Soups prepared from legumes, fruits or cereals require an addition of fat in the form of butter, oil, the yolk of an egg, cream, or fat meat.
A soup of peas, beans, corn or lentils may be prepared from left-over food or fresh cooked legumes. To one cup of cooked legumes add three to five cups of hot water or weak soup stock, boil or mix well, then strain. Heat one or two tablespoonsful of butter or half butter and half cooking oil, add to this one or two tablespoonsful of mixed flour, let boil, then add the hot broth at short intervals, stirring to prevent lumps. When all the broth is used, let the whole boil a few minutes. Remove from the fire, flavor with lemon juice, pepper, bay leaves, chopped fresh thyme, sage or parsley, and serve.
To these soups an addition of hot cream may be made before serving, if desired. They form a perfect and an economical meal without the addition of meat, eggs, fish or other protein foods. Celery, lettuce, raw apples and crackers with butter are a good addition. They should be well masticated, and the soup eaten with them very slowly.
Wash 1¹⁄₂ cup of black, white, red or mixed beans and soak in 1 quart of warm soft water over night. The next day add about 5 pints of cold or boiling water to the beans, let come to a boil; add two finely cut onions and a potato, parsley or other flavoring. Then wash ¹⁄₂ pound of bacon several times with hot and cold water and put on to boil in sufficient water to cover it. Let boil 5 or 10 minutes, pour off the water and put the bacon into the bean soup. Let all boil for about an hour; when the meat is tender, take it out and put on a plate to cool. Let the soup simmer slowly for 3 hours or longer; then strain. Let stand a little while, remove the fat and mix it with 2 or 3 tablespoonsful of flour in a clean saucepan over the fire, add the strained bean soup gradually, let all boil a few minutes and serve. If the soup is desired thin, use only a part of the fat and a little flour. A cupful of strained tomato juice and chopped parsley may be added before serving. This should make five soup plates full. Serve with fried bread or bread and butter and raw carrots.
Prepare like the foregoing. Leave out the meat, butter, flour, and tomatoes; mix with one-fifth part or less of hot cream before serving. Add plenty of chopped parsley.
Prepare like bean soup. Flavor with celery roots or stems.
Strain a can of tomatoes and heat. Add an equal amount of boiling water or soup stock. Heat some oil, butter or fat; add flour, boil a few seconds; then add the tomato juice gradually and a little salt. Boil all 3 to 5 minutes, then serve. It must be of the consistency of gravy. Raw cucumbers and celery are a good addition.
Prepare like the foregoing. Add ¹⁄₄ part or more of hot cream before serving. If milk is used, it must be more in proportion than cream.
Mix 1 quart of hot water or veal stock with 1 quart of strained hot tomato juice. Dissolve 2 to 3 tablespoons of cornstarch in cold water and stir into the boiling fruit juice. Boil 10 minutes, and season with salt and a little sugar, if desired. Remove from the fire, add hot cream, mix and serve. Good in the summer.
Wash one quart of huckleberries and boil with two quarts of water and a piece of cinnamon. When done strain or leave the berries in the soup. Shape some dumplings with a dessert spoon and boil in the fruit soup until they rise to the top. Use recipe for flour dumplings No. 1. Cherry soup from fresh cherries may be prepared with dumplings instead of thickening.
Prepare the same as the foregoing or see recipe for blackberry gruel.
Remove the stones from one quart of cherries, and bring two quarts of water to a boil with a stick of cinnamon, pour in the cherries and let them simmer for 20 or 30 minutes. Add enough sugar to counteract the tart taste and thicken with a little cornstarch. Cool and serve with zwieback. If used for supper on hot days it should be prepared in the morning, and allowed to cool. Beaten whites of eggs with a little sugar may be placed on top. Serve on soup-plates.
Soak some dried cherries for several hours. Cook with the desired amount of water and a little sugar and cinnamon. Finish as the foregoing. This is excellent for convalescents during the winter.
Wash one pound of blue plums and boil with three to four pints of water, a stick of cinnamon and sugar until well done. Thicken with cornstarch, or with sago which has been soaked. Cook 15 to 20 minutes or longer. Run through a colander and add a piece of butter. Cool and serve with zwieback and beaten whites of eggs, if desired. Hot cream may be added in place of butter.
Select a rump piece, wash thoroughly, put into boiling water, add some salt, and skim. Chop fine some green onions, celery, asparagus, parsley, carrots, turnips, add to the soup; young peas, bay leaves, whole pepper and chopped bacon may be added. Cover tightly, and boil slowly for two or three hours. Then brown several tablespoonsful of flour in the same amount of butter, add to the soup, and boil ten minutes longer. Strain and serve. A glass of Madeira or white wine may be added.
