A bouquet of sweet herbs.

Have the butcher cut the shin of beef into several parts. Wash it in cold water, and then cut off any particles that do not seem perfectly sweet. The lower end of the leg, near the hoofs, is apt to be a little tainted. Cut all the meat from the bones, and then cut it into small pieces. Put one tablespoonful of the butter in the soup pot, and place on the hottest part of the fire. Put the meat in the pot, and stir frequently until it is browned. It will take about half an hour for this. At first the juices are drawn out of the meat, making a great deal of liquid in the pot. The cooking must be continued until all this juice has evaporated, leaving a dry, brown substance on the bottom of the pan. Now add one pint of the water, and stir the meat well, scraping the brown substance from the bottom of the pot. Add the remainder of the water and the salt and bones. As soon as the soup comes to the boiling point, skim carefully several times. Lay a piece of cheese-cloth in a strainer and place in a bowl. Skim into this, and when the soup has ceased to throw up any more scum, pour back into the soup pot the clear liquid which will be found in the bowl. Draw the soup pot back where the contents will bubble gently for eight hours.

Put the minced vegetables and three tablespoonfuls of butter in a small frying-pan, and cook slowly for half an hour. At the end of that time draw forward to a hotter part of the range and stir until they begin to brown; then draw them to one side of the pan and press out the butter. Add them to the soup, and pour the butter into a cup, as it will be useful in making sauces.

Tie up the spice and the bouquet of sweet herbs in a piece of cheese-cloth and put into the soup pot. Cook the soup for an hour and a half longer; then strain through a coarse napkin into two or three bowls, and cook rapidly. Set away in a cold place and it will become a jelly. When about to use it, remove all the fat and turn into a saucepan, being careful to keep back any sediment there may be at the bottom of the bowl. It will then be ready to serve as a clear soup; or it can have any kind of a garnish added to it, such as cooked rice, macaroni, vegetables, etc. It may require a little more salt and pepper.

This soup may be kept for months if sealed in jars. Have the jars hot and the soup boiling hot. On filling the jars, seal at once, and keep in a cool, dark place.

Second Stock.

Put away in a cold place the meat and bones which were left from the strained stock. In the morning add six quarts of water to it, and cook gently for six hours; then strain and put away to cool. This stock lacks the fine flavor of the first stock, but it is useful for thick soups, sauces, and made-over dishes.

Break the macaroni into small pieces and throw it into one quart of boiling water containing the teaspoonful of salt. Let it boil for twenty-five minutes with the cover off the stewpan. Drain off the water and add the macaroni to the hot stock. Cover, and cook for ten or fifteen minutes, being careful to have the soup only bubble at one side. It may require a little more salt and pepper.

Vermicelli and any of the smaller forms of Italian paste may be added to the clear stock and cooked gently for about twenty minutes.

Rice Soup.

Wash two tablespoonfuls of rice and cook it the same as the macaroni; then drain it, and add to the pint and a half of hot stock. Cook the mixture gently for ten minutes.

Beef Soup.

Free the meat from fat and cut it into fine pieces. Put it in the soup pot with the cold water and heat slowly to the boiling point. Skim carefully, and set back where the soup will just bubble at one side of the pot. Wash the barley and put it on to cook in one pint of cold water. At the end of half an hour pour off the water and add the barley to the soup. When the soup has been cooking for three hours put the butter, minced onion, carrot, and celery into a frying-pan and cook slowly for fifteen minutes. Skim the vegetables from the butter and put them in the soup. Stir the flour into the butter remaining in the pan. Cook until brown, stirring all the while; then add to the soup. Now add the potatoes and salt and pepper, and cook for half an hour longer.

Oxtail Soup.

Free the oxtail from fat and cut into small joints. Wash these in several waters and then put them in a stewpan with the cold water. Place on the range and heat slowly to the boiling point; then skim, and move the stewpan back where the water will just bubble at one side of the stewpan. Cook for one hour. Tie the vegetables, herbs, and spice in a piece of netting, and put them in the stewpan. Add the salt, and cook for one hour longer. Strain the broth into a bowl and set away in a cold place. Rinse the oxtail in cold water and put in a cold place.

