Cookery for every household

Wash and scrape the parsnips until quite white, cut oil the tops and then weigh them. Cut them in thin slices, and throw them into cold water for a few minutes. Prepare the celery and onion and cut them in thin slices also. Melt the butter or dripping in a saucepan, strain the parsnips, and add them to it with the onion, celery, and bunch of herbs. Stir these over the fire for a few minutes until they absorb the fat, add pepper and salt and pour on the meat boilings. Mix well, put the lid on the pan, and simmer slowly from 1| to 2 hours, or until the parsnips are quite soft. Rub the soup through a sieve into a basin, then rinse out the saucepan and return the soup to it to reheat. Mix the cornflour smoothly with the milk, add them to the soup and stir until boiling. Simmer 10 or 12 minutes longer, sprinkle in the parsley, and season to taste. Serve with croutons of fried bread, or toast cut in dice. Note. — A little cream may be added if liked, or the yolk of an egg put in the soup tureen and the soup poured on to it, stirring all the time. Time to cook, 2 to 2£ hours. Probable cost, Is. Quantity, 2 pints. 63. Pea Soup (Soupe aux Pois Casses) Make in the same way as lentil soup. Recipe 55, substituting split peas for the lentils and allowing the soup at least one horn longer to cook. The time will depend very much on the age of the peas, but they should be fresh and not old and musty. Fried croutons of bread and dried mint, finely powdered and sieved, should be served separately. The latter must never be sprinkled over the soup, as it is not liked by everyone. Notes. — Whole dried peas can also be used for making soup, but they will require a still longer time to cook. The addition of 1 or 2 tomatoes gives a nice flavour to the soup. 64. Pea Soup from Pea Flour 1 qt. meat boilings. A piece of carrot, turnip, and onion. 2 oz. pea flour. 1 pt. skim milk. Pepper and salt. Put the meat boilings into a saucepan and bring them to the boil. Prepare about 1 cupful each of carrot, turnip, and onion, cut in very small pieces, and add them to the boiling liquid. Add salt if necessary and simmer for 1 hour, or until the vegetables are tender. Mix the pea flour to a smooth paste with the milk, add them to the soup and stir until boiling. Boil 15 to 20 minutes, add more seasoning if necessary, and serve dried and powdered mint separately. Time to cook, 1 J hours. Probable cost, 4 d. to 6 d. Quantity, 2 pints. 65. Portuguese Soup (Potage Creme Portugaise) 1 medium -sized onion. 4 or 5 tomatoes. 2 oz. butter. 1 table-sp. flour. Water or stock. Seasoning. 1 lump of sugar. 2 table-sps. rice. Melt half the butter in a saucepan, put in the onion cut in thin slices without allowing it to brown. Wipe the tomatoes, cut them in pieces and add them to the onion and butter. Mix in the flour and add enough stock or water to cover the tomatoes. Put on the lid and allow the soup to simmer slowly until the vegetables are quite soft. Then rub it through a fine sieve. Rinse out the saucepan, return the puree of tomatoes to it and thin down to a proper consistency with more stock or a little milk. Bring to the boil, add the remainder of the butter broken in small pieces, a lump of sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes, and the rice previously cooked in stock but not broken.