This section is from the "The Ideal Cook Book" book, by Annie R. Gregory. Also see Amazon: The Ideal Cook Book.
Take a small piece of salt pork (slightly lean is best), cut it into pieces half an inch square. Put it into the soup kettle with sufficient water for the soup. Now add twelve good-sized onions pared and sliced fine. When they begin to boil add as many potatoes pared and sliced. When done add one egg beaten well. Serve at once. Other meat can be used, if desired. Mrs. Mary Treadwell.
Wash a pint of split peas and cover with tepid water, adding a pinch of soda; let remain over night to swell. In the morning put them in a kettle with three quarts of cold water, adding half a pound of lean salt pork cut into slices; also a teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper. Cook slowly for three hours, stirring occasionally till the peas are all dissolved, adding a little more boiling water to keep up the quantity as it boils away. Strain through a colander. Serve with small squares of toasted bread. If not rich enough, add a small piece of butter. Lillian.
To six pounds of lean beef, with the bones well cracked, add six quarts of water. Put the beef, bones and water in a covered kettle on the stove to heat slowly. Let it boil gently for six hours. After it has boiled for six hours, strain and set aside well covered until the next day. Before needed, remove the fat, set the soup over the fire and throw in a little salt, two carrots, two onions, one turnip, one head of celery. Stew in sufficient water to cover them. When tender, add the vegetables and the water in which they were cooked, to the soup. Boil slowly for one-half hour. Strain when done. A bay-leaf added to the stock before cooking the second day, adds greatly to the flavor. M. R. D.
This stock forms an excellent basis for many soups. Rice, barley, vermicelli, macaroni, peas and beans, previously cooked, may be added. This provides a good use for vegetables left from yesterday's dinner.
White stock is used in the preparation of white soups, and is made by putting six pounds of a knuckle of veal or lean beef and veal gravy one-quarter of a pound of bacon or ham cut up in small pieces over the fire in six quarts of cold water, with four onions and four heads of celery cut up fine. Stew gently until nearly done, when salt should be added. Cook one hour longer; strain and set to cool. When cold remove fat and it is ready for use. Cook.
Cut three onions, three turnips, one carrot and four potatoes. Put them into a stew-pan with two tablespoonfuls of butter and a teaspoon-ful of powdered sugar. After it has cooked ten minutes, add two quarts of stock, and when it comes to a boil set aside to simmer until the vegetables are tender - about one-half hour. Amanda Miller.
Half a dozen sliced parsnips must be put in a stew-pan, with two onions, six sticks of celery, and two quarts of stock. Stew the vegetables until they are tender, which is about two hours, then drain them, press them through a coarse sieve, and return the puree to the soup. Let it boil, season with a little salt and pepper, or cayenne, and serve very hot. A little boiling milk may be added if liked. The excessive sweetness of parsnip soup may be corrected by the addition of a little tomato, or a tablespoonful of chilli vinegar. Mrs. Fred White.
Cut the white part of half a dozen heads of celery into small pieces, and boil in two quarts of white stock, with a quarter of a pound of lean ham and two ounces of butter. Simmer gently one hour, then drain through a sieve, return the liquor to the pan and stir in a few teaspoonfuls of cream with great care. Thicken with a tablespoonful of flour and serve with hard crackers placed in the soup about five minutes before taking up. Season to taste. Mrs. Frances Sanderson.
Two quarts white stock well seasoned, one quart of milk, scald together and add three tablespoonfuls of flour, two tablespoonfuls of butter; when all have been stirred to a smooth paste, cook well; just before serving add one cup of cream. Grate the yokes of four hard-boiled eggs in the bottom of the tureen, and pour the soup over it. U. R. S.
Take one-half pound of fresh asparagus, cut off heads, boil separately in salt water until done, about fifteen minutes. Cut the rest into small pieces, throw them into two quarts of boiling stock. Cook gently one hour. Pass through a fine colander, boil again, add asparagus heads, the yolks of one or two eggs beaten up in one-half cup cream. Serve.
M. H. T.
Asparagus makes a delicate soup. Use one large bunch of asparagus, wash and cut off the heads in one-inch lengths and lay them at one side. Cut the remainder into halves and boil them in a generous pint of white stock. Put into a small saucepan two tablespoonfuls of butter and two small slices of onion. Cover and let cook slowly on the back of the fire eight minutes; add two tablespoonfuls of flour and stir Until the mixture is smooth and frothy, but not brown. Season with salt and pepper and add it to the asparagus and cook slowly ten minutes. Then rub them through a coarse sieve, return to the fire and stir in one pint of cream or rich milk and let it come to the boiling point and serve immediately. Cook the heads a few minutes in boiling salted water and add them to the soup when in the tureen. Mrs. Annie Hale.
 
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