Savory rice soup
Boil half a cupful of well-washed rice in boiling water for twelve minutes; drain off the water, pour over it one quart of stock and cook until the rice is tender; then rub through a strainer and return to the fire; beat the yolks of two eggs, add to them half a cup of cream, and this to the soup and stir for one minute; do not allow it to boil; add more seasoning if necessary, and serve.
Okra soup
Into a quart of chicken stock stir two slices of corned ham, minced, a chopped onion and two dozen okra. Add a pint of strained tomatoes and boil all until the okra is tender. Season to taste and serve.
Red tomato soup
Skim all grease from a quart of beef stock and turn into it a can of tomatoes, or a quart of fresh tomatoes, peeled and sliced. Bring to a boil and simmer steadily for an hour. At the end of this time rub the soup through a sieve and return to the fire with a heaping teaspoonful of sugar, a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, a teaspoonful of onion juice, the same quantity of kitchen bouquet, and pepper and salt to taste. Add a half-cupful of boiled rice, simmer five minutes and serve with squares of toasted bread.
Tomato and bean soup
Put beef-bones over the fire with half a sliced carrot, two stalks of refuse celery and a grated onion. Pour in three pints of cold water; simmer slowly in a covered pot four hours, until the liquid is reduced to one-half. Turn bones and soup into a bowl and let all get perfectly cold. Skim off the fat, strain out the bones and rub the vegetables through a colander back into the liquor. Season this to your taste with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, add a cupful of stewed tomato and one of baked beans and cook half an hour longer before rubbing all hard through the colander into another saucepan. Stir in a teaspoonful of butter rubbed up with one of flour, to prevent wateriness in the soup, also a little chopped parsley. Boil up sharply for one minute and turn upon tiny squares of fried or toasted bread laid in the bottom of the tureen.
This is an excellent way of using up left-overs of stewed tomatoes and baked beans.