soTJiPS, boxxiHstg- hn^e-A-ts, etc 



Hemarhs and General Directions. — The most nourishing soups are made of 

 fresh meats; but whatever meat you use should be put in cold water, well 

 covered, and kept at a low temperatui-e and never allowed to boil, for at least 

 one hour, after which a bubbling boil may be allowed. Remembering that the 

 first hard boil hardens the smface and locks up the juices of the meat, which 

 is important to draw out in soup-making. For economj^'s sake, a knuckle- 

 joint or a shin-bone is preferable; but there should be sufficient meat attached 

 to give the required nourishment and flavor of the meat used. However, after 

 the first hour slow stewing has passed^ any cold - meats or bits of fowl which 

 have been left over, may be added, having been cut in small slices. It is well, 

 also, with fresh meats to cut small, and bones to be well cracked, or sawed 

 across to allow the marrow and juices to escape. Vegetables should be cut 

 fine or sliced thin, or grated upon a coarse greater, as preferred. Salt helps to 

 harden and lock up the juices, and hence should not be put into soups until the 

 vegetables are added, about an hour before serving. But s(iup meats should be 

 put over the fire as soon after breakfast as possible, so as to give 4 or 5 hours to 

 its preparation. 



In Cold Weather soup-plates should be well heated before serving 

 the soup in them from the covered tureen; and in fact, all plates in cold 

 "weather, from which meats or gravies are to be eaten, should be well warmed 

 before bringing to the table. Soup properly " warmed up," i. e., put on just 

 before dinner-time, so as not to be to long upon the stove, is equal if not better 

 than the fresh made; and this is especially so when beans enter into its 

 make. 



Straining and Filtering not at all Necessary.— The fancy 

 " Cook-Books " talk about straining soups, and some even of filtering through 

 a hair sieve after straining. The straining will remove fully one-half of tho 

 nourishing properties used, but if "style is preferable " to the strength which 

 would otherwise be obtained from the thicker parts of the soup, by all means 

 both strain and filter them. One point more, and I am done with the general 

 ideas of soup-making— it is this: for healthy people it is not essential to trim 

 off the fat from soup meats, nor the oily particles from the top of soups; but 

 for invahds both these must be done, either by making the day before and 

 removing the fat when cold from the top, or by dipping off as much as possible 

 wliile hot. As soups always come on the table before the other dishes, we wiU 

 let them also go before "Various Dishes" in making up the book. 



Boiled Dinner— How to Get It Up.— To get up a " boiled dinner " 

 it is of the same importance to keep the juices in the meats that it is to draw 

 them out in making soups, therefore as putting into cold water and heating 



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