done, and simmer it very softly until the grains are tender, but still separate; drain it, slip it into the soup, and let it remain in it a few minutes before it is served, but without simmering. When stewed in the stock, it may be put at once, after being drained, into the tureen, and the clear gravy-soup may be poured to it.

An easy English mode of making rice-soup is this: put the rice into plenty of cold water; when it boils, throw in a small quantity of salt, let it simmer ten minutes, drain it well, throw it into the boiling soup, and simmer it gently from ten to fifteen minutes longer; some rice will be tender in half that time. An extra quantity of stock must be allowed for the reduction of this soup, which is always considerable.

WHITE RICE SOUP.

Throw four ounces of well-washed rice into boiling water, and in five minutes after pour it into a sieve, drain it well, and put it into a couple of quarts of good white, boiling stock; let it stew till tender; season the soup with salt, cayenne, and pounded mace; stir to it three quarters of a pint of very rich cream, give it one boil, and serve it quickly.

Rice, 4 ozs.: boiled 5 minutes. Soup, 2 quarts: hour or more. Seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne; cream, & pint: 1 minute.

RICE-FLOUR SOUP.

Mix with a little cold broth, eight ounces of fine rice-flour, and pour it into a couple of quarts of fast-boiling broth or gravy soup. Add to it mace, and cayenne, with a little salt if needful. It will require but ten minutes' boiling.

Soup, 2 quarts; rice-flour, 8 ozs.: 10 minutes.

Obs.--Two dessertspoonsful of currie-powder, and the strained juice of half a moderate-sized lemon will greatly improve this soup: it may also be converted into a good common white soup, (if it be made of veal stock), by the addition of three-quarters of a pint of thick cream to the rice.

STOCK FOR WHITE SOUP.

Though a knuckle of veal is usually preferred for this stock, part of the neck will, on an emergency, answer very well. Whichever joint be chosen, let it be thoroughly washed, once or twice divided, and laid into a delicately clean soup-pot, or welltinned large stout iron saucepan, upon a pound of lean ham, freed entirely from skin and fat, and cut into thick slices.

Should very rich soup be wished for, pour in a pint only of cold water for each pound of meat, but otherwise a pint and a half may be allowed. When the soup has been thoroughly cleared from scum, which should be carefully taken off, from the time of its first beginning to boil, throw in an ounce of salt to the gallon (more can be added afterwards if needed), two mild onions, a moderate-sized head of celery, two carrots, a small teaspoonful of whole white pepper, and two blades of mace; and let the soup stew very softly from five to six hours, if the quantity be large: it should simmer until the meat falls from the bones. The skin of a calf's head, a calf's foot, or an old fowl may always be added to this stock with good effect. Strain it into a clean deep pan, and keep it in a cool place till wanted for use.

Lean ham, 1 lb.; veal, 7 lbs.; water, 4 to 6 quarts; salt, 11⁄2 oz. (more if needed); onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 2; pepper-corns, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 2 blades: 5 to 6 hours.

MUTTON-STOCK FOR SOUPS.

Equal parts of beef and mutton, with the addition of a small portion of ham, or of very lean bacon, make excellent stock, especially for winter-soups. The necks of fowls, the bones of an undressed calf's head, or of any uncooked joint may be added to it with advantage. According to the quality of soup desired, pour from a pint to a pint and a half of cold water to each pound of meat; and after the liquor has been well skimmed on its beginning to boil, throw in an ounce and a half of salt to the gallon, two small heads of celery, three mild, middling-sized onions, three well-flavoured turnips, as many carrots, a faggot of thyme and parsley, half a teaspoonful of white peppercorns, twelve cloves, and a large blade of mace. Draw the soup-pot to the side of the fire, and boil the stock as gently as possible for about six hours; then strain, and set it by for use. Be particularly careful to clear it entirely from fat before it is prepared for table. One third of beef or veal, with two of mutton, will make very good soup; or mutton only will answer the purpose quite well upon occasion.

Beef, 4 lbs. ; mutton, 4 lbs. ; (or, beef or veal from 2 to 3 lbs. ; mutton from 5 to 6 lbs. ;) water, 1 to 1 gallon; salt, 11⁄2 oz.; mild turnips, 1 lb.; onions, 6 ozs.; carrots, lb.; celery, 6 to 8 ozs.; 1 bunch of herbs; peppercorns, teaspoonful; cloves, 12; mace, 1 large blade: 6 hours.

Obs.-Salt should be used sparingly at first for stock in which

any portion of ham is boiled; allowance should also be made for its reduction, in case of its being required for gravy.

THE LORD MAYOR'S SOUP.

Wash thoroughly two sets of moderate-sized pigs' ears and feet, from which the hair has been carefully removed; add to them five quarts of cold water, and stew them very gently, with a faggot of savoury herbs, and one large onion stuck with a a dozen cloves, for nearly four hours, when the ears may be lifted out; stew the feet for another hour, then take them up, strain the soup, and set it in a cool place that it may become cold enough for the fat to be quite cleared from it. Next, bone the ears and feet, cut the flesh down into dice, throw a clean folded cloth over it, and leave it so until the soup requires to be prepared for table; then strew upon it two tablespoonsful of savoury herbs minced small, half a saltspoonful of cayenne, a little white pepper, and some salt. Put into a large saucepan half a pound of good butter, and when it begins to simmer thicken it gradually with as much flour as it will absorb; keep these stirred over a very gentle fire for ten minutes or more, but do not allow them to take the slightest colour; pour the soup to them by degrees, letting it boil up after each portion is added; put in the meat, and half a pint of sherry, simmer the whole from three to five minutes; dish the soup, and slip into it two or three dozens of delicately fried forcemeat-balls. (See Chapter VI.)

