Cassell's dictionary of cookery

When it has risen to a good height, is brightly coloured, and quite set in the centre, it is done enough, and should be served immediately. Souffles are very usually served at large dinners, and are generally handed round after the removes of the second course. As they are very good also for ordinary dinners, the inexperienced cook wiU find it well worth her whUe to perfect herself by practice in the art of making them. [See Principles of Cookery, page iv.) Soup. — There is no part of cookery which is so imperfectly understood by ordinary cooks as the preparation of soup. Amongst the wealthy it is considered a necessity, and, as a matter of course, forms part of the dinner. Amongst the middle classes it is more usually served than it used to be, and is, year by year, increasingly appreciated; but amongst the lower classes it is all but scorned; and mistresses of small households will testify that the maid-of-aU-work, who when at home is half starved instead of being properly fed, will consider herself most hardly used if part of the provision of the day's dinner consists of a portion of wholesome soup. This opinion is, of course, a sign of ignorance. Soup is both nourishing and wholesome, and it may also be prepared economically. With attention and a little trouble, it may be made from very inexpensive materials, and, considering that when soup has been served smaller inroads are made into the joint, the frugal housekeeper who has once calculated the difference in cost of a dinner consisting of economically-made soup, meat, and vegetables, and one of meat and vegetables only, will never object to the introduction of soup at her table on account of the expense. Soup may be made of a large variety of different articles, including meat of all kinds, bones, game, poultrj', fish, shell-fish, all kinds of vegetables, herbs, and farinaceous articles. sou ( 902 ) SOU milk, eggs, &c. &c. The basis of all soup is stock. Instructions to making this will be found in its proper place, and it will, therefore, net be consideied here. The reader will also find most valuable hints for making stock and soups in the article on the Principles or Cookery. Directions for making various soups will be found under their various headings, nevertheless it may be found useful if a few rules of universal application are here given as an assistance in their manufacture. There are three kinds of soups — clear soup, thick soup, and purees. A puree is made by rubbing the jingredients of which it is composed through a tamis or sieve. A thick soup is stock thickened by the addition of various thickening ingredients. These soups are best suited to the winter season. Clear soup is thin and bright, and adapted for use in the summer months. In making soup it is most important that every culinary article used should be perfectly clean. The inside of the covers of saucepans, the rims, and the handles, particularly require attention. The lid of the saucepan should never be removed over a smoky fire. The meat used should be freshly-killed, and should be as lean as it can be procured ; it should never be washed. The Iwnes should be broken up into small pieces. Cold water should be put upon fresh meat and bones; boiling water (a small quantity at a time) upon meat or vegetables that have been fried or browned.