth or water.

The meat is cut in small pieces, to be added afterward.

The soup is left on the fire to boil gently for half an hour; then put it in a sieve and press it with a masher to extract the juice.

To make it thicker, a small piece of parsnip can be added and mashed with the rest into a pan, so that all the essence is extracted in that way from the lobster.

When you have strained it put a little butter with it and add as much broth as is required; put some of the meat in the tureen and pour the soup over it.

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PORTABLE SOUP—Boil a knuckle of veal, also the feet, a shin of beef, a cowheel or any other bones of meat which will produce a stiff jelly, in a large kettle, with as much water as will cover them.

Let it stand a long time over the fire before it boils.

Skim it most thoroughly, until the broth appears entirely clear. Then fill up the kettle with hot water, and boil it eight hours, or until it has evaporated so as to be somewhat thick.

Run it through a hair sieve, set it in a cool place where it will harden very quickly.

Skim off every particle of fat, and return it to a saucepan; skim and stir continually, so that it may not scorch, and all the previous labor be lost, until it becomes a very thick syrup.

As soon as it can be no longer done in this way, transfer it to a deep jar, and set into a kettle of water, hot, but not boiling, until it jellies very thick.

This will keep good many months, if packed dry in tin canisters. This is the concentrated essence of soup, and is a most convenient article of use, either at home in an emergency or in traveling, and especially at sea.

To make a pint of soup, cut off a piece as large as a walnut, dissolve it in the boiling water, and it is ready for use.

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FLUID BEEF—Among the advanced preparations of the day, meat extracts are taking a high place. One of the finest of these preparations is “Armour’s Fluid Beef.” It contains all the nutritive constituents of the beef; and is readily available for soups, sandwiches, beef tea, etc. For medical uses, traveling, picnics, etc, it is very convenient.

To use for soups and beef tea, add a teaspoonful to a cup of boiling water and season to taste; or as a sandwich paste, it may be used on toast, with or without butter. Put up in cans of various sizes, from two ounces to one pound, which can be left open without injury to contents.

RECIPES INCIDENTAL TO SOUPS

MEAT BALLS FOR SOUP—Take fresh cooked meat or fowl and chop fine; season with pepper, salt, and herbs, and a little lemon; mix together with an egg; roll in bread-crumbs, and fry in hot lard.

BROWNED FLOUR FOR SOUPS—Dredge the bottom of a spider well with flour, and shake it over hot coals, letting it brown gradually, but not burn. Keep it in a dry place, in a tin canister, without wholly closing the lid. It is very convenient to have it already prepared, although when used fresh it is much nicer.

DROP DUMPLLNGS—Take prepared flour, add a little beef drippings or lard, well rubbed through, and moisten to a soft dough. With floured hands pinch off very small pieces and form into balls by rolling in the palm of the hand. In boiling dumplings of any kind, put them in the water one at a time. If they are put in together they will blend with each other.

CLAMCAKES—Fried bread crumbs for soups are prepared in this way: Cut slices of stale home-made bread half an inch thick, trim off all crust, and cut each slice into squares; fry these in very hot fat; drain them on a clean napkin, and add six or eight to each portion of soup. — Thomas J. Murrey.

MARROW DUMPLINGS FOR SOUPS— Grate the crust of a breakfast roll, and break the remainder into crumbs; soak these in cold milk; drain, and add two ounces of flour; chop up half a pound of beef-marrow freed from skin and sinews; beat up the yolks of five eggs; mix all together thoroughly, if too moist add some of the grated crumbs; salt and pepper to taste; form into small round dumplings; boil them in the soup for half an hour before serving. — Thomas J. Murrey.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS ON SOUP STOCK AND SOUP MEAT, HOW TO PREPARE THEM, HOW TO ENRICH THEM, THICKENING SOUP, COLORING SOUP, FLAVORING SOUP, ETC. THIRTY-FIVE RECIPES FOR SOUPS AND INCIDENTAL PREPARATIONS.

THE first and great essential to making good soup is stock, or good, fresh meat. To make stock, take the liquor left after boiling fresh meat, bones large or small, the large ones being cracked, that the marrow may be extracted, trimmings of meat, bones, and meat left over from a roast or broil, put any or all of these in a large pot or soup-kettle with water enough to cover them.

Let them simmer slowly over a steady fire, keep the kettle covered, stir frequently, pour in now and then a cup of cold water, and skim off the scum.

If it is fresh meat or bones, commence with cold water; if cooked, with warm water.

Bones are as useful as meat in making stock, as they furnish gelatine.

A quart of water is usually enough for a pound of meat. Six to eight hours will make stock fit for use. Let it stand over night, then skim off the fat, put the stock into an earthen jar, and it is ready for use.

Fresh meat should be freed from all superfluous skin and fat, which make a soup greasy, rather than rich.

The glutinous substance contained in the bones renders it important that they should be boiled with the meat, as they add to the strength and thickness of the soup. The meat, however, should be cut off the bone and divided into small pieces.

Place in cold water over a gentle fire and boil by the long and slow process, that the essence of the meat may be drawn out thoroughly.

When it comes to the boiling point, throw in a little salt to assist the scum to rise; then skim carefully to prevent its becoming turbid.

When no more scum accumulates, and the meat is softened so as to readily separate with the use of the fork, it should be strained, the vegetables put it, the seasoning done, and the necessary amount of hot water added if too much has boiled away.

All soup meats are better boiled the day before using, so as to allow the grease to chill over night, when it can readily be removed before putting over the fire again.

The following thickening is almost indispensable to all good soups: A tablespoonful or more of flour mixed to a smooth paste with a little water, and enriched with a teaspoonful of butter, or good beef drippings well stirred in.

If it be necessary to add water to a soup, always use boiling water, as cold water injures the flavor. If making a rich soup that requires catsup or wine, let either be added just before the soup is taken from the fire.

Soup may be colored yellow by the use of grated carrots; red with the juice of tomatoes; green with the juice of powdered spinach; brown with carefully scorched flour, kept ready for use.

Onions are thought by many to be a necessity in all soups—that their flavor must lurk somewhere, either defined or undefined. Their flavor may be much improved if fried until nicely browned in hot butter before being added to the soup.

Potatoes should never be boiled with soup, because they add nothing to its flavor and are themselves injured by the long cooking. They should be boiled separately, and then added.

A most desirable quality in soup is that no one flavor predominate over the others, but, that by a careful blending of the different ingredients it shall contain and harmonize all flavors.

Soups and broths should always be strained. It makes them more relishable as well as inviting to the eye.

A slight acid, like lemon or tomato, gives a peculiar relish to some soups, as do many of the palatable condiments prepared by such manufacturers as Skilton & Foote Co., D. & L. Slade Co., and several others, for this especial purpose.

With such helps and a sufficient quantity of stock on hand, a choice, rich soup of any variety may be gotten up in thirty minutes.