14.—CHICKEN BROTH, CHIFFONADE STYLE. (Fr.—Consommé de Volaille à la Chiffonade.)
Ingredients.—A small fowl, 3 quarts of white stock (see Recipe No. 9, p. 141), 3 ozs. of butter, 2 leeks, a bouquet-garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaf), 1 long lettuce, a handful of sorrel, ½ a handful of chervil, pepper and salt.
Method.—Cut the fowl into small joints, put 2 ozs. of butter in a stewpan, when hot put in the pieces of chicken, season with salt and pepper and fry slightly brown, add the stock, boil up and skim. Next add a small bunch of parsley, the bouquet-garni, and the leeks (previously dressed). Simmer gently for 2 hours. Wash the sorrel, chervil and lettuce (use the tender leaves only of the latter), cut all these vegetables into very fine strips, put them together with 1 oz. of butter in a stewpan, stir gently over a fire for 10 minutes, moisten with some of the broth, skim and cook for 15 minutes. Strain the remainder of the broth into this and season to taste. Cut some neat pieces of chicken and put into a tureen, pour in the soup, and serve.
Time.—3 hours. Average Cost.—6s. Sufficient for 8 persons.
Chervil (Fr. cerfeuil).—The leaves of this plant are used for salads and as an ingredient in soups. It is native to some of the countries of Europe, and has become naturalized in England. There are different varieties of the chervil, the parsnip-chervil, sweet chervil, anise chervil, great chervil. Cultivated chervil may be distinguished from the common wild chervil, which is poisonous, by the pleasant aromatic fragrance of its leaves, those of the wild variety having a disagreeable smell.
15.—COCKIE LEEKIE. (Fr.—Soupe aux Poireaux.)
Ingredients.—2 quarts of good white stock, 1 small fowl, a bunch of leeks, a bouquet-garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaf), salt and pepper, 2 tablespoonfuls of cooked, well-dried rice, 2 ozs. of butter.
Method.—Cut the fowl into small joints. Melt the butter in a stewpan, and fry the pieces of fowl until nicely browned. Pour off the butter, add the stock, boil up slowly, and remove the scum as it rises. Wash the leeks, cut off the green parts, parboil them in salt and water, and drain well. Strain the soup after it has cooked for ½ an hour, return it to the saucepan, add the leeks, herbs, and the meat of the fowl cut into dice or cubes. Simmer gently for 1 hour, then take out the herbs. Skim off the fat, add the cooked rice, salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
Time.—About 2 hours. Average Cost, 3s. to 3s. 6d. without the stock. Seasonable in the Autumn. Sufficient for 10 persons.
Note.—Without the fowl the above, which would then be merely called leek soup, is very good, and also economical.
The Leek (Fr.: Porreau).—This is a perennial culinary vegetable of the genus Allium or onion but of a milder flavour. The stem of the leek is somewhat tall, and its large compact balls of flowers are supported on purple peduncles. The leek has been cultivated in Britain from the earliest times, and was a favourite article of food of the ancient Egyptians. It is specially cultivated in Scotland and Wales. The leek is the badge of the Welsh, tradition ascribing to St. David, the patron saint of Wales, its introduction to that part of Britain. The leek is a most wholesome vegetable, and is largely used for soups and stews.
