Liebig objects to cooking the stock for any great length of time, because he assumes, and justly, that the albumen and fibrin which, after protracted cooking, will rise hard and bony, cannot be so thoroughly separated as not to leave some disagreeable flavor, and take away much of the real nutriment of the soup. He says if we take one pound of beef free from fat, and separate it from the bones finely, as for mince-meat or sausages; then mix it uniformly in its own weight of cold water, heat it slowly to a boiling point, and allow the liquid to boil briskly for only a few minutes; then strain through a towel to free it from the coagulated albumen and fibrin which will be mixed with it, we can, by this short boiling, secure an equal weight of the most aromatic soup or beef-tea, of such strength as cannot be obtained, even by boiling for hours, from a solid piece of flesh. Youmans says, by long boiling the rich part of the meat extracted by the cold water coagulates and becomes insoluble, instead of remaining dissolved in the soup, as it should do, in order to secure the most highly nutritious substance of the meat. A piece of flesh put into boiling water _undivided_ is in the most unfavorable condition possible for making good soup. It is customary to protract the boiling, because it is supposed to thicken and enrich the soup. We have no doubt, if the mistress could oversee the whole process, that a better soup would be obtained by less than the four or five hours’ cooking which we recommended in our last article for stock. But if she is obliged to commit the preparing of stock or soups to willing but careless hands, who half the time do not cut the meat up fine or crack the bones, a longer time is necessary to extract the full flavor, which will not then be as pure. What are called _clear soups_ should be of a light straw color, and not too strongly flavored with the meat. _White_ or _thick soups_ must only be thick enough to adhere slightly to the spoon when hot. _Purée_ consists of vegetables or meat reduced to a very smooth pulp, and then mixed with enough stock to make a thick soup like most of the bean or pea soups. One of the most generally palatable soups is the _turtle_ or _black bean soup_, with rich beef stock for the foundation. Soak a pint and a half of the beans overnight in plenty of lukewarm water. In the morning drain off all the water and cover with fresh cold water; see that your soup-digester is perfectly cleaned, and three quarts of beef stock put in it, then set it over the fire. (Of course you never allow your digester or soup-pot to be put away without being thoroughly cleaned; but _sometimes_ girls have been known to forget or make a mistake; and it is best for many reasons that all utensils should be examined thoroughly, rinsed with hot water, and wiped dry each time you take them out for use, if only to remove what dust may settle on them while in the closet.)