Put two pounds of meat, with any bones or trimming you have - remnants of cold meat or gravy helps to enrich it - in a pot with three quarts of cold water; let them come slowly to a boil, and then simmer (see page 65) for two hours, skimming occasionally; add to the soup three teasponfuls of salt, one-half one of pepper, a carrot, a turnip, an onion, two cloves, a stick of celery and two sprigs of parsley if you have them.

If the vegetables are to be served with the soup, they must be very neatly cut, quite small; if the soup is to be strained, simply cut in thin slices will do. Let this slowly simmer two hours more; then put in a teaspoon-tul of caramel (see recipe); remove the meat; boil fast for a minute or two, to send up the fat, and skim off every bit of fat. If you find this difficult after the thickest fat is off, lay pieces of common butchers' paper or other unprinted paper on the surface till it no longer comes off greasy.

I need not repeat recipes which are, after all, the same thing, or should be. The clear soup may be varied into "macaroni" soup, "clear asparagus," or any of the many soups taking their name from the substances served in them, by adding any one of them to the stock, always remembering that they should be cooked thoroughly first and then put into the boiling stock.

Do not, however, use cold vegetables for the purpose.