Supper

Asparagus soup from Erken (1914): asparagus is cooked tender, the tips saved for garnish, the rest pressed through a sieve and stirred into a roux of 60 g butter and 60 g flour, thinned with 2 l chicken or veal stock and asparagus cooking liquid. Liaison just before serving with 2 egg yolks, 2 tbsp cream and 50 g cold butter; salt to taste.

Classic cauliflower soup from Erken's Stor kokebok (1914): cauliflower is boiled with leek and celeriac, the stalks are boiled down into a stock, the soup is thickened with butter and flour, finished with egg yolks and filled with tender cauliflower florets. Served with parsley.

Erken's bean soup à la Napoli from Stor kokebok 1914: green beans and potatoes are boiled tender, mashed into a purée, thickened with butter and rice flour, thinned with meat stock and milk, and finished with cream and egg yolk. Served with small egg dumplings.

Brennesnute from Erken's Stor kokebok (1914): a brown vegetable soup with celeriac, rutabaga, carrot and potatoes in cubes, thickened with browned butter and flour in meat stock, seasoned with parsley, vinegar and sugar and served with slices of boiled sausage.

Erken's pea pod soup (1914): pea pods and root vegetables are simmered into a stock in 2.5 l salted water, the stock is thickened with a butter-and-flour roux, and the root vegetables and parsley are returned. Seasoned with salt, pepper and optionally thyme.

Vegetable soup from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: ½ liter peas, celeriac, carrot, parsley root, and leek are boiled tender in 3 liters water with half of 100 g butter, pressed through a colander, thickened with the rest of the butter kneaded with 40 g flour, boiled 10 minutes, and seasoned with salt, sugar, and parsley.

Erken's apricot soup (1914): 200 g dried apricots are soaked overnight in 1 liter water, cooked tender in the soaking water with another 1 liter water about 30 min, thickened with 40 g sago flour stirred into 1 dl cold water and sweetened with sugar to taste. Served with rusks or fried bread.

Erken's blueberry soup (1914): 1 l blueberries boiled in 2 l water, strained, thickened with 30 g potato starch stirred into cold water and seasoned to taste with about 2 dl sugar. Can be flavored with cinnamon or lemon peel, served with flour dumplings, rusks, or fried bread. Variation with a butter-and-flour thickening and with dried berries.

Sweet bread soup made from 300 g rye bread soaked overnight in 2 liters of water, cooked down with lemon peel, pressed through a strainer, thinned with boiling water and seasoned with 2 dl white wine, sugar and jam or fruit syrup. Serves 6.

Erken's apple soup from 1914: apple slices cooked with lemon peel in water, strained, seasoned with sugar and lemon juice, and thickened with potato starch or egg yolks. A variation with dried apples is given.

Erken's white sago soup (1914): tapioca or sago pearls simmered in water with cinnamon and lemon peel, steeped a long time, then combined in the tureen with a foam of 3 egg yolks and sugar, lemon juice, sherry and preserved plums.

Norwegian elderberry soup from Schønberg Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: elderberries cooked out in water, strained, cooked further with apples and sugar and thickened with sago flour.

Erken's alternative method for brown bouillon: bones and root vegetables are browned and cooked into stock, the meat is browned separately and simmered tender in the stock. The bouillon is clarified or thickened with 50 g butter, 50 g flour, 2 l stock, 2 dl madeira and cayenne, and served with egg dumplings or small choux puffs.

Erken's basic recipe for brown stock soup: beef neck and half the root vegetables are browned, the rest of the meat and bones are drawn in 8 l cold water, and it all simmers 5-6 hours with spices and root vegetables added in the last 1.5 hours. Strained into jars and kept under a layer of fat.

Erken's basic bouillon recipe: 3 kg beef with bones is simmered in 5 liters of water with carrot for 4 hours, then 1 hour with celeriac, leek and a bouquet of soup herbs, and strained. With eight notes on dark bouillon, second stock, when to add the root vegetables, storage and serving.

Browned veal bouillon: meat from 5 kg of veal shank is browned in butter with pork, carrot and onion, laid over the cracked bones in the pot with 5 liters of water and a bouquet of soup herbs, brought slowly to a boil, skimmed and simmered for several hours. Erken, Stor kokebok 1914, page 34.

Fish stock made from 2 kg fish bones, heads, and skin sweated in butter with onion, celery, parsley, and lemon juice, brought to a boil with 4 liters of water and steeped half an hour before straining. Erken, Stor kokebok 1914, page 34.

Vegetable Stock I: carrots, onion, swede, and celeriac in thin slices are sweated 30 minutes in 90 g butter without browning, then tomatoes, a bouquet garni, peppercorns, salt, and 2 l water are added. Simmered covered 1½ hours and strained. Used for soups and sauces; beet can replace tomato.

