Cream Of Celery

Take of the coarser parts of celery as much as will make two heads, wash and cut in pieces, put in a saucepan with half an onion cut in slices and cover with boiling water. Cook until tender and press through a sieve with the water in which it was boiled. Make a roux of butter and flour as in other cream soups, add the puree to it and as much boiling milk as will make it the proper consistency. Season with salt and pepper, and finish with a beaten egg yolk and two tablespoonfuls of cream, adding this after the soup has been removed from the fire.

Cream Of Chestnuts

Shell and blanch a pint of large French chestnuts. Put them in a saucepan and almost cover them with boiling water, cook until tender. Before they are quite done add a little salt. When done remove from the fire, rub through a puree sieve with the water they were boiled in. Melt a generous heaping table-spoonful of butter with an even tablespoonful of flour and add to it by degrees a pint of boiling milk, let it cook until thick, then stir in the chestnut puree and salt and pepper to taste. Let it come to a boil and serve.

Cream Of Cucumbers

Peel and cut into slices four cucumbers and one small white onion, put in a saucepan with enough boiling water to cover them, cook until tender, press through a fine sieve and pour into a saucepan, stand where it will keep hot without cooking. Have a cream sauce ready, made by melting two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter in a saucepan with two tablespoonfuls of flour, let them cook together until the mixture no longer adheres to the pan, then add gradually a quart of milk, an even teaspoonful of white pepper, a heaping teaspoonful of salt, let it boil for a few minutes until thick and pour into the cucumber puree, add two tablespoonfuls of rich cream, let it come to the boiling point, and serve at once. This is a very delicate soup, and cooking or standing on the stove after it is done will spoil it. Groult's potato flour is nicer for thickening cream soups than the common flour, but, if used, only half the quantity called for in the recipes is needed.

Cream Of Summer Squash

Peel the squash, slice thin, put in a saucepan and add boiling water to come nearly to the top of the squash. When nearly tender add an onion, a bay leaf and several sprigs of parsley. When tender mash through a fine sieve, return to the fire, let it come to a boil, stir in a heaping tablespoonful of butter, a heaping teaspoonful of flour, season with salt and pepper and a tiny pinch of mace. Have almost as much boiling milk as puree, remove from the fire and stir together, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, and serve at once.

Cream Of Lettuce

Take two heads of nice, fresh lettuce, wash and drain and chop fine with half a small white onion, put in a saucepan with two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter, cook for about ten minutes, stirring all the time, then add two heaping tablespoonfuls of rice and a quart of milk. Let it boil for twenty minutes until the rice is perfectly tender, remove from the fire and press through a puree sieve, using a small potato masher, then strain and press again through a fine hair sieve; this will make it smooth. Season with salt to taste and a dash of cayenne pepper, and a small half teaspoonful of sugar. Put in a fresh saucepan, rub together two heaping teaspoonfuls of butter and an even teaspoonful of cornstarch and stir into the soup. Let it come to the boiling point and remove from the fire, adding at the last moment a quarter of a cupful of whipped cream. Serve with or without fried croutons.