CREAM PEA SOUP.--Soak three fourths of a pint of dried Scotch peas over night in a quart of water. In the morning put to cook in boiling water, cover closely and let them simmer gently four or five hours, or until the peas are very tender and well disintegrated; then rub through a colander to remove the skins. If the peas are very dry, add a little water or milk occasionally, to moisten them and facilitate the sifting.

Just before the peas are done, prepare potatoes enough to make a pint and a half, after being cut in thin slices. Cook the potatoes until tender in a small amount of water, and rub them through a colander. Add the potatoes thus prepared to the sifted peas, and milk enough to make three and one half pints in all. Return to the fire, and add a small head of celery cut finger lengths, and let the whole simmer together ten or fifteen minutes, until flavored. Remove the celery with a fork, add salt and a cup of thin cream. This should make about two quarts of soup.

If preferred, the peas may be cooked without soaking. It will, however, require a little longer time.

CREAM BARLEY SOUP.--Wash a cup of pearl barley, drain and simmer slowly in two quarts of water for four or five hours, adding boiling water from time to time as needed. When the barley is tender, strain off the liquor, of which there should be about three pints; add to it a portion of the cooked barley grains, salt, and a cup of whipped cream, and serve. If preferred, the beaten yolk of an egg may be used instead of cream.

GREEN CORN SOUP.--Take six well-filled ears of tender green corn.

Run a sharp knife down the rows and split each grain; then with the back of a knife, sc.r.a.ping from the large to the small end of the ear, press out the pulp, leaving the hulls on the cob. Break the cobs if long, put them in cold water sufficient to cover, and boil half an hour. Strain off the water, of which there should be at least one pint. Put the corn water on again, and when boiling add the corn pulp, and cook fifteen minutes, or until the raw taste is destroyed. Rub through a rather coa.r.s.e colander, add salt and a pint of hot unskimmed milk; if too thin, thicken with a little cornstarch or flour, boil up, and serve. If preferred, a teaspoonful of sugar may be added to the soup. A small quant.i.ty of cooked macaroni, cut in rings, makes a very pretty and palatable addition to the soup. The soup is also excellent flavored with celery.

GREEN PEA SOUP.--Gently simmer two quarts of sh.e.l.led peas in sufficient water to cook, leaving almost no juice when tender. Rub through a colander, moistening if necessary with a little cold milk. Add to the sifted peas an equal quant.i.ty of rich milk and a small onion cut in halves. Boil all together five or ten minutes until the soup is delicately flavored, then remove the onion with a skimmer; add salt if desired, and serve. If preferred, a half cup of thin cream may be added just before serving. Celery may be used in place of the onion, or both may be omitted.

GREEN BEAN SOUP.--Prepare a quart of fresh string beans by pulling off ends and strings and breaking into small pieces. Boil in a small quant.i.ty of water. If the beans are fresh and young, three pints will be sufficient; if wilted or quite old, more will be needed, as they will require longer cooking. There should be about a teacupful and a half of liquid left when the beans are perfectly tender and boiled in pieces.

Rub through a colander, return to the kettle, and for each cup of the bean pulp add salt, a cup and a half of unskimmed milk; boil together for a few minutes, thicken with a little flour, and serve. The quart of beans should be sufficient for three pints of soup.

KORNLET SOUP.--Kornlet or canned green corn pulp, may be made into a most appetizing soup in a few minutes by adding to a pint of kornlet an equal quant.i.ty of rich milk, heating to boiling, and thickening it with a teaspoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk.

KORNLET AND TOMATO SOUP.--Put together equal quant.i.ties of kornlet and strained stewed tomato, season with salt and heat to boiling; add for each quart one fourth to one half cup of hot thin cream, thicken with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little water, and serve. Cooked corn rubbed through a colander may also be used for this soup.

LENTIL SOUP.--Simmer a pint of lentils in water until tender. If desired to have the soup less dark in color and less strong in flavor, the lentils may be first parboiled for a half hour, and then drained and put into fresh boiling water. Much valuable nutriment is thus lost, however. When perfectly tender, mash through a colander to remove all skins; add salt and a cup of thin cream, and it too thick, sufficient boiling milk or water to thin to the proper consistency, heat again to boiling, and serve. If preferred, an additional quant.i.ty of liquid may be added and the soup slightly thickened with browned flour.

