and should be of a light brown, sherry, or straw color. All white or brown thick soups should be rather thin, with just sufficient consistency to adhere lightly to a spoon when hot; such as soups of fish, poultry, or game. Simple brown soups, no matter whether of meat or vegetables, require to be somewhat thicker.

If good housekeepers could bring themselves to give up the old notion of boiling for five and six hours, to obtain “the extract" of meat, and follow the advice of chemists, they would be able to serve up a nice soup in a short time, and with comparatively little labor. At the commencement of the French revolution, public attention was directed to the improvement and management of food for the poor and the army. The scientific men of France were called upon for an opinion; and the government, led away by enthusiastic reports, were induced to send forth such language as the following: "A bone is a tablet of soup formed by nature; a pound of bones gives as much soup as six pounds of meat; bone soup, in a dietetical point of view, is preferable to meat soup." It would seem that even cookery, at that time, was looked at through the same exaggerated medium as political matters. These expressions were soon found to be the grossest exaggerations, and the apparatus which was put up to convert the bones into soup was soon found to be useless, and totally abandoned. The medical officers of the Hôtel Dieu drew up a report, which declares such soup to be of bad quality and indigestible. Therefore we may conclude soup made from bones of meat and poultry to be nothing more than the stone soup of old, which, with plenty of vegetables and seasoning, made quite a delicious repast.

A CLEAR BROWN STOCK FOR GRAVY OR SOUP. Put a knuckle of veal, a pound of lean beef, and a pound of the lean part of bacon, all sliced, into a stewpan, with two or three well-scraped carrots, two onions, two turnips, two heads of celery, sliced, and two quarts of

cold water.

Stew the meat until tender, but do not let it brown. When thus prepared, it will serve either for soup or brown or white gravies; if for brown, add some coloring, and boil a few minutes. Skim it very carefully. To color it, add a little brown gravy, or browning.

COLORING FOR SOUPS AND GRAVIES. Put four ounces of lump sugar, a gill of water, and half an ounce of the finest butter into a saucepan, and set it over a gentle fire. Stir it with a wooden spoon till of a light brown. Then add half a pint of water, boil, skim, and, when cold, bottle and cork it close. Add to soup or gravies as much of this as will give it a proper color.

CALVES' HEAD SOUP. Clean the head well; put it with the feet into three gallons of water. Boil them till the flesh falls from the bones. When about half cooked, put in the pluck. When taken from the fire, separate the meat from the bones, and cut it in pieces three or four inches square. Strain the liquor in which it is boiled. Put two thirds of it into the pot, reserving the other third in case it be too thick or too highly seasoned. Put into the pot, before the head is again put in, a half bottle of red wine. Take the other half of the wine and swell four pounded and sifted crackers. Add to the soup a spoonful of marjoram, one of thyme, two of savory, and one of cayenne pepper; salt to your taste; one ounce of mace, one half ounce of pounded cloves, two nutmegs; mix all together, and put it over the fire. Let it boil moderately for two hours. Stir it occasionally, to prevent its burning. Serve with forcemeat balls, thin slices of lemon, and eggs boiled hard.

CALVES' HEAD OR MOCK TURTLE SOUP. One calf's head, with the feet, liver, tongue, and lights, simmered till tender. When thoroughly cooked, let them be taken out, and cut into small pieces; strain the liquor, and let it stand till cold. Then skim the fat off very carefully. Instead of cutting up the head for soup, it

can be served for dinner. The next day, take about two quarts of the liquor, one dozen cloves, one dozen peppercorns, salt, two onions, two carrots, and two turnips, cut fine. Cut up all of the meat that you have left into small, square pieces. Put the vegetables together, and boil them one hour; strain the liquor in which the vegetables are boiled into the two quarts, and let them boil together. Then add three spoonfuls of browned flour, braided into half a pound of butter, and a pint of red wine. Add some forcemeat balls made of the brains, and a little meat chopped fine and seasoned. Put the forcemeat balls, lemon, the yolks of the eggs, and three table-spoonfuls of sage into the bottom of the tureen. Turn the soup on this, and send it to table very hot. This will make about five quarts of soup.

