GERMAN VEGETABLE SOUP
Take 6 potatoes, half the quantity of onions, carrots, turnips, cabbage and a stalk of celery, cut up into dice-shaped pieces, place all in a stew-pan and cover with a couple quarts of hot water. Let cook about two hours, until all the vegetables are tender, then add 1 tablespoonful of butter, a large cup of milk, and about a tablespoonful of flour mixed smooth with a little cold milk, cook a few minutes, add a tablespoonful minced parsley, and serve.
A CHEAP RICE AND TOMATO SOUP
Take one pint of rice water which has been drained from one cupful of rice boiled in 2½ quarts of water 25 minutes (the rice to be used in other ways), and after the rice has drained in a sieve add to the rice water 1 cup stewed, strained tomatoes (measure after being strained), 1 teaspoonful butter, 1 teaspoonful flour mixed with a little cold water, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoonful of the cooked rice, and you have a palatable soup, as the water in which the rice was boiled is said to be more nutritious than the rice.
FISH, CLAMS AND OYSTER (BONED SHAD)
How many young cooks know how to bone a shad? It is a very simple process, and one becomes quite expert after one or two trials. And it fully repays one for the extra time and trouble taken, in the satisfaction experienced by being able to serve fish without bones. With a sharp knife cut the fish open along the back bone on the outside of the fish, but do not cut through the bone, then carefully cut the fish loose along the back bone on each side, cut the centre bone away with the smaller bones branching out on each side attached. Cut the shad into sizable pieces after being washed in cold water and dried on a cloth to take up all the moisture. Dip pieces of fish into white of egg containing a teaspoonful of water, roll in fine, dried bread crumbs, season with salt and pepper, drop in hot fat, and fry a rich brown. Serve on a platter, surrounded by a border of parsley.