The girl's own cookery book

Very excellent soup can be made of scraps and bones, cooked and uncooked, skin, trimmings of vegetables (not cabbage), etc. No remnant of good food is too small or insignificant to be put into the “stock pot,” that is, the pot or saucepan employed in making the stock for soup. Scraps put into the stock pot may be covered with cold water, and stewed until every particle of goodness has been extracted from them ; and excellent nourishing soup may be made of the liquor thus obtained. If you will refer to page 62 of this book you will find a recipe for making soup from bones. The French are celebrated for their soups. The stock pot used by them is a glazed earthenware pipkin, while the English stock pot is usually an iron saucepan. Stock made in an earthenware vessel may be allowed to cool in the pot ; stock made in a metal saucepan will taste unpleasantly if left to cool in the pan in which it was made. The stock made from bones will keep better if made without vegetables. It will not taste pleasantly until vegetables and herbs have been added to it, and then it may be thickened with oatmeal, barley, pea-meal, bread, etc., a little milk also is a valuable addition. Thus thickened it Cookery for the Poor. will supply nourishing and wholesome food. An iron stock pot should be emptied and cleansed thoroughly every day. If the English poor could get into the way of stewing scraps and bones (often to be obtained easily), and would make soup of the liquor, they would have many a nourishing meal where now they want one. Scrap Pie. — Put a pound or more of lean cooked or uncooked scraps of meat (beef or mutton, or both), into a saucepan with carrots, turnips, onions, and a couple of potatoes cut into slices. Season with pepper and salt, and pour on cold water to barely cover the meat. Bring the water to a boil, and lay on the top of the meat, etc., a stiff crust made of suet or dripping, which has been rolled to fit the saucepan. Put the lid on the pan, and simmer gently for an hour and a half. Pass the knife round the crust every now and then to keep it from burning, and serve with the meat and vegetables on a dish, and the suet crust cut into quarters and laid upon it. If meat cannot be obtained, this pie may be made of vegetables alone. Porridge can scarcely be too highly recommended as nourishing food. The Scotch, who are a hardy race, almost live upon it. Yet it is scarcely worth while to give directions for making it, for those who appreciate its value will not need the recipe, and those who do not will scarcely be induced to try it. Perhaps I may be allowed to remind my friends that one pound of oatmeal, ground pease, haricot beans, and semolina will give a man as much strength as three pounds of lean meat. The following is the ordinary method of making porridge : — Boil a little water and add a pinch of salt. Sprinkle a little oatmeal into boiling water, and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon or knife till the required thickness is obtained. Boil for a few minutes longer, still stirring the preparation briskly, pour the porridge out, let it stand a few minutes, and eat with treacle or sugar and milk. Superior Porridge. — Soak a heaped tablespoonful of coarse oatmeal in a pint of water overnight. In the morning put the saucepan with the oatmeal and water on the fire and let it boil, stirring it occasionally to prevent