ASPARAGUS SOUP -1
Wash two bunches of fresh asparagus carefully, and cut into small pieces. Put to cook in a quart of boiling water, and simmer gently till perfectly tender, when there should remain about a pint of the liquor. Turn into a colander, and rub all through except the hard portion. To a pint of asparagus mixture add salt and one cup of thin cream and a pint of milk; boil up for a few minutes, and serve.
ASPARAGUS SOUP -2
1/2 dozen sticks of asparagus, 1/2-pint water, 1/4-pint milk, 1 level dessertspoonful of corn flour, 1/4 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste. Boil the asparagus in the water till tender, add the seasoning, and the corn flour smoothed in the milk, boil up and serve.
ASPARAGUS CREAM.
For making two quarts of soup, use two bundles of fresh asparagus. Cut the tops from one of the bunches and cook them twenty minutes in salted water, enough to cover them. Cook the remainder of the asparagus about twenty minutes in a quart of stock or water. Cut an onion into thin slices and fry in three tablespoonfuls of butter ten minutes, being careful not to scorch it; then add the asparagus that has been boiled in the stock; cook this five minutes, stirring constantly; then add three tablespoonfuls of dissolved flour, cook five minutes longer. Turn this mixture into the boiling stock and boil twenty minutes. Rub through a sieve; add the milk and cream and the asparagus heads. If water is used in place of stock, use all cream.