LENTIL AND PARSNIP SOUP.--Cook together one pint of lentils and one half a small parsnip, sliced, until tender in a small quant.i.ty of boiling water. When done, rub through a colander, and add boiling water to make a soup of the proper consistency. Season with salt and if desired a little cream.

LIMA BEAN SOUP.--Simmer a pint of Lima beans gently in just sufficient water to cook and not burn, until they have fallen to pieces.

Add more boiling water as needed. When done, rub the beans through a colander. Add rich milk or water to make of the proper consistency, and salt to season; reheat and serve. White beans may be used in place of Lima beans, but they require more prolonged cooking. A heaping tablespoonful of pearl tapioca or sago previously soaked in cold water, may be added to the soup when it is reheated, if liked, and the whole cooked until the sago is transparent.

MACARONI SOUP.--Heat a quart of milk, to which has been added a tablespoonful of finely grated bread crust (the brown part only, from the top of the loaf) and a slice of onion to flavor, in a double boiler.

When the milk is well flavored, remove the onion, turn through a colander, add salt, and thicken with two teaspoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk. Lastly add one cupful of cooked macaroni, and serve.

OATMEAL SOUP.--Put two heaping tablespoonfuls of oatmeal into a quart of boiling water, and cook in a double boiler for two hours or longer. Strain as for gruel, add salt if desired, and two or three stalks of celery broken into finger lengths, and cook again until the whole is well flavored with the celery, which may then be removed with a fork; add a half cup of cream, and the soup is ready to serve. Cold oatmeal mush may be thinned with milk, reheated, strained, flavored, and made into soup the same as fresh material. A slice or two of onion may be used with the celery for flavoring the soup if desired, or a cup of strained stewed tomato may be added.

PARSNIP SOUP.--Take a quart of well sc.r.a.ped, thinly sliced parsnips, one cup of bread crust shavings (prepared as for Brown Soup), one head of celery, one small onion, and one pint of sliced potatoes.

The parsnips used should be young and tender, so that they will cook in about the same length of time as the other vegetables. Use only sufficient water to cook them. When done, rub through a colander and add salt and sufficient rich milk, part cream if desired, to make of the proper consistency. Reheat and serve.

PARSNIP SOUP NO. 2.--Wash, pare, and slice equal quant.i.ties of parsnips and potatoes. Cook, closely covered, in a small quant.i.ty of water until soft. If the parsnips are not young and tender, they must be put to cook first, and the potatoes added when they are half done. Mash through a colander. Add salt, and milk to make of the proper consistency, season with cream, reheat and serve.

PEA AND TOMATO SOUP.--Soak one pint of Scotch peas over night. When ready to cook, put into a quart of boiling water and simmer slowly until quite dry and well disintegrated. Rub through a colander to remove the skins. Add a pint of hot water, one cup of mashed potato, two cups of strained stewed tomato, and one cup of twelve-hour cream. Turn into a double-boiler and cook together for a half hour or longer; turn a second time through a colander or soup strainer and serve. The proportions given are quite sufficient for two quarts of soup. There may need to be some variation in the quant.i.ty of tomato to be used, depending upon its thickness. If very thin, a larger quant.i.ty and less water will be needed. The soup should be a rich reddish brown in color when done. The peas may be cooked without being first soaked, if preferred.

PLAIN RICE SOUP.--Wash and pick over four tablespoonfuls of rice, put it in an earthen dish with a quart of water, and place in a moderate oven. When the water is all absorbed, add a quart of rich milk, and salt if desired; turn into a granite kettle and boil ten minutes, or till the rice is done. Add a half cup of sweet cream and serve. A slice of onion or stalk of celery can be boiled with the soup after putting in the kettle, and removed before serving, if desired to flavor.

POTATO AND RICE SOUP.--Cook a quart of sliced potatoes in as little water as possible. When done, rub through a colander. Add salt, a quart of rich milk, and reheat. If desired, season with a slice of onion, a stalk of celery, or a little parsley. Just before serving, add a half cup of cream and a cup and a half of well-cooked rice with unbroken grains. Stir gently and serve at once.

POTATO SOUP.--For each quart of soup required, cook a pint of sliced potatoes in sufficient water to cover them. When tender, rub through a colander. Return to the fire, and add enough rich, sweet milk, part cream if it can be afforded to make a quart in all, and a little salt. Let the soup come to a boil, and add a teaspoonful of flour or corn starch, rubbed to a paste with a little water; boil a few minutes and serve. A cup and a half of cold mashed potato or a pint of sliced baked potato can be used instead of fresh material; in which case add the milk and heat before rubbing through the colander. A slice of onion or a stalk of celery may be simmered in the soup for a few minutes to flavor, and then removed with a skimmer or a spoon. A good mixed potato soup is made by using one third sweet and two thirds Irish potatoes, in the same manner as above.

