ter; whisk well together;
then add half a pint of the boiling stock gradually, still whisking the
eggs; then stir the boiling stock rapidly, pouring in the whites of
eggs, etc.; as you do it, stir quickly till nearly boiling again, then
take it from the fire, let it remain till the whites of eggs separate;
then strain through a clean, fine cloth into a basin. This rule once
learned will clear every kind of soup or jelly.

There are many people who are good cooks, yet fail in clear soup, which
is with them semi-opaque, while it should be like sherry. The cause of
this opacity is generally quick boiling while the meat is in. This gives
it a milky appearance. After the stock is once made and clear, quick
boiling will do no harm, but of course wastes the soup, unless resorted
to for the purpose of making it stronger. A word here about coloring
soup: Most persons resort to burnt sugar, and, very carefully used, it
is not at all a bad makeshift. But how often have we a rich-looking soup
put before us, the vermicelli appearing to repose under a lake of strong
russet _bouillon_, but which, on tasting, we find suggestive of nothing
but burnt sugar and salt, every bit of flavor destroyed by the acrid
coloring. Sometimes stock made by the recipe for _pot-au-feu_ (to
follow) requires no color; this depends on the beef; but usually all
soup is more appetizing in appearance for a little browning, and for
this purpose I always use burnt onions in preference to anything else.
If you have none in store when the soup is put on, put a small onion in
the oven (or on the back of the stove; should you be baking anything the
odor would taint); turn it often till it gets quite black, but not
_charred_. Then put it to the soup; it adds a fine flavor as well as
color, and you need not fear overdoing it.

Soup that is to be reduced must be very lightly salted; for this reason
salt is left out altogether for glaze, as the reduction causes the
water only to evaporate, the salt remains.

GOUFFE'S POT-AU-FEU.--Four pounds of lean beef, six quarts of water, six
ounces of carrot, six of turnip, six of onion, half an ounce of celery,
one clove, salt.

Put the meat on in cold water, and just before it comes to the boil skim
it, and throw in a wineglass of cold water, skim again, and, when it is
"on the boil," again throw in another wineglass of cold water; do this
two or three times. The object of adding the cold water is to keep it
just off the boil