The addition of the flour or cornstarch gives a smoothness to their consistency which is especially desirable for some soups.  A few spoonfuls of cooked oatmeal or cracked wheat, added and rubbed through the colander with the other material, is valuable for the same purpose.  Browned flour prepared by spreading a cupful thinly on shallow tins, and placing in a moderately hot oven, stirring frequently until lightly and evenly browned, is excellent to use both for thickening and flavoring certain soups.

If whole grains, macaroni, vermicelli, or shredded vegetables are to be used in the soup, cook them separately, and add to the soup just before serving.

The nutritive value of soup depends of course upon its ingredients, and these should be so chosen and combined as to produce the best possible food from the material employed.  Milk is a valuable factor in the preparation of soups.  With such vegetables as potatoes, parsnips, and others of the class composed largely of starch, and containing but a small proportion of the nitrogenous food elements, its use is especially important as an addition to their food value, as also to their palatableness.  Very good soups may, however, be made from legumes, if carefully cooked with water only.

Soups offer a most economical way of making use of the “left-over” fragments which might otherwise be consigned to the refuse bucket.  A pint of cold mashed potatoes, a cupful of stewed beans, a spoonful or two of boiled rice, stewed tomatoes, or other bits of vegetables and grains, are quite as good for soup purposes as fresh material, provided they have been preserved fresh and sweet.  To insure this it is always best to put them away in clean dishes; if retained in the dish from which they were served, the thin smears and small crumbs on the sides which spoil much sooner than the larger portion, will help to spoil the rest.  One may find some difficulty in rubbing them through the colander unless they are first moistened.  Measure the cold food, and then determine how much liquid will be needed, and add a part of this before attempting to put through the colander.

It is difficult to give specific directions for making soups of fragments, as the remnants to be utilized will vary so much in character as to make such inapplicable, but the recipes given for combination soups will perhaps serve as an aid in this direction.  Where a sufficient amount of one kind of food is left over to form the basis of a soup or to serve as a seasoning, it can be used in every way the same as fresh material.  When, however, there is but a little of various odds and ends, the general rule to be observed is to combine only such materials as harmonize in taste.

Soups prepared from the grains, legumes, and vegetables, are so largely composed of food material that it is important that they be retained in the mouth long enough for proper insalivation; and in order to insure this, it is well to serve with the soup croutons, prepared by cutting stale bread into small squares or cubes, and browning thoroughly in a moderate oven.  Put a spoonful or two of the croutons in each plate, and turn the hot soup over them.  This plan also serves another purpose,—­that of providing a means whereby the left-over bits of stale bread may be utilized to advantage.