BEEF AND ONION SOUP.

A pint of very good soup can be made by following the directions which accompany each tin of Nelson's Beef and Onion Soup, viz. to soak the contents in a pint of cold water for fifteen minutes, then place over the fire, stir, and boil for fifteen minutes. It is delicious when combined with a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat, thus producing a quart of nutritious and appetising soup.

NELSON'S MULLIGATAWNY SOUP.

Soaked in cold water for a quarter of an hour, and then boiled for fifteen minutes, Nelson's Mulligatawny Soup is very appetising and delicious. It should be eaten with boiled rice; and for those who like the soup even hotter than that in the above preparation, the accompanying rice may be curried. In either case the rice should be boiled so that each grain should be separate and distinct from the rest.

BEEF, LENTIL, AND VEGETABLE SOUP.

Pour one quart of boiling water upon the contents of a tin of Nelson's Soup of the above title, stirring briskly. The water must be boiling. A little seasoning of salt and pepper may be added for accustomed palates. This soup is perfectly delicious if prepared as follows: Cut two peeled onions into quarters, tie them in a muslin bag, and let the soup boil for twenty minutes with them. Take out the bag before serving the soup.

BEEF, PEA, AND VEGETABLE SOUP.

The directions printed on each packet of Nelson's Beef, Pea, and Vegetable Soup produce a satisfactory soup, but even this may be improved by the addition of the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat and a handful of freshly-gathered peas. It is perhaps not generally known that pea-pods, usually thrown away as useless, impart a most delicious flavour to soup if boiled fast for two or three hours in a large saucepan, strained, and the liquor added to the soup, stock, or beef tea.

BEEF TEA AS A SOLID.

Soak the contents of a tin of Nelson's Beef Tea in a gill of water for ten minutes. Add to this the third of an ounce packet of Nelson's Gelatine, which has been soaked for two or three hours in half-a-pint of cold water. Put the mixture in a stewpan, and stir until it reaches boiling-point. Then put it into a mould which has been rinsed with cold water. When thoroughly cold, this will turn out a most inviting and extremely nutritious dish.

CLEAR VERMICELLI SOUP.

Boil two minced onions in a quart of the liquor in which a leg of mutton has been boiled, skim well, and when the vegetables are tender strain them out. Pass the soup through a napkin, boil up, skim thoroughly, and when clear add the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat, stirring until dissolved.

Boil two ounces of vermicelli paste in a pint of water until tender. Most shapes take about ten minutes. Take care that the water boils when you throw in the paste, and that it continues to do so during all the time of cooking, as that will keep the paste from sticking together. When done, drain it in a strainer, put it in the tureen, and pour the soup on to it.

SOUP JULIENNE.

Wash and scrape a large carrot, cut away all the yellow parts from the middle, and slice the red outside of it an inch in length, and the eighth of an inch thick. Take an equal quantity of turnip and three small onions, cut in a similar manner. Put them in a stewpan with two ounces of butter and a pinch of powdered sugar; stir over the fire until a nice brown colour, then add a quart of water and a teaspoonful of salt, and let all simmer together gently for two hours. When done skim the fat off very carefully, and ten minutes before serving add the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat, and a cabbage-lettuce cut in shreds and blanched for a minute in boiling water; simmer for five minutes and the soup will be ready. Many cooks, to save time and trouble, use the preserved vegetables, which are to be had in great perfection at all good Italian warehouses.

BROWN RABBIT SOUP CLEAR.

Fry a quarter of a pound of onions a light brown; mince a turnip and carrot and a little piece of celery; boil these until tender in three pints of the liquor in which a rabbit has been boiled, taking care to remove all scum as it rises; strain them out, and then pass the soup through a napkin. The soup should be clear, or nearly so, but if it is not, put it in a stewpan, boil and skim until bright; then throw in the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat, soaked for a few minutes; stir until dissolved; add pepper and salt to taste.

HARE SOUP.

Half roast a hare, and, having cut away the meat in long slices from the backbone, put it aside to make an entrÉe. Fry four onions; take a carrot, turnip, celery, a small quantity of thyme and parsley, half-a-dozen peppercorns, a small blade of mace, some bacon-bones or a slice of lean ham, with the body of the hare cut up into small pieces; put all in two quarts of water with a little salt. When you have skimmed the pot, cover close and allow it to boil gently for three hours, then strain it; take off every particle of fat, and having allowed the soup to boil up, add the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat, and thicken it with a dessertspoonful of potato-flour; stir in two lumps of sugar, a glass of port wine, and season if necessary.

MULLIGATAWNY SOUP.

