epper and salt, and some
good stock, till tender; take them out and chop them up quite small;
prepare a good stock, as for any other soup, and add it to the mushrooms
and the liquor they have been stewed in. Boil all together, and serve.
If white soup is required use white button mushrooms and a good veal
stock, adding a spoonful of cream or a little milk as the color may
require. This is a nice soup and tastes good. If the mushrooms are very
young they have but little flavor; if they are full grown they darken
the soup, and if they are brown in the gills when used the soup will be
disagreeably dark. If, after preparing, but before cooking the
mushrooms, you pour some boiling water over them and into this drop a
little vinegar or lemon juice, then drain them off through a colander,
you can prevent, to a great extent, their darkening influence on the
soup, but always at the expense of their flavor.

=Mushroom Stems.=--The stems of young, fresh mushrooms are excellent to
eat, but those of old or stale mushrooms are unfit for food. In the case
of plump, fresh, full-sized mushrooms, the upper part of the stem, that
is, the portion between the frill and the socket in the cap, is used,
but the portion below the frill, that is, the "root" end, is discarded.
Any part of the stem that is discolored or tough or woody should be
rejected, and only the portion that is succulent and brittle and of a
clean white color at any time used. The stems are nearly always retained
in "button" mushrooms when they are cooked, and the upper or succulent
parts of the stems of plump, fresh, full-grown mushrooms are often
cooked along with the caps, but when cooking full-grown mushrooms we
prefer, in all cases, to completely remove the stems from the mushrooms,
and cook both separately. The stems are not so tender or deliciously
flavored as are the caps, but are excellent for ketchup, or flavoring,
or a sauce for eating with boiled fowl. In cooking the stems they should
be peeled by scraping, for they can not be skinned like the caps.

=Potted Mushrooms.=--Select nice button or unopen mushrooms, and to a
quart of these add three ounces of fresh butter, and stew gently in an
enameled saucepan, shaking them frequently to prevent burning. After a
few minutes dust a little finely powdered salt, a little spice, and a
few grains of cayenne over them, and stew until tender. When cooked turn
them into a colander standing in a basin, and leave them there unt