Forcemeat or egg balls may be added if you please; you will find a receipt for these, No. 380, &c.
*.* A pound of veal cutlets, or the belly part of pickled pork, or nice double tripe cut into pieces about an inch square, and half an inch thick, and rounded and trimmed neatly from all skin, gristle, &c. and stewed till they are tender, will be a great addition.
Is the "_bonne bouche_" which "the officers of the mouth" of old England[219-*] prepare, when they choose to rival "_les grands cuisiniers de France_" in a "_ragoût sans pareil_."
The following receipt is an attempt (and the committee of taste pronounced it a successful one), to imitate the excellent and generally approved mock turtle made by Messrs. Birch, Cornhill.
Endeavour to have the head and the broth ready for the soup,[219-+] the day before it is to be eaten.
It will take eight hours to prepare it properly.
_hours._ Cleaning and soaking the head 1 To parboil it to cut up 1 Cooling, nearly 1 Making the broth and finishing the soup 5 --- 8
Get a calf's head with the skin on (the fresher the better); take out the brains, wash the head several times in cold water, let it soak for about an hour in spring-water, then lay it in a stew-pan, and cover it with cold water, and half a gallon over; as it becomes warm, a great deal of scum will rise, which must be immediately removed; let it boil gently for one hour, take it up, and when almost cold, cut the head into pieces about an inch and a half by an inch and a quarter, and the tongue into mouthfuls, or rather make a side-dish of the tongue and brains, as in No. 10.
When the head is taken out, put in the stock meat,[219-++] about five pounds of knuckle of veal, and as much beef; add to the stock all the trimmings and bones of the head, skim it well, and then cover it close, and let it boil five hours (reserve a couple of quarts of this to make gravy sauces, &c. see No. 307); then strain it off, and let it stand till the next morning; then take off the fat, set a large stew-pan on the fire with half a pound of good fresh butter, twelve ounces of onions sliced, and four ounces of green sage; chop it a little; let these fry one hour; then rub in half a pound of flour, and by degrees add your broth till it is the thickness of cream; season it with a quarter of an ounce of ground allspice and half an ounce of black pepper ground very fine, salt to your taste, and the rind of one lemon peeled very thin; let it simmer very gently for one hour and a half, then strain it through a hair-sieve; do not rub your soup to get it through the sieve, or it will make it grouty; if it does not run through easily, knock your wooden-spoon against the side of your sieve; put it in a clean stew-pan with the head, and season it by adding to each gallon of soup half a pint of wine; this should be Madeira, or, if you wish to darken the colour of your soup, claret, and two table-spoonfuls of lemon-juice, see No. 407*; let it simmer gently till the meat is tender; this may take from half an hour to an hour: take care it is not over-done; stir it frequently to prevent the meat sticking to the bottom of the stew-pan, and when the meat is quite tender the soup is ready.