CREAM OF CORN
Score each row of grains on six ears of corn; then, with the back of the knife press it out carefully and throw the cobs into a kettle; cover with a quart of water, bring to boiling point and strain. Now, add the scraped corn to the water. Rub together two tablespoonfuls of butter and one of flour. Stir it into this corn mixture and bring to boiling point, then add one pint of hot milk; season and serve.
Wash and pull apart two good-sized heads of lettuce. Throw them into a hot saucepan, shake over the fire until the lettuce leaves simply melt. Sprinkle over a teaspoonful of salt, then press through a sieve. Put one quart of milk in a double boiler. Rub together two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour, add it to the milk and stir until it thickens. Chop sufficient parsley to make two tablespoonfuls and pound it in a mortar. Put this in a bowl; mix it with the lettuce that has been pressed through the sieve. Stir in the milk, then add a half teaspoonful of beef extract, dissolved in a little of the hot milk; season and serve.
Take four cold, boiled beets and grate them. Dissolve a teaspoonful of beef extract in one pint of boiling water. Add it to the beets, and when they reach the boiling point add one pint of hot milk; stir in a tablespoonful of butter, palatable seasoning of salt, and when it reaches the boiling point, add tablespoonful of arrow-root dissolved in two tablespoonfuls of cold water. Bring to boiling point again, and serve.
Cut six large tomatoes into small pieces. Put them into a saucepan with one pint of water, or stock, add tablespoonful of butter, slice of onion, bay leaf and a sprig of parsley. Cook slowly twenty minutes and press through a sieve sufficiently fine to remove the seeds. Return this soup to the fire, add tablespoonful of arrow root moistened in two tablespoonfuls of cold water, another tablespoonful of butter and a palatable seasoning of salt and pepper, and serve with squares of toasted bread.
Put one pint of stewed tomatoe into a saucepan, add slice of onions, bay leaf and sprig of parsley. Simmer ten minutes. Cover four tablespoonfuls of pearl sago with a pint of cold water and soak for twenty minutes. Now, stand this over the back part of the stove until the sago is perfectly clear, and the water almost boiling hot. Add to the tomatoes one pint of boiling water and two tablespoonfuls of butter, then press through a sieve. Return to the fire, add a teaspoonful of salt, half teaspoonful of pepper and then the sago. Serve at once. This soup may be varied by adding, instead of the pint of water to the tomatoes, a pint of stock.