Mock snapper soup

8 quarts

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
3 pounds Beef neck bones
¼ pounds Salt pork
1 cup Chopped celery
1 cup Chopped, but not peeled
Yellow onions
1 cup Chopped carrots
½ Chicken (3 1/2 lb size)
In one piece
1 tablespoon Whole basil leaves
1 teaspoon Whole marjoram leaves
1 tablespoon Whole thyme leaves
3 Whole bay leaves
20 Whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 bunch Whole parsley leaves
6 Cloves garlic, chopped, peel
And all
1 can 28 oz tomatoes, pureed in
Blender or food processor
2 Sticks margarine
1 cup Flour
½ pounds Halibut -boneless filet
½ pounds Crabmeat
2 teaspoons Salt, or to taste
1 Lemon, juice of
½ tablespoon Tabasco or to taste
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce or
To taste
¼ teaspoon Ground cloves (optional)
1 cup Dry cocktail sherry
8 Hard boiled eggs, grated

Directions

Place the beef neck bones in a roasting pan and roast, uncovered. for 45 minutes at 400 degrees or until lightly browned.

Dice the salt pork and pan fry in a large frying pan. When the fat has been rendered, add the celery, onions and carrots. Saute until tender.

Place the roasted bones and the sauteed vegetables in a large kettle and cover with water. (This should take about 6 quarts) Bring to a simmer and add the half chicken, and the next six seasonings, throw the parsley in, the garlic and the tomatoes. Cook at a good simmer for one half hour. Remove the chicken to cool, and allow the stock to continue to cook. Debone the chicken and save the meat, covered.

Return the bones and skin to the pot. Continue cooking the stock and bones for a total of two hours from start to finish. Remove the beef bones from the pot and allow them to cool.

In the meantime, prepare the roux. Melt two sticks of margarine in a frying pan and add the flour. Stir over medium heat until the roux is the color of peanut butter. Set aside.

Remove the meat from the beef bones and chop into very small dice.

Discard the bones.

Strain the stock and discard all solids. To remove fat from the top of soup stock, use a plastic tube. Plastic tubing about ⅓ inch in diameter can be purchased at hardware stores. Strain the stock and then remove the stock from beneath the fat by siphoning with the plastic tube. Tip the kettle holding the stock so that you can always keep the siphoning tube beneath the level of fat.

Return the stock to the kettle and add the chopped beef. Thicken the soup with the roux, stirring the whole time that the hot roux is added. Add the halibut and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the fish and "flake" or tear into strings. Return the fish to the pot, along with the crab and precooked chicken. Add salt to taste, along with the lemon juice, Tabasco, Worchestershire and optional cloves.

Keep the pot at a very low simmer as you add the dry sherry and the grated eggs.

Serve very hot with toast squares on the side.

Cooks in American

== Courtesy of Dale & Gail Shipp, Columbia Md. == Submitted By GAIL SHIPP On 10-25-94

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