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Prawn Soup

A historical recipe from The Book of Household Management, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) (1861).

A historical recipe

The Book of Household Management, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) (1861). Project Gutenberg eBook #10136.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: preserving or pickling. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.

Source and licence

From The Book of Household Management, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) (1861). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #10136 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10136). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

Read the original Public domain in the USA

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.

  • Preserving. Old preserving methods may not make food safe to keep. Use current tested guidance.

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Ingredients

Method

  1. 198.
  2. INGREDIENTS.--2 quarts of fish stock or water, 2 pints of prawns, the crumbs of a French roll, anchovy sauce or mushroom ketchup to taste, 1 blade of mace, 1 pint of vinegar, a little lemon-juice.
  3. Mode.--Pick out the tails of the prawns, put the bodies in a stewpan with 1 blade of mace, 1/2 pint of vinegar, and the same quantity of water;
  4. stew them for 1/4 hour, and strain off the liquor.
  5. Put the fish stock or water into a stewpan;
  6. add the strained liquor, pound the prawns with the crumb of a roll moistened with a little of the soup, rub them through a tammy, and mix them by degrees with the soup;
  7. add ketchup or anchovy sauce to taste, with a little lemon-juice.
  8. When it is well cooked, put in a few picked prawns;
  9. let them get thoroughly hot, and serve.
  10. If not thick enough, put in a little butter and flour.
  11. Time.--hour.
  12. Average cost, 1s.
  13. 1d.
  14. per quart, if made with water.
  15. Note.--This can be thickened with tomatoes, and vermicelli served in it, which makes it a very tasteful soup.
  16. THE PRAWN.--This little fish bears a striking resemblance to the shrimp, but is neither so common nor so small.
  17. It is to be found on most of the sandy shores of Europe.
  18. The Isle of Wight is famous for shrimps, where they are potted;
  19. but both the prawns and the shrimps vended in London, are too much salted for the excellence of their natural flavour to be preserved.
  20. They are extremely lively little animals, as seen in their native retreats.