Cookery for every household

As soup is the prelude to the meal, it is important that it should be worthy of what is to follow. There are few things, whether fish, flesh, fowl, or vegetable, which will not lend themselves to soup making; and it is a mistake to think that stock is a necessary basis of them all. Many tasty and nourishing soups can be made without meat or stock of any kind, as the following recipes will show. Soup is not so generally used as it ought to be, and many people object to it on the ground that it spoils the appetite for what is to follow. The mistake, however, is often made of serving a soup that is over strong. If a soup such as ox-tail or kidney is served before a substantial dish of roast beef or steak and kidney pie, which is freely partaken of, it is bound to cut the appetite and harm the digestion. When soup forms one of several courses there is no need for it to be a satisfying production, but rather something warm and light, which will prepare the digestive organs for the more solid food to follow. This is why clear soup or consomme is the most popular soup for dinner parties. If, on the other hand, the soup is to form the principal part of the meal, something of a- thicker and more nourishing nature should be served. Again, when economy has to be considered, a simple and nutritious soup will be found of great value, and the marked saving in the consumption of meat, when soup takes the precedence, will be found a strong argument in its favour. The excellence of the soup will depend to a large extent upon slow and steady cooking and the judicious introduction of the flavouring. Although all soup should be sufficiently seasoned before it is sent to table, salt must always be added with care, as an over-salted soup can be relished by no one. In the following recipes the approximate amount of liquid required is always given, but the exact quantity will depend somewhat upon the rate of cooking. If the soup becomes too much reduced by boiling and, consequently, too thick, more water or stock must be added to make up the original allowance. PRELIMINARY TO SOUP MAKING DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOUPS The variety of soups is very great, in fact the number of recipes to be found is legion. However, when these come to be examined it will be found that, broadly speaking, they can all be classified under one or other of the following headings : Clear Soups and Broths, Thickened Soups, and Purees. The number of soups is very much augmented by giving a separate title to every separate variation of a combination. For instance, clear stock, which is the basis of so many clear soups or consommes, will take a different name from each special garnish or flavouring that is added to it. Many of the vegetable puree soups are made in the same manner, the only difference being in the vegetable used ; and again with the broths, by using a different kind of meat or different vegetables the name is altered — the slightest variation will furnish the occasion for a distinctive title. Clear Soups and Broths have as their foundation a clear stock or meat broth. Clear Soup is one of the most expensive kinds of soup as it must be made from good meat stock, which is generally clarified and then garnished according to fancy. A Broth differs from a clear soup in that it is unclarified, and the meat with which it is made is