When the broth is cold, skim off all the fat. Put the soup stock and skimmed broth in a stewpan, and set on the fire. When this boils, add the corn-starch, mixed smoothly with a gill of cold water. Cook for fifteen minutes; then add the oxtail and cook for ten minutes longer. Taste, to see if seasoned enough, and serve very hot.

A few tablespoonfuls of sherry will improve this soup for many tastes. It should be added just before the soup is poured into the tureen.

Cut the veal into cubes and put the bones and meat into a stewpan with the water, seasoning, and vegetables. Place on the fire, and when the soup comes to the boiling point, skim carefully, and then set back where it will just bubble. Heat the butter in a small saucepan, and add the flour to it. Stir until the mixture is smooth and frothy; then stir it into the broth. Simmer the broth for two hours and a half, and, after adding the pint of potato cubes, cook for half an hour longer.

The potatoes may be omitted and a quarter of a cupful of rice be added when the broth has been cooking for an hour and a half.

Scotch Broth.

Remove all the fat from the mutton and cut the lean meat into cubes, which should be put in a stewpan with the chopped vegetables, salt, pepper, and the barley, well washed. Tie the bones in a piece of coarse white netting and put them in the stewpan with the other ingredients. Add the three pints of cold water and cover the stewpan. Place the soup on the stove where it will heat slowly to the boiling point. When it reaches that temperature, skim it and set back where it will only bubble slightly at one side of the pan. Cook in this manner for three hours, being careful not to let it more than bubble gently in all that time. At the end of the three hours take out the bones. Now put the butter in a little saucepan and set on the fire to heat. When hot, stir in the flour, and cook—stirring all the time—until the mixture is smooth and frothy. Stir this into the broth; then add the chopped parsley, and cook ten minutes longer.

Vegetable Soup.

Cut the meat into cubes; then put it in a stewpan and set on the fire with the cold water. When this boils, skim carefully. Mix the flour to a smooth paste with one gill of cold water, and stir into the boiling ingredients. Next add the rice. Move the stewpan back where the contents will bubble at one side for one hour; then add the onion and carrot. Cook for one hour longer, and then put in the turnips, potatoes, salt, and pepper, and simmer for half an hour longer. Serve hot.

Two quarts of the water in which the bones and hard pieces of meat have been cooked may be substituted for the beef and water. If one choose, half a pint of finely shred cabbage may be added at the same time the onions and carrots are put in the soup.

Wash the rice and put it in a stewpan with the chicken stock. Place on the fire and cook for two hours. The soup must not boil in that time; keep it where it will be at the point of boiling, but do not let it bubble. At the end of two hours put the butter and vegetables in a small frying-pan and set on the fire, to cook slowly for twenty minutes. Now draw the pan to a hotter part of the range, and stir for one minute. After pressing the butter from the vegetables, put them with the soup. Put the flour with the butter remaining in the pan, and stir until smooth and frothy; then stir the mixture into the soup. Add the salt, pepper, and chopped parsley, and cook the soup for thirty minutes longer, allowing it to bubble at one side of the saucepan.

If you have a little cold chicken, cut it into small cubes and add it to the soup at the same time the vegetables are put in. If you cannot get celery, take half a teaspoonful of celery salt, and in that case use only half a teaspoonful of the common salt.

This soup can be made with the stock from boiled fowl, or that obtained by boiling the bones of roast chicken.

Cream of Rice Soup.

Make this in the same way as chicken soup, with the addition of one tablespoonful of rice, a slight grating of nutmeg, a tiny bit of mace, and a piece of stick cinnamon about an inch long, and the omission of the parsley.

When the time required for the cooking has expired, take out the spice and pour the soup into a fine sieve. Rub all the rice through, using a wooden vegetable masher. Put the strained mixture in a clean saucepan with a pint of milk, and let it boil up once.

If you have cream in plenty, use half cream and half milk. The soup will be much smoother if it is strained a second time, after the milk has been boiled with it.

Mock Bisque.

Reserve half a gill of the milk and put the remainder on to cook in the double-boiler. Put the tomatoes on to cook in a stewpan. Mix the flour with the cold milk and stir into the boiling milk. Cook for ten minutes; then add the salt, pepper, and butter. Stir the soda into the hot tomatoes and stir for half a minute; then rub through a strainer. Add the strained tomatoes to the thickened milk, and serve at once.