Aurora soup (consommé Aurora) from Erken 1914: 1 liter of chicken stock lightly thickened with strained, poached tapioca, served with strips of cooked chicken, lean ham and egg threads in the tureen.

Clear chicken soup (consommé Daphne) from Erken 1914 with 300 g chicken forcemeat divided in three and mixed with chopped tongue, chicken meat, and spinach purée, shaped into small dumplings that poach in the stock or in the oven, served in a tureen with green peas, chervil, and boiling chicken stock.

Queen's soup (dronningsuppe) from Erken 1914: 100 g sago steeps for an hour in 1 l meat stock and 1 l water with a bundle of parsley, celery and chervil, skimmed clear, and finished with 4 tbsp thick tomato purée and 4 tbsp celeriac stewed in butter and cooked in stock; seasoned with salt and thinned with stock.

Gold Soup from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: meat stock simmered with half-browned butter, onion, pepper, cayenne and root vegetables, thickened with a butter-and-flour roux and enriched with egg yolks in stock, seasoned with sherry and served with small meatballs or asparagus.

A thickened broth soup with cut-out pieces of celery root, carrot, and parsley root sautéed in butter, seasoned with cayenne and 1 dl sherry, and served with green peas, parsley, and meatballs.

Erken's macaroni soup from 1914: macaroni is boiled tender in meat stock, the soup is thickened with egg yolks, whipped cream, and grated Parmesan, and heated to the boiling point without boiling.

Erken's bread dumplings for soup: crustless rolls soaked in milk, pressed dry, stirred over the heat with melted butter until the mass pulls away from the pot, then mixed with egg, salt, nutmeg, and sugar; add rusk if the dough is thin. Shaped with a teaspoon and poached 5 minutes in water, milk, or stock.

Egg balls from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: hard-boiled egg yolks are rubbed with cold butter, salted and peppered, and rolled into 20 small balls placed in the plate before clear soup is ladled over. The egg whites can be cut into strips in the soup.

Egg custard III (1914) with purée: 200 g cooked, scraped chicken (or fish, game, or vegetables) is drawn for ½ hour with 50 g butter, pressed through a fine sieve, mixed with 3 tbsp white sauce, 1 dl cream, 2 eggs, and 4 egg yolks, cooked in a buttered mold in a water bath, and treated like Egg Custard I.

Egg custard with vegetables II (1914): 1 egg and 3 egg yolks are stirred into 1 dl cream, seasoned, strained, and mixed with 1 dl cooked green peas and 1 cooked carrot, diced. Cooked in a water bath in a buttered mold and treated like Egg Custard I; used as a garnish in soup.

Egg custard for soups I (1914): chervil steeps 20 min in ¼ l of boiling meat stock; the stock is mixed with 1 egg and 3 egg yolks, strained, poured into a buttered mold, and cooked in a water bath (without boiling) 15–20 min. Cooled completely undisturbed, turned out, and cut into cubes as a garnish in clear soup. The chervil may be omitted.

Egg threads for soup: 3 eggs are beaten for 5 minutes, seasoned with salt and pepper, strained, and poured through a fine-meshed sieve into 1 liter of boiling stock so the mixture sets into thin threads.

Brown soup made from 60 g browned butter with thinly sliced leeks, onions, carrots and celery, browned with flour, thinned with 2 liters of bouillon, cooked 15 minutes, strained and seasoned with 1 dl sherry. Served with small fish balls.

Moose soup from Erken 1914: 2 kg moose meat is browned with onion, carrot, pork strips, pepper, and bay leaf in 100 g fat, boiled tender in 2 l water, the meat ground to a purée and strained, the soup thickened with a brown roux of 100 g butter and 100 g flour, thinned with the stock, and seasoned with sherry and salt; served with moose ball

A brown sweet-and-sour soup without giblets: a browned butter-and-flour roux thinned with diluted salted stock, served with boiled apples, prunes, carrots and flour dumplings, seasoned with vinegar and sugar.

Hamburg soup from Erken 1914: a light brown butter-and-flour roux made in a cast-iron pot or the oven, thinned with 2 liters of meat stock and simmered 15 minutes. Served with cut-up boiled cauliflower, celery, and parsley root.

Chicken soup (potage à la reine) from Erken 1914: a butter-flour thickening thinned with 2 liters chicken bouillon, enriched in the tureen with 2 egg yolks, 1 dl cream, and 2 dl Madeira. Seasoned with salt and cayenne and served with chicken quenelles, asparagus, or choux puffs with chicken purée.

Erken's rabbit soup (bouillon de lapin) from 1914: rabbit and lightly salted ham are cooked in 2 l water; after one hour, diced root vegetables and rice are added and the soup cooks one hour more. The rabbit can be served on its own with onion sauce, or the meat can be diced and warmed in the soup.

