Sliver the codfish fine, pour on boiling water, drain it off, and add butter, and a very little pepper, and heat them three or four minutes, but do not let them fry.
Salt Herrings.
Heat them on a gridiron, remove the skin, and then set them on the table.
[CHAPTER VI.]
SOUPS.
The delicate and proper blending of savors is the chief art of good soup-making.
Be sure and skim the grease off the soup when it first boils, or it will not become clear. Throw in a little salt to bring up the scum. Remove all the grease.
Be sure and simmer softly, and never let a soup boil hard.
Put the meat into cold water, and let it grow warm slowly. This dissolves the gelatine, allows the albumen to disengage, and the scum to rise, and diffuses the savory part of the meat. But if the soup is over a hot fire the albumen coagulates and hardens the meat, prevents the water from penetrating, and the savory part from disengaging itself. Thus the broth will be without flavor, and the meat tough. Allow about two tablespoonfuls of salt to four quarts of soup, where there are many vegetables, and one and a half where there are few.
Be sure not to leave any fat floating on the surface.