The complete cook book

The puree or cream is quite a thick soup, very palatable and substantial. It is made out of fowl, game, vegetables, or fish. In every case you have first to cook well the particular materials until tender and to sift them through a sifter to obtain quite a clear pap; to which you add what the French cooks call a "liaison," binding, to unite all the parts together. This is made with yolks, cream and butter (also sometimes flour or starch), and don't forget 1st. That this "liaison" should be added only when ready to serve. 2d. That the saucepan shall be placed on a corner of the range and that you should add some of the hot pap to your "liaison" before you pour it in the saucepan. 3d. That you should never allow a soup to boil after you have poured in a "liaison." Soups must have time to cook, and should always boil gently that the meat may become tender, and give out its juices. Allow a quart of water and a teaspoonful of salt for each pound of meat. Soup meat must always be put down in cold water. Skim well before it comes to the boiling point, and again skim off superfluous fat before putting in the vegetables. The vegetables most used in soups are carrots, leeks, parsley, turnips, celery, tomatoes, okras, cabbage, cauliflower, peas and potatoes. In cooking barley for use in soup it will be well to cook in a separate dish until practically done, and then turn into the soup. One great fault with most cooks is 1 8 The Complete Cook Book, a failure to cook barley enough. When not done it is hard and unpalatable; when properly cooked it is a most desirable addition to most meat soups. One large leek, two carrots, one bunch of parsley, two turnips and a potato, will be enough for one pot of soup. One head of celery, two leeks, two turnips, and five or six small potatoes will be enough another time. Six tomatoes skinned, the juice strained from the seeds, a leek, a bunch of parsley, and six potatoes will answer for another style; a carrot, some cabbage, tomatoes, and potatoes will do another time, Okra alone is vegetable enough for a gumbo, unless onion is liked with it. Green peas, lettuce, and new potatoes are enough for spring lamb soup. Vermicelli and macaroni are for chicken, lamb, or veal soup, with the addition of onion if liked. It is well to prepare the vegetables when the meat is put over the fire to boil ; allow a quart of water to a pound of meat. Trim and scrape carrots, then cut or grate them. Wash parsley and cut it small. Pare turnips and cut them in slices a quarter of an inch thick. Cut leeks in thick slices. Cut celery in half lengths; the delicate green leaves give a fine flavor to the soup. Pour boiling water on tomatoes, which will cause the skins to peel ofiE easily; when cool, squeeze out the seeds, and reserve the juice for use in soup. Shave cabbage in thin slices. Slice okra for gumbo or okra soup. Pare the potatoes, shell the peas, and cut off green corn from the cob, for all these add fine flavor to soup. To color soup brown, use browned flour or a little burnt sugar. Spinach leaves give a fine green color. Pound the leaves, tie them in a cloth, and squeeze out all the juice, which add to the soup five minutes before serving. This is also used to give color to mockturtle soup. You may color soup red by putting in the strained juice of tomatoes, or the whole tomato, if it is run through a sieve; grated carrot gives a fine amber color; okra gives a pale green. For white soups, which are made of veal, lamb, and The Complete Cook Book. 19 chicken, white vegetables are best, such as rice, pearl barley, vermicelli, and macaroni ; the thickening should then be made of unbrowned flour. Always buy okra when it is plentiful, and cheap in the summer, slice it thin, lay it on large dishes and dry it for winter use. It is always delicious in vegetable soups.