and salt, and add a suspicion of grated nutmeg. Thicken the soup with a
little white roux and take the crust of a French roll. Cut this up into
small pieces or rings. The rings can be made by simply scooping out the
crumb, and cutting the roll across. When the leeks have boiled in the milk
till they are quite tender, pour the soup over the crusts placed at the
bottom of the soup-tureen. Some cooks add blanched parsley. Of course,
cream would be a great improvement.


LENTIL SOUP.--Take a breakfastcupful of green lentils and put them to soak
in cold water overnight. In the morning throw away any floating on the
top. Drain the lentils and put them in a stew-pan or saucepan with some
stock or water, and add two onions, two carrots, a turnip, a bunch of
parsley, a small teaspoonful of savoury herbs and a small head of celery.
If you have no celery add half a teaspoonful of bruised celery seed. You
can also add a crust of stale bread. Let the whole boil, and it will be
found that occasionally a dark film will rise to the surface. This must be
skimmed off. The soup must boil for about four hours, or at any rate till
the lentils are thoroughly soft. Then strain the soup through a wire
sieve, and rub the whole of the contents through the wire sieve with the
soup. This requires both time and patience. After the whole has been
rubbed through the sieve the soup must be boiled up, and if made from green
lentils it can be coloured green with some spinach extract--(vegetable
colouring, sold in bottles). If made from Egyptian (red) lentils, the soup
can be coloured with a few drops of Parisian essence (burnt sugar). In
warming up this soup, after the lentils have been rubbed through a sieve,
it should be borne in mind that the lentil powder has a tendency to settle,
and consequently the saucepan must be constantly stirred to prevent it
burning. In serving the soup at table, the contents of the soup-tureen
should be stirred with the soup-ladle before each help.