erial, is valuable for the same purpose.
Browned flour prepared by spreading a cupful thinly on shallow tins, and
placing in a moderately hot oven, stirring frequently until lightly and
evenly browned, is excellent to use both for thickening and flavoring
certain soups.

If whole grains, macaroni, vermicelli, or shredded vegetables are to be
used in the soup, cook them separately, and add to the soup just before
serving.

The nutritive value of soup depends of course upon its ingredients, and
these should be so chosen and combined as to produce the best possible
food from the material employed. Milk is a valuable factor in the
preparation of soups. With such vegetables as potatoes, parsnips, and
others of the class composed largely of starch, and containing but a
small proportion of the nitrogenous food elements, its use is especially
important as an addition to their food value, as also to their
palatableness. Very good soups may, however, be made from legumes, if
carefully cooked with water only.

Soups offer a most economical way of making use of the "left-over"
fragments which might otherwise be consigned to the refuse bucket. A
pint of cold mashed potatoes, a cupful of stewed beans, a spoonful or
two of boiled rice, stewed tomatoes, or other bits of vegetables and
grains, are quite as good for soup purposes as fresh material, provided
they have been preserved fresh and sweet. To insure this it is always
best to put them away in clean dishes; if retained in the dish from
which they were served, the thin smears and small crumbs on the sides
which spoil much sooner than the larger portion, will help to spoil the
rest. One may find some difficulty in rubbing them through the colander
unless they are first moistened. Measure the cold food, and then
determine how much liquid will be needed, and add a part of this before
attempting to put through the colander.

It is difficult to give specific directions for making soups of
fragments, as the remnants to be utilized will vary so much in character
as to make such inapplicable, but the recipes given for combination
soups will perhaps serve as an aid in this direction. Where a sufficient
amount of one kind of food is left over to form the basis of a soup or
to serve as a seasoning, it can be used in every way the same as fresh
material. When, however, there is but a little of various odds and ends,
the general rule to be observed is to combine only such materials as
harm