The household cook book

PUMPKIN SOUP — Peel the pumpkin and cut into pieces (removing the seeds). Put it into boiling water with some salt, and leave it to boil until reduced to a pulp thin enough to pass through a strainer. Melt a piece of butter in a sauce-pan with a wine-glass of cream. Strain the pulp and add, with salt and pepper to taste, and a pinch of flour. Let the whole simmer \ hour, thicken with the yolk of an egg, and serve. RICE SOUP — Put a piece of butter the size of an egg and 1 cup of bread crumbs in a skillet, and fry them as thoroughly brown as possible without burning. When sufficiently browned, pour on 3 quarts of boiling water, and add a pint of rice, a head of finely cut celery, and a little salt. Stew all together until the rice is tender. Add a cup of rich milk or cream, and serve. Half the above quantity will serve a small family. SAGO SOUP — Wash | cup of sago in warm water, set it in a saucepan with 2 quarts of milk, and simmer until the sago is thoroughly dissolved; season with pepper and salt, and add a cup of cream before serving Good clear stock is generally used for both sago and tapioca soup, but they are even nicer made with milk. FOR SEMOLINA, MACARONI AND VERMICELLI SOUP, see "Italian Soups." FRENCH SORREL SOUP— Take a large handful of garden sorrel; wash thoroughly, and cut finely with shears, and add some lettuce leaves and sweet herbs, also finely cut. Drain thoroughly on a sieve, then put them in a frying-pan with butter already melted, and fry, stirring with a spoon. After about 10 minutes of cooking in this way, put in the soup-kettle, with 2 quarts of boiling water, and add salt, white pepper, and bits of butter well rolled in flour. Serve rolls with the soup; hard boiled eggs, sliced into the tureen, are an addition much liked. The Sorrel (Rumex Acetosa) is a hardy perennial, which grows in Europe, Asiatic Russia and North America. It grows in any good garden soil, and when fully grown, the leaves are gathered singly, and they are used to flavor soups, salads and sauces. Sorrel was known to the Romans, who sometimes stewed it with mustard, and seasoned it with a little oil and vinegar. It is not much used in English and American cookery, but is used considerably in France. Its acid, which is very pronounced, is a combination of oxalic acid with potash, called by chemists, binoxalate of potash. TAPIOCA SOUP — Make like sago soup, given above, only the tapioca must be soaked for at least | hour in warm water before being put into the milk. TOMATO SOUP — Put 1 quart of tomatoes in 1 quart of boiling water and let them cook thoroughly; set 1 quart of milk in a pitcher or tin, into a kettle or pan of hot water to scald. When the tomatoes are done, add a teaspoon of soda, and when foaming ceases, add the hot milk with a generous lump of butter; salt and pepper to taste. Cream may be added instead of butter, and more milk and less water used if desired. Brown a few crackers, roll fine and add to the soup. Serve with small pieces of dry toast without butter. Time, about 30 to 40 minutes. TOMATO SOUP No. 2 One pint of canned tomatoes, or 4