Modern cookery for private families

a very trifling cost; and where fish is fresh and abundant it may be cheaply supplied nearly equal in quality to that for which a full proportion of meat is commonly used. It is best suited to the colder seasons of the year when thickened well with rice, semoulina, pearl barley, or other ingredients of the same nature; and adapted to the summer months when lighter and more refreshing. Families who have resided much abroad, and those accustomed to continental modes of service, prefer it usually _in any form_ to the more solid and heavy dishes which still often supersede it altogether at our tables[11] (except at those of the more affluent classes of society, where it appears, as a matter of course, in the daily bills of fare), and which are so _oppressive_, not only to foreigners, but to all persons generally to whom circumstances have rendered them unaccustomed diet; and many a housekeeper who is compelled by a narrow income to adopt a system of rigid domestic economy, would find it assist greatly in furnishing comfortable meals in a very frugal manner, if the proper modes of making it were fully comprehended as they ought to be.[12] Footnote 11: The popular taste in England, even at the present day, is far more in favour of what is termed “_substantial_” food, than of any kind of pottage. Footnote 12: We are unable to give further space to this subject here, but may probably resume it at another part of the book, if practical. The reader who desires to understand the _principles_ of soup-making is advised to study with attention the directions for “Baron Liebeg’s Extract of Beef,” in the present chapter, and the receipt for _bouillon_ which follows it. A FEW DIRECTIONS TO THE COOK. In whatever vessel soup is boiled, see that it be perfectly clean, and let the inside of the cover and the rim be equally so. Wash the meat, and prepare the vegetables with great nicety before they are laid into it; and be careful to keep it always closely shut when it is on