Soup is so convenient, economical and healthful, that as an article of diet it ranks second in importance only to bread; and soup making is justly entitled to a prominent place in the science of cookery.
A simple soup or broth of good quality, delicately seasoned with salt and pepper, or containing some of the grains, or grain products, is always acceptable, and none of the more complex soups that can be readily secured by a judicious introduction of vegetables, herbs and spices ever meet with popular disfavor.
There are enough scraps of cooked and uncooked meats, trimmings of roasts, steaks, chops, cutlets and so on in nearly every house to keep the family supplied with nutritious, palatable soup, with very little trouble and at only a slight expense for additional material. And as the best dinner can generally be preceded with advantage by a light soup of some kind, to an ordinary, cold, or “picked-up” family dinner, a plate of soup is an invaluable adjunct, and can be prepared in a few minutes in a kitchen where the value of the stock pot is recognized, and the economy of good cooking understood.
Soup scientifically prepared is easier of digestion than almost any other article of diet. The solid matter which enters into its composition and would in the original form require several hours for digestion, is so broken down in the process of preparation that it can be readily assimilated with very little expenditure of vital force; and being absorbed by the stomach as soon as eaten, goes immediately to nourish the system.
But soup to fulfill its true mission must be attractive in appearance, agreeable in flavor and unmistakable in character. It must not be a weak, sloppy, characterless compound, nor a crude, greasy, inharmonious hodge-podge. The defects of unsavory, unpalatable, indigestible soups may be concealed, but can not be removed by the excessive use of salt, pepper and other spices and condiments. And in order that soup of any kind may legitimately aspire to high rank, either as a nutritive or hygienic agent, it must be skillfully prepared, so as to please the eye and gratify the palate.