RICE SOUP

In France, this soup is served well thickened with the rice, which is stewed in it for upwards of an hour and a half, and makes thus, even with the common _bouillon_ of the country, an excellent winter _potage_. Wipe in a dry cloth, eight ounces of the best rice; add it, in small portions, to four quarts of hot soup, of which the boiling should not be checked as it is thrown in. When a clear soup is wanted wash the rice, give it five minutes’ boil in water, drain it well, throw it into as much boiling stock or well-flavoured broth as will keep it covered till done, and simmer it very softly until the grains are tender but still separate; drain it, drop it into the soup, and let it remain in it a few minutes before it is served, but without simmering. When stewed in the stock it may be put at once, after being drained, into the tureen, and the clear _consommé_ may be poured to it.

An easy English mode of making rice-soup is this: put the rice into plenty of cold water; when it boils throw in a small quantity of salt, let it simmer for ten minutes, drain it well, throw it into the boiling soup, and simmer it gently from ten to fifteen minutes longer.[23] An extra quantity of stock must be allowed for the reduction of this soup which is always considerable.

Footnote 23:

The Patna requires much less boiling than the Carolina.