OUR COOKERY SCHOOL.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 41, 21 May 1907, Page 2

OUR COOKERY SCHOOL.

SOUPS IN GENERAL.: : " J It is not too much to say that every dinner should begin with soup, whether it be the humble evening meal of the working man or the luxurious banquet of the epicure. Solid food should never be taken into the stomach of an exhausted person, and most people are more or less in a state of exhaustion after a hard days' work. They should always begin their evening repast with something which is quickly absorbed, reviving, and stimulating, and nothing has these qualities in a more marked degree than soup. Moreover, by gently warming the stomach and causing the gastic juices to flow, it prepares it for its work. There is another point in favour of soup which must not be overlooked, and that is the space it occupies in the stomach. Bulk has g*)t much to do with the feeling of satisfaction which one has after a good meal, and this in its turn has an undoubted effect upon the digestion and assimilation of the food. No man can live upon meat lozengers and tabloids We must have bulk as well as nutritive constituents, or his food wilt not satisfy the needs of his body. A man will rise perfectly satisfied and well nourished from a meal of soup and bread provided he takes enough ; to cause that slight distension of the : stomach which gives a pleasmg sense of repletion. ~. ; One of the best and most nourish- • ing of soups is the clear soup known as consoramo, which is prepared from stock flavoured with vegetables., When stock is made from fresh meat, without a groat preponderance of bones, and carefully strained, it is usually clear enough to be used as a consomme. But when it is cloudy it should be cleared, or clarified, in the following manner : We will suppose that two quarts of strained stock are in a saucepan at the'side •of tho fire—hot, but not boiling. Tako the whites of two eggs, and bo careful that not a trace of tho yolks gets mixed with them ; putjthem into a basin, together with the shells, cleaned and broken up. Beat* until it froths well, Put this into the saucepan where the stock is, put it on the fire, and bring to boiling point. Whilo it gently bails skim thoroughly, stir all up again, lot it stand some little time, then strain through a thick flannel jelly-bag.~ The rosailt will be a consomme as clear and-bright as sherry. A great numbac of soups may bo, mad,e with stock as a basis. Where vegetables are served in tho. soup,, as in the case of julienne and spring soup, they should not be thrown into the stock direct, as in the case of the flavouring vegetables, but be put' into boiling water first until they I are parboiled, in order to preserve their colour. Tho following as a good recipe for julienne soup : Tako two quarts of clarified stock, two carrots, two turnips, an onion, half a head ot celery, and any other vegetables 'in season. Boil the vegetables for 10 minutes, then cut them up into strips aßout long, and let them be all '• of about the, same thickness. Add them to the boiling stock, and simmer slowly until tha vegetables are quite tender.

Thick soups are divided, broadly, into two classes, namely, ordinary, thick soups, which owe their substance to the addition of arrowroot; flour, or other similar ingredients, and purees, which are thickened by the vegetables being rubbed through a fine wire sieve. To the first-named class belong kidney, ox-tail, mockturtle, mulligatawny, and other familiar soups, and to the latter carrot, potato, and pea soup. There are also soups made direct from the meat which is to be served at the same meal," dfnd without the intervention or aid of the stock pot/ A good example of this is the highly nourishing soup Known as Scotch broth, for which the following is a good recipe : Take the sorag end of a neck of mutton, and put it into four quarts of cold water with half a pound of Scotch barley and a little sali. Let it come to the boil, and simmer gently for one hour. Put in two carrots (one cut into small dice and one whojle), one turnip, and one onion (sliced) ; let all boil together anotlier hour. Then take out the mutton, which should be sufficiently done, and put in two pints of groen peas. Let it simmer another hour, when it will be ready for the tureen. The mutton should be served with some of the vegetables around it. Should green poas not be available, dried peas will serve the purpose, but they must be soaked overnight i and be put in with the barley. ! Wh'en it is necessary to thicken the soup the flour or arrowroot should not be simply dredgod into it. The flour should first of all be cooked by being baked in the oven or heated in a frying-pan until it begins to turn brown. A supply of this cooked flour should bo in every housewife's larder. There is as much difference between the flavour of raw ashd cooked flour as between that of a raw and cooked jsotatcr, and if raw flour \& introduced into the soup it will spoil the flavour of the latter. The flour should then be incorporated with a piece of butter to form a paste, and in this form it should be added to the soup. As the paste dissolves, the butter will bo thrown up, and should be carefully removed by skimming.