Take some macaroni and break it up into pieces about two inches long. Boil them till they are tender in some salted water, drain them off and add them to some clear soup. (See CLEAR SOUP.)
Slice up the onions or leeks, one carrot, and make a fagot of herbs; fry them in the butter with 1 dozen peppercorns till they are quite brown, but not burnt. Sprinkle over a tablespoonful of cornflour, and when brown pour over the boiling stock and stir till it boils up; let it simmer for an hour. If it is not brown enough, burn a little sugar in a spoon and stir it in. If half a teaspoonful of sugar is sprinkled over the vegetables when they are frying they will brown much quicker. When the vegetables are soft rub the soup through a wire sieve and return to the saucepan. Boil the macaroni in salt and water for twenty minutes, strain off, and cut into pieces one inch long; put these into the soup and simmer for a quarter of an hour. Flavour with a little salt and pepper if necessary, and pour into a hot tureen.
1 large head of celery or 2 small ones, 1 large Spanish onion, 2 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste, and 1 blade of mace. Chop the onion and fry it brown in the butter (or vege-butter) in the saucepan in which the soup is to be made. When brown, add 4 pints of water, the celery washed and cut into pieces, the mace, the pepper and salt. Let all cook until the celery is quite soft, then drain the liquid from the vegetables. Return it to the saucepan, boil the soup up, and add 1 oz. of vermicelli, sago, or Italian paste; let the soup cook until this is quite soft, and serve with sippets of Allinson wholemeal toast.
1/2 lb. of macaroni, 8 oz. of grated cheese, some breadcrumbs, pepper and salt to taste, and 1 oz. of butter. Boil the macaroni in slightly salted water until soft. Then place a layer of it in a pie-dish, sprinkle some of the grated cheese over it, dust with pepper, and repeat the layers of macaroni and cheese, finishing with a sprinkling of cheese, and the breadcrumbs. Cut the butter in pieces, and place them here and there on the top. Bake it in a moderately hot oven until brown. Eat with vegetables and tomato sauce. For those who have a weak digestion plain boiled macaroni with grated cheese added at table is better and lighter. Macaroni requires from 25 minutes to 1/2 an hour cooking. The Genoa macaroni takes longer, the thin spaghetti kind is done in from 15 to 20 minutes, and vermicelli and Italian paste are done in a few minutes. Macaroni should be thrown into boiling water and be kept boiling, as the pipes or pieces otherwise stick together. The Italian paste is mostly used as an addition in clear soup.
Six pounds of shin of beef, or six pounds of knuckle of veal; any bones, trimmings of poultry, or fresh meat; one-quarter pound of lean bacon or ham, two ounces of butter, two large onions, each stuck with cloves; one turnip, three carrots, one head of celery, two ounces of salt, one-half teaspoonful of whole pepper, one large blade of mace, one bunch of savory herbs except sage, four quarts and one-half-pint of cold water. Cut up the meat and bacon, or ham, into pieces of about three inches square; break the bones into small pieces, rub the butter on the bottom of the stewpan; put in one-half a pint of water, the broken bones, then meat and all other ingredients. Cover the stewpan, and place it on a sharp fire, occasionally stirring its contents. When the bottom of the pan becomes covered with a pale, jelly-like substance, add the four quarts of cold water, and simmer very gently for five or six hours. As we have said before, do not let it boil quickly. When nearly cooked, throw in a tablespoonful of salt to assist the scum to rise. Remove every particle of scum whilst it is doing, and strain it through a fine hair sieve; when cool remove all grease. This stock will keep for many days in cold weather. Stock is the basis of many of the soups afterwards mentioned, and this will be found quite strong enough for ordinary purposes. Keep it in small jars, in a cool place. It makes a good gravy for hash meats; one tablespoonful of it is sufficient to impart a fine flavor to a dish of macaroni and various other dishes. Good soups of various kinds are made from it at short notice; slice off a portion of the jelly, add water, and whatever vegetables and thickening preferred. It is best to partly cook the vegetables before adding to the stock, as much boiling injures the flavoring of the soup. Season and boil a few moments and serve hot.
