Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

for about two hours, add salt to taste, and then drain again. Place the nests in the soup-dish, pour boiling _consommé_ over them, and serve warm. The Chinese are said to use very rich _consommé_ of chicken to prepare them. _With Tomatoes and Rice._--Blanch half a dozen tomatoes, and skin them. Put them in a saucepan with a quart of broth, season with an onion sliced, three or four sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, half a dozen pepper-corns, a bay-leaf, two cloves, two cloves of garlic; salt and pepper. Boil gently till reduced to about two-thirds, then mash gently through a colander. It is understood by mashing gently, to mash so that all the liquid part shall pass through the colander, and the seeds and spices shall be retained in it and thrown away. While the tomatoes are on the fire boiling, set four ounces of rice on the fire with cold water and salt, and boil it till tender. Drain the rice, put it in a saucepan with the tomato-juice after being mashed, set the saucepan on the fire, add one ounce of butter, a teaspoonful of sugar, both according to taste; to make the potage thin or thick, boil gently fifteen minutes, turn into the soup-dish, and serve warm. The same may be done with canned tomatoes; in that case, set a can of tomatoes on the fire with the same seasonings, and proceed exactly as for the above in every other particular. _The same with Croutons._--Fry some _croutons_ with a little butter, put them in the soup-dish; turn the potage, or rather the same mixture as above, over them; cover the soup-dish for two or three minutes, and serve. _With Tomatoes and Croutons only._--Fry the _croutons_ and put them in the soup-dish; turn the tomatoes only over them, after being prepared as above; cover the soup-dish for two or three minutes, and serve. _Purée à la Reine._--Procure a rather old chicken and cut it in pieces as for fricassee; set it on the fire in a saucepan with about a quart of cold water, salt, and