Soup

SOUP, a liquid food consisting usually of stock (water in which meat or vegetables have been boiled) with or without other ingredients. Soups are also made without stock. As clear soups are largely water, they have little food value in themselves, but they act as appetizers. Cream soups, vegetable purées and chow ders are higher in food value, and may be used as main dishes.

Stock.—In boiling meat for soup the meat is put into cold wa ter in order to extra( as much of the "goodness" as possible dur ing the five or six hours of slow cooking, and it is usually cut small. The meat with which a good stock is made becomes a mass of fibrous, almost tasteless matter, which can be used only in some made dish to which seasonings are added.

Meat stocks are of two types, white and brown. For the first, the bones and meat of veal, chicken and turkey are used. For brown stock the foundation is of beef and beef bones, one being a marrow bone tied in cheesecloth to prevent the escape of all the marrow. The usual combination stock is made of beef and veal. For white fish stock the heads and tails of fish are used, with no vegetables to darken the mixture. Brown fish stock is made with sliced fish, and vegetables that will make the liquid brown.

Brown stock is the traditional French pot-au-feu. To make, put a piece of beef, beef bones and if desired bones, legs and neck of a fowl into salted cold water. Bring slowly to boiling point. All scum must be removed from any stock the instant it appears. Reduce the liquid to the simmering point and add the vegetables—two onions stuck with a clove, two or three carrots, one turnip, one leek, one tomato, celery, pepper, salt and bay leaf. Simmer from five to six hours. For a clear soup the vegeta bles should cook no longer than two hours, and should be tied in bunches before adding. All stock is strained through cheesecloth or a sieve as soon as it is done. This is the clear soup or con sommé with which many other soups can be made. If the stock needs clarifying, this is done by cooking with egg white and egg shells. A simpler way of making brown stock is to place the bones, two-thirds of the meat and the water in the stockpot to soak for one hour. The rest of the meat and one-third of the vegetables may be browned in a little fat. These are added to the pot, and the mixture simmered from three to five hours, the rest of the vegetables being added from one to two hours before the end of the cooking. For white stock the vegetables are onion and celery, with other white vegetables if desired, and the cooking time is an hour less than for brown stock. Fish stocks cook in one hour or a little more. Any stock may be used as the basis of other soups.

Cream Soups.

These may have white stock, milk, cream or white sauce as the foundation. The last three are valuable ways of adding milk to the diet. A milk cream soup has cups milk to cup strained cooked vegetable. A cream soup with white sauce adds a cup cooked strained vegetable or shellfish (bisque) to 3 cups thin white sauce. A cream soup with white stock adds II cups strained cooked vegetable to 2 cups of the stock. Any of these proportions may be varied to suit individual taste.

Vegetable Soups.

These may have a stock foundation, may be cream soup, or may be made of vegetables, water and season ings. Vegetable stock makes an excellent basis for a vegetable soup. A thick soup is called a puree, and those made of the legumes (usually dried) are of high food value. The combinations of vegetables possible are endless. Onion is an invariable ingredi ent, though this may be in the form of leeks or chives. The vegeta bles should be cut up and tossed for two minutes in butter. This preliminary frying adds richness and flavour. Boiling water is added and the liquid allowed to simmer for at least two hours.

Chowders.

These are hearty soups that might in some cases be called stews. Fish chowders are many, of which the most fa mous is the Bouillabaisse from Marseilles. Clam chowder is a favourite in the United States. Vegetable chowders are made of combinations of vegetables, sometimes with a single vegetable giving the predominating flavour, as in parsnip chowder or green corn (maize) chowder. Gumbos are thick soups made with okra.

The soups associated with certain nations are hearty ones, suf ficient with bread and perhaps cheese to serve as a main dish. France has the pot-au-feu and the petite marmite (adding chicken to the pot-au-feu), Italy minestrone, Russia borch, Holland erwtensoep, Spain puchero, South-western France garbure.

called also guanabana (botanical name Anona muricata; family Anonaceae), a small evergreen tree, about 20 ft. high, native to tropical America. It bears a large, dark-green bluntly conical or heart-shaped fruit, 6 to 8 in. long and 1 to 5 lb. in weight, covered with short fleshy spines. The white, juicy, slightly acid, aromatic pulp has a flavour of mango and pine apple, and makes excellent jelly and preserves. The sour-sop is cultivated in the West Indies, tropical South America, Mexico, India, Cochin China, parts of Polynesia and the west coast of Africa. With some frost protection, it can be grown along the Florida coast as far north as Palm Beach. It is propagated by growing seedlings and by shield-budding. (See CHERIMOYA; CUSTARD APPLE; SWEET-SOP.)