con or fat ham, drain it off, and in
it fry the slices of a large onion brown; scald, peel and cut up two
quarts fresh tomatoes, when in season (use canned tomatoes otherwise),
and cut thin one quart okra; put them, together with a little chopped
parsley, in a stew-kettle with about three quarts of hot broth of any
kind; cook slowly for three hours, season with salt and pepper. Serve
hot.

In chicken broth the same quantity of okra pods, used for thickening
instead of tomatoes, forms a chicken gumbo soup.

TAPIOCA CREAM SOUP.

One quart of white stock; one pint of cream or milk; one onion; two
stalks celery; one-third of a cupful of tapioca; two cupfuls of cold
water; one tablespoonful of butter; a small piece of mace; salt,
pepper. Wash the tapioca and soak over night in cold water. Cook it
and the stock together very gently for one hour. Cut the onion and
celery into small pieces, and put on to cook for twenty minutes with
the milk and mace. Strain on the tapioca and stock. Season with salt
and pepper, add butter and serve.

SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT.

ONION SOUP.

One quart of milk, six large onions, yolks of four eggs, three
tablespoonfuls of butter, a large one of flour, one cup full of cream,
salt, pepper. Put the butter in a frying pan. Cut the onions into thin
slices and drop in the butter. Stir until they begin to cook; then
cover tight and set back where they will simmer, but not burn, for
half an hour. Now put the milk on to boil, and then add the dry flour
to the onions and stir constantly for three minutes over the fire;
then turn the mixture into the milk and cook fifteen minutes. Rub the
soup through a strainer, return to the fire, season with salt and
pepper. Beat the yolks of the eggs well, add the cream to them and
stir into the soup. Cook three minutes, stirring constantly. If you
have no cream, use milk, in which case add a tablespoonful of butter
at the same time. Pour over fried croutons in a soup tureen.

This is a refreshing dish when one is fatigued.

WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP.

Scrape and slice three turnips and three carrots and peel three
onions, and fry all with a little butter until a light yellow; add a
bunch of celery and three or four leeks cut in pieces; stir and fry
all the ingredients for six minutes; when fried, add one clove of
garlic, two stalks of parsley, two cloves, salt, pepper and a little
grated nutmeg; cover with three quarts of water and simmer for three
hours