Chestnut Soup, or Purée of Chestnuts.—Take four dozen chestnuts and peel them. This will be a very long process if we attempt to take off the skins while they are raw; but in order to save time and trouble, place the chestnuts in a stew-pan with a couple of ounces of butter. Place them on a slack fire and occasionally give them a stir. Heat them gradually till the husks come off without any difficulty. Having removed all the husks, add sufficient stock or water to the chestnuts, and let them boil gently till they are tender. Then pound them in a mortar and rub them through a wire sieve. Add a very little brown roux, if the soup is to be brown, and a few drops of Parisian essence (burnt sugar), or a little white roux and a little cream if the soup is to be white. Add also a little pepper and salt, sufficient butter to make the purée taste soft, and a little powdered sugar. Fried and toasted bread should be served with the soup.

Cottage Soup.—Fry two onions, a carrot and a turnip, and a small head of celery cut up into small pieces, in a frying-pan, with a little butter, till they are lightly browned. Then put them in a saucepan, with about two quarts of water and a tablespoonful of mixed savoury herbs. Let this boil till the vegetables are quite tender, and then thicken the soup with two ounces of oatmeal or prepared barley. This must be mixed with cold water and made quite smooth before it is added to the soup. Wash a quarter of a pound of rice, and boil this in the soup, and when the rice is quite tender the soup can be served. Some persons add a little sugar, and dried powdered mint can be handed round with the soup, like pea soup.

Clear Soup.—Make a very strong stock by cutting up onion, celery, carrot, and a little turnip, and boiling them in some water. They should boil for two or three hours. Add also a teaspoonful of mixed savoury herbs to every quart, and colour the stock with a few drops of Parisian essence. Strain it off, and, if it is not bright, clear it with some white of egg in the ordinary way. Take only sufficient corn-flour to make the soup less thin or watery, but do not make it thick. A tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup can be added to every quart.