Hungarian Heritage Review, 1986 (15. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1986-10-01 / 10. szám
18 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW OCTOBER 1986 CLEAR TOMATO SOUP (12 servings) 2 pounds veal bones (or chicken backs and necks) 1 coarsely chopped carrot 1 chopped parsley root or parsnip 1 cut-up celery stalk 1/2 onion, unpeeled 5 to 6 black peppercorns 1 tablespoon salt 1 bay leaf 1 clove garlic 3 tablespoons sugar 1. In a large soup pan, place the veal bones, carrot, parsley root or parsnip, celery, onion, peppercorns, salt, bay leaf and garlic. Add about 3 quarts of water. Cover and cook slowly for at least 4 hours. The amount of stock should then be approximately 2 quarts. 2. Strain the stock into another pot; skim the top if necessary. 3. Dissolve the sugar in the butter, heating until it starts to caramelize. Pour 1 quart of stock over the butter-sugar mixture. Add to this the tomato paste and tomato juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer. 4. In the meanwhile, cool 1 pint of stock and bring another pint to a boil. 5. Sprinkle into the boiling stock the tarragon and dried dill weed. Let boil for 2 minutes. Strain this stock, removing the herbs, into the simmering tomato soup. 6. Stir the cornstarch into the cold pint of stock and slowly pour the starch-stock mixture into the simmering soup. This will make the soup syrupy-thick and clear. 7. Add chopped dill weed if you have fresh dill. Correct the seasoning of the soup with lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Pour the liquid from the ripe tomatoes into the soup tureen and ladle the hot soup over it. Serve immediately. Traditionally, about 30 minutes before the soup 1 teaspoon butter 1 6-ounce can tomato paste 1 46-ounce can tomato juice 2 tablespoons dried tarragon 2 tablespoons dried dill weed 6 tablespoons cornstarch Liquid from 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped up and run through a blender Fresh lemon juice to taste Fresh dill weed if available was served, we added half a cup of washed long grain rice to it. On another occasion, we made a tiny, soft, pinched dough, as follows: Ingredients: 3/4 cup flour, sifted Pinch of salt Pinch of baking powder 1 egg, slightly beaten with a fork 1 heaping tablespoon sour cream or yogurt Method: In a small bowl, with a wire whip add the flour, salt and baking powder. Mix vigorously. Add the beaten egg and the sour cream, and keep stirring until it turns into a loose dough, somewhat thicker than a pancake dough. Depending on the size of the egg, you will perhaps have to add just a little more flour — a tablespoon or so. Dip a soup spoon into the simmering soup, which should be over medium heat, and pinch small amounts of this dough with the hot, wet spoon into the soup. The little pieces will sink, because they are cold, but as they are sinking, they will start to heat up and then they will bounce to the top. Keep doing this until all the dough is gone, and all the tiny golden pinched dumplings are on the top. Gently stir with a wooden spoon and serve. READER REQUESTS: The explanation of the word “deka.” Mrs. B.R. of Taylor, Michigan, wrote: “I have asked many Hungarians, in vain, what is a ‘deka.’ I found this often in my mother’s handwritten recipes, and nobody can tell me what it means.” Deka is short for dekagram, and it means 10 grams in English. This is a standard measuring unit in the metric weight system. It is based on the “kilogram” and 0.9 kilograms is roughly 2 pounds. In other words, 1 kilogram is slightly more than 2 pounds. 1 pound (16 ounces) is 453.6 grams, or 45.4 dekagrams, while half a pound, 8 ounces, is 22.68 dekagrams, and so on and so forth. 1 dekagram, which is 10 grams, is a little more than a quarter of an ounce. In the kitchen, we usually figure with flour, sugar, butter, etc., 1 'A dekagrams is roughly half an ounce. Clear Tomato Soup 100 dekagrams is a kilogram in the old usage, simply 1 kilo. This is just a little more than 2 pounds, so 1 pound is about 45 dekagrams. A half-pound is 22-1/2 dekagrams, and a quarter of a pound, 4 ounces, equals 10 dekagrams, or 10 deka. If you have difficulty in converting European measurements into our standard American units, and you are a subscriber to the Hungarian Heritage Magazine, just send your name, address and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Editorial office and we will mail you a little conversion table by return mail, with Chef Louis’ compliments. No charge to subscribers.
