Okra Gumbo

Cut up one chicken—an old one is preferable ; wash and dry it; flour it well, add salt and pepper; have ready in a saucepan a lump of lard the size of an egg—let it get hot; then put in the chicken ; fry it brown all over, but do not let it burn; put it in the vessel in which you make soup; pour on it five quarts of water, let it boil two hours, then cut up about two okra pods and add them to it—be sure they are tender; then let it boil another hour. When you first put on the soup cut up an onion in it, salt and pepper to taste. To be served with rice. Dried Okra can be used if soaked over night.

Oriental Mullagatawny Soup

Cut up a chicken, put it into a soup-kettle, with a small sliced onion, carrot, celery, parsley, three cloves, a very little cayenne pepper, some salt; cover it with four quarts of water; add any pieces of veal, with the bones—of course a knuckle of veal would be the proper thing; add a quarter of a cup of rice. When the pieces of chicken are nearly done take them out, and trim them neatly to serve with the soup. Let the veal continue to simmer for three hours. Now fry an onion, a small carrot, and a stick of celery sliced, in a little butter ; when they are a light brown throw in a tablespoonful of flour; stif it on the fire one or two minutes, then add a good teaspoonful of curry powder, and the chicken and veal broth; place this on the fire to simmer for an hour; half-an-hour before dinner strain the soup, skim off the fat, return it to the fire with the pieces of chicken and two or three tablespoonfuls of whole boiled rice. This will give time enough to cook the chicken thoroughly.

Ox - Tail Soup

Take three ox-tails—these will make a large tureen of soup; ask your butcher to divide them at the joints; rub them with salt and put them to soak in warm water while you prepare the vegetables—three stalks of celery, two carrots, two turnips, two onions, a bunch of savory herbs, a teaspoonful of pepper-corns ; three quarts of water. Put the ox-tails in soup-kettle, with an ounce of butter, the vegetables, and a half-pint of cold water; stir it over the fire for a short time, until the pan is covered with a glaze, then pour in the three quarts of water. Skim it well, and simmer slowly for four hours, or until the tails are tender; take them out, strain the soup, stir in a little flour to thicken it; add a glass of port-wine, a half-head of celery previously boiled and cut in small pieces; put the pieces of tail in the kettle of strained soup ; boil it up for a few minutes and serve.

This soup can be served clear by omitting the flour, and adding to it the carrots and turnips cut in fancy shapes, with a head of celery in slices. These may be boiled in a little of the soup, and put into the tureen before sending to table.

Oyster Soup

One pint of oysters, with liquor, half-pint of milk, three ounces of butter, an ounce of flour, pepper and salt, and grain of cayenne pepper. First strain the liquor well from the oysters, then put it on the fire and allow it to boil; skim it very carefully; then melt the butter in a separate saucepan and stir in the ounce of flour; when they are mixed, add the milk and stir it until it boils, then add the liquor, and let them boil together for two minutes; then add the oysters, pepper and salt, and boil for another minute.

Pea Soup

Wash the pea pods and put them in the kettle; cover with cold water, and let them boil for two hours ; strain; put back the water into the kettle, and enough milk to make as much soup as you wish, but not enough to make it look white; mash some cooked peas through the cullender, and thicken with a little flour. Add butter, salt and pepper, to taste. The water in which the peas have been boiled will increase the strength of the soup if added.

Pepper Pot

Take four pounds of tripe and a set of calf's-feet; put them into a large pot with as much water as will cover them ; some whole pepper and a little salt. Put them on the fire early in the morning; let them boil slowly, keeping the pot closely covered. When the tripe is quite tender, and the feet boiled to pieces, take them out and skim the liquid and strain it—then cut the tripe into small pieces, put it back into the pot and pour the soup or liquor over it. Have ready some sweet herbs, chopped fine, some sliced onion and some sliced potatoes, and season them with pepper and salt; make some small dumplings with flour and lard or butter; put the vegetables into the pot, add a large piece of butter rolled in flour, and lastly put in the dumplings; boil till the ingredients are thoroughly done, and then serve it up in a tureen.

Turkish Soup

Take one quart of stock, one tablespoonful of cream, pepper and salt; first wash half teacupful of rice; then put stock and rice in a saucepan, allow them to boil twenty minutes ; after boiling, rub through a sieve with a masher, and then return to the saucepan ; drop into a basin the yolks of two eggs— add to the eggs one tablespoonful of cream, and mix them up ; then take a large spoonful of stock and put on the egg and cream, then add all the stock and put it on the fire.