FISH STOCK
Put into the soup-pot a tablespoonful of butter or of drippings. Add a tablespoonful each of chopped onion, carrot, and turnip. Fry them without browning, then add fish-bones, head, and trimmings, a stalk of celery, sprigs of parsley and of thyme, a bay-leaf, a tomato or a slice of lemon. Cover with water, and simmer them for an hour or more. Season with salt and pepper. Strain.
When this stock is used for soup, make a roux of one tablespoonful each of butter and flour, add a cupful of milk or cream, and add this amount to each pint of the fish stock.
OYSTER SOUP
Scald a quart, or twenty-five, oysters in their own liquor. As soon as they are plump, or the gills curl, remove them (oysters harden if boiled). Add to the liquor a cupful of water. Make a roux of one tablespoonful each of butter and flour, dilute it with the liquor, and when it is smooth add a cupful of scalded milk or cream. Season with pepper, salt, if necessary, and a dash of cayenne or paprica; then add the oysters, and as soon as they are heated serve at once. In oyster houses finely shredded cabbage with a French dressing is served with oyster soup, and is a good accompaniment when served for luncheon. Oysters should be carefully examined, and the liquor passed through a fine sieve before being cooked, in order to remove any pieces of shell there may be in them.
CLAM SOUP
Remove the clams from the shells as soon as they have opened (see clam broth, page [95]). Put them in a warm place, until the juice is prepared. Add a cupful of hot milk to a quart of juice, and thicken it with a roux made of one tablespoonful of butter and one tablespoonful of flour; then add the clams, chopped fine, season, and bring the soup again to the boiling-point and serve. Two spoonfuls of whipped cream served on each plateful of soup is an improvement to the dish.