MAKING OF SOUPS 311 



shapes, I certainly acknowledged I had rarely seen a 

 more artistically arranged bird, and was prepared for 

 something remarkable in the way of cuisine. But 

 here came the disappointment, for the vegetables that 

 looked so tempting had been simply boiled in water 

 without salt and placed around the chicken like Parsley 

 without any preparation ; placed there simply to please 

 the eye. That these vegetables could have been made 

 an appetising part of the entree never seemed to have 

 entered the cook's mind nor the minds of my English 

 friends who were partaking of them. No French 

 cook would have been guilty of such a flagrant mis- 

 take. It required but to dress these Mushrooms and 

 Artichokes in the every-day manner common to the 

 most ordinary French maid-of-all-work, to have con- 

 verted this chicken entree into a dish fit for a king. 



French cooking is essentially practical and econ- 

 omical, especially in regard to vegetables, and it is the 

 object of this chapter to point out the various uses of 

 vegetables with their modes of preparation. Where 

 economy is most noticeable is in the 



MAKING OF SOUPS. 



In England the idea of a vegetable soup is a 

 puree, i.e., the passing of the cooked vegetable through 

 a sieve. In France the water that has served to boil 

 Asparagus, White Haricot Beans, Cauliflower, Cabbage, 

 etc., is the principal element in the every-day soup, 

 and the vegetable itself is served as a course. 



