BRIES SUPPE (Sweetbread Soup)

Ingredient :

• 2 or 3 calves' sweetbread
• stock (2 pints)
• 2 onions
• 2 or 3 carrots
• 1 cabbage
• asparagus tips
• salt
• pepper

Directions :

1. Soak the sweetbread in cold water for 3 or 4 hours, changing the water occasionally.
2. Put them in a saucepan of cold water, and bring to the boil for exactly 2 minutes.
3. Remove from the water and lay them on a clean cloth to drain.
4. With a knife, carefully remove bits of skin and veins, being careful not to damage the thin membrane which covers the sweetbread.
5. Slice the vegetables with the exception of the asparagus, and shred the cabbage.
6. Melt some fat in a saucepan, and when hot add the vegetables and simmer till they begin to brown.
7. Sprinkle with flour, stir well till this also begins to brown.
8. Cover with the boiling stock, and simmer for 1/2 hour or a little longer.
9. Add the sweetbread, cut in 2 inch length, and simmer very gently for 30 to 35 minutes, till the sweetbread is quite tender.
10. For serving, remove the pieces of sweetbread from the stock, put them in a soup tureen and strain the soup through a sieve over them.
11. The soup is garnished with cooked asparagus tips and croutons of fried bread.

BROT SUPPE (Bread Soup)

Ingredients :

• A few slices of stale bread
• preferably the crust
• 1 1/2 pints of veal stock
• 2 or 3 eggs
• sausages or smoked meat
• parsley
• salt
• pepper

Method :

1. If the bread is not quite dry, put in a slow oven till it is crisp.
2. Break the bread in small pieces, put it in a saucepan and pour the tepid stock over it.
3. Let it stand for 10 minutes, so that the bread gets thoroughly soaked with the stock.
4. Then put on the fire, and stir till the mixture comes to the boil.
5. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 1/2 hour.
6. The soup should be perfectly smooth and any pieces of bread which have not been absorbed by the liquid should be crushed with the back of a spoon.
7. Five minutes before serving, beat the yolk of an egg in a bowl, stir with 1 or 2 tablespoons of the hot stock, and add to the soup, which must not be boiling.
8. Slices of hard-boiled eggs, of previously cooked sausages, or smoked meat, are added 2 or 3 minutes before serving, and finally the soup is sprinkled with fried parsley.

Kummel Suppe (Caraway Soup)

Extensive use is made in Austrian cooking, as in German cooking, of caraway seed as a flavoring.

Ingredients :

• 1 teaspoon of caraway seed
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup of flour
• macaroni
• water
• salt
• pepper

Method :

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the flour gradually and stir till it browns.
2. Mix in the caraway seeds, and pour in about 1 1/2 pints of boiling water, stirring well.
3. Simmer for 1/2 hour, strain and add the macaroni previously boiled, cut in inch lengths.
4. Instead of the macaroni, croutons of fried bread are sometimes added to the soup.

Kohl Suppe (Cabbage Soup)

Cabbage soup of many descriptions are popular in Austria, as they are in Germany, the most popular among the peasants and working classes consisting of shredded cabbage, boiled in water, with a thickening of flour and butter, and seasoning of salt, pepper, and caraway seed. The following, however, is a more refined version of it.

Ingredients :

• STOCK
• 1 or 2 cabbages
• fried sausages or boiled smoked sausages
• flour
• fat
• salt
• pepper

Method :

1. Shred the cabbage and brown in a little hot fat.
2. Sprinkle with a little flour, stir well, and cook till the flour begins to brown.
3. Pour boiling STOCK over the cabbage, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 1 hour.
4. Before serving, add slices of either fries sausages or boiled smoked sausages.