Ox-Cheek Soup

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861

Source: The Book of Household Management
Yield: 12.0 persons
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (19)

An ox-cheek
2 oz. of butter ↝ Butter, stick, unsalted [Dairy and Egg Products]
3 or 4 slices of lean ham or bacon ↝ Pork, fresh, leg (ham), whole, separable lean only, raw [Pork Products]
1 parsnip ↝ Parsnips, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
3 carrots ↝ Carrots, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
2 onions ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
3 heads of celery ↝ Celery, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
3 blades of mace ↝ Spices, mace, ground [Spices and Herbs]
4 cloves ↝ Garlic, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
a faggot of savoury herbs
1 bay-leaf ↝ Spices, bay leaf [Spices and Herbs]
a teaspoonful of salt ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
half that of pepper ↝ Spices, pepper, black [Spices and Herbs]
1 head of celery ↝ Celery, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
browning ↝ Sugars, brown [Sweets]
the crust of a French roll ↝ Rolls, french [Baked Products]
6 quarts of water ↝ Water, tap [Tap water]
flour ↝ Flour, 00 [Cereal Grains and Pasta]
A glass of sherry

Instructions (9)

Lay the ham in the bottom of the stewpan, with the butter.
Break the bones of the cheek, wash it clean, and put it on the ham.
Cut the vegetables small, add them to the other ingredients, and set the whole over a slow fire for 1/4 of an hour.
Put in the water, and simmer gently till it is reduced to 4 quarts.
Take out the fleshy part of the cheek, and strain the soup into a clean stewpan.
Thicken with flour, put in a head of sliced celery, and simmer till the celery is tender.
If not a good colour, use a little browning.
Cut the meat into small square pieces, pour the soup over, and serve with the crust of a French roll in the tureen.
A glass of sherry much improves this soup.

Original Text

OX-CHEEK SOUP.

176. INGREDIENTS.—An ox-cheek, 2 oz. of butter, 3 or 4 slices of lean ham or bacon, 1 parsnip, 3 carrots, 2 onions, 3 heads of celery, 3 blades of mace, 4 cloves, a faggot of savoury herbs, 1 bay-leaf, a teaspoonful of salt, half that of pepper, 1 head of celery, browning, the crust of a French roll, 6 quarts of water.

Mode.—Lay the ham in the bottom of the stewpan, with the butter; break the bones of the cheek, wash it clean, and put it on the ham. Cut the vegetables small, add them to the other ingredients, and set the whole over a slow fire for 1/4 of an hour. Now put in the water, and simmer gently till it is reduced to 4 quarts; take out the fleshy part of the cheek, and strain the soup into a clean stewpan; thicken with flour, put in a head of sliced celery, and simmer till the celery is tender. If not a good colour, use a little browning. Cut the meat into small square pieces, pour the soup over, and serve with the crust of a French roll in the tureen. A glass of sherry much improves this soup.

Time.—3 to 4 hours. Average cost, 8d. per quart.

Seasonable in winter.

Sufficient for 12 persons.

THE OX.—Of the quadrupedal animals, the flesh of those that feed upon herbs is the most wholesome and nutritious for human food. In the early ages, the ox was used as a religious sacrifice, and, in the eyes of the Egyptians was deemed so sacred as to be worthy of exaltation to represent Taurus, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. To this day, the Hindoos venerate the cow, whose flesh is forbidden to be eaten, and whose fat, supposed to have been employed to grease the cartridges of the Indian army, was one of the proximate causes of the great Sepoy rebellion of 1857. There are no animals of greater use to man than the tribe to which the ox belongs. There is hardly a part of them that does not enter into some of the arts and purposes of civilized life. Of their horns are made combs, knife-handles, boxes, spoons, and drinking-cups. They are also made into transparent plates for lanterns; an invention ascribed, in England, to King Alfred. Glue is made from their gristles, cartilages, and portions of their hides. Their bones often form a substitute for ivory; their skins, when calves, are manufactured into vellum; their blood is the basis of Prussian blue; their sinews furnish fine and strong threads, used by saddlers; their hair enters into various manufactures; their tallow is made into candles; their flesh is eaten, and the utility of the milk and cream of the cow is well known.

Notes

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