POTATO AND VERMICELLI SOUP.--Breakup a cupful of vermicelli and drop into boiling water. Let it cook for ten or fifteen minutes, and then turn into a colander to drain. Have ready a potato soup prepared the same as in the proceeding; stir the vermicelli lightly into it just before serving.

SAGO AND POTATO SOUP.--Prepare the soup as directed for Potato Soup, from fresh or cold mashed potato, using a little larger quant.i.ty of milk or cream, as the sago adds thickness to the soap. When seasoned and ready to reheat, turn a second time through the colander, and add for each quart of soup, one heaping tablespoonful of sago which has been soaked for twenty minutes in just enough water to cover. Boil together five or ten minutes, or until the sago is transparent, and serve.

SCOTCH BROTH.--Soak over night two tablespoonfuls of pearl barley and one of coa.r.s.e oatmeal, in water sufficient to cover them. In the morning, put the grains, together with the water in which they were soaked, into two quarts of water and simmer for several hours, adding boiling water as needed. About an hour before the soup is required, add a turnip cut into small dice, a grated carrot, and one half cup of fine pieces of the brown portion of the crust of a loaf of whole-wheat bread.

Rub all through a colander, and add salt, a cup of milk, and a half cup of thin cream. This should make about three pints of soup.

SPLIT PEA SOUP.--For each quart of soup desired, simmer a cupful of split peas very slowly in three pints of boiling water for six hours, or until thoroughly dissolved. When done, rub through a colander, add salt and season with one half cup of thin cream. Reheat, and when boiling, stir into it two teaspoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold water. Boil up until thickened, and serve. If preferred, the cream may be omitted and the soup flavored with a little celery or onion.

SWEET POTATO SOUP.--To a pint of cold mashed sweet potato add a pint and a half of strained stewed tomato, rub together through a colander, add salt to season, and half a cup of cream. Reheat and serve.

SWISS POTATO SOUP.--Pare and cut up into small pieces, enough white turnips to fill a pint cup, and cook in a small quant.i.ty of water. When tender, add three pints of sliced potatoes, and let them boil together until of the consistency of mush. Add hot water if it has boiled away so that there is not sufficient to cook the potatoes. When done, drain, rub through a colander, add a pint and a half of milk and a cup of thin cream, salt if desired, and if too thick, a little more milk or a sufficient quant.i.ty of hot water to make it of the proper consistency.

This should be sufficient for two and a half quarts of soup.

SWISS LENTIL SOUP.--Cook a pint of brown lentils in a small quant.i.ty of boiling water. Add to the lentils when about half done, one medium sized onion cut in halves or quarters. When the lentils are tender, remove the onion with a fork, and rub the lentils through a colander. Add sufficient boiling water to make three pints in all.

Season with salt, reheat to boiling, and thicken the whole with four table spoonfuls of browned flour, rubbed to a cream in a little cold water.

TOMATO AND MACARONI SOUP.--Break a half dozen sticks of macaroni into small pieces, and drop into boiling water. Cook for an hour, or until perfectly tender. Rub two quarts of stewed or canned tomatoes through a colander, to remove all seeds and fragments. When the macaroni is done, drain thoroughly, cut each piece into tiny rings, and add it to the strained tomatoes. Season with salt, and boil for a few minutes. If desired, just before serving add a cup of thin cream, boil up once, and serve immediately. If the tomato is quite thin, the soup should be slightly thickened with a little flour before adding the macaroni.

TOMATO CREAM SOUP.--Heat two quarts of strained, stewed tomatoes to boiling; add four tablespoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold water. Let the tomatoes boil until thickened, stirring constantly that no lumps form; add salt to season. Have ready two cups of hot rich milk or thin cream. Add the cream or milk hot, and let all boil together for a minute or two, then serve.

TOMATO AND OKRA SOUP.--Take one quart of okra thinly sliced, and two quarts of sliced tomatoes. Simmer gently from one to two hours. Rub through a colander, heat again to boiling, season with salt and cream if desired, and serve.

Canned okra and tomatoes need only to be rubbed through a colander, scalded and seasoned, to make a most excellent soup. If preferred, one or two potatoes may be sliced and cooked, rubbed through a colander, and added.

