Gourmet's Soup

Gourmet's soup is a great way to make use of any seasonal vegetables you have on hand.

Put a large knuckle of veal into a saucepan or stockpot, together with two roasted fowls and any beef bones that may be at hand, pour in ten pints of beef stock and boil for ten minutes; carefully skim off all the scum, prepare and add the desired quantities of any vegetables that may be in season and a little pepper, and boil for five hours, by which time the liquor should be reduced to about four quarts; then skim off the fat, remove the meat and bones, clarify with the white of beaten egg, which has been beaten with a small quantity of beef stock, and boil for twenty minutes longer. Strain through a cloth into another saucepan, and add the red part of a carrot and a turnip, cut with a vegetable cutter into columns and afterward into slices about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, also two heads of celery and two leeks cut into slices, all these having been previously blanched; add also a small quantity each of sorrel and chervil, and two lettuces cut up into pieces, and boil all for another hour; then put in a little sugar, and finally about three tablespoonfuls of blanched asparagus. Place some small croutons of fried bread or pieces of toast at the bottom of a soup tureen, pour over the boiling soup and serve.