The following soups may be made from either cleared or uncleared stock. Season them to taste before serving. For macaroni and vermicelli soups, beef stock is preferable; for rice and barley soups, mutton or chicken stock.

Tomato Soup

Add to one pint of stock one-half can of tomatoes, stewed and strained, and one-half teaspoonful of sugar.

Mixed Vegetable Soup

(In winter.) To one quart of stock add two heaping tablespoonfuls each of chopped onion fried, chopped celery, and turnip either chopped or cut with a vegetable cutter, one tablespoonful of carrot prepared like the turnip, and one cupful of cooked and strained tomato. (In summer.) Omit the tomato and onion, and add small green peas, flowerets of cauliflower, or asparagus tips, or all three.

Noodle Soup

To one quart of stock add one-fourth cupful of noodles.

Macaroni, vermicelli, rice, and barley soups take their names from the material served in them. Serve with these soups crusty bread (plain rolls, or inch-thick slices from a French loaf), toasted crackers buttered, or croutons. The dextrin in these, like the extractives of meat, stimulates digestion. (Directions for Preparing Croutons on p. 253.)

Food Value Of Soup And Soup Meat

A strong broth contains only about 5% of nutritious material. Soup as ordinarily made is weaker than this. Yet soup has a strong meat flavor, and the meat left in the soup kettle is almost tasteless. This is because the extractives, which give meat its flavor, pass wholly into the stock. The extractives, although not nutritious, stimulate the secretion of gastric juice. The combined stimulating and warming effect of soup prepares the stomach for solid food.

Soup meat, if well seasoned, may be used in croquettes and rechauffes (pp. 175, 222). It is likely to be better digested if flavored with meat extract, or if served after a meat soup.

What class of foodstuffs does gastric juice act upon? Which of these are found in meat? What other foodstuffs does meat contain?