A Course of Lectures on the Principles of Domestic Economy and Cookery

peppercorns--that is, unground grains of pepper, instead of ground pepper, because I want the soup to be perfectly clear. I shall use also bay leaves, which may be new to some of you; they are the dried leaves of the laurel or bay tree, and can be bought at any drug store. You can buy five cents' worth of them and they will last you a year or more. The seasoning is slightly aromatic; for four quarts of soup use only a little leaf, or a piece of a large leaf; use also a blade of mace, and a sprig of any dried herb except sage. The peppercorns, the bay leaf, the blade of mace, and the sprig of sweet herb are tied in the midst of a little bunch of parsley, the stalk with all the leaves on, and if it is ever marketed here with the root on, use that as well; the root of the parsley has all the flavor of the leaf intensified, and you have only to thoroughly wash it, and then use it. All these dried herbs are to be gathered inside of the parsley and tied in a little bunch; tie the parsley by winding string around it, inclosing all the dried herbs; this little bunch is called in cooking books a _fagot_ or bouquet of herbs; it is what gives soups and sauces that indefinable spicy, delicate flavor so much liked. After the soup stock boils remove whatever scum has risen, put in the _fagot_, the turnip, the carrot, the onion stuck with cloves, and for the four quarts of soup a heaping tablespoonful of salt. Keep the soup stock covered as much as possible while it is heating; and after you have put in the vegetables keep it covered all the time. Let it boil very slowly. After all the vegetables are in set the kettle back so that the heat of the fire strikes from one side; let it boil from one side and gently; in that way you begin the clarifying. You will find if you boil the stock