SOUPS.
Artichoke Soup.
Boil three large artichokes for forty minutes, then dry and cut them in pieces and rub through a sieve. Put one quart of milk in an earthen pot, boil, add the artichokes, two ounces of butter, and three tablespoonfuls of flour. Stir until the milk thickens, add pepper and salt to taste, and boil for ten minutes, adding chicken forcemeat balls just before serving. (For the forcemeat balls take four tablespoonfuls of minced raw fowl, some grated bread, the white of an egg beaten up, and a little salt and pepper. Place the balls in boiling water as you make them, and boil for ten minutes. Take them out with the strainer and put them into the soup.)
Artichoke Soup (Purée).
Cut the bottom out of several artichokes, blanch them, remove the chokes and boil with a little salt, flour, and lemon juice. Then mash them and mix with one (or more, according to the number of people) cupful of Béchamel sauce (see Sauces, p. [119]); rub through a sieve, add enough good stock to make a thick soup, and serve with small croûtons (fried bread).
Asparagus Soup.
Boil a bunch of asparagus in salted water for half an hour, then cut off their heads and put them into a soup-tureen. Meanwhile boil one quart of milk, mix three tablespoonfuls of flour and one of butter together, and add to the milk; stir until it thickens. Rub the rest of the asparagus through a sieve and add to the milk. Take it off the fire, season with salt and pepper, and pour it into the tureen on to the asparagus heads.
Carrot Soup.
Put eight or ten finely sliced carrots, one onion, two heads of celery sliced, five ounces of fresh white haricot beans, four ounces of butter, and salt and pepper to taste, in a sauce-pan. Cook over a slow fire for one hour, and stir from time to time. Then add about one and a half quarts of good stock, boil for one and a half hours, and rub through a sieve. Thin the purée with three quarts of stock, add half an ounce of sugar, boil for half an hour, and serve with croûtons (fried bread).