"I do not like the stock foundation, made, as it usually is, from bones, and by long and repeated boiling reduced to a stiff jelly which is kept for weeks. The best soups are made on the day they are to be served, or the day before, or from comparatively fresh stock. The best foundation for which is a shank of beef, boiled not longer that 6 or 7 hours. Strain, and when used, skim off the fat, which will be excellent to use. after proper clarifying.

No foundation for soup is better than the hones from roast beef or mutton. Sometimes we put the bones on a gridiron over a clear fire before putting them to boil, adding any scraps of cold meat we may have on hand, and a tablespoonful of rice or two medium-sized potatoes cut in thin slices.

For the bones from a leg or loin of mutton, or rib roast of beef, allow from three pints to a quart of cold water, cover closely, boiling three or four hours. One-half hour before dinner, remove all the bones and meat, adding boiling water to make the required quantity if it has boiled down; salt to taste; small bunch of celery, cut fine. Cook 15 or 20 minutes, strain into warm tureen, and serve as quickly as possible.

The flavoring may be varied; a chopped carrot, an onion, or a little browned Sperry Flour, or a quart of nice, ripe tomatoes may be used instead of the celery; or a real vegetable soup may be made by adding two potatoes, an onion, two carrots, one-quarter of small cabbage, or a small cauliflower, all cut in small pieces and put in the soup at least three-quarters of an hour before dinner. Removing nothing but scraps of meat and the bones, three pounds of the cheaper pieces of beef or mutton - part of which is better - will answer in place of roast beef bones.

Soups should be made in porcelain-lined kettles; cook slowly and serve with toasted bread cut in small squares, or toasted crackers, bread sticks, or slices of bread cut into long, narrow strips. Or the bones and pieces from roast meat, especially if there is considerable fat, as in a loin of mutton, may be boiled in sufficient water for the soup the day before it is used.

How To Make Bouillon

Bouillon is only another name for beef tea, but it is usually not made as strong as for an invalid's nourishment, and frequently vegetables are added, or flavoring, which are never found in the beef tea proper.

The following recipe is an excellent one for serving at luncheons and dinners: To every pound of beef add a pint of cold water. Put on fire where it will not get more than lukewarm for three hours; then boil hard for ten minutes. Strain through cloth, and set aside to settle.

When cold, put in beaten white and shell of egg, a little onion, carrot, parsley, and turnips; make a caramel of one lump of sugar, and strain again. Bouillon requires considerable salt. Do not pour the bouillon in the cups until guests are ready to come to the table.

The soup and salad both came from a shin of veal weighing 6 pounds. It was boiled very slowly and carefully in salted water to cover, until as tender as chicken; then after it had partly cooled in the water, it was taken out and set in a cool place over night. Next morning the meat was cut from the bones in pieces about the size of one's finger, and three-quarters of an hour before wanted. The soup was made from the liquor of the meat.