Potatoes, if boiled in the soup, are thought by some to render it
unwholesome, from the opinion that the water in which potatoes
have been cooked is almost a poison. As potatoes are a part of
every dinner, it is very easy to take a few out of the pot in
which they have been boiled by themselves, and to cut them up and
add them to the soup just before it goes to table.

The cook should season the soup but very slightly with salt and
pepper. If she puts in too much, it may spoil it for the taste of
most of those that are to eat it; but if too little, it is easy to
add more to your own plate.

The practice of thickening soup by stirring flour into it is not a
good one, as it spoils both the appearance and the taste. If made
with a sufficient quantity of good fresh meat, and not too much
water, and if boiled long and slowly, it will have substance
enough without flour.


FAMILY SOUP.

Take a shin or leg of beef that has been newly killed; the fore
leg is best, as there is the most meat on it. Have it cut into
three pieces, and wash it well. To each pound allow somewhat less
than a quart of water; for instance, to ten pounds of leg of beef,
nine quarts of water is a good proportion. Put it into a large
pot, and add half a table-spoonful of salt. Hang it over a good
fire, as early as six o'clock in the morning, if you dine at two.
When it has come to a hard boil, and the scum has risen, (which it