Pigs' feet, 8; ears, 4; water, 5 quarts; bunch savoury herbs; 1 large onion; cloves, 12: 3 to 4 hours, feet, 1 hour more. Butter, lb; flour, 6 ozs.*: 10 to 12 minutes. Minced herbs, 2 tablespoonsful; cayenne and common pepper, each saltspoonful; salt, teaspoonful or more; sherry, pint: 3 to 5 minutes. Forcemeat-balls, 2 to 3 dozens.

Obs. We have given this receipt with the slightest possible variation from the original, which we derived from a neighbourhood where the soup made by it was extremely popular. We have better adapted it to our own taste by the following altera

tions.

THE LORD MAYOR'S SOUP.

(Author's Receipt.)

We prefer to have this soup made, in part, the evening before it is wanted. Add the same proportion of water to the ears and

The safer plan for an inexperienced cook, is to weigh the flour, and then to sprinkle it from a dredging-box into the butter.

feet as in the preceding directions; skim it thoroughly when it first boils, and throw in a tablespoonful of salt, two onions of moderate size, a small head of celery, a bunch of herbs, two whole carrots, a small teaspoonful of white peppercorns, and a blade of mace. Stew these softly until the ears and feet are perfectly tender, and after they are lifted out, let the liqour be kept just simmering only, while they are being boned, that it may not be too much reduced. Put the bones back into it, and stew them as gently as possible for an hour; then strain the soup into a clean pan, and set it by till the morrow in a cool place. The flesh should be cut into dice while it is still warm, and covered with the cloth before it becomes quite cold. To prepare the soup for table, clear the stock from fat and sediment, put it into a very clean stewpan, or deep, well-tinned saucepan, and stir to it, when it boils, six ounces of the finest rice-flour smoothly mixed with a quarter-teaspoonful of cayenne, three times as much of mace, and salt, the strained juice of a lemon, three tablespoonsful of Harvey's sauce, and half a pint of good sherry or Madeira. Simmer the whole for six or eight minutes, add more salt if needful, stir the soup often, and skim it thoroughly; put in the meat, and herbs, and after they have boiled gently for five minutes, dish the soup, add forcemeat and eggballs or not, at pleasure, and send it to table quickly.

Moderate-sized pigs' feet, 8; ears, 4; water, 5 quarts; salt, 1 tablespoonful; onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 2; bunch of herbs; peppercorns, 1 small teaspoonful; mace, 1 blade: 31 to 4 hours. Stock, 5 pints; rice-flour, 6 ozs.; cayenne, teaspoonful; mace and salt, each of a teaspoonful; juice of 1 lemon; Harvey's sauce, 3 tablespoonsful; sherry or Madeira, pint: 6 to 8 minutes. Savoury herbs, 2 tablespoonsful: 5 minutes.

Obs. 1.-Should the quantity of stock exceed five pints, an additional ounce or more of rice must be used, and the flavouring be altogether increased in proportion. Of the minced herbs, two-thirds should be parsley, and the remainder equal parts of lemon thyme and winter savoury, unless sweet basil should be at hand, when a teaspoonful of it should be substituted for half of the parsley. To some tastes a seasoning of sage would be acceptable; and a slice or two of lean ham will much improve the flavour of the soup.

Obs. 2.-Both this soup, and the preceding one, may be rendered very rich by substituting strong bouillon (see page 6) or good veal broth for water, in making them.

COCOA-NUT soup.

Pare the dark rind from a very fresh cocoa-nut, and grate it fine on an exceedingly clean, bright grater; weigh it, and allow two ounces for each quart of soup. Simmer it gently for one hour in the stock, which should then be strained and thickened for table. This nut imparts a remarkably fine flavour to any kind of soup or broth, and it is considerably heightened by browning it with a morsel of fresh butter to a fine ambercolour, in a thick stewpan or saucepan, over a slow fire, before the soup is poured to it. It must be stirred constantly, and the greatest care should be taken that no single particle be burned. An ounce of butter will be sufficient for a quarter-pound of the nut, which should be added as soon as the butter is just dissolved.

Veal stock, gravy-soup, or broth, 5 pints; grated cocoa-nut, 5 ozs.: 1 hour. Flour of rice, 5 ozs.; mace, teaspoonful; little cayenne and salt; mixed with pint cream, if at hand:

10 minutes.

For brown soup: butter, 14 oz.; cocoa-nut, 5 ozs.: 5 to 10 minutes. Gravy-soup, or good beef-broth, 5 pints: 1 hour. Rice flour, 5 ozs.; soy and lemon-juice, each 1 tablespoonful; sugar pounded fine, 1 oz.; cayenne, teaspoonful; sherry, 2 glasses.

Obs. When either cream or wine is objected to for these soups, a half-pint of the stock should be reserved to mix the thickening with.

CHESTNUT SOUP.

Strip the outer rind from some fine, sound Spanish chestnuts, throw them into a large pan of warm water, and as soon as it becomes too hot for the fingers to remain in it, take it from the fire, lift out the chestnuts, peel them quickly, and throw them into cold water as they are done; wipe, and weigh them; take three quarters of a pound for each quart of soup, cover them with good gravy-stock, and stew them gently for upwards of three quarters of an hour, or until they break when touched with a fork; drain, and pound them smoothly, or bruise them to a mash with a strong spoon, and press them through a fine sieve reversed; mix with them by slow degrees, the proper quantity of stock, add sufficient mace, cayenne, and salt, to season the soup, and stir it often until it boils. Three quarters of a pint of rich cream will greatly improve it. The stock in

C