366 SOUP-MAKING. 



interpreted, and the world's experience in applying them, can be put at 

 the command of the housewife, she can use them to great profit. 



" Soup-Making. For one thing, we have yet to learn the great 

 art of soup-making, and it seems also of soup-eating. 



" The American housekeeper would say to me, ' This is nothing 

 new; for years we have been hearing about soups. We don't like soups.' 

 I only ask, * Have you tried them for a considerable length of time, so 

 that you have become skilled in making them and your family used 

 to the taste ? ' One fact alone ought to insure for them a good trial, 

 that at least three nations, the French, German, and Italian, make 

 daily use of them, and have for generations. To take part of our 

 food in this form is an absolute necessity if we are to do the best 

 possible with a certain amount of money. 



" If we do not overvalue either the gelatin or flavoring matters in 

 our meat soups, nor throw away the meat out of which they are made 

 we shall begin to make soups on the right basis ; that is, an understand- 

 ing of the real value of the materials we are working with, and we shall 

 use meat for our soups less often than we now do perhaps, considering 

 its high price and our great need of it cooked in other ways. Soups 

 should not be regarded as a luxury, neither as the last resort of poverty, 

 but as a necessary part of a dinner, just as they are now used by all 

 classes in Europe ; but they need not be made of good cuts of meat, nor 

 indeed, of meats at all. 



" Lean meat of any sort, beef best ; fresh, better than that long 

 kept ; bones of next value, especially the spongy rib bones and ver- 

 tebrae. Saw and chop the bones into little pieces ; cut the meat small. 

 Soft water is better than hard. 



" Keep a kettle, if possible, for this purpose alone, and add to it all 

 bits of meat and bones as they accumulate. Put the meat into cold 

 water, let it stand some hours if possible, heat very gradually, and keep 

 simmering. Two hours or less brings out all the flavors of the meat, 

 but a much longer time is necessary to get all the nutriment from the 

 bones. 



" Do not remove the scum ; it contains the albumen of the soup, 

 and nothing objectionable if the meat was well cleaned. 



" An hour before the soup is served add flavors ; onions and carrots 

 are the best, celery, summer savory, and parsley next. Use others, as 

 cloves, nutmegs, bay leaf, etc., only occasionally. Add salt and pepper 

 just before serving. 



