Meat Soups.—These soups should always be made the day before required in order to thoroughly remove the fat, which cannot be done until it hardens on the top of the soup. Nothing is more disgusting than greasy soup. The foundation for an infinite variety of soups is made by boiling about a pound of meat in three pints of water. After the meat is cooked to pieces strain it out and keep the well-skimmed liquor, or “stock,” as it is called, in a stone jar in a cool place. It should form a jelly, and in order to prepare a different soup for each day, it is only necessary to heat some of the jelly and flavor it differently. For instance: Chop fine one small onion to each person and fry it in butter, or in some of the grease taken off the soup, until tender and slightly brown. Pour over enough stock and let stand for half an hour. Serve with a little grated cheese. Cabbage soup is made in the same way except that it takes longer to cook the cabbage. Instead of one vegetable several may be used. Turnips, cabbage, onions, and carrots in about the same proportion, chopped fine and fried tender, without any water, and added to the soup, make what is known in France as Julienne soup.
EGGS IN SEVERAL FORMS.
Coddled Eggs.—The most delicate way to cook an egg is to coddle it. Put six into a vessel that will hold two quarts. Fill with boiling water, cover closely, and let it stand in a warm place for ten minutes. If you desire them better cooked let them stay in the water longer. If you want to do but one egg, put it in a quart of boiling water, cover and let stand five minutes.
Shirred Eggs.—To shirr an egg break it into a saucer or any small dish that has been well greased. Put into a hot oven and leave until glazed. Season and serve at once.
Scrambled Eggs.—Heat a teaspoonful of milk to each egg in a sauce-pan not more than a quarter of an inch deep and about the right size to hold the quantity of eggs desired. Add a little salt, pepper, and butter. When hot put in the eggs, and as they lie on the bottom of the pan, scrape off with a spoon letting the raw part take the place of those portions already cooked, and continue this until a creamy custard is formed. Be careful not to cook the eggs so long that this custard is changed to a hard mass.
PROPER COOKING OF VEGETABLES.
The general tendency in cooking vegetables is to use altogether too much water so that they become soaked and tasteless. The ideal way to cook most vegetables is to use as little water as possible; just a little in the bottom of the pot so that the vegetables will not stick and burn, but steam through in their own juices until thoroughly tender and full of their own flavor. The fire should not be too hot; the pot should be tightly covered; a sufficient amount of butter must be added when the vegetable is about half done; and plenty of time given to allow it to simmer and steam until thoroughly flavored. Onions, beans, carrots, and cabbage are most delicate when chopped fine, cooked until tender in a very little water, seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter, covered with milk, and allowed to stand on the back of the stove for twenty minutes until the flavor is thoroughly developed.
Boiled Potatoes.—Potatoes should not be peeled before boiling, but should be thoroughly washed and rinsed. They should be put in an abundance of boiling water, well salted, and covered tightly. When tender pour off all the water, cover the pot with a towel and let it stand on the back of the stove for ten minutes.
Baked Potatoes.—If baked potatoes stand they lose their flavor. A baked potato, eaten as soon as done, is sweet, dry and mealy. Allow them to stand even for ten minutes and the flavor is lost, and they become wet and tasteless. A pleasant change is to peel the potatoes before baking. These must be eaten as soon as they come from the oven or they lose their crispness.
Beans.—Nothing is more valuable for winter food than beans. They give as much strength as beefsteak and are far less expensive. Soak them in plenty of water over night; add a generous piece of unsmoked bacon; let simmer on the back of the stove until they are tender and the water is well cooked away; cover with milk, and either let them stand on the back of the stove until the milk is thickened, or put them into a shallow baking-dish and bake until nearly dry. Serve either hot or cold.