Soups...Soups...Soups - A food staple and comfort food

The best soups are made with a blending of many flavors. Don't be afraid of experimenting with them. Where you make one mistake you will be surprised to find the number of successful varieties you can produce.

If you like a spicy flavor try two or three cloves, or allspice, or bay leaves. All soups are improved by a dash of onion, unless it is the white soups, or purées from chicken, veal, fish, etc. In these celery may be used.

In nothing as well as soups can a cook be economical of the odds and ends of food left from meals. One of the best cooks I know was in the habit of saving everything, and announced one day, when her soup was especially praised, that it contained the crumbs of gingerbread from her cake box!

Creamed onions left from a dinner, or a little stewed corn, potatoes mashed, a few baked beans--even a small dish of apple sauce have often added to the flavor of soup.

Of course, all good meat, gravies, or bones from roast or boiled meats, can be added to your stock pot. A little butter is always needed in tomato soup.

In making stock, use a quart of water for every pound of meat and bone. Cut the meat in pieces, add the bones, place all in the kettle, pour over it the proper quantity of cold water; let it soak a while on the back of the before cooking. Let soup boil slowly, never hard, (an hour for each pound of meat) strain through a sieve or coarse cloth. Never let the fat remain on your soup. Let get cold and lift it off, or skim it off hot.