If canned tomatoes be used, stir the contents of the can before measuring, that the proper proportion of the juice of the tomatoes shall be used. If it be inconvenient to serve the soup when the tomatoes and thickened milk are done, keep them hot in their separate stewpans, and do not mix until just before the time to serve.

Tomato Soup.

Put the tomato and stock in a saucepan and set on the fire. Cook the vegetables slowly in the butter for twenty minutes; then press out the butter and put the vegetables in the soup. Into the butter remaining in the pan put the flour, and stir until smooth and frothy; then add to the soup. Mix the corn-starch with four tablespoonfuls of cold water, and stir into the soup. Add the other ingredients, and simmer for one hour. Strain, and serve with toasted or crisped bread.

Tomato Soup, No. 2.

Put the tomato, water, and seasonings in a stewpan and set on the fire. Beat the butter and flour together until creamy. When the soup begins to boil, stir this mixture into it, and cook for ten minutes. Strain, and serve with toasted or fried bread.

Tomato and Macaroni Soup.

The stock can be made with any bits of dry hard meat, or the bones from roasted or broiled meat; or one can take the water in which a fowl was boiled.

Put the tomatoes and stock in a stewpan and set on the fire. Mix the corn-starch with the cold water, and stir into the boiling liquid. Add also the sugar, salt, and pepper.

Put the macaroni in a stewpan with a quart of boiling water and boil for twenty minutes. Pour off the water, and put the macaroni in the soup. Add the butter at the same time, and cook for ten minutes longer.

If the soup be preferred smooth, it can be strained before the macaroni is added.

Corn Soup.

Mash the corn as fine as possible, and then put it in the double-boiler. Reserve one gill of the milk, and, putting the remainder with the corn, cook for fifteen minutes. Cook the butter and onions together for ten minutes, and add to the corn and milk. Mix the cold milk with the flour, and stir into the hot mixture. Add the salt and pepper, and cook for ten minutes longer. Strain, and serve hot.

Potato Soup.

Pare the potatoes, and, placing on the fire in enough boiling water to cover them, cook for thirty minutes. Reserve one gill of the milk, and put the remainder in the double-boiler with the onions and celery, and place on the fire. Mix the cold milk with the flour, and stir into the boiling milk. When the potatoes have been cooking for thirty minutes, pour off all the water and mash them fine and light. Gradually beat into them the milk. Now add the salt, pepper, and butter, and rub the soup through a sieve. Return to the fire, and add the minced parsley. Cook for five minutes, and serve immediately.

Hub Soup.

Put all the ingredients into a stewpan and simmer for half an hour, with the stewpan covered; then rub the mixture through a coarse sieve and return to the fire. Simmer for ten minutes, and serve with toasted crackers or bread.

Lima Bean Soup.

Soak the beans over night in two quarts of cold water. Pour this water off and rinse the beans in fresh water. Now put them in a stewpan with two quarts of cold water. Cook slowly for two hours. Cook the vegetables in the butter for twenty minutes. On taking them out, add them to the soup. Put the flour into the butter remaining in the pan, and stir until smooth and frothy. Add this mixture to the soup. Now add the other seasonings, and cook for one hour longer. At the end of this time take out the spice and rub the soup through a fine sieve. Return to the fire and add half a pint of hot milk. Stir the soup until it boils; then serve.

Soak the peas over night in two quarts of cold water. In the morning pour off the water, and put the peas, the meat and bone, and two quarts of fresh water in the soup kettle, and place on the fire. Cook gently. At the end of three hours put the drippings and vegetables in a small saucepan, and cook slowly for half an hour. When the vegetables have been cooked for this time, draw the saucepan forward where they will cook a little faster for one minute. Stir all the time; then draw them to the side of the pan to press out the fat, and after that put them with the soup. Into the fat remaining in the pan put the tablespoonful of flour, and stir until the mixture becomes smooth and frothy. Stir this into the soup, and add the salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Cover, and cook for three hours longer. At the end of that time take out the meat and bay leaf, and rub the soup through a coarse sieve or colander. Return to the fire and make very hot. Serve with crisped bread.

