Healthful cookery

Nut Soup Stock may be used in precisely the same way as extract of beef and other concentrated soup stocks. It dissolves instantly in either hot or cold water. It is best to add the water slowly at first, beating it together with a Dover or Cyclone egg-beater until smooth, when the remainder of the water may be added. Where tomato is mentioned, strained stewed tomato of ordinary consistency is intended. If it should be unusually thin, a little more will be required, and a little less if it is thicker. The herbs,1 for the soups that are to be strained, are loosely tied in a piece of cheese-cloth or thin muslin, so that the flavor will come out into the soup as the sack is occasionally pressed with a spoon. The bay leaves are thrown in without any preparation. The stalks of celery are crushed or broken. Onions are sliced, except when they are chopped and left in the soup. Carrots are grated. 1 The herbs mentioned are usually obtainable in dry or powdered form of most dealers ; but those raised in one's own garden are superior in flavor, and may be dried and kept for winter use. Healthful Cookery Nut Soup Stock will keep almost indefinitely after being opened, by keeping it exposed to the air in a dry place, and turning it over occasionally on to a clean plate. The browned flour used in the recipes is prepared as follows: — *Browned Flour. — Take any good spring-wheat flour, and put it into a warm (not hot) oven, stir it often, to prevent lumping, until it is dried out. Then increasing the heat of the oven, stir the flour more often, and bring it to the degree of brownness desired. Be sure to brown it evenly. Do not let even a small portion of it become burned, for that will give a bitter flavor to the whole. No. 1 is of a delicate cream color, so light that one can hardly tell that it is browned at all except by comparing it with some that has not been in the oven. No. 2 is of a dark cream or light brown color. No. 3 is a light chestnut. It requires a very hot oven and constant watching and stirring for the last half hour to bring No. 3 to perfection. One will need to watch closely that it does not burn on the bottom of the pan as well as on the top. These browned flours will keep almost indefinitely in clean, dry receptacles. *Brown Onion Flavor. — 2 medium-sized onions, sliced thin, 2 tablespoonfuls Browned Flour No. 3. Soups with Nut Soup Stock 185 Blend the flour with the water, add the onion, and cover well with boiling water. Simmer, adding water when necessary, until the onion is dissolved. Rub through a wire strainer. The mixture should now be thin enough to pour from a spoon readily, or of about the consistency of rather thick cream. This flavor can be kept for several days in a cool place. It takes the place of the onion fried in butter or other oil, which is used so much in ordinary cooking for flavoring soups and gravies, and has the advantage of being free from poisonous acids. *Nut Bouillon. — % pound Nut Soup Stock, 2 cups water, 4 tablespoonfuls Brown Onion Flavor, 2/3 cup tomato, or % if very thin, 2 to 2*4 teaspoonfuls salt, add water to make 2^2 to 3 pints.