WATER SOUCHY.

Cut up four flounders, or half a dozen perch, two onions, and a bunch
of parsley. Put them into three quarts of water, and boil them till the
fish go entirely to pieces, and dissolve in the water. Then strain the
liquor through a sieve, and put it into a kettle or stew-pan. Have
ready a few more fish with the heads, tails, and fins removed, and the
brown skin taken off. Cut little notches in them, and lay them for a
short time in very cold water. Then put them into the stew-pan with the
liquor or soup-stock of the first fish. Season with pepper, salt, and
mace, and add half a pint of white wine or two table-spoonfuls of
vinegar. Boil it gently for a quarter of an hour, and skim it well.

Provide some parsley roots, cut into slices and boiled till very
tender; and also a quantity of parsley leaves boiled nice and green.
After the fish-pan has boiled moderately fifteen minutes, take it off
the fire, and put in the parsley roots; also a little mushroom catchup.

Take out the fish and lay them in a broad deep dish, or in a tureen,
and then pour on the soup very gently for fear of breaking them. Strew
the green parsley leaves over the top. Have ready plates of bread and
butter, which it is customary to eat with water souchy.

You may omit the wine or vinegar, and flavour the soup just before you
take it from the fire with essence of anchovy, or with any other of the
essences and compound fish-sauces that are in general use.

Water souchy (commonly pronounced _sookey_) is a Dutch soup. It may be
made of any sort of small fish; but flounders and perch are generally
used for it. It is very good made of carp.
