The housewife's referee

Fish Broth. — Fry an onion with butter and oil in equal parts ; a carrot, some celery, and a little parsley, all well pounded. Put into this mixture any suitable fish ; adding salt to taste. Let the fish brown a little, then put in some tomatoes cut in pieces, dried mushrooms cut up fine ; and by degrees pour in as much boiling water as required for the soup. When the fish is thoroughly cooked, and almost in shreds, take the saucepan off the fire, and let it cool a little ; then strain the broth, and pass through a sieve the remains of the fish, etc., in the saucepan; put this into the strained broth, and put it on to the fire to boil another half hour. Add toasted bread cut in dice, and serve grated Parmesan cheese with the soup. Fish Soup a la Faysanne. — Take any kind of fish, wash it well and set it on the fire with enough cold water to cover it ; add a small stick of celery, an onion or two, a few sprigs of parsley, a bay leaf, six cloves, and a spray of ginger; cover close and leave to simmer for an hour ; then add sufficient water for the quantity of soup required. Let all boil up together ; add a cup of cream, and salt and white pepper to taste. Fry as many eggs in butter as there are people at table ; lay them in the tureen, pour over the soup, and serve with small fried sippets of bread. This soup may be made brown by leaving out the cream, and using black pepper ; and adding browning made in a stewpan with butter, sliced onion, and flour. Fish Soup a la Florentine. — Take three pounds of fresh grey mullet, sprinkle a little salt over ; then put six ounces of olive oil in a stewpan with one pound and four ounces of finely chopped onions, and sufficient salt ; put on the fire till the onions are partly browned, then add a handful of washed parsley and the same of mint, both chopped fine, and fry them a little together with the onions ; then add a pint of the best wine-vinegar and two or three pints of hot or cold water, and boil it for twenty or thirty minutes ; then pass the liquor through a sieve into another saucepan, and place the fish in it ; let it simmer till the fish is done ; then take it out and extract all the bones ; cut the fish in pieces and put them in the tureen. Pass the liquor again through a cloth into a stewpan ; then put into a basin the yolks of three or four eggs, the juice of one or two lemons, half a teacupful of water coloured with two drachms of saffron ; beat up all together, and add it gradually to the liquor. Set on a moderate fire for ten or fifteen minutes, stirring it all the time with a wooden spoon, and without letting it boil. Then pour it over the fish, sprinkle a little cinnamon, and a pinch of cayenne pepper, and serve. Florenza Soup. — Put three pints of white stock in a stewpan to boil ; mix the yolks of three eggs and a gill of cream together in a basin ; pour them into the stock with a little salt, and stir till the eggs are cooked. Then draw off the fire, and add two ounces of cooked macaroni cut up in pieces half an inch long, one ounce of grated Parmesan cheese, and a tiny dust of cayenne. The soup must not boil after the cheese is in.