ps the best is a strawberry decoction which is made as
follows:

Boil some biscuit powder in water. Add wine, sugar and cinnamon
according to taste. In case the mixture is not thick enough stir in a
little corn flour. When this has boiled take it off the fire and put in
some cupfuls of ripe strawberries which must have lain an hour with
sugar over them. Serve as soup, broth or bouillon.

Fish soups are also very usual, the chief fish employed for the purpose
being the carp and the pike. Indeed the Germans seem able to make soup
out of anything and, not only to make it, but enjoy it.

Vegetables at German dinners, luncheons or suppers are always served in
a special course by themselves, being served cold at suppers. They are
dressed with oil, butter, or drippings, never boiled in water as we cook
them. These fats are placed in a saucepan and allowed to boil before the
vegetables are put in. Suet may be used instead of the above. Of course,
this method of dressing does not always apply to potatoes--which are
boiled in the American manner, though served in a countless variety of
ways. They are served with melted butter and parsley sauce as a dish by
themselves. They are served with sour milk sauce. Other preparations of
potatoes are too numerous to mention, but we may briefly enumerate sour
potatoes with bay leaves (the latter being boiled with them), potato
fritters, potatoes and apples, potatoes and pears, potatoes and damsons,
potatoes and vermicelli, etc. Some of these mixtures we attest, from
personal experience after tasting them, are not so unsavory as at first
sight might appear. The potato is a vegetable of undecided flavor and
lends itself to combinations with sweet fruits in an extraordinary
manner. Indeed by the addition of sugar in some of the German dishes it
would pass for a fruit itself.

Sour roast meat is a favorite with Germans. The extraordinary taste
which finds pleasure in eating this sour meat is little less remarkable
than the strange way in which the viand is prepared. Whey is first taken
and curdled with vinegar, and the meat is laid in this, the whey and
vinegar being changed every two days. This preliminary pickling goes on
for more than a week until the meat is thoroughly sour and sodden. If
not sour to the last degree the cook has orders to baste it with vinegar
while roasting, so as to secure the extreme point of acidity. Before it
is put to the fire the cooks often slash it, and rub it wi