Cream-of-Celery Soup
1 Head of celery.
1 Pint of water.
1 Pint of milk.
1 Tablespoon of butter.
1 Tablespoon of flour.
½ Teaspoon of salt.
½ Saltspoon of white pepper.
Wash and scrape the celery, cut it into half-inch pieces, put it into the pint of boiling water, and cook until it is very soft. When done mash it in the water in which it was boiled, and add the salt and pepper. Cook the onion in the milk, and with it make a white sauce with the butter and flour; add this to the celery, and strain it through a soup-strainer, pressing and mashing with the back of a spoon until all but a few tough fibers of the celery are squeezed through. Return the soup, in a double boiler, to the fire, and heat it until it is steaming, when it is ready to serve.
By substituting chicken broth for water, and using celery-salt instead of fresh celery when it is not in season, a very acceptable variation of this soup may be made.