PEA SOUP. Put one quart of split peas to seven quarts of water. Take a knuckle of veal, or some cold roast beef bones, a little savory, sweet marjoram, and let them simmer gently, (stirring every quarter of an hour to prevent the peas from burning,) until they are tender. This will take four hours. Then strain them through a sieve, rubbing them well to get out all the goodness of the peas, leaving in the sieve only the hulls. Put the soup back into the pot, with some black pepper and a little salt. If you like, add a little mint rubbed fine, and a head of celery cut small. Let this boil. Have some slices of bread, nicely toasted, and cut into pieces an inch square, or, if preferred, fry some in butter; put these into the bottom of the tureen, and pour over the soup.

PEA SOUP. Make a strong broth of two pounds of beef, the day before you want the soup, and season it with pepper, salt, and onion. Strain it. When cold,

remove the fat. Boil one pint of split peas till tender. Strain them through a coarse sieve. Add to the broth one carrot, one head of celery, and the peas sifted. Boil together for three fourths of an hour. Have some

bread toasted brown, and cut into dice. Put them into the tureen, and pour over them the soup.

PEA SOUP. Put one quart of well-washed split peas into three quarts of soft water, to boil. It is not necessary to soak peas over night. Put them into a pot with two carrots, two onions, a head of celery, to boil for four or five hours. Take about two pounds of salt pork, wash, and score the top well, boil it in a separate pot about one hour. Then add it to your peas, which have been sifted, and let them boil together about an hour. Pour the soup into the tureen, with the accompaniments directed in the above recipe. Take the pork and pour over it a little warm water to clean away the soup, and send it to table in a separate dish.

GREEN PEA SOUP. Two quarts of green peas; a few pieces of lean ham, or a knuckle of veal, or bones from roast meat; two onions, sliced; a few sprigs of parsley, and put them to stew in two quarts of water When very tender, strain it. Put it on the fire again, with a little pepper and salt, and sweet herbs. Add about a pint of milk. Served the same as above.

VERMICELLI SOUP. Boil a shin of beef, slowly, with two onions, three turnips, three carrots, and a little celery, for five or six hours the onions should be browned in butter a few cloves and mace. Strain it and let it cool, so that all the fat can be removed. Put it over the fire again; add about two ounces of vermicelli in pieces two inches long. Then boil one half hour.

VEGETABLE SOUP. One onion; two turnips; one carrot; one quart of water; one head of celery; salt; and a little butter braided in flour; a few cloves or

mace.

BROWN SOUP. Four pounds of lean beef, stuck with cloves; stew it in four quarts of water, with a stick of cinnamon, one blade of mace, until reduced one half. When the goodness is boiled out of the beef,

take it out and put in two gills of red wine; a little salt; an onion. When done, strain it, and serve it with toasted bread.

SHIN SOUP. Take a shin, put it in a pot with one gallon and a half of water. Let it stew gently for four hours. When cold, remove the fat. Put it on the fire again with salt, pepper, onion, celery, and carrots. After it has browned some time, add a little browned flour; a glass of white wine. Let it simmer. Put toasted bread, cut in very small pieces, in the

tureen.

SHIN OF BEEF SOUP. Have the shin bone sawed in several pieces; put it into a pot with ten or twelve quarts of water and a little salt. The scum must be carefully removed when it first rises. Four onions; two carrots; a tea-spoon of allspice, and one of black pepper; let these stew gently for five or six hours; strain it into a pan, and let it remain until the next day. When the beef is cold, pick out all the gristle and sinews, and cut them in pieces as big as a walnut, and lay them aside to put into the soup; take the fat from the liquor; cut a large onion in slices, and fry it brown; put these with the liquor into the pot, adding four table-spoonfuls of flour, wet with some of the liquor; add a small cup of mushroom or tomato catchup; a little port or claret wine.

OYSTER SOUP. Take a shin of veal, and put it into a pot, with three quarts of water; two carrots, and two onions sliced; some pepper and salt; boil it from three to four hours; strain it through a sieve. Braid a half pound of butter in three table-spoonfuls of flour; boil it some ten minutes. Have ready, washed, one gallon of oysters; strain the liquor into the soup; boil it again; then put in the oysters, with a tumbler and one half of white wine; just boil it up once. very hot.

Serve it

The above can be varied in flavor and appearance. Instead of putting in wine, add the same quantity of cream or rich milk to the soup.