Erken's eel soup from 1914: eel is cleaned, salted, and drizzled with vinegar, then simmered tender in fish stock; the stock is thickened with butter and flour, seasoned with salt, sugar, and vinegar, and finished with parsley, tarragon, and cooked apples. The eel pieces are served on a separate platter.

Light fish soup from Erken 1914: a white butter roux thinned with fish stock and cream, with chives and fish balls added.

Erken's fish soup from 1914 with browned carrot and celeriac, a butter roux, tomato purée and fish stock, strained and served with small fish balls.

Erken's pike soup from 1914: a stock of 1 kg pike with head and bones cooked with roots, white wine and spices for 1 hour, strained and thickened with a butter roux, cream and lobster coloring into a pale-red soup, served with small fish balls and boiled celeriac.

Classic lobster soup from Erken's "Stor kokebok" (1914): lobster shells are simmered in fish stock, the soup is thickened with butter and flour, seasoned with cayenne and anchovy essence, and lobster butter mixed with roe is whisked in at the end. The lobster meat is placed in the tureen before the soup is poured over.

Classic bisque made from 75 crayfish: the crayfish are boiled in salted water, the tail meat is cleaned, and the shells and heads are pounded with butter into crayfish butter that lends color and flavor. The soup is thickened with crayfish butter and flour, thinned with stock and the crayfish cooking liquid, seasoned with cream, Madeira, lemon juice and cayenne, and served with fish balls

Alliance soup from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: a thickened soup of 3 liters meat stock cooked with mixed root vegetables and an onion studded with cloves and bay, thickened with 100 g butter and 100 g flour; the vegetables are served in the soup.

Sweetbread soup (potage aux ris de veau) from Erken 1914: veal sweetbreads are soaked and simmered with pork, root vegetables, and spices, the stock reduced with veal broth and thickened with butter and flour; served with cubes of sweetbread and salted beef tongue, finished in the tureen with egg yolks, cream, butter, white wine, and lemon juice.

Dagmar soup (consommé Dagmar) is a thickened tomato soup on 2 l meat stock: boiled lean ham, onion, celery root, and butter are simmered 10 min, 1 kg tomatoes 20 min more, then strained; the rest of the butter and 50 g flour are thickened with stock and tomato purée, boiled 5 min, and seasoned with parsley, salt, and pepper. Served with asparagus tips

A simple thickened curry soup of butter, flour and curry thinned with meat or fish stock, enriched with egg yolks and cream just before serving.

Potato soup (purée de pommes de terre) from Erken 1914: 1 kg potatoes with celeriac, leek, parsley root, and onion are sliced thin, sweated in 50 g butter, boiled tender in 3 liters of water or thin stock for about 1½ hours, pressed to a purée, thickened with 1 tablespoon tapioca, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and finely chopped parsley.

Princess soup (purée à la princesse) from Erken 1914: chicken is sweated with butter, onion, parsley and peppercorns, simmered an hour in 2 liters of stock; the stock is thickened with butter and flour, enriched with cream and lemon juice, and finely pounded chicken breast is rubbed through a sieve into the soup, which must not boil afterward.

Bollemelk from Erken 1914: fresh strained milk is brought to a boil, and flour dumplings or bread dumplings are cooked in the milk.

Flatbread sold from Erken 1914: thick soured milk without whey is whisked and mixed with finely broken flatbread, sweetened with sugar to taste.

Cheap and nourishing oat soup: 3 tbsp oat flour is stirred out in a little water, boiled 5 minutes in 1 l water, then 1 l boiling milk is added and it is seasoned with salt and sugar. Erken recommends it for children in the morning instead of coffee.

Cold buttermilk soup: buttermilk is stirred with crushed rusks or grated rye bread, left to thicken, and seasoned with cinnamon, cardamom, and sugar. Rinsed currants and whipped cream can be added.

Saturday soup of 3 l milk thickened with 2 dl flour, with 1 bottle of beer, 2 tbsp syrup, and a pinch of ginger added while whisking hard. A sweet, spiced milk soup.

Erken's collected recipe for milk gruel with grains (page 68, Stor kokebok 1914): nine basic rules for cooking milk dishes plus a table of milk/grain ratios and cooking times for barley, pearl barley, oat, rice, sago, semolina and buttermilk gruel. Basic version: 3 l boiling milk, 100 g split barley

Orange kaldskål from Erken 1914, a chilled fruit soup: juice of 2 oranges with grated zest and sugar, orange slices steeped cold for 2 hours, mixed with a bottle of white wine. Served ice cold with macaroons.

Bringebærkaldskål from Erken 1914: the nicest berries are sugared and set cold, the rest are strained and mixed with 1 l water, sugar syrup and 1 dl sherry. Poured over the berries and served ice-cold with small macaroons.

