Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/37

Rh with nearly a cup of milk; serve with fried bread.

Potato Soup.—Boil some potatoes till quite soft, drain them, and pulp through a sieve. Mix them with as much vegetable stock as will make the quantity of soup required. Add pepper, salt, and a teaspoonful of sugar. Roll a lump of butter in flour, add it, and let the soup come to a boil. Pour into the tureen over fried bread.

Some people call these purées. They are very good when a vegetable diet is ordered, and if properly made are very nice.

Clear Soup.—Draw off as much stock as you require. If not very strong, cut up some fresh steak into small pieces, and simmer them in the stock till the goodness is all out of them. Cut up a small onion and a carrot, and let them also simmer till tender, with pepper and salt to taste. Before serving, strain through a jelly bag till perfectly clear.

Beef Tea.—Nearly every cook has her own way of making this, but perhaps the very best is with a jar, and in the oven. Take 2 lbs. of lean beef, gravy beef, or steak. Cut it into small pieces, or, better still, run it through a mincing machine. Put it into a wide-necked jar, cover with water, and place in the oven for three or four hours. When required, strain off the the soup, and, to keep up the supply, add more meat, and fill up with water each time you take from it.

Beef Tea for a delicate stomach.—Take ½ lb. of good steak, and with a sharp knife scrape it into shreds. Lay this on a slice of toasted bread; let it be well browned; pour over it about a cupful of boiling water, and let it stand in the oven for half an hour. Then strain, and serve with a slice of dry toast.

Egg Soup.—I first saw this soup made by a French woman. She used to prepare it for the children's dinner. Take a quart of stock: wash a lettuce, and cut it up with a small onion; pour the stock over, and let it boil for about five minutes, or till the onion gets tender. Beat up three eggs in a basin with half a cup of cream, or milk; stir this into the soup when it is off the fire. If it does not thicken, hold over the fire, stirring till it does, but be sure it does not boil or the eggs will curdle. Serve with fried bread.

Pea Soup.—Soak over night a breakfast cup of split peas. Put them down to boil in a good sized saucepan, with a ham-bone, or else three or four slices of lean ham, a sprig of dried mint, and two quarts of water. Let it boil for four hours, then pulp the peas through the colander, taking out the ham; return to the saucepan. Blend a heaped teaspoonful of flour with a little water, and when boiling stir it in. Serve with fried bread. Many cooks add onions and other vegetables to their pea soup, but it is not correct.

Croute au Pot.—Cut off the bottom crust of a loaf, leaving equal thickness of crumb and crust. Cut it into small pieces, or slices. Soak them in some clear stock, and lay in a buttered tin in the oven till quite dried up. Then put them into the soup tureen, with some pieces of boiled carrot, turnip, etc., cut small, and pour some boiling stock over. Let it stand a minute, and then send to table.

Mutton Broth.—Take a neck, or part of a neck, of mutton; put it into a saucepan with sufficient water to just cover it. Let it boil well and add a sliced onion, a carrot, turnip, a little celery, some peppercorns, salt, and, an hour before serving, about half a cup of well-washed rice. Cut all the vegetables thin, and in small pieces. A cob of half-ripe corn boiled in this is a great improvement. Before serving, remove the meat, and skim off every particle of fat.

Onion Broth.—Slice a couple of onions, roll them in flour, and fry a light brown in some butter. Remove into a saucepan, and pour in some good stock, or make a stock with sheep's head. Flavor with pepper and salt,