The English—to their loss—are not a soup-eating nation; and for the most part, those of us that do care for soups are obstinately conservative in our tastes. The ordinary restaurant thinks it has done its duty when ox-tail, mock-turtle and tomato soup have been included in the bill of fare. Yet the range of soups is very wide, as the hundred pages of recipes (by no means exhaustive) that follow will show; and that they may lead some readers to add to the elasticity of the domestic menu, is the ambition of the compiler. All are good, few are expensive, and none exotic. I should like it to be understood also that the directions need not be considered absolutely final. Every recipe can be made the basis of mild experiment, by slight differences in the ingredients or quantities. Two final remarks: soup never ought to be served in large quantities (our tendency in England when we take it is to take too much); and in the preparation of it the first and last word is “simmer.”
E. D.