TOMATO SOUP WITH VERMICELLI.--Cook a cupful of broken vermicelli in a pint of boiling water for ten minutes. Turn into a colander to drain.

Have boiling two quarts of strained, stewed tomatoes, to which add the vermicelli. If preferred, the tomato may be thickened slightly with a little cornstarch rubbed smooth in cold water before adding the vermicelli. Salt to taste, and just before serving turn in a cup of hot, thin cream. Let all boil up for a moment, then serve at once.

VEGETABLE OYSTER SOUP.--Sc.r.a.pe all the outer covering and small rootlets from vegetable oysters, and lay them in a pan of cold water to prevent discoloration. The sc.r.a.ping can be done much easier if the roots are allowed first to stand in cold water for an hour or so. Slice rather thin, enough to make one quart, and put to cook in a quart of water. Let them boil slowly until very tender. Add a pint of milk, a cup of thin cream, salt, and when boiling, a tablespoonful or two of flour, rubbed to a cream with a little milk. Let the soup boil a few minutes until thickened, and serve.

VEGETABLE SOUP.--Simmer together slowly for three or four hours, in five quarts of water, a quart of split peas, a slice of carrot, a slice of white turnip, one cup of canned tomatoes, and two stalks of celery cut into small bits. When done, rub through a colander, add milk to make of proper consistency, reheat, season with salt and cream, and serve.

VEGETABLE SOUP NO. 2.--Prepare and slice a pint of vegetable oysters and a pint and a half of potatoes. Put the oysters to cook first, in sufficient water to cook both. When nearly done, add the potatoes and cook all till tender. Rub through a colander, or if preferred, remove the pieces of oysters, and rub the potato only through the colander, together with the water in which the oysters were cooked, as that will contain all the flavor. Return to the fire, and add salt, a pint of strained, stewed tomatoes, and when boiling, the sliced oysters if desired, a cup of thin cream and a cup of milk, both previously heated; serve at once.

VEGETABLE SOUP NO. 3.--Soak a cupful of white beans over night in cold water. When ready to cook, put into fresh boiling water and simmer until tender. When nearly done, add three large potatoes sliced, two or three slices of white turnip, and one large parsnip cut in slices. When done, rub through a colander, add milk or water to make of proper consistency, season with salt and cream, reheat and serve. This quant.i.ty of material is sufficient for two quarts of soup.

VEGETABLE SOUP NO. 4.--Prepare a quart of bran stock as previously directed. Heat to boiling, and add to it one teaspoonful of grated carrot, a slice of onion, and a half cup of tomato. Cook together in a double boiler for half an hour. Remove the slice of onion, and add salt and a half cup of turnip previously cooked and cut in small dice.

VELVET SOUP.--Pour three pints of hot potato soup, seasoned to taste, slowly over the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, stirring briskly to mix the egg perfectly with the soup. It must not be reheated after adding the egg. Plain rice or barley soup may be used in place of potato soup, if preferred.

VERMICELLI SOUP.--Lightly fill a cup with broken vermicelli. Turn it into a pint of boiling water, and cook for ten or fifteen minutes.

Drain off all the hot water and put into cold water for a few minutes.

Turn into a colander and drain again; add three pints of milk, salt to taste, and heat to boiling. Have the yolks of three eggs well beaten, and when the soup is boiling, turn it gradually onto the eggs, stirring briskly that they may not curdle. Return to the kettle, reheat nearly to boiling, and serve at once.

VERMICELLI SOUP NO. 2.--Cook a cupful of sliced vegetable oysters, a stalk or two of celery, two slices of onion, a parsnip, and half a carrot in water just sufficient to cover well. Meanwhile put a cupful of vermicelli in a quart of milk and cook in a double boiler until tender.

When the vegetables are done, strain off the broth and add it to the vermicelli when cooked. Season with salt and a cup of cream. Beat two eggs light and turn the boiling soup on the eggs, stirring briskly that they may not curdle. Reheat if not thickened, and serve.

WHITE CELERY SOUP.--Cut two heads of celery into finger lengths, and simmer in a quart of milk for half an hour. Remove the pieces of celery with a skimmer. Thicken the soup with a tablespoonful of cornstarch braided with a little milk, add salt if desired, and a teacup of whipped cream.

TABLE TOPICS.

Soup rejoices the stomach, and disposes it to receive and digest other food.--_Brillat Savarin._