THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2510, 25 May 1909, Page 7

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

THE ART OF SOUP-MAICING. «a There are a very great many houses where soup is not made at ail. There are still more where it means always the same thing, a rich and often heavy liquid, thick with vegetables and barley or rice, the consumption of which induces a sleepy and overfed feeling. And yet there is very little difficulty in the making of really appetising light Jpups, which will serve the true puryjose of soup, the stimulating of tjie appetite and the creating of a general • feeling of comfort and well-being, which will ensure the enjoyment of the rest of the meal. Soups are rarely nourishing; but when well made they are stimulating, so that they should be taken in small quantities, as a sort of introduction to the proper dinner. Tho mistake that inexperienced women usually make is in cooking the soup altogether in one day. That should never bei done when the foundation of the soup is meat “stock.” The stock should always be made on the day previous to that on which the soup is to be eaten in order that the fat may become cold enough to be removed entirely from the top of the liquid. Soup should be absolutely free from fat. The stock may bo made from fresh meat or from cooked meat, or from both together. Fresh meat, of course, makes a better flavored stock, but the bones of cold joints, (•hoped up and stowed for a long time, makes very good soup indeed. If fresh meat is needed, any butcher will supply hones for stock, which cost less than shanks, or knuckles or shins, and a small quantity of lean meat may he added to improve the color and flavor of the stock. Cooked meats, however, make a brownish colored stock, so that if a white‘soup is desired for a change, it will he better to buy a: couple of shanks of mutton or a sheep’s head, or, for a very good soup, a knuckle of veal. The meat and bones should be cut and chopped into comparatively small pieces, and placed in a large saucepan. They should be well covered with water, and* a little salt added. If the meat is fresh, it will be better to let it steep in the cold water for about half an hour before beating at all. If the remains of a cold joint are used, this need not be done. The saucepan should be placed on tho/ stove in a position in which the stock will come very slowly to 'a boil. When it boils, vegetables, and sA'sonhig should be added. Carrots, parsnips, celery, and onions are the most suitable vegetables for a brown soup, celery and onions only for a white soup. Parsley, thyme, and marjoram should also be added lor flavoring, the thyme and marjoram in very small quantities. Failing fresh herbs, a pinch of dried herbs mav be used. The dried herbs can be bought bottled, and arc very inexpensive, since a bottle lasts a long time. A few allspice, a small piece of mace, and some peppercorns will help to make the soup hi ore digestible. . The stock should be allowed to boil very gently, with the lid partly off the saucepan, for from five to six hours. The vegetables need not lie left in after they are soft, so that this would be an appetising and economical way of cooking carrots, turnips, and parsnips, to be used as vegetables. When the stock has been boiled about an hour it should be skimmed. W hen boiled sufficiently, it should be strained through a fine strainer or through butter muslin into an earthernware basin, and set aside until next day, when the solid fat may be easily removed from the top. When the weather is really cool, the stock will keep for two or even three days. Rut it is safest, even in winter, to make it every day. A stock of this kind is a. good soup in itself. But for appearance sake, since a pleasant appearance makes anv good food more appetising, it may have cooked macaroni or vermicelli, or neatly boiled rice,\served in it as a garnish. Tho stock requires only to be made very hot; it should not boil again, but the garnish should added just before serving. If a richer soup is desired, a fresh half shin of beef should be used instead of, or with, tho bones. White soups are made with mutton 1 ors of an hour to boil. ened with a good white sauce. The best wav to make the sauce is as follows;—Put a tablespoonful of butter into Saucepan on the fire. When melted add a good do.se rtspoonful of flour. Mix thoroughly, and cook a little without browning. Add gradually half a pint of milk, stirring hard all the time. If lumps appear, vigorous stirring and beating will dissolve them. When all the milk is added, cook very, gently for ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper. This is the proper sauce to serve with vegetables such as Jerusalem artichokes, celery, and vegetable .marrow. Blended with the white stock it makes a delicious soup. The proportions of sauce and stock should be one -third sauce and two-thirds stock. Blended with stewed tomatoes, the same white sauce helps to make the best tomato soup I have ever tasted. Three pounds of tomatoes should be cut up nnd placed in a saucepan with a small teacupful of water, a desertspoonful of butter, a small blade of mace, a few leaves of herbs, fresh, if possible; two lumps of sugar, or 1-f teaspoonfuls of sugar, ;V little nepper and salt, arid an onion shredded. They should be stewed gently until the onion is quite soft. The whole mixture should then be rubbed through a sieve or fine colander. and put back into a clean saucepan with half the ouantitv of white sauce. The two should be blended thoroughly, and made very hot, without boiling. This soup can easily be made in three-quarters of an hour. Bread, to serve with thick soups of any description, should be cut into dice, and fried to a pale brown in plenty of very hot fat. It should be taken up with a slice or strainer, and thoroughly drained on soft paper. ... Fish soups are made by mixing white ssince and fish stock in equal quantities. The fish stock should be made from the bones, beads, and skin of fresh fish, with an onion, herbs u and seasoning as for white stock. Fish stock, however, requires only about three-quart-er an hour to boil.