Cookery for every household

Put the corn into a saucepan with the milk and bring it slowly to the boil (a double saucepan is the best for this), then rub as much as possible through a fine sieve. Return the soup to a clean saucepan, add the butter and the cornflour mixed to a smooth paste with a little milk or water. Stir until boiling, season to taste, and then simmer a few minutes longer. Add the cream at the last, but do not boil again. The yolk of an egg may be put into the soup tureen and the soup poured on to it, but this is not necessary. Serve with croutons of fried bread. Probable cost, Is. 8 d. Quantity, 2| pints. 157. Cucumber Soup (Potage CrSme de Concombres) 2 cucumbers. 1 onion. 1 qt. white second stock. A handful of spinach. A small bunch of herbs. 2 oz. butter. 1 gill milk. 1 dessert-sp. cornflour. 1 gill cream. Seasoning. 2 yolks of eggs. Peel the cucumber, cut out some small pieces with a pea -shaped cutter, and reserve them as a garnish. Slice the remainder and scald the pieces in boiling salted water for ten minutes and drain well. Melt the butter in a saucepan, put in the cucumber, spinach well washed, the onion thinly sliced, and the bunch of herbs. Put the lid on the pan and allow the contents to cook for a few minutes without browning. Then pour in the stock, and cook slowly from £- to 1 hour or until the cucumber is quite soft. Mix the cornflour to a smooth paste with the milk, add them to the soup and stir for a few minutes until the cornflour is cooked. Now rub the soup through a hair sieve or tammy and return it to the saucepan to reheat. Add the yolks of eggs and cream (see p. 40), the little fancy-shaped pieces of cucumber which should have been cooked separately in boiling salted water. A few leaves of chervil may also be used as a garnish. Serve with croutons of fried bread or pastry. Notes. — The yolks of eggs may be omitted if the soup is considered too rich. A little green colouring may be used if spinach is not obtainable, and some fine shreds of lettuce may be used for a garnish if chervil is not easy to find. Time to cook, 1£ hours. Probable cost, 2s. Quantity, 2 pints. 158. Curry Soup, White (Potage au Kari) 2 pts. white stock. 1 table-sp. curry powder. 1 table-sp. rice flour. 1 gill milk. 1 gill cream. 1 yolk of egg. A squeeze of lemon juice. 1 table-sp. chopped parsley. Seasoning. Small pieces cooked chicken or rabbit. Any light stock, or the water in which a fowl, rabbit, or piece of veal has been boiled, will do for this soup. Put the stock into a saucepan, and bring it to the boil. Put the curry powder and rice flour into a basin, add the milk gradually to them, mixing with an iron spoon until smooth. Add this to the stock, stir until boiling, and simmer for ten minutes. Then draw the pan to the side of the fire, and strain in the cream and yolk of egg mixed together. Season to taste, and sprinkle in the parsley. If possible, add some small pieces of chicken or rabbit. Stir the soup over the fire until almost boiling. Do not boil, or the yolk of egg will curdle. Squeeze in the lemon juice, and pour the soup into a' hot soup tureen. Serve with plain boiled rice, on a separate dish. Time to cook, J hour. Probable cost, Is. to Is. 6 d. Quantity, 2 pints. 159. Green Pea Soup, St. Germain Soup (Potage St. Germain) 3 gills shelled green peas. A handful of pea shells. A few parsley stalks.