Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

Carefully wash and peel a quart of fresh mushrooms, boil them in a quart of boiling water until they are tender enough to rub through a sieve with a potato-masher ; then stir them into two quarts of cream soup made as directed in any of the recipes for cream soup, or as follows : Put into a thick saucepan two tablespoonfuls each of butter and flour, and stir them together until they begin to bubble ; then gradually stir in a quart each of hot milk and boiling water, adding them to the butter and flour, half a cupful at a time, and stirring this quantity in smoothly before adding more. When the milk and water have been all used, season the soup palatably with salt, white pepper, and grated nutmeg ; stir into it the puree or pulp of mushrooms, let it boil once, and then serve it, CREAM OF CAULIFLOWERS. Trim the outer leaves from a fresh cauliflower, thoroughly wash it in plenty of cold water, and lay it with the flowerets down in a large pan of cold water containing a handful of salt ; occasionally shake the cauliflower about in the water, to free it from the little insects which are lodged among the flowerets. After it is quite clean, put it over the fire in a large saucepan half full of salted boiling water, and boil it steadily for twenty minutes, or until the stalk is tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork, but do not boil it long enough to cause the flowerets to break off. When the cauliflower is tender, drain it, cut it apart in even-size branches, and lay the finest ones in cold salted water ; put the small ones and the stalk into a colander, and rub them through it with a potato-masher j about a cupful of this cauhflower puree will be required for two quarts of soup. Next put two tablespoonfuls each of butter and flour over the fire in a thick saucepan, and stir them until they bubble ; next gradually stir in a quart of boiling water, and then a quart of hot milk, adding them by degrees, and stirring the soup constantly to insure its smoothness ; when all the water and milk are used, season the soup with two level teaspoonfuls of salt, half a saltspoonful of white pepper, and a very little grated nutmeg ; mix the mashed cauliflower into the soup, let it boil once, and serve it. If the soup is not used as soon as it is done, place the saucepan containing it in a bain-marie, or a dripping-pan half full of boiling water, and set the pan on the back of the fire, where the soup will keep hot without burning ; if by standing, it grows thicker than thick cream, thin it before using it with a little hot milk, and add a very little more seasoning. SOUPS (POTAGE). Directions for using the rest of the boiled cauliflower will be found among the recipes for cooking vegetables. BAIN-MARIE. The bain-marie, or salt-water bath, is one of the greatest of kitchen conveniences : it is a deep iron or copper pan, partly filled with salted water, the temperature of which can be raised higher than that of fresh water, and placed upon the back of the fire, to contain saucepans whose contents Bain-marie, or Salt-water Bath.