Prepare like number one. Instead of brown flour, add one-half cup of barley which has been soaked and boiled in a small amount of water for an hour. Then add to the soup, boil all together for an hour or longer, strain and serve. A good addition to boiled beef is a salad of celery root, or apples, or potato dumplings.
Select some fresh chicken, beef, lamb or several kinds of meat. Wash thoroughly, and put into boiling water, add salt and skim. Flavor with potatoes, onions, or any kind of greens which is most desirable. Boil two or three hours and strain. Boil some rice with salt water in a separate saucepan, bake in the oven until well done. Remove from the fire, add a piece of butter, the yolk of an egg and some grated nutmeg. Stir all well, pour into a dish, serve with the soup like mush and milk.
Clear broth beaten up with yolks of several eggs may be served in cups.
Wash a piece of bacon or ham thoroughly, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Pour the water off and put on again in boiling water. When the meat is half done add some bay leaves, carrots, celery, young peas, asparagus, parsley, cauliflower, and dried prunes or pears and cinnamon. When the vegetables are tender, brown some butter and flour, mix with finely chopped marjoram and thyme; add to the soup, boil a few minutes longer, and serve. This is excellent in the spring-time. For people with digestive troubles, the soup must be strained. A few raw yolks of eggs may be beaten up with the soup before serving, if desired.
Wash some beef, mutton or veal bone thoroughly. Put to boil in cold water, skim and cook for four hours or longer. When done, strain into several stone jars or bowls. Let cool and set on ice. When preparing soup, cook the desired amount of vegetables in a little salt water; when tender, add the soup stock, bring all to a boil and strain. This stock can also be used for the preparation of vegetables and purees, especially for people who do not eat meat. Add one-half to one whole cup of stock to the vegetable water and prepare with a butter sauce.
Use soup stock or prepare a clear strong meat soup from middle rib or soup bone to which one or two kidneys have been added. For flavoring tie the tops of celery roots and green onions into a bunch and cook in the soup. The celery and onions can be eaten as a vegetable if desired. Serve with plain water rice as directed for clear soup.
Take old pigeon for soup. Flavor with asparagus or young peas. Boil some rice in a little water and salt separately; when half done, add it to the (pigeon) soup and cook an hour longer. Raw yolks of eggs may be added to the soup before serving.
Boil potatoes with salt water and an onion; pour off water, mash potatoes fine, and add the potato water. Bring to a boil some fresh cream and milk in a separate saucepan, and add it to the potatoes. Flavor with a little pepper, and chopped parsley.
Boil the potatoes in plenty of water with salt and onions; drain off water, mash potatoes, and return to the potato water. Then melt some butter, thicken with flour, add the hot potato soup to it gradually, and boil all a few minutes. Bring some fresh milk and cream to a boil, add it to the soup, and flavor with chopped parsley and pepper.
Prepare like potato soup number two, and add clams and hot cream.
Wash one-half a cup of steel cut oats with cold water. Bring to a boil with two or three quarts of water; add salt, celery, parsley, onions, and about six potatoes. Wash a piece of bacon or ham with plenty of fat on it, parboil it in water for ten minutes, then put it into the soup; boil all for about two hours. Mash and strain. Take off the grease, mix with flour, add the strained soup to it gradually, let boil a few minutes. It can be prepared without meat. This is an economical and nutritious dish.
Prepare the same as oat meal soup. Fat meat may be used in place of ham.
Knorr’s pea soup can be bought in all first class grocery stores. Time for preparation, twenty minutes. It may be improved by adding hot cream or gelatine to it, or by thickening it with butter and flour. Bean, lentil, green corn, tomato, and several other soup extracts of Knorr’s can be prepared in the same manner and improved in many ways if desired. They are very nutritious and save time and labor.
Wash and chop fine some dried currants and raisins, put them to boil with one pint of white, stale bread, three pints or more of cold water, a piece of cinnamon, a little salt, a few spoonsful of sugar and about a pint bottle of imported root beer. Boil very slowly for one-half hour or longer, run through a colander. Add some hot cream or a piece of butter and two yolks of eggs.
Bring to a boil a pint of imported root beer and a pint of water. Flavor with a piece of cinnamon. Mix two or three tablespoonsful of white flour with cold water, and put into the boiling beer, add some sugar and salt. Boil eight to ten minutes. Remove from the fire, add to it a cupful of hot cream while stirring. Serve with zwieback.
Prepare like beer soup number one, in place of white bread use stale black bread or one-half of each. This is excellent for constipation.
