Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Julienne Soup. — Take three car- rots, three turnips, the white part of a head of celery, three onions, and three leeks. Wash and dry the vegetables, and cut them into thin shreds, which should be not more than one inch in length. Place the shreds in a stew- pan with 2 ozs. of butter and a .small pinch of pounded sugar, and stir them over a slow fire until slightly browned. Pour over them three quarts of clear stock and simmer gently for an hour, or until the vege- tables are tender. Carefully remove the scum and grease, and half an hour before the soup is done enough add two lumps of sugar, with two pinches of salt, and two pinches of pepper, if required, two cabbage lettuces, twelve leaves of sorrel, and twelve leaves of chervil, cut in the same way as the other vegetables, after being immersed in boiling water for a minute. Boil half an hour longer, skim carefully, and serve. Send bread fried in dice to table, and serve as hot as possible. It must be re- membered that quick boiling would thicken and spoil this soup, which ought to be a clear brown. In sum- mer-time French beans, green pease, and asparagus tops may be put in, but they must be boiled separately and added a few minutes before serv- ing. Julienne vegetables already cut 365 Lentil Soup SOUPS Mile. Francoise’s Poule-au-Pot and dried can be bought, but they are inferior in flavor to fresh vegetables. Lentil Soup. — Put a breakfast- cupful of lentils to soak all night in cold water. Drain them and put them into a stewpan with three pints of water or stock, if it is to be had. The liquor in which pork or bacon has been boiled is excellent for the pur- pose. Put with them six or eight sticks of celery, two onions, one carrot, one turnip, a bunch of soup herbs, and a crust of stale bread. Bring the liquor to a boil and care- fully remove the thick, dark scum that rises to the surface, and throw in a little cold water once or twice to assist the scum in rising. As soon as the soup reaches the boiling- point, draw the saucepan back and simmer gently for about four hours, or until the lentils are perfectly soft. Turn the whole upon a wire sieve, pick out the bouquet garni, and rub everything else patiently through the sieve into a bowl. The pulp will go through more easily if a little of the liquor is kept hot and is em- ployed to moisten it occasionally. Boil the soup again before sending it to table, and if too thick add a little water ; the addition of boiling milk will be considered an improvement by many. The soup must be stirred frequently while boiling, or it will burn. Lentils are in themselves so nourishing that meat stock is not needed. Lettuce Soup. — Chop up a soft green lettuce, and stew it with a little water or broth, some butter, sugar, and a few drops of tarragon vinegar (really a few drops ; not more than thirty). Keep stirring, and do not let it burn ; but do not mind that the lettuces lose their green color. Add a teaspoonful of flour, with pepper and salt. Break an egg over it all, and pour on some weak broth. Serve with some dice of bread fresh cut into the tureen, and add a wineglassful of cream just before serving. Another way : — Prepare twelve cab-