English cooks generally err in making both mulligatawny and curries too hot. It is impossible to give the exact quantity of the powder, because it varies so much in strength, and the cook must therefore be guided by the quality of her material. Mulligatawny may be made cheaply, and be delicious. The liquor in which meat or fowl has been boiled will make a superior soup, and fish-liquor will answer well. Slice and fry brown four onions, quarter, but do not peel, four sharp apples; boil them in three pints of stock until tender, then rub through a sieve to a pulp. Boil this up in the soup, skimming well; add the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat, and stir in two ounces of flour and the curry-powder, mixed smooth in half-a-pint of milk. Any little pieces of meat, fowl, game, or fish may be added as an improvement to the soup. Just before serving taste that the soup is well-flavoured; add a little lemon-juice or vinegar.

THIN MULLIGATAWNY SOUP.

To a quart of the liquor in which a fresh haddock has been boiled, add half-a-pint of water in which onions have been boiled. Stir into this, after it has been skimmed, and whilst boiling, the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat, and a teaspoonful of curry-powder; let it boil up; add the juice of half a lemon and serve.

BROWN ARTICHOKE SOUP.

Wash, peel, and cut into slices about half-an-inch thick two pounds of Jerusalem artichokes. Fry them in a little butter until brown; fry also brown half-a-pound of sliced onions. Put these to boil in two quarts of water with two turnips, a carrot sliced, two teaspoonfuls of salt, and one of pepper. When the vegetables are tender drain the liquor, set it aside to cool, and remove all fat. Pass the vegetables through a fine sieve to a nice smooth purÉe. Those who possess a Kent's "triturating strainer" will be able to do this much more satisfactorily, both as regards time and results, than by the old way of rubbing through a sieve. Put the liquor on to boil, dissolve in it—according to the strength the soup is required to be—the contents of one or two tins of Nelson's Extract of Meat, then add the vegetable purÉe, a lump or two of sugar, and if required, salt and pepper. Let it boil up and serve.

TURTLE SOUP.

This soup is so often required for invalids, as well as for the table, that an easy and comparatively inexpensive method of preparing it cannot fail to be acceptable. Nelson's Beef Tea or Extract of Meat will be used instead of fresh beef, and Bellis's Sun-dried Turtle instead of live turtle. If convenient it is desirable to soak the dried turtle all night, but it can be used without doing so. Put it on to boil in the water in which it was soaked, in the proportion of one quart with a teaspoonful of salt to a quarter of a pound of the turtle. Add two or three onions peeled and quartered, a small bit of mace and sliced lemon-peel, and simmer gently for four or five hours, or until the turtle is tender enough to divide easily with a spoon. Stock of any kind may be used instead of water, and as the liquid boils away more should be added, to keep the original quantity. Herbs for the proper flavouring of the Turtle Soup are supplied by Bellis; these should be put in about an hour before the turtle is finished, and be tied in muslin. When done take out the turtle and divide it into neat little pieces; strain the liquor in which it was cooked, and having boiled it up, stir in the contents of two tins of Nelson's Extract of Meat, previously soaked for a few minutes. Mix smooth in a gill of cold water a teaspoonful of French potato-flour and of Vienna flour, stir into the soup, and when it has thickened put in the turtle meat; let it get hot through, add a wine-glassful of sherry, a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, and salt and pepper to taste, and serve at once. It is necessary to have "Bellis's Sun-dried Turtle," imported by T. K. Bellis, Jeffrey's Square, St. Mary Axe, London (sold in boxes), for this soup, because it is warranted properly prepared. An inferior article, got up by negroes from turtle found dead, is frequently sold at a low price; but it is unnecessary to say it is not good or wholesome.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.

This, like real turtle soup, can be made of Nelson's Extract of Meat and Bellis's Mock Turtle Meat. Boil the contents of a tin of this meat in water or stock, salted and flavoured with vegetables and turtle herbs, until tender. Finish with Nelson's Extract of Meat, and as directed for turtle soup.

GRAVY.

For roast meat, merely dissolve, after a little soaking, a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat in a pint of boiling water. For poultry or game, fry two onions a light brown, mince a little carrot and turnip, put in half a teaspoonful of herbs, tied in muslin, and boil until tender, in a pint of water. Strain out the herbs, let the liquor boil up, stir in the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat, and if the gravy is required to be slightly thickened, add a small teaspoonful of potato-flour mixed smooth in cold water. For cutlets or other dishes requiring sharp sauce, make exactly as above, and just before serving add a little of any good piquant sauce, or pickles minced finely.

GLAZE.

Soak in a small jar the contents of a tin of Nelson's Extract of Meat in rather less than a gill of cold water. Set the jar over the fire in a saucepan with boiling water, and let the extract simmer until dissolved. This is useful for strengthening soups and gravies, and for glazing ham, tongues, and other things.