Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

This soup should not be allowed to boil after the yolks of the eggs have been added. As salt and pepper vary in strength, more may be required than the quantities stated above. Just before stirring in the egg mixture, taste the soup ; and if more seasoning be needed, add it then. * Cream-of-Rice Soup. For three quarts of soup there will be required two pounds of the neck or shin of beef or veal or of the neck of mutton, an onion, two slices of carrot, a stalk of celery, when it may be obtained, half a cupful of rice, two quarts and a pint of water, a quart of milk, a generous table-spoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, one table-spoonful of butter, two cloves, and a small piece of stick cinnamon. Be careful that the meat is perfectly sweet and clean, and rid it of all its fat. After cutting it into small pieces and putting it into a good-sized stew-pan, pour the cold water upon it. Heat slowly to the boilingpoint; then skim, cover closely again, and set back where the water will boil slowly for four hours. At the end of three hours add the vegetables and spice. Wash the half-cupful of rice carefully, and put it into a deep stew-pan. Strain upon it the liquor from the meat, when it has cooked four hours, and set the stewpan where the soup will simmer for an hour and a half; then add the salt and pepper, and strain the soup through a fine sieve, rubbing every particle of rice through the meshes. Return the mixture to the stew-pan, and put it back on the fire. Heat the quart of milk to the boilingpoint, in a double-boiler (so as to prevent burning), and add it to the soup. Add also the table-spoonful of butter. Boil up once, and serve. Cream-of-tapioca and cream-of-sago soups may be prepared in the same way, only the soup should not be strained after the sago or tapioca has been added, the first straining being sufficient. * Cream-of-Barley Soup. This is made in the same way as cream-of-rice soup, only the barley must be cooked for four hours. If it be one's custom to have an early dinner, or if the soup is to be served at luncheon, it will be well to prepare the stock the previous day. Cream-of-Bread Soup. The directions for cream-of-rice soup should be followed, save that two quarts of broken bread should be substituted for the half-cupful of rice. It should be cooked in the stock and rubbed through a sieve, and the soup should be finished like the first one. The bread used must be yeast bread, at least two days old ; it should be broken into pieces about half the size of a hen's egg, and be measured lightly. This soup is a very smooth and nice one. Two quarts and half a pint of any kind of stock, if you have it, will do for these soups. All the trimmings, bones, and gristle left from broils or a roast may be used to produce stock. The water in which poultry or mutton has been boiled will answer very well. Of course the richer the stock, the more nutritious the soup will be. Peas, asparagus, cauliflower, carrots, celery, and potatoes all make the most delicious cream soups, with or without stock for a foundation. When one has cream to spare, it is advisable to put it into a soup ; for half a pint, costing perhaps ten cents, will add fifty per cent to the flavor. * Tapioca-and-Milk Soup.