The Rural cook book

desirable. Such sotips can be made from almost any vegetable, varying the thickening according to the thickness of the pulp of the vegetables. Bean and pea soup require less flour, but a little will keep them from becoming watery on top. A corn chowder can be made much like a fish chowder from fresh or canned corn with pork fat, onion and potato. Such soups are excellent for supper on a cold night, and give an opportunity to turn skim-milk lo good account. Mock Oyster Soup. — Scrape a dozen roots of salsify, throwing at once into cold water to avoid discoloring; cut into thin slices and cover with a quart of water, or preferably soup stock. Cook gently until perfectly tender (about an hour) ; then add a quart of milk, a teaspoonful of salt, one-fourth teaspoonful of pepper, and two tablespoon fuls of butter cut into bits. Serve with oyster crackers. Italian Onion Soup. — Boil six young but fully grown onions in two waters, turning off the first at the end of 10 minutes' boil, and replacing with fresh hot water. There should be a quart of the second water. When the onions are tender, add a cupful of dry, fine bread crumbs and cook gently for five minutes more. Pour the contents of the kettle into a colander and rub the onions and crumbs through it into the liquid in the bowl below. Return all to the fire, simmer for a minute and stir into the soup a."roux," made by heating to a bubbling cream a great spoonful of butter with one of flour in a frying pan. Have ready heated in another saucepan a cup of milk in which you have dropped a pinch of soda. Take the boiling soup from the fire, stir in the hot milk, and pour into a heated tureen. Pass Parmesan cheese with it. Cream of Oyster Soup.— Add to one quart of milk half of a small onion, two sprigs of parsley and a half a cupful of celery leaves and stalks. Scald in a double boiler. Mix one-fourth of a cupful of flour with sufficient cold milk to make a paste and add it to the scalded milk. Stir until it thickens and let cook for about 30 minutes covered. Pour a cupful of cold water over a quart of oysters, strain the liquid through a cheesecloth and heat to a boiling point. Add the oysters and when the boiling point is reached add the thickened milk. Season with salt and white pepper and stir in, little by little, one-fourth of a cup of butter. Pink Velvet Soup.— Half a canful oi tomatoes, oue pint of water, one tablespoonful of butter, one large onion, chopped small ; one potato shaved thin, a saltspoonful of celery seed, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sugar and a pinch of sweet marjoram. Boil all together for half an hour, or until the potatoes melt. Strain, thicken with granulated tapioca or cornstarch, boil five minutes, add a pinch of baking soda, and then pour in a pint of hot milk. Serve at once. Potato Soup. — Three potatoes, one pint milk, one teaspoonful chopped onions, one stalk celery, one teaspoonful salt, one teaspoonful celery salt. one-half saltspoonful white pepper, one-fourth saltspoonful cayenne, onehalf tablespoonful flour, one tablespoonful butter. Pare the potatoes and soak them in cold water one-half hour. Boil them until very soft. Cook onions and celery in milk in double boiler. When potatoes are soft drain and mash, add boiling milk and seasoning. Rub through strainer and put on to boil again. Melt butter in small saucepan; when bubbling add flour; when well mixed stir into boiling soup. Boil five minutes and serve very hot. This flour thickening prevents milk and potato from separating, and gives a smoothness quite unlike granular effects often noticed. If too thick add hot milk. The soup may also be made with meat stock instead of milk.