The soup must be stirred from the bottom frequently all the time it is cooking, and it must never more than bubble gently. If it cooks too rapidly it will get too thick and be in danger of scorching.

Cream of Dried Pea Soup.

Make the same as the dried pea soup; and, after straining, add a pint of milk and a little more salt and pepper. Stir all the time until it boils; then strain again, and serve.

Make this the same as the dried pea soup.

Cream of Bean Soup.

Make the same as bean soup; then add a pint of hot milk, and boil up once. Strain, and serve.

Oyster Soup.

Put a strainer over a bowl and turn the oysters into it. Pour the water over the oysters and stir with a spoon until all the liquid has passed through the strainer. Turn the oysters into a dish and set in a cold place.

Reserve a gill of the milk, and, pouring the remainder in the double-boiler, set it on the fire. Put the oyster liquor in a stewpan and heat slowly, being careful not to burn. Mix the cold milk with the flour, and, stirring into the boiling milk, cook for ten minutes. When the oyster liquor boils, skim it. When the flour and milk have cooked for ten minutes, add the oysters, butter, salt, pepper, and oyster liquor, and continue cooking until the oysters curl on the edge and are plump. Serve at once.

It is well to provide toasted or crisped crackers with this soup.

Separate the heads from the clams, and put them on to simmer with the water for fifteen minutes. Beat the flour and butter together, and stir into the water in which the heads of the clams are cooking. Now add the seasoning and milk; and when the mixture boils, strain into another stewpan. Chop the soft parts of the clams and add them to the soup. Now add the cracker crumbs. Boil the soup for three minutes, and serve.

Clam Chowder.

Wash the clams in the water and turn both into a strainer which has been placed over a bowl. Cut the soft parts of the clams from the hard, and put away in a cold place. Chop the hard parts fine and put them in a stewpan. Strain on these, through a piece of cheese-cloth, the clam water; after which place it on the fire and cook gently for twenty minutes. Fry the sliced pork for ten minutes; then add the onion, and cook ten minutes longer. Take the pork and onions from the pan and add to the chopped clams. Put the flour into the fat remaining in the pan, and stir until smooth and frothy. Add this mixture to the clam broth and cook for ten minutes longer. Now put the potato cubes in a stewpan and strain the clam broth over them. Season with the salt and pepper, and cook for twenty minutes. Split the crackers and soak them in the milk for four minutes. Add the soft parts of the clams and the milk and crackers to the cooking mixture. When all boils up, serve.

The milk may be omitted and half a pint of strained tomato be added when the potatoes and broth have been cooking for ten minutes.

Fish Chowder.

First, skin the fish; and after cutting all the flesh from the bones and cutting it in small pieces, cook the bones with the water for ten minutes. Cut the pork into thin slices and fry until crisp and brown. On taking it from the pan, put the onions into the fat, and cook slowly for ten minutes. Put a layer of fish in a stewpan and sprinkle half the potatoes, fried onions, and salt and pepper on this. Put in the remainder of the fish, and finish with the rest of the potatoes, onions, salt, and pepper. Into the fat remaining in the frying-pan put the flour, and stir until smooth and frothy. Gradually pour on this the water in which the fish bones were boiled. Stir until it boils; then pour on the fish mixture.

Lay the slices of pork on top, and cook gently for twenty minutes. Split the crackers and soak them in the milk for four minutes. Remove the slices of pork and turn crackers and milk into the chowder. When this boils up, serve.

For a change, the milk may be omitted and half a pint of tomatoes be added. Any kind of light fish will answer, such as cod, haddock, catfish, whitefish, etc.

Wash the fish and cut it into two-inch lengths. Tear these in pieces, and, covering with cold water, soak for three or four hours. Slice the pork, and cook in the frying-pan for ten minutes. Add the onion and cook for ten minutes. Now add the flour, and stir until smooth; after which, stir in one gill of water. Put the potatoes in a stewpan and pour the mixture in the frying-pan over them. Season with the pepper and half a teaspoonful of salt. Place on the fire and cook for ten minutes; then take out the slices of pork and add the fish, milk, and the crackers split. Cook gently for half an hour, being careful to let the chowder only bubble at one side of the stewpan. At the end of the half-hour, taste before serving, to be sure to have it salt enough.