My mother's cook book

Blanch the turnips with plenty of boiling water to keep them white, then soak them in cold water for one hour. Melt in a saucepan two ounces of butter, stir into this the flour and two pints of the white stock. Stir the compound now until it boils and then put in the turnips, pepper, salt and sugar, having well drained and dried the turnips after taking them from the water. This must simmer until the turnips are tender, when it should be passed through a sieve and the remainder of the stock added, bringing all again to the boiling point. The rice should now be washed well and boiled in two quarts of water for twenty minutes, when the water should be well drained from it and the rice placed in the tureen, the purée poured over it, adding then the cream and the remaining ounce of butter, stirring all until the butter melts. When it is ready for immediate serving. Note. — The turnips must be weighed after being pared, and should always be pared thickly as the outside is always bitter. Potato Furie. — For this should be furnished : one pound of potatoes, one Bermuda onion, two leaves of celery, one and one-half pint of whole stock, one gill of i6 soOPs. single cream, one ounce of butter, one-half saltspoonful of salt, and the same amount of pepper. , So provided, put into the saucepan the potatoes, pared and sliced, the celery, onion and butter, stirring all over the fire for five minutes, taking care that they do not discolor. Add now one pint of stock, and let it boil slowly until the potatoes are cooked done, then pass all through a sieve, using the remaining one-half pint of stock hot, to prevent the gluten of the potatoes from stiffening and clogging in the sieve. The saucepan should then be well washed ajid the purée returned to it, the cream, pepper and salt added, and stirred until it boils. This should be served with fried bread or asparagus tips, arrangitig either in the tureen as before directed, and pouring the purée over. Note. — By single cream, that is meant which arises in twelve hours. Double cream arises in twenty-four hours, and cream for butter in forty-eight hours. , General Notes on Purées. — These purees are intended to suffice for serving four persons, and the apparent inequality of liquids used will be found to correspond with the different lengths of time for boiling which is, of course, the reducing process. If it should happen that the purée is thickened unduly by boiling too quickly, this fault may be remedied by adding more of the stock while it is being passed through the sieve. OYSTERS AND OTHER SHELLFISH. Oyster Soup a-la-Reine.— One quart of oysters, one pint of white stock, one-half pint of cream, one and one-half ounces of butter, one ounce of flour, one blade of OLAM CffO WDER. \ ; mace, one grain of cayenne, one teaspoonful of salt, and half as much pepper- Drain first the liquor from the oysters, and putting the liquor over the fire, bring it to the boiling point. In a separate saucepan melt the butter, , stir into it the flour and pour in the stock. Add also the mace, pepper, cayenne and salt, and let all boil for ten minutes, when the oysters should be added. Watch the oysters closely, and when the leaves begin to shrivel, pour the soup into the tureen and add thereto the cream, which must have been made boiling hot. Note. — The great difficulty to be surmounted in making this soup, is bringing the cream and liquor together without curdling, which is obviated by boiling each separately.