Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

The soup will be perfectly clear, and of a delicate amber color, if these directions are carefully followed : it may then be salted to taste, and served. Clear soup should never be dark in color like bouillon or SOUPS (POTAGE). 171 broth : if too light, a very little caramel may be used to darken it. After the soup is clarified, if there is any fat floating upon the surface, lay one piece of paper after another upon the top, removing each one as it becomes saturated with grease ; use any soft absorbent paper, the ordinary white wrapping-paper used for tea being the most serviceable. All thin soups should be entirely free from fat, and the paper must be used to remove it : the most careful skimming will not accomplish this result. THE CLARIFYING OF FAT. Put the fat in a saucepan, with water enough to float it ; set the saucepan over the fire, and let the water boil ; then pour both water and fat into an earthen bowl or jar, and let the fat cool upon the surface of the water ; when the fat is cold, it can be lifted from the surface of the water, the sediment which forms on the under side can be scraped off, and it will then be ready to use. Clarified drippings are excel- » lent for frying vegetables, and for warming with hash and minced cold meats. CARAMEL. Put a heaping tablespoonful of brown sugar on a fryingpan over the fire, and stir it until it is dark brown, and begins to smoke ; at once begin to add water, a tablespoonful at once, stirring constantly, until enough has been added to quite dissolve the burnt sugar ; then strain the caramel through a cloth, let it cool, and bottle it. The bottled caramel will keep a long time ; a few drops added to soups, sauces, gravies, or jellies, gives them a rich amber color, without imparting any perceptible taste. BOUILLON. To make stock for bouillon, proceed as directed in the recipe for clear soup stock, adding to the ingredients there specified, for four quarts of stock, a three-pound fowl dressed and trussed for boiling, and about a pound of veal bones. Boil, cool, and clarify the stock as directed in the recipe. If when the bouillon is clarified it is not dark brown, color it with a little caramel. The fowl can be taken up when it is tender, and used for salad or croquettes. CLEAR SOUP WITH ROYALE PASTE. Into clear soup, made as directed in the proper recipe, put, for each quart, half a cupful of little strips of royak paste made as follows : Beat together the yolks of four raw eggs, a gill of clear soup, and a palatable seasoning of salt and grated nutmeg; put the custard thus formed into a shallow dish well buttered, using such size as to make the custard about an eighth of an inch thick ; place the dish in a pan of warm water, and steam the custard over the fire or in the oven until it is firm ; then cool it, cut it in little strips, , put it into the soup, and serve it at once. SPRING SOUP WITH VEGETABLES.