Asparagus ( White soup. )
3 lbs. veal. The knuckle is best.
3 bunches asparagus, as well bleached as you can procure.
1 gallon water.
1 cup milk.
1 tablespoonful rice flour.
Pepper and salt.
Cut off the hard green stem, and put half of the tender heads of the asparagus into the water with the meat. Boil in closely covered pot for three hours, until the meat is in rags and the asparagus dissolved. Strain the liquor and return to the pot, with the remaining half of the asparagus heads. Let this boil for twenty minutes more, and add, before taking up, a cup of sweet milk (cream is better) in which has been stirred a tablespoonful of rice-flour, arrow-root, or corn-starch. When it has fairly boiled up