Soup/Stew/Chowder Eel Soup

eel soup

(from The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia of Useful Information for the Housekeeper, by E. F. Haskell, 1861)

Ingredients:

3 lbs. whole eels​

2 oz. butter​

2 onions, halved​

3 quarts boiling water​

1/4 oz. fresh savory​

1/4 oz. lemon​

1/4 oz. thyme​

1/2 oz. parsley​

1/8 oz. allspice​

1/8 oz. black pepper​

3 oz. butter​

flour​

Instructions:

Put two ounces of butter in a saucepan, a couple of onions cut once, and stew them until lightly browned. Remove the onions and put into the pan, cut in pieces, three pounds of unskinned eels, shake them over the fire a few minutes, then add three quarts of boiling water. When boils, remove the scum; add a quarter of an ounce of green, not dried, summer-savory, the same of lemon, thyme, twice as much parsley, two drachms each of allspice and black pepper; cover close, and boil gently for two hours, then strain it through a fine sieve; put in a stew-pan three ounces of butter, melt it, and stir in flour, until it thickens considerably, and add the soup gradually to it, stirring constantly. If the spices are not relished, omit them; cooks should always be governed by the tastes of the family. Put the soup in a stew-pan and add nice bits of eel, fried brown in butter, ten minutes before pouring it in the tureen.​