Greenbelt cooperator., 1942-02-06
Balancingth Budget
By BERTHA MARYN
- SOUPS

VII, uedI, Couny
good day for soup, but it's so late
and l don't have thing in the
house to make soup with"
This lady's plight reminds me
of an old Slavic folk story, II
beggar came to a poverty-strlcken
farmhouse and asked the farmers
wife for something to eat.
"Indeed, I'd be only too glad to
share a bit of food with you but
not a morsel have we for our
Selves" was the good woman's re-
ply.
The beggar stood undaunteo.
Surely you still have water!" ne
asked, "and an old rake tooth! !!
Curiosity led the farmers wife to
admit that both water and rake
tooth were available.
"Well, fetch me the tooth and
& quart of water and I'll cook you
the best soup you ever did taste"
More curious that the proverblai
cat, the woman produced the tooth
and water and placed them on the
kitchen stove.
"Now, my good woman" said
the beggar, "there wouldn't be
bit of barley or rice would there?
And if you only had bit of onloiI
and one tiny carrot, my, what q
soup that would bel" By this time
things had go so far that the
good woman could not resist the
desire to see what would come out
of this remarkable recipe. So she
looked and looked and found some
barley and rice, a carrot and an
onion, all of which went into the
pot.
"My, this is fine, but if only |
had bit of a bone with every so
small a bit of fat on it to give IL
flavor. My dear woman, see II
YOU can't borrow a bit of bone
Jr a bit of meat fat from your
neighbor." Needless to say
bone with a piece of fat meat
was found and the rake tooth soup
boiled, producing most tempting
aroma, to the amazement of the
foolish and the curious farmers
wife.
The end of the tale, like all folk
tales, is chat the soup was good
and that they all lived happily
ever after" The moral, of course,
IS simple; there is no one special
item that's a must for good soup:
Good soup can be made easily and
cheaply. The trick of soup MAX
ing is intelligence, imagination
and whatever you happen to have
in the pantry or ice box.
There are probably more varia-
tions in soup than in any other
dish. There are hot soups, cold
soups, thick soups, thin soups,
meat soups, cream soups, milk
soups, fish soups, vegetable soups,
poultry soups; soups that are en-
trees or appetiZers, soups that add
extra nourishment to the meal,
and soups that are whole meal in
themselves.
Generally speaking soups may
be divided into three types or
groups: cream or puree, clear or
bouillon, and the thick legume and
vegetable meal-in-itself-type. Each
has it's own place in the family
meal and the kind used depends
on the kind of meal you are plan
ming.
The clear soup, called bouillon,
is an appetizer used to whet the
appetite and for the limited bud
get is not a very necessary dish
unless it happens to be by pro-
duct of some other dish you are
preparing For example if you are
going to make chicken salad and
must first cook your chicken, the
liquor, seasoned and cooked WIN
an onion and bit of celery makes
good chicken bouillon. This is al
SO true of boiled beef stock. OF
course, chicken and beef stock can
also be used as base for puree
and vegetable soups, and for eco
nomical planning that is probably
the better way to use meat or