Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Now put two table-spoonfuls of butter into a small frying-pan, and add two table-spoonfuls of chopped celery, two of onion, one of carrot, one of turnip, one bay leaf, one sprig of parsley, and a tiny sprig of thyme. Cook slowly for half an hour; then draw forward and stir until the vegetables begin to turn brown. Press the vegetables against the side of the pan, to get the butter out. When they are as free of butter as possible, put them into the soup-pot with the other ingredients. Place the pot on the fire, and when the soup begins to boil, set it back where it will hardly bubble for an hour. Taste at the end of that time, to be sure that no more salt is needed. Pour the soup into a common strainer and then through a napkin that has been dipped in ice water and wrung afterward. The veal that is left may be used for croquettes. Chicken Consommé. The first step is to cut the breasts from two large fowls and put them away in a cool place, and then cut the other parts of the fowls into joints. Wash these, and put them into a soup-pot with four quarts of cold water ; and when the broth has been heated to the degree at which it boils, skim it carefully, and set back where it will boil gently for six hours. During the last hour and a half one of the breasts should be cooked with the soup, and it should then be taken out and put away to cool. The soup, after being strained through a colander, should also be put away. When it has become cold, and all the fat has been skimmed off, turn it back into the soup-pot, and add a small piece of mace and of cinnamon, a large onion or two small ones, two blades of celery, two teaspoonfuls of salt, three dozen pepper-corns, the whites of two eggs, well beaten, and the uncooked breast of one of the fowls, chopped very fine. Let the soup heat slowly to the boiling-point, and set back where it will retain that degree of heat for one hour. It should then be perfectly clear, — the whites of the eggs and other sediment having settled on the bottom of the pot. Taste the soup to find whether it requires more seasoning. Dip an old napkin into hot water and place it in a strainer, and after the consomme has been poured through this it will be ready for serving. It may be improved, however, by cutting the cooked breast of one of the fowls into thin bits, and heating the meat in the consomme after the straining. Consommé with Rice. Use two table-spoonfuls of uncooked rice to two quarts of clear soup. After ridding the rice of all dark particles, wash it in three waters, rubbing it thoroughly between the hands while it is in the first water. When it has been properly washed, put it into an uncovered stewpan with one quart of boiling water, and place the pan where its contents will boil for twenty minutes. At the end of the first fifteen minutes add one teaspoonful of salt ; and at the end of the twenty minutes turn the rice into a strainer and pour over it a quart of cold water, which will rinse off any starch that may be clinging to the grains. Heat the soup, and after adding the rice to it, cook for ten minutes without letting it boil. Consommé with Barley.