Cold strawberry soup (kaldskål) from Erken 1914: half of 1 kg strawberries boiled 20 min in 1 l water, the rest sugared, everything blended with 1 dl rhubarb juice and sugar to taste. White wine or sherry can be added; served with small rusks.

Cold beer soup from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: a syrup boiled from sugar, lemon peel, cinnamon and water is cooled and mixed with 2 liters of beer. Served ice cold.

Cold wine soup from Erken 1914: a syrup of 200 g sugar, lemon zest, and ¾ l water is cooled and blended with 1½ bottles of red or white wine. Served ice-cold.

Melkeringer from Erken 1914: a spoonful of sour milk is placed in the shallow dish before fresh strained milk is poured in, the milk sours and is served with crushed rusks and sugar.

Cream porridge (rømmegrøt, a Norwegian sour-cream porridge) from 1914: 1 l sour cream is boiled until the fat separates, a little flour is stirred in, the fat is skimmed off, the rest of the 350 g flour is sifted in and the porridge is thinned with about 2¼ l boiling milk before being salted.

Velvet porridge from 1914: 175 g butter is melted, 250 g flour is sifted in, thinned with about 2 l boiling milk, cooked 5 minutes, and salted.

Oatmeal porridge from Erken 1914: 200 g rolled oats are cooked in 2 liters of milk or water for 1/2-1 hour with frequent stirring, salted, and served with milk or cream.

Buttermilk porridge from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: 1 l buttermilk is stirred cold into 375 g flour, brought to a boil with constant stirring and thinned with about 2 l boiling milk, salted at the end.

Rice porridge from Erken 1914: 450 g washed and thrice-scalded rice is cooked in 5 liters of milk, ½ hour first, then about 2 hours under a lid over low heat; salted a quarter-hour before serving.

Butter porridge from Erken 1914: 250 g butter is melted, ½ kg flour is sifted in and thinned with 3 l boiling water, boiled briefly and salted – made like velvet porridge, but with water.

Brown bean soup I from Erken 1914: soaked brown beans are boiled 3 hours in meat stock with bay leaf, the soup is thickened with browned butter and flour and seasoned with mashed anchovy, vinegar, sugar and salt.

Brown bean soup II from Erken 1914: soaked brown beans are boiled tender in water with celeriac and onion, thinned with meat stock and butter, boiled on for half an hour and thickened with sago flour stirred out in water. Note: legumes must not be boiled in hard or salted water; salt is added at the end.

Erken's green pea soup (1914): 1/2 kg dried green peas soaked for a day, boiled tender in 1 l water under a lid, thinned with 2 l fresh or salted stock into a smooth soup, diced carrots cooked in, and the soup finished with parsley, 50 g butter and salt. The peas may be pressed through a colander.

Erken's yellow pea soup (1914): 1 liter yellow peas soaked for a day, boiled tender with onion and celeriac, thinned with fresh or salted meat stock to a smooth consistency, rubbed through a colander and brought to a boil. Served with sliced celery, meatballs or browned white bread. Split peas may be used, then with the soaking water.

Erken's white wine soup (1914): white wine, sugar, cinnamon, lemon peel and 6 eggs whisked together cold and heated while whisking constantly to just below boiling; served at once with rusks. Simpler variant with rice, raisins, saffron and half a bottle of wine.

Fine beer soup for 6: 1 bottle beer, 1 l water, 2 egg yolks, 4 dl cream, 125 g sugar, 100 g wheat flour, and 1 dl cognac are whisked together cold, whisked vigorously over the heat until it just comes to a boil, salted, and served with small diced fried bread.

Simple beer soup for 6: 700 g bread is soaked in water overnight, cooked out in the soaking water, mixed with 1.5 l small beer, and seasoned with sugar, cinnamon, and lemon.

Erken's guidance on browning soups: the best method is to brown meat and bones; alternatively use homemade caramel coloring from 250 g sugar boiled with 1 1/2 dl water to dark brown, thinned with 1 1/2 dl cold water and boiled to a thick syrup. Keeps in a bottle.

A soup bundle (bouquet garni) of 30 g parsley, a little celery leaf, a sprig of thyme and a small bay leaf, tied with string dipped in boiling water. Used for stock, soups and sauces.

Brown poultry soup from Erken 1914: a brown butter roux thinned with poultry stock and milk, served with separately cooked apples, prunes, carrot and parsley root, seasoned with vinegar, sugar and clove.

Hunter's soup from Erken's Grand Cookbook (1914): venison shoulder or hare is browned with onion, carrot and celeriac, cooked 3 hours to a stock; the stock is thickened with browned butter and flour, cooked with smoked ham and seasoned with sherry. Served with caraway sticks or garnishes such as lentils, meatballs or mushrooms.