Onion Soup.
Put three tablespoonfuls of butter in a frying pan, cut six large onions in slices, and stir them into the butter over the fire till they begin to cook. Then cover tight and set them where they will simmer slowly for half an hour. Put a quart of milk with a tablespoonful of butter on to boil, and while this is doing stir into the onions a tablespoonful of flour while they are simmering. Turn the mixture into the boiling milk and cook quarter of an hour, seasoning with salt and pepper. If an old tin pan is handy that you can use for the purpose, the soup will be improved by knocking small holes in the bottom of the pan, thus making a colander, and straining the soup through it, afterwards adding the well-beaten yolks of four eggs and cooking three minutes longer.
Tomato Soup.
Mix one tablespoonful of flour and a piece of butter the size of an egg into a smooth paste, and if you have onions, chop up fine one medium-sized one. Prepare about one pound of tomatoes by scalding, peeling and slicing them (the same amount of canned tomatoes may be used), and put all the ingredients with a pinch of salt into one pint of cold water. Boil gently for an hour, stirring frequently enough to dissolve the tomatoes and prevent burning, then stir in one cup of boiled milk, and let it come again to a boil, constantly stirring. Season and serve. The soup will be good if the milk is omitted.
CHAPTER III.
Fish.—Fish Caught in Muddy Streams.—Kill your Fish as Soon as Caught.—Fish Grubs.—Fish Fried, Planked, Skewered, and Boiled.—Fish Sauce, Fish Roe, Shell-Fish.
Fish should naturally have a prominent place in the canoeist's larder. Few streams that he will navigate are entirely destitute of edible fish, and a few minutes spent in angling will amply repay the cruiser.
Fish caught out of muddy streams have an unpleasant taste, and their flavor can be improved by soaking them half an hour or more in strong salted water. Fish should be killed as soon as caught by a sharp rap on the back just aft of the head with a stick or the handle of your big knife, not only in justice to the fish, but because he tastes better, for the same reason that a butchered steer is preferable to one smothered to death.