Cookery for every household

1 large head of celery. 1 or 2 onions. 1 oz. flour. 1 oz. butter or bacon fat. A bunch of herbs. 2£ pts. second brown stock. 1 dessert-sp. chopped parsley. Seasoning. Prepare the onions and cut them in thin slices, wash and brush the celery and cut it in shreds. Take about 1 cupful of the whitest shreds of the celery, put them into a small saucepan with boiling water to cover them and a little salt, and simmer slowly over the fire until tender. Then take a larger saucepan, melt in it the butter or fat and allow it to brown, put in the prepared onion and remainder of celery and stir them in the fat until they are lightly brown. Add the flour and brown that also. Next pour in the stock and stir until boiling. Carefully remove any scum and add the bunch of herbs and other seasoning to taste. Allow the soup to simmer slowly at least one hour, skimming when necessary. Then rub as much as possible through a fine wire sieve and return to the saucepan to reheat. Add the shreds of celery which were cooked apart along with their liquid, sprinkle in the chopped parsley and serve very hot. Time to cook, 1£ hour. Probable cost, lOd. to Is. Quantity, 2 pints. 41. Celery Soup, White (Soupe au Celeri) 1 large or 2 small heads of celery. 1 onion. 1 bay-leaf. A few parsley stalks. A small blade of mace. 2 pts. light stock. 1 dessert-sp. rice flour or cornflour. 1 oz. lean ham or a small ham bone. 1 yolk of egg. \ pt. milk. Seasoning. Wash and brush the celery, using the white part only, and cut it in shreds. Skin and slice the onion thinly and cut the ham in small pieces. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the prepared vegetables, parsley stalks, mace, bay-leaf, and ham, and stir them over the fire for 5 minutes without allowing them to brown. Add the stock and simmer all these for one hour at least until the celery is quite tender. The time will depend on the age of the celery. When ready, rub the soup through a fine wire or hair sieve. Rinse out the saucepan and return the soup to it to reheat. Put the rice flour or cornflour into a basin, and add the milk to it gradually, mixrng until quite smooth. Pour this into the soup and stir until boiling. Cook 10 minutes longer and season to taste. Put the yolk of egg in the soup tureen and pour the soup gradually on to it, stirring all the time. Serve with crofitons of toast or fried bread, or with “puffed” rice crisped in the oven. Notes. — The yolk of egg may be omitted if a plainer soup is wanted. A richer soup may be made by using 2 yolks of eggs and a gill of cream for thickening purposes instead of the flour and milk. Time to cook, 1 J hours. Probable cost, lOd. to Is. Quantity, 2 pints. 42. Celery and Barley Soup 1 large cupful sirred celery. | large cupful chopped onion. 1 qt. light stock. Seasoning. 1 dessert-sp. Robinson’s “ Patent ” barley. I pt. milk. 1 egg-