1 large head of celery or 2 small ones, 1 large Spanish onion, 2 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste, and 1 blade of mace. Chop the onion and fry it brown in the butter or Allinson vege-butter in the saucepan in which the soup is to be made. When brown, add 4 pints of water, the celery washed and cut into pieces, the mace, the pepper and salt. Let all cook until the celery is quite soft, then drain the liquid from the vegetables. Return it to the saucepan, boil the soup up, and add 1 oz. of vermicelli, sago, or Italian paste; let the soup cook until this is quite soft, and serve with sippets of crisp toast, or Allinson plain rusks.
The word nudel is probably derived from French nouilles paste. It is made in a similar manner, or nearly so. French cooks use only yolk of egg and flour. English cooks use beaten-up eggs, and sometimes even reserve the yolks for other purposes and make the paste with white of egg. In any case, the yolks, the whole eggs, or the white without the yolks, must be well beaten up and then mixed in with the flour with the fingers till it makes a stiff paste. This paste or dough is then rolled out with a straight rolling pin--(not an English one)--till it is as thin as a wafer. The board must be well floured or it will stick. A marble slab is best, and if you are at a loss for a rolling-pin try an empty black bottle. It is very important to roll the pastry thin, and it has been well observed that the best test of thinness is to be able to read a book through the paste. When rolled out, let each thin cake dry for five or ten minutes. If you have a box of cutters you can cut this paste into all sorts of shapes according to the shape of the cutters, or you can cut each thin cake into pieces about the same size, and then with a sharp dry knife cut the paste into threads. These threads or ornamental shapes can be thrown into boiling clear soup, when they will separate of their own accord. Nudel paste is, in fact, home-made Italian paste, or, when cut into threads, home-made vermicelli. It is very nourishing, as it is made with eggs and flour.
Sparghetti is a peculiar form of macaroni. Ordinary macaroni is made in the form of long tubes, and when macaroni pudding is served in schools, it is often irreverently nicknamed by the boys gas-pipes. Sparghetti is not a tube, but simply macaroni made in the shape of ordinary wax-tapers, which it resembles very much in appearance. In Italy it is often customary to commence dinner with a dish of sparghetti, and should the dinner consist as well of soup, fish, entree, salad, and sweet, the sparghetti would be served before the soup. Take, say, half a pound of sparghetti, wash it in cold water, and throw it instantly into boiling salted water; boil it till it is tender, about twenty minutes, drain it, put it into a hot vegetable-dish, and mix in two or three tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese; toss it about lightly with a couple of forks, till the cheese melts and forms what may be called cobwebs on tossing it about. Add also two tablespoonfuls of tomato conserve (sold by all grocers, in bottles), and serve immediately. This is very cheap, very satisfying, and very nourishing; and it is to be regretted that this popular dish is not more often used by those who are not vegetarians, who would benefit both in pocket and in health were they to lessen their butcher's bill by at any rate commencing dinner, like the Italians, with a dish of sparghetti.
llet of Veale, pick away all the skins in the fold of the flesh, after you have picked it out clean, so that no skins are left, nor any hard thing; put to it some good White-Wine (that is not too sweet) in a bowl & wash it, & crush it well in the Wine; doe so twice, then strew upon it a powder that is called Tamara in Italy, and so much Salt as will season it well, mingle the Powder well upon the Pasts of your meat, then poure to it so much White-Wine as will cover it when it is thrust down into a narrow Pan; lay a Trencher on it and a weight to keep it downe, let it lye two nights and one day, put a little Pepper to it when you lay it in the Sauce, and after it it is sowsed so long, take it out and put it into a Pipkin with some good Beef-broth, but you must not take any of the pickle to it, but onely Beef-broth that is sweet and not salt; cover it close and set it on the Embers, onely put into it with the Broth a few whole Cloves and Mace, and let it stew till it be enough. It will be very tender and of an excellent Taste; it must be served with the same broth as much as will cover it. To make the Italian, take Coriander seed two Ounces, Aniseed one ounce, Fennel-seed one ounce, Cloves two ounces, Cinamon one ounce; These must be beaten into a grosse powder, putting into it a little powder of Winter-savoury; if you like it, keep this in a Vial-glasse close stopt for your use.
Scrape and slice three turnips and three carrots and peel three onions, and fry all with a little butter until a light yellow; add a bunch of celery and three or four leeks cut in pieces; stir and fry all the ingredients for six minutes; when fried, add one clove of garlic, two stalks of parsley, two cloves, salt, pepper and a little grated nutmeg; cover with three quarts of water and simmer for three hours, taking off the scum carefully. Strain and use. Croutons, vermicelli, Italian pastes, or rice may be added.
