Soups, savouries, sweets, with a chapter on breads

* Cook it any way : prithee leave me* Massinger. * And mete and drinke this night wol 1 bring Ynoughfor thee* — Chaucer. onions, three carrots, two turnips, a small stick of celery, or teaspoonful of celery seeds ; a bunch of parsley, one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, one of sorrel ; three ounces of pearl barley ; pepper and salt to taste. Cut the vegetables in halves, and boil them in three quarts of water for two hours. During this time soak the barley in the gill of water. Strain the broth through a fine sieve, putting aside a piece of carrot and celery to be cut up in thin shreds. Return the clear liquor to the saucepan, put in it the barley, pepper and salt, and boil for two hours, or until the barley is quite soft. Strain again through a sieve. Return one tablespoonful of the barley to the broth, together with the chopped parsley and * The best of the tables and the best of the fare.* Clough. * For soups and stews^ and choice ragouts^ Nell Cook was famous still; She*d make them even of old shoes ^ she had such wondrous skill,* Ingoldsby. sorrel, and pepper and salt to taste. Boil up and serve in a previously heated tureen. Celestine Soup (white).♦ Half a pint of pearl barley, six carrots, four onions stuck with eight cloves, a stick of celery, half a small turnip, a small bunch of sweet herbs, a blade of mace, half a tablespoonful of salt, the yolks of two eggs, a small teacupful of milk, four quarts of water. Wash the barley, put it into a large saucepan with the water and salt. Boil ; then put in the carrots, onions, celery and turnip, cut into quarters, and the herbs and mace. Simmer with the lid on for six hours, after which strain through a fine hair sieve, and ' Is supper ready ^ the house trimmed, rushes strewn, cobwebs swept f * Taming of the Shrew.' * The com all strong and stately ^ In its bearded bravery grew. ' Gerald Massey. return it again to the saucepan. As the simmering will have reduced the stock and left it too thick, add milk till the stock is of the consistency of cream. • Shortly before the soup is served, whisk up the yolks of the eggs with a quarter of a pint of milk at the bottom of a warmed tureen; and when the soup is served pour it boiling from the saucepan on to the eggs, slowly at first, to prevent curdling, and rapidly stirring all the time. A few boiled green peas or asparagus heads put into the soup improve it. Cream added to the eggs instead of milk -makes the soup very rich. Barley Soup. 10. Three large carrots, two turnips, four * Ifs quite over-boiled too. The butter is oil'd toOf The soup is all spoiled too, Ifs nothing but slop! — Hood. * The mind is lost in mighty contemplation^ Of intellect expettded on two courses,'' Byron. onions, a stick of celery, a bunch of parsley, four sorrel leaves, two large tablespoon - fuls of pearl barley, one pint of milk, a small blade of mace ; pepper and salt to taste ; two quarts of spring or filtered water. Boil the vegetables and spices in the water for three hours. Strain through a hair sieve, and return the stock to the saucepan. Soak the barley in sufficient cold water to cover it for an hour, and add it. Boil together for three hours. Before serving, boil the milk in a separate saucepan, and pour it into a warmed soup tureen. Over this pour the boiling stock, carefully stirring all the time. A tablespoonful of cream is an improvement to this soup, ' Many Nature* s guest by invitation STveet^ Receives from her both appetite and treat ; Buty if he play the glutton^ and exceed^ His benefactress blushes at the deed* * By the rose-flesh mushrooms^ undivulged Last evening^ — Browning. and small dice of fried bread may be added just before serving. Ausbroom Soup* ID.