Cookery for every household

4 or 5 medium-sized onions. 1 oz. butter or dripping. 1 oz. rice flour. 1 qt. second brown stock. 1 oz. grated cheese. Pepper and salt. Skin the onions and cut them in thin slices so that they fall in rings. Melt the butter or dripping in a saucepan and let it just turn brown. Put in the sliced onion and brown that also, but be careful it does not blacken, or the flavour of the soup will be spoiled. Then add the rice flour and mix it well in. Pour on the stock, stir until boiling and skim well. Let the soup simmer for 11 hours, or until the onion is quite soft ; then rub it through a fine wire or hair sieve into a basin. Rinse out the saucepan, return the soup to it and reheat over the fire. Serve with croutons of fried bread. The grated cheese can either be put into the soup or banded separately. Time to cook, 1J to 2 hours. Probable cost, 8 d. to lOd. -» Quantity, 1 J pints. 60. Onion Soup (Brown), 1 or 2 Spanish onions. 1 oz. butter. I slice toast, slightly buttered. 2 (Soupe aux Oignons) 1 qt. brown stock. Grated Parmesan. A pinch of cayenne. Prepare the onions as in last recipe, slicing them very thinly. Cook them a few minutes in the butter, allowing them to brown, but not to blacken. The stock used must be clear and good. Make it very hot and pour it into the saucepan beside the onions. Season to taste and add a pinch of cayenne. Butter a slice of toast and cut it in dice or small round pieces, toss these in grated Parmesan, brown in the oven a minute or two, and float these on the top of the soup. Time to cook, 15 minutes. Probable cost, lOd. Quantity, 2 pints. 61. Onion Soup, White (Soupe aux Oignons) 4 or 5 medium -sized onions. 1 oz. butter. 2 pts. meat boilings or white stock. 1 bay-leaf. A few parsley stalks. 6 white peppercorns. A blade of mace. 1 oz. flour. £ pt. milk. Salt to taste. Skin the onions and scald them in boiling water a few minutes to remove some of the pungent flavour. Then slice them down as thinly as possible and so that they fall in rings. Melt the butter in a saucepan, put into it the sliced onion, bay-leaf, parsley stalks, peppercorns and blade of mace ; put the lid on the pan and cook for 10 minutes over the fire without browning. Pour on the stock or meat boilings, simmer until quite soft and rub through a fine sieve. Rinse out the saucepan and return the soup to it. Break the flour gradually with the milk, add this to the soup, and stir over the fire until boiling. Boil 5 minutes at least, and season to taste. Serve with crofitons of fried bread and hand grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese separately. Note. — This soup may be made richer by thickening it with 1 or 2 yolks of eggs and a little cream instead of the flour and milk. Time to cook, 1 \ hours. Probable cost, 10 d. to Is. Quantity, 2 pints. 62. Parsnip Soup (Potage de Panais) 1J lbs. parsnips. 1 or 2 onions. 1 stick celery. A small bunch of herbs. 1 oz. butter or dripping. Pepper and salt. 2 pts. meat boilings. | pt. milk. 1 dessert-sp. cornflour. 1 dessert-sp. chopped parsley.