that in every case we have mentioned the addition is altogether optional,
or a substitute like lemon-juice can be used in its place.




VEGETARIAN COOKERY

CHAPTER 1.

SOUPS.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.


There are very few persons, unless they have made vegetarian cookery a
study, who are aware what a great variety of soups can be made without the
use of meat or fish. As a rule, ordinary cookery-books have the one
exception of what is called _soup maigre_. In England it seems to be the
impression that the goodness of the soup depends upon the amount of
nourishment that can be compressed into a small space. It is, however, a
great mistake to think that because we take a large amount of nourishment
we are necessarily nourished. There is a limit, though what that limit is
no one can say, beyond which soup becomes absolutely injurious. A quarter
of a pound of Liebig's Extract of Meat dissolved in half a pint of water is
obviously an over-dose of what is considered nourishment. In France, as a
rule, soup is prepared on an altogether different idea. It is a light,
thin broth, taken at the commencement of the meal to strengthen the
stomach, in order to render it capable of receiving more substantial food
to follow. Vegetarian soups are, of course, to be considered from this