It is hardly necessary to give any more cautions to the cook to pay continual attention to the condition of her stewpans, which should be examined every time they are used; so many mischiefs arise from their getting out of repair: if they are not kept nicely tinned, all your good work will be in vain; the broths and soups will look green and dirty, and taste bitter and poisonous, and will be spoiled both for the eye and palate, and your credit will be lost; and as the health, and even life of the family depends upon this, the cook may be sure her employers had rather pay the tinman's bill than the doctor's; therefore, attention to this cannot fail to engage the regard of the mistress, between whom and the cook, it will be my utmost endeavour throughout this book to promote perfect harmony.

If the servant has the misfortune to scorch or blister the tinning of her saucepan, which will happen sometimes to the most careful cook, I advise her, by all means, immediately to acquaint her employers, who will thank her for so candidly mentioning the accident; and only censure her if she conceals it. Make it a rule without an exception, never to use any sieves or tammy cloths, spoons or ladles, till they are well cleaned, and thoroughly dried, nor any stewpans etc, without first washing them out with boiling water, and rubbing them well with a dry cloth and a little bran, to clean them from every kind of grease and sand, etc. that may have been left in them, or any bad smell they may have got since they were last used: never neglect this. Though we do not suppose our cook such a naughty slut, as to think of putting by her broth pots, etc, till she has thoroughly cleaned * them; wash them immediately, and be sure they are quite dry before they are put by; and keep them in a dry place, for damp will rust and destroy them very soon: attend to this the first moment you can spare after the dinner is sent up; and never put by any soup, gravy, etc., in a metal utensil; stone or earthen vessels should be used for this purpose. Cultivate regular habits of cleanliness, etc, in all your business, which you will then get through easily and comfortably. I do not mean that restless spirit of "the tidy one," who is always frisking about in a whirlpool of bustle and confusion; and is always dirty, under pretence of being always cleaning.

* Stewpans and soup-pots with round bottoms, such as saucepans are made with, will wear twice as long, and are cleaned with half the trouble, as those whose sides are soldered to the bottom; for the sand and grease, etc. will get into the joined part, and it is a difficulty, almost amounting to an impossibility, to dislodge the dirt completely. Take care also, that the lids fit as close as possible, that the broth, soup, etc, that you are making, may not waste by evaporation. They are good for nothing, unless they fit tight enough to keep the steam in, and the smoke out.

Broths differ from soups, as they are inferior in strength, and composed with fewer ingredients; they are more easy to make, and lead to the art of making gravies, soups, and sauces.

Lean, juicy beef, mutton, or veal, form the basis of these: you must procure those pieces which afford the most and richest succulence, and as fresh killed as possible*. Stale meat will make your broth thick and bad tasted, and fat meat is not only wasted, but occasions the broth very soon to turn sour: this only applies to those broths which are required to be perfectly clean: we shall show hereafter, that fat and drippings may be so combined with vegetable mucilage, as to afford, at the small cost of 10d. per gallon, a very nourishing, palatable, and balsamic soup.

* In general, it has been considered the best economy to use the cheapest and most inferior meats for soup, etc, and to boil it down to rags. I think this a false frugality; and advise you to buy good pieces of meat, and only stew them till they are done enough to eat.

The following broth herbs, soup roots, and sea-sonings, Scotch barley, pearl barley, flour, bread raspings, oatmeal, peas, beans, rice, vermicelli, maccaroni, potatoe mucilage, mushrooms, champignons, parsnips, carrots, beet roots, turnips, gar-lick, shallots, onions *, cucumber, celery, celery seed †, parsley, leeks, common thyme, lemon-thyme, orange-thyme, knotted marjoram, sage, mint, winter savoury, sweet basil bay leaves, tarragon, chervit, burnet, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, mace, black pepper, white pepper, lemon-peel, lemon-juice *, Seville orange juice †, and salt, used separately, or combined in fifty different proportions, will make an endless variety ‡ of excellent broths and soups, quite as agreeable to the appetite, and incalculably more advantageous to the stomach, than consuming pheasants and partridges, and the long list of piquante, inflammatory, rare and costly articles, recommended in some former books on this subject, whose elaborately compounded soups are like their made dishes; in which, though variety is aimed at, every thing has the same tastes, and nothing its own. The great fault of our English soups, seems to be the employment of an excess of spices, and too small a proportion of roots and herbs. To the ingredients I have enumerated, many culinary scribes indiscriminately cram into almost every dish, anchovies*, garlick †, bay leaves, and that hot, fiery spice, Cayenne pepper. We leave those who love these things, to use them as they like; their flavour can be very extemporaneously produced by spirit of Cayenne, garlick vinegar, and essence of anchovy ‡. We again caution the cook always to avoid, these predominant flavours, which, however agreeable they may be to some, are extremely disagreeable to others.

* All cooks agree in this opinion, No savoury dish without an onion.

Sliced onions fried quite brown, with some butter and flour, are excellent to heighten the colour and flavour of brown sauces and soups.