VEGETABLE STOCK.

The best stock for vegetable soups is made from haricot beans. Take a pound of these, pick and wash well, and soak for 10 or 12 hours in cold water. Put them in a saucepan with the water in which they were soaked, add a few of the coarser stalks of celery, 1 or 2 chopped Spanish onions, a blade of mace, and a few white peppercorns. If celery is not in season, use celery salt. Bring to a boil, skim, and cook gently for at least 2 hours. Then strain, and use as required.

1. Artichoke Soup.

Take 2-lbs. of white artichokes, 3-pts. of water, 3 large onions, a piece of celery (or some celery salt), ¼-pt. of raw cream or 1-pt. of milk. Boil together for 45 minutes, strain through a fine sieve and serve. If cream is used it should not be added until after the soup is cooked.

2. Chestnut Soup.

Take 1-lb. chestnuts, 1 or 2 onions, 1½-pints vegetable stock, 1-oz. nut-butter.

Boil the chestnuts for 15 minutes and peel them; put these with the onions (sliced) into a roomy stewpan, with the butter, and fry briskly for 5 minutes; now add the stock, with seasoning to taste, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently until onions and chestnuts are quite soft, and pass all through a hair sieve. Dilute with milk until the consistency of thin cream, and serve with croÛtons.

3. Rich Gravy Soup.

To 3-pts. of haricot stock add 1 onion and 1 carrot (fried with butter until brown), 1 stick of celery, 2 turnips and 6 peppercorns, and thicken with cornflour. Boil all together for 1 hour, strain, return to saucepan, and add 3 small teaspoons of Marmite. Warm it up, but not to boiling point. Serve with fried bread dice. This soup, if well made, is equal to anything that a French chef can produce.

4. Mock Turtle Soup.

Fry 6 good-sized onions in 1-oz. of butter till nicely browned, then add 2 breakfastcups of German lentils, a good handful of spinach leaves, a few capers, about 6 chillies, and 3 pints of water. Let this simmer for 2 or 3 hours, then strain off, add 2 tablespoons of tapioca which has been soaked for an hour or two. Boil till perfectly clear. When ready for serving add salt to taste and 1 teaspoonful of Nutril. Some small custard quenelles should be put in the tureen—made by beating 1 egg in 2-ozs. flour and adding ¼-pt. milk. Bake until firm and cut into dice.

5. Brown Haricot Soup.

Boil ½-lb. beans in 2-qts. of water. When the beans crack, add a few tomatoes, 1 leek sliced, or a Spanish onion, and a bunch of herbs. Boil until the vegetables are tender, adding a little more water if necessary. Rub all through a sieve, and return to pan, adding seasoning, a good lump of butter, and the juice of half a small lemon after the soup has boiled. If a richer soup is required add two teaspoonfuls of Nuto-Cream or Marmite just before serving.

6. Tomato Soup.

Take a pound of tomatoes, a sliced onion, and 2-ozs. of tapioca (previously soaked for some hours). Boil for an hour, then add salt, pepper, and a little butter. Mix ½-pt. of milk with a teaspoonful of flour; add this to the soup, stir and boil for 5 minutes.

7. Egyptian Lentil Soup.

Wash and pick ½-lb. Egyptian lentils and put on to boil in about 1-qt. of water. Add 1 sliced onion, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, a small bunch of herbs, and celery salt, and boil gently about 1 hour. Rub through a sieve, return to pan, add 1-oz. butter and a cupful of milk. Bring to boil and serve.

8. Brazil Nut Soup.

Pass 1 pint of shelled Brazil nuts through a nut mill, fry these with one or two chopped onions in 1-oz. of nut-butter, keeping them a pale yellow colour; add 1-oz. flour, and gradually 1½-pts. of white stock; bring slowly to the boil and simmer gently until the onions are soft. Pass through a hair sieve, and dilute with milk.

9. Julienne Soup.

Cut some carrots, turnips, onions, celery, and leeks into thin strips, using double quantity of carrots and turnips. Dry them and then fry slowly in 2-ozs. of butter until brown. Add 2-qts. of clear vegetable stock and simmer until tender. Season with salt and a teaspoonful of castor sugar. Chop some chervil or parsley finely, add and serve. The addition of some green peas is an improvement—and also quenelles (see 4).

10. Green Lentil Soup.

Fry 5 onions in a large saucepan until brown. Add ¾-lb. of green lentils, 1-qt. water, and 2 sticks of celery. Stew for 2 hours, and pass through a strainer. Add ¼-lb. of cream and ½-pt. of milk, bring to the boil, flavour with salt, and serve.

11. White Soubise Soup.

(A French Recipe).

