Cookery for Little Girls

by Olive Hyde Foster

Then to make the finest kind of perfectly clear soup, stir into each two quarts of cold stock the beaten white and crushed shell of one egg, place on the fire and keep stirring until it boils. Allow to cook without stirring for twenty minutes, after which set aside for ten minutes; skim and strain through a cheese-cloth bag. This may seem like a good deal of work, but if the soup is first boiled in the morning while cleaning up the kitchen and then clarified while getting dinner, it will not require much time nor trouble, and the result will be a delicious consommé or bouillon. It is called bouillon if made principally of beef with vegetables, and brown in color; it is consommé if made of uncooked meat and bones, including veal and chicken, and consequently light in color.

PLEASING VARIATIONS

Stock made thus can be simply reheated or changed to any desired kind of soup by the addition of a particular garnishing. For rice soup, either a few teaspoonfuls of uncooked rice or half a teacupful of cold boiled rice can be added; for vegetable soup a cupful of mixed vegetables cut in small pieces can be put in and boiled until tender. Macaroni, broken in inch lengths, washed and then cooked in the stock until it is done makes a nice change, called Italian consommé, while a cupful of tomatoes will convert it into a tomato soup. If the additions suggested are to be made, however, it is not necessary to clarify the stock. It takes common sense to make good soup, as well as time and patience, and one must learn to be guided by the taste if trying to use up left-overs instead of following a regular recipe.

Cream soups, however, do not require any stock, and so are easily and quickly made. They are delicious, too, and something any bright girl could make while her mother got up the rest of the dinner. They take the name of the kind of vegetable used, but all are put together in about the same way.

CREAM OF CELERY

For cream of celery take two cupfuls of diced celery, using the leaves, ends and coarse pieces not good enough to send to the table uncooked. Cover with two cupfuls of cold water, season with salt and allow to cook until tender—about twenty minutes. While this is boiling the little maid mixes in another pan two tablespoonfuls of melted butter with two tablespoonfuls of flour. Placing it over the fire, she adds three cupfuls of milk and stirs for five minutes while it boils. After seasoning with salt and pepper and a dash of red pepper, pour in the strained water from the cooked celery and boil all gently on the back of the stove for five minutes before serving.

PEA AND ASPARAGUS

For cream of pea soup, simply substitute two cupfuls of cooked peas that have been pressed through a colander. For cream of asparagus boil up first two cupfuls of the tough ends of the asparagus that would not do for the table, or take two cupfuls of the water used in cooking the asparagus for dinner and put with the thickened milk. But in order to avoid giving the family the same vegetable twice at a meal, it is best to save the asparagus water or the celery ends until another time, putting in the ice-box to keep fresh. We all like variety, and in this way it can be had without extra expense.

CREAM OF POTATO

Cream of potato soup is made by adding two scant cupfuls of mashed potato to the milk foundation given. Some people like the addition of a half-teaspoonful of onion juice to flavor or a tablespoonful of chopped bacon. If too thick it can be thinned with some of the boiling potato water.