A bright clear stock inferior to the above can be made by placing in a saucepan a few sticks of celery, one carrot, one turnip, a little parsley - i.e., two or three sprigs - one onion with four cloves stuck in it, and a couple of leeks. Let all simmer for an hour in about a quart of water, and boil for ten minutes at the finish. Add a saltspoonful of salt. Strain off and dissolve an ounce of gelatine in this, and add a good teaspoonful or more of extract of meat. A little pepper and salt to taste. Thicken with a teaspoonful of corn-flour (see No. 11) to take off the thinness. A still cheaper way is to leave out the gelatine altogether, and have rather more corn-flour in it. Do not, however, make it thicker than thin cream.

The vegetables are not all indispensible, but you must have an onion or leeks. Celery is next in importance. If you don't mind garlic, and want to give this soup a "foreign air," rub a piece of crust of bread, or the bottom of the saucepan, with a bead of garlic; throw the bread in the soup when hot, and leave it in a few minutes, and then take it out. When this is done a little cayenne is an improvement. In straining off the vegetables, squeeze as much goodness as you can out of them. Of course the chief goodness of this soup depends upon the amount of extract of meat you use. But do not put in too much, so as to entirely over-ride the flavour of the vegetables.