Take 2-ozs. butter, 4 good-sized onions, about 1-pt. cauliflower water, and 1-pt. of milk, sufficient bread (no crust) to very nearly absorb the liquor. Cut up the onions, put into the saucepan with the butter, and cook slowly till tender—it must not be brown. Now add the bread, the cauliflower water, and half the milk, and boil slowly for an hour. Take it off the fire, pass it through a sieve, add the rest of the milk, and heat it again, taking care it does not actually boil, as it may curdle. Serve.

12. Green Pea Soup.

One quart shelled peas; 3 pints water; 1 quart milk; 1 onion; 2 tablespoonfuls butter; 1 tablespoonful flour. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the peas in a stewpan with the boiling water and onion and cook until tender (about half an hour). Pour off water, saving for use later. Mash peas fine, add water in which they were boiled, and rub through purÉe sieve. Return to saucepan, add flour and butter, beaten together, and the salt and pepper. Gradually add milk, which must be boiling hot. Beat well and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently. This recipe is useful when green peas are getting old and are not tender enough to be enjoyable if served in the usual way.

13. White Haricot Soup.

Stew ½-lb. of beans in 2-qts. of water, adding 5 chopped onions, some chopped celery and a carrot which have been fried in some butter until well cooked; stew until the beans are tender, and strain if clear soup is required, or pass through a sieve for thick soup; add some cream and milk, bring to the boil, flavour with salt, and serve.

14. Marmite Vegetarian Soup.

Take a dessertspoonful of Marmite, 1-pt. of water or vegetable stock, a tablespoonful of fine sago or tapioca, a slice or two of any vegetables, with a sprig of parsley and a little salt. Boil the vegetables for a few minutes in the water, skim well, add the sago or tapioca, and boil for an hour or over, then strain; stir the Marmite in and serve hot. A delicious and cheap soup. A gill of milk or cream boiled and added at the end—omit the same measure of water—is an improvement in some cases.

15. Almond Soup.

(A nice Summer Soup).

One pint of white stock, 1 pint milk, 1 small breakfastcup of ground almonds, 1-oz. butter, 3-ozs. minced onions, 1-oz. flour. Fry the onion in the butter in a stewpan till a pale yellow colour, stir in the flour, and when well blended, moisten with some of the stock, adding the almonds, broth and milk by degrees till all are exhausted, bring to the boil, skim, and simmer gently for half an hour, pass through a hair sieve. Serve with nicely cooked green peas.

16. Celery Soup.

Six heads of celery, 1 teaspoon of salt, a little nutmeg, 1 lump sugar, 1 gill of stock, ½-pint of milk, and two quarts of boiling water.

Cut the celery into small pieces and throw it into the boiling water seasoned with nutmeg, salt and sugar, boil until sufficiently tender, pass it through a sieve, add the stock, and simmer for half-an-hour, then add the milk, bring it up to the boil and serve.

17. Potato Soup.

Four middle sized potatoes, a thick slice of bread, 3 leeks peeled and cut into slices, a teacup of rice, salt and pepper to taste, 2 qts. of water.

Bring the water up to boil, then put in all the ingredients except the rice, pepper and salt, cover and let them come to a brisk boil, add the rice and boil slowly for one hour.

18. Pea Soup.

Take 1½ pints of split peas and 3 onions. Put the peas to soak overnight, then cook with the onions until quite soft—pass through a sieve, add 1 gill of milk, bring to the boil. Serve with squares of fried bread or toast. Celery, salt, pepper and chopped mint may be added to taste.

19. Mock Hare Soup.

Soak some haricot beans over night in boiling water, then stew them for 2 hours in water with 2 onions, salt and pepper. When quite tender pass them through the sieve, add 1-oz. ground walnuts, boil again for 5 minutes, add forced meat balls, and serve.

20. Carrot Soup.

Two lbs. carrots, 3-ozs. butter, seasoning to taste, 2 quarts of bean stock or water.

Scrape the carrots, wash and wipe them quite dry, and cut in thick slices; put the butter in a large stewpan and when melted put the carrots in and stew gently for one hour without browning, then add the stock or water and simmer until tender (about an hour). Pass them through the sieve, add the seasoning and boil for 5 minutes; skim well and serve.

21. Onion Soup.

Put about 2 doz. small onions in a stewpan with 1-oz. butter, cover and let them stew for about 20 minutes, then add sufficient boiling water to cover them, boil till quite tender, pass through a sieve, boil up again, add the savoury seasoning and 1 gill of milk. A little boiled macaroni chopped up fine may be added before serving.

22. Carnos Soup.

Two tablespoons of Carnos in a pint of boiling water makes a very nourishing soup; it may be thickened with rice, vermicelli, spaghetti, etc., if required, and served with fingers of toast.

23. White Windsor Soup.

Take 4 breakfastcups of white stock, then add 6 tablespoons of mashed potatoes, and 1-oz. of sago. Stir over the fire till clear, then add 1 breakfastcupful of milk, and a little minced parsley. Let it come to boiling point, but no more. Serve in a very hot tureen.