Milk soups may be prepared with rice, buckwheat, barley, tapioca, oats, wheat, flour, corn, macaroni or rye. Oats and barley should be soaked. Rich milk with one-half water is preferable to skim milk or poor milk. Bring the desired amount of milk and water to a boil, stir the grains into it, and boil one-half to one hour. Whole vanilla, cinnamon, or lemon rind may be boiled with it. Salt should not be added until done. It may be flavored with grated bitter almond, fine pepper, mace or nutmeg, or extract of vanilla or other flavoring. Concentrated flavorings should not be added until it is removed from the fire. Yolks of eggs may be added before serving. (Oats, barley and buckwheat do not mix well with eggs.) Sugar is not necessary for milk soups, but if it is desired, it should be added while boiling.
Mix some white flour with cold buttermilk, stir over the fire until it boils, add sugar and boil ten minutes. Add hot cream or yolks of eggs or flavoring before serving, as desired.
Break some macaroni into boiling salted water, boil fast for 45 minutes. When done, add an equal part of buttermilk or sweet milk. Thicken with a little rice flour.
Prepare some flour dumplings with or without eggs. Drop into boiling salted water when done, add some hot milk or buttermilk. Thicken with a little flour, add salt and serve. Sweet dried fruits can be added.
Cook some rice with water as directed for “Water Rice”; when done add one quart of buttermilk to one quart of cooked rice, mix well and stir over the fire until it boils. Add one-third cup of sugar and simmer with a piece of cinnamon or vanilla for half an hour longer. Add more salt if necessary. Some dried soaked cold prunes, currants or raisins may be mixed with the soup before serving. This forms a perfect meal for dinner on hot summer days or for supper in winter or summer.
Cut off one-third of the upper end of the asparagus, then wash, cut in pieces and put to boil in water, add some salt; when tender thicken with mixed flour, let boil 10 minutes. Add one-third rich hot milk, flavor with pepper. Serve.
Prepare as No. 1; when tender, heat some butter, thicken with mixed flour, add the asparagus water gradually and boil a few minutes. Then remove from the fire, stir several yolks of eggs with a little cold water on a soup plate, add the asparagus soup gradually. Flavor with lemon and serve.
Soak a cup of pearl barley. Boil with two quarts of water, some celery, onions, and finely cut carrots; cook for two hours or longer. Mash all through a colander, add more boiling water if necessary. It must be thick like gravy. Add a piece of butter or a little cream, and serve.
Prepare like the foregoing, add more hot water when straining. Melt some butter or fat, add one or two tablespoonsful of mixed flour, and part of the barley soup, and cook. When done, mix with the balance of the barley soup. Let all boil up for a few minutes and serve. Add plenty of chopped parsley.
Prepare like number one or two, boil without vegetables. Leave the barley in it or strain. Mix with cold stewed prunes before serving. Add cream, if desired.
Scrape and wash some young carrots. Cut into small pieces and stew in water with a little salt. When done, mash up fine and run through a colander. Prepare with butter, flour and soup stock. Add plenty of chopped parsley, also raw pea juice, if desired.
Prepare from spinach water, with butter and flour. When done, add a few tablespoonsful of finely chopped spinach. Flavor with grated onion and lemon.
Chop up some celery, onion, potatoes, and parsley stems. Simmer in water slowly for 30 minutes. Strain, and prepare with butter and flour. Add plenty of chopped parsley. Finely cut cauliflower, string beans, and peas can be prepared in the same manner. For people with delicate stomachs the pulp of the vegetables should never be pressed through.
Soak some stale white and black bread in boiling water for half an hour. Put on to boil with more water. Cut up a few apples with the skin and add a stick of cinnamon, a little sugar, salt, and some lemon rind. Simmer for 30 minutes or longer. Press through a colander and add some cold soaked raisins or currants and a piece of butter, also the yolk of an egg, if desired.
Prepare like the foregoing. Leave out the apples. Add hot cream or milk in place of butter and egg. Use dried soaked currants or prunes, if desired.
Prepare as the foregoing. Add imported root beer, omit the apples, and use more sugar. Strain and add hot cream or the yolk of an egg and butter. Good for constipation.
Use equal parts of stale bread and bran. Prepare like the foregoing. Leave out the egg.
Prepare like the foregoing. Use more water, and strain. Melt some butter, thicken with mixed flour, add the hot broth gradually. When done, remove from the fire and mix with soaked cold raisins and a few drops of lemon.
Use one cup of bran, four cups of water, four tablespoons of milk sugar. Strain and thicken with butter and flour as directed for Bran Soup No. 2. Omit the fruit. A little lemon may be used if desired. Good for invalids.