No. 2.—ONION SOUP.
Fry in an ounce of butter or clarified drippings, till a light brown, two or three large onions sliced thin; then add two ounces of flour and stir till about the same color. Mix thoroughly with a pint of cold stock, place over the fire in a soup kettle, and when it comes to a boil pour in a quart of boiling milk into which three boiled potatoes, mashed to a smooth paste have been stirred. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot. Water can be used instead of stock in this soup, if more convenient, and the soup still be delicious.
No. 3.—DRIED PEA SOUP.
Soak for several hours, or over night, a pint of dried peas in two quarts of cold water. Drain and put to cook in four quarts of cold water, with a quarter of a pound of breakfast bacon or salt pork, fried to a light brown. As soon as the water boils skim carefully, cover closely and let simmer gently three or four hours, or until the peas are very tender. Strain and return the soup to the kettle, add a teaspoonful of sugar, two quarts of stock, and, when boiling, a tablespoonful each of flour and butter. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with toasted bread cut in dice.
Pea soup can be made in this manner without the bacon or pork, in which case it is advisable to use a cup of sweet cream instead of the butter, and to season delicately with celery. Sweet corn is a very desirable mixture for pea soup, and sugar may be dispensed with when it is used. The addition of a little crushed spinach juice will convert this into a nice green pea soup.
If the spinach juice be omitted, and a cup of dark rich gravy, a spoonful of caramel, and a flavoring of herbs and spices be substituted, the entire character of the soup will be so changed that it must be transferred to the list of mixed soups.
CLASS FOUR.
WHITE SOUPS.
Veal, chicken, fish, oysters and other shell fish furnish the stock for most white soups, and cream or milk enters largely into the composition of many of them. One of the leading characteristics of white soups is the prohibition of everything that has a tendency to color; hence, comparatively few vegetables, herbs and spices are legitimately permissible in their composition as seasoning and flavoring. With certain restrictions, however, a greater number can occasionally be introduced with appropriateness, and sometimes be given even a prominent place.
An illustration is furnished in