Of Food. 485 



Receipt for a very cheap Soup. 



Take of water eight gallons, and mixing with it 5 Ibs. 

 of barley-meal boil it to the consistency of a thick 

 jelly. Season it with salt, pepper, vinegar, sweet herbs, 

 and four red herrings pounded in a mortar. Instead 

 of bread, add to it 5 Ibs. of Indian corn made into samp, 

 and stirring it together with a ladle serve it up imme- 

 diately in portions of 20 ounces. 



Samp, which is here recommended, is a dish said to 

 have been invented by the savages of North America, 

 who have no corn-mills. It is Indian corn deprived of 

 its external coat by soaking it ten or twelve hours in a 

 lixivium of water and wood-ashes. This coat or husk, 

 being separated from the kernel, rises to the surface 

 of the water, while the grain, which is specifically 

 heavier than water, remains at the bottom of the vessel ; 

 which grain, thus deprived of its hard coat of armour, 

 is boiled, or rather simmered, for a great length of time, 

 two days, for instance, in a kettle of water placed near 

 the fire. When sufficiently cooked, the kernels will be 

 found to be swelled to a great size and burst open ; and 

 this food, which is uncommonly sweet and nourishing, 

 may be used in a great variety of ways, but the best 

 way of using it is to mix it with milk, and with soups 

 and broths, as a substitute for bread. It is even better 

 than bread for these purposes ; for, besides being quite 

 as palatable as the very best bread, as it is less liable 

 than bread to grow too soft when mixed with these 

 liquids, without being disagreeably hard it requires 

 more mastication, and consequently tends more to 

 increase and prolong the pleasure of eating. 



The soup which may be prepared with the quantities 



