" Man shall not live by bread alone."

Bible.

To make nutritious, healthful and palatable soup, with flavors properly commingled, is an art which requires much study and practice. There seems to be a general impression that soups should be made from almost nothing, but this is a great mistake, although it often happens that a scanty allotment of material makes a delicate and truly good soup, but in a very small quantity.

A supply of materials for soup-making should always be kept on hand, such as dried sweet herbs (which may be purchased already dried if the housewife does not grow them herself), whole and ground spices and fresh vegetables. In every pantry should be an earthenware bowl for keeping the remnants of steaks, the bones from roasts, etc., anything, in fact, that can be used in soup. After breakfast or dinner the wise and careful housewife will look over the steaks, chops or roast and put by themselves any pieces that can be again used, either cold or for entrees (made dishes). Then all the bones, trimmings and the gravy will be put in the earthenware bowl just mentioned, to be used for soup. All remnants of cooked vegetables will be saved, and the water in which has been boiled a leg of mutton, a fowl, a fresh tongue' or a piece of beef will be utilized as a basis for soup. Soup may either be made with what is called "stock" (when meat is the material used for foundation), or it may be made without stock and is then called soupe maigre.

Soup With Stock

Under this head are included all the varieties of soup made from beef, veal, mutton or poultry. In preparing soup stock, the desired object is to obtain from the meat all the nutritive and flavoring qualities contained in the lean parts and in the bones. To accomplish this, the meat should be wiped well and cut into small pieces; • this is to expose as large a surface as possible to the action of the heat and water. Break or saw the bones also into small pieces, and soak both meat and bones in cold soft water, allowing a quart of water to every pound of soup material. Having soaked the meat half an hour off the fire, place the kettle on the back of the range for another half hour, after which the water can be slowly heated to boiling. The kettle for soup-making should have a tight cover, so that no steam can escape, or so very little that it will not diminish the quantity of water to any extent. The water should be soft, since hard water hardens the meat and thus imprisons the juices. No salt is added, for the same reason.

The scum that rises with the boiling contains nothing unclean unless the meat has not been properly washed; and although uninviting-looking it should not be skimmed off, for it contains much that is nutritious. When the liquid has fully reached the boiling point, set the kettle back where it will gently bubble for about six hours.

Now strain the stock, and throw away the meat and scraps, because all the nutriment is, or should be, extracted, thus leaving the meat entirely unfit for further use. Set the stock away to cool, as rapidly as possible, and the next day remove the fat, which will have hard-ened on the top.

This is the simplest way of making soup-stock, and it can be made the foundation for a plain or a rich soup, if carefully prepared. There should not be more than a quarter of a pound of bone to each three-quarters of a pound of meat used. If a larger proportion of bone must be used, make the allotment of water a little less than a quart to every pound.