Soup Recipe

The value of soup as food cannot be overestimated.



In times of scarcity and distress, when the question has arisen of how

to feed the largest number of persons upon the least quantity of food,

the aliment chosen has always been soup. There are two reasons for this:

first, by the addition of water to the ingredients used we secure the

aid of this important agent in distributing nutrition equally

throughout the blood, to await final absorption; and, second, we gain

that sense of repletion so necessary to the satisfaction of hunger--the

fact being acknowledged that the sensation we call hunger is often

allayed by the presence of even innutritious substances in the stomach.



Good soup is literally the juice of any ingredient from which it is

made--the extract of the meat, grains, or vegetables composing it. The

most economical of soups, eaten with bread, will satisfy the hunger of

the hardest worker. The absolute nutritive value of soup depends, of

course, upon its ingredients; and these can easily be chosen in

reference to the maintenance of health. For instance, the pot-liquor in

which meat has been boiled needs only the addition of a few dumplings or

cereals, and seasoning, to form a perfect nutriment. That produced from

skin and bones can be made equally palatable and nutritious by boiling

with it a few vegetables and sweet herbs, and some rice, barley, or

oatmeal. Even the gelatinous residue produced by long-continued boiling,

without the presence of any foreign matter, is a useful emollient

application to the inflamed mucous surfaces in some diseases, while it

affords at the same time the degree of distention necessary to prevent

flatulency.



The time required to make the most palatable and nutritious soup is

short. Lean meat should be chopped fine, placed in cold water, in the

proportion of a pint to each pound, slowly heated, and thoroughly

skimmed. Five minutes' boiling will extract from the meat every particle

of its nutriment and flavor. The liquor can then be strained off,

seasoned, and eaten with bread, biscuit, or vegetables. Peas or beans

boiled and added to the soup make it the most perfect food for

sustaining health and strength. It is the pure juice of the meat and

contains all its savory and life-giving principles.



If your family is large, it will be well for you to keep a clean

saucepan, or pot on the back of the stove to receive all the clean

scraps of meat, bones, and remains of poultry and game, which are found

in every kitchen; but vegetables should not be put into it, as they are

apt to sour. The proper proportions for soup are one pound of meat and

bone to one and a half quarts of cold water; the meat and bones to be

well chopped and broken up, and put over the fire in cold water, being

brought slowly to a boil, and carefully skimmed as often as any scum

rises; and being maintained at a steady boiling point from two to six

hours, as time permits; one hour before the stock is done, add to it one

carrot and one turnip pared, one onion stuck with three cloves, and a

bouquet of sweet herbs.



When soup is to be boiled six hours you must allow two quarts of water

to every pound of meat, and you must see that the pot boils slowly and

regularly, and is well skimmed. When you want to keep soup from one meal

to another, or over night, you must pour it into an earthen pot, or

bowl, because it will turn by being allowed to remain in the metal pot.



I shall give you first some receipts for making soups without meat, and

then some of the cheapest meat soups I have tried. The first is very

cheap and nutritious, and should be served at meals where no meat is to

be used; bread, and a cheap pudding, will be sufficient to use with it.

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