Cookery for every household

either served in the soup or lifted out and served as a separate course. There is usually a garnish of rice or barley and cut-up vegetables, or the vegetables may be cut in larger pieces and served as an accompaniment to the meat. A broth is generally a substantial soup, and, as a rule, unsuited as the prelude to a long dinner. It forms almost a meal in itself and is excellent as a luncheon dish, especially in cold weather, or for a nursery dinner. It is always acceptable to those who have been working in the open air or engaged in sports. It is one of the most economical forms of soup. Thickened Soups can be made of fish, meat, or vegetables, and they generally have some stock as their basis. The stock may be either brown, white, fish, or vegetable, according to the nature of the soup, or sometimes a mixture of stock and milk, or milk and water, is used. Some starchy or farinaceous material, such as flour, arrowroot, cornflour, tapioca, sago, &c., generally supplies the thickening property, or, in the case of the richer soups, a liaison, or combination of eggs and cream, is used. Portions of the substance of which the soup is made are frequently served in them, as in kidney soup and ox-tail soup. Care must be taken not to make these soups too thick. A Puree is perhaps the simplest and most economical kind of soup. It differs from other thickened soups in that its thickening is effected by rubbing the meat, fish, vegetable, or other ingredients of which it is composed, through a sieve or colander and serving them in the soup. A puree can be made of almost any vegetable, whether fresh or dried, and of meat, game, fish, and some farinaceous substances such as rice, barley, macaroni, &c. The farinaceous or starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, peas, beans, and lentils, require no additional thickening to bind them together, since the flour they contain is sufficient to make a smooth and even puree, but the more watery vegetables, such as celery, carrots, turnips, vegetable marrow, &c., require some farinaceous substance, or yolks of eggs, added to make them cohere. The ingredients of which a puree is composed must always be simmered slowly until quite soft and pulpy, in order to facilitate the sieving process. Although a puree is never so smooth and soft as when rubbed through a hair sieve or tammy, when time and labour have to be considered a wire sieve or colander will suffice. For Sieving, see p. 40. A puree can always be rendered richer by the addition of some cream and one or two yolks of eggs, just before bringing it to table, or sometimes a small quantity of butter broken in small pieces is added at the last. A puree should be of the consistency of thick cream, and is usually served with croutons of bread, or with “ pulled ” bread served on a separate dish. Quantity of Soup to Allow. — The usual quantity of soup to allow is | pint per person, but this is a liberal allowance when only one helping is reckoned on ; and at a dinner of many courses, where there are more than four or five persons, the quantity may be considerably less. On the other hand, if the soup is to form an important part of the meal, rather more than \ pint per person should be allowed. THE MAKING OF STOCK AND THE STOCK POT