Parker House Tomato Soup
Put into a saucepan five pounds of tomatoes, either fresh or canned, with one quart of water, salt, pepper, cayenne, one and one-half tablespoonfuls of sugar, and three ounces of butter, rubbed into one heaping tablespoonful of flour. Cook slowly one hour. Remove from the fire and rub through a sieve. Place over the fire again and add one and one-half tablespoonfuls of rice flour which has been dissolved in a little water. Let it come to a boil, when it is ready to serve.
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Celery Soup
Boil one small cupful of rice in three pints of milk, or two pints of milk and one of cream, until it is tender. Then rub it through a sieve and add one quart of veal stock, salt, cayenne, and three heads of celery (the white stalks only) which have been previously grated. Boil until the celery is tender.
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Bisque of Prawns or Shrimps
Boil three dozen prawns twenty minutes in salted water to cover them. Meanwhile in two small tablespoonfuls of butter, fry an onion and a carrot sliced, and a small piece of salt pork chopped. Take the prawns out of the boiling water and add to it the fried mixture with salt, pepper, a bunch of sweet herbs and one-half the prawns added again. Simmer one hour. Pound the shells of the prawns in a mortar with a little butter, to form a smooth paste. Stir this into the soup and boil twenty minutes. Strain through a sieve. Add one quart of milk and one teaspoonful of cornstarch stirred into a little of the cold milk. Let it boil up, and serve. It should be as thick as rich cream.
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Lobster Soup