Simple cooking of wholesome food for the farm home

Cream Soups. — A cream soup consists of a combination of meat or vegetable pulp and white sauce thinned as desired. Almost any vegetable, fish, or chicken may be used in a cream, soup. When vegetable is cooked tender rub through a sieve, moistening now and then with water in which it was cooked to make it go through strainer faster. Flour is used to bind the vegetable pulp and the liquid, thus giving the soup a smooth consistency. If butter is not used, the flour may be mixed with a little of the cold liquid, and added to the hot soup. If butter is used, cream it and the flour together and then add to the soup. In either case the soup should be boiled after the flour is added. Cream of Tomato Soup. — One pint tomatoes, two teaspoons sugar, one-eighth teaspoon soda, one quart milk, one-third cup butter, one slice onion, four tablespoons flour, one teaspoon salt, one-eighth teaspoon pepper. Heat tomatoes and rub through a sieve. Add sugar, soda, flour and butter rubbed into a paste. Boil five minutes. Scald milk with onion in it, remove onion, and add to the thickened tomato. Reheat, but do not boil. Salt just before serving. 16 Bulletin of the University of Texas Baked Bean Soup. — Three cups cold baked beans, three pints water, two slices onion, one and one-half cups stewed and strained tomatoes, two stalks celery, two tablespoons butter, two tablespoons flour, one tablespoon chili sauce, salt, pepper. Put beans, water, onion, and celery in sauce pan ; bring to boiling point and simmer thirty minutes. Rub through a sieve ; add tomato, chili sauce, season to taste with salt and pepper, and bind with the butter and flour cooked together. Serve with crisp crackers. Corn Soup. — One can corn, one pint boiling water, one pint milk, one slice onion, two tablespoons butter, two tablespoons flour, one teaspoon salt. Chop the corn, add water, and simmer twenty minutes; rub through a sieve. Scald milk with onion in it, remove onion, and add milk to corn. Bind with butter and flour cooked together. Add salt. Potato Soup. — Three medium sized potatoes, one quart milk, two slices onion, three tablespoons butter, one and one-half teaspoons salt, two tablespoons flour. Cook potatoes in boiling salted water ; when soft, rub through a strainer. Scald milk with onion in it, remove onion, and add milk slowly to potatoes. Melt the butter, add dry ingredients, stir until well mixed, then stir into boiling soup; cook one minute. Season and serve. GENERAL DIRECTIONS VEGETABLES. The cooking of vegetables depends largely upon their composition. For example, potatoes contain such a large amount of water that they have sufficient in them to swell starch grains and cook the starch thoroughly. They may be cooked, therefore, as in baking, without the addition of any water. Rice, on the contrary, contains only a very small per cent of water, and it is necessary to add a very large amount while cooking it. Old vegetables contain a tough, woody fibre, and they require long cooking to soften this fibre, while young vegetables have very tender fibre which is easily softened and broken down by heat. Dried vegetables usually require longer cooking than fresh ones. They should be thoroughly washed and soaked overnight Simple Cooking of Wholesome Food for the Farm Home 17 before cooking. They should then be cooked in the water they have been soaked in.