SOUPS, MEATS, ETG. 419 



slowly draws them out, so putting into boiling water, properly salted (when 

 fresh meat is used), and continuing to boil briskly shuts up the pores and keeps, 

 the juices and nourishing properties in the meats, which is the whole secret of 

 success. And nothing more can be said except what would repeat, in some 

 manner, this only important difference. So the author will now trust to the 

 common sense of the people for whom he writes, and has for over twenty- 

 five years written, only adding: never let the boiling stop when getting 9 

 boiled dinner, nor never allow hard boiUng when making a soup. 



Bean Soup. — As I look upon bean soup as the best of old soups, I ■v\-iD 

 ^ive a receipt taken from "A Book of the Sea," which, having had it made 

 Several times, I can say it can be depended upon. And when I say it was given 

 by a sailor, the phraseology needs no further explanation. He says: 



"The fact is, that bean soup at sea is such a stand-by that the sailor-man 

 on shore sometimes gets quite mad when it's offered him, and still, bean souj^ 

 is a mighty good thing, and all according to the way you make it. Now, yon 

 get a lot of swells on board", and make 'em soup, and call it haricot (in Eng- 

 land, tliis name is still used for beans) and not beans, which is vulgar, and if 

 you know how to turn it out, they will take three platefuls. 



"First, you get a pint and a hn'f of good sound beans — I don't think 

 there is much difference in beans, whether they are big or little — and pick 'em 

 over and stand them for an hour in a bowl of cold water. Take three pounds 

 of meat or a shin-bone, and put the beef in 4 quart,s of cold water, and let it 

 boil. Fry an onion and put that in, with say 6 whole cloves and a dozen pep- 

 pers (the small cayenne peppers, the same that are used in making pepper 

 sauce), and some parsley, with a tablespoon of salt. Let it l)oil for two hours, 

 and you keep skimming. As fast as the water boils away, you keep adding a 

 little hot water. When the concern i§ cooked, take a colander and strain your 

 soup through it, mashing up the beans and keeping out the meat and the 

 bean skin. If you want to be superfine, you can hard boil an egg, and slice 

 white and yellow through, and put them in the tureen; likewise some slices of 

 lemon. Bits of toast don't go bad with it. If you liappen to be cruising south, 

 just you use, instead of the New England bean, the Georgia or South Califor- 

 nia cow-pea." 



Bemarks. — The author never had any soup he liked better than this, although 

 the following is very nice. 



Bean Soup with Cream or Milk.— Take 1 pt. of beans, parboil and 

 drain off the water, adding fresh. Never put cold water upon beans which 

 have been once heated, as it hardens them — boil until perfectly tender, seasou 

 with pepper and salt, and a piece of butter the size of a walnut, or more if pre 

 f erred; when done skim out half the beans, leaving the broth with the remain' 

 ing half in the kettle, now add a teacup of sweet cream or good milk, a dozen 

 or more of crackers broken up, let it come to a boil, and you have a dish good 

 enough to offer a king. 



Corn and Bean Soup.— Take 2 lbs. of fresh beef, 1 lb. of fresh pork, 

 and 1 pint of black or navy beans (I think white ones will do just as well), soak 

 over night, one large onion, a small carrot, a head of celery Put the above 

 ingredients into the soup pot with a gallon of cold water, and let simmer gently 

 for five or six hours. Take off and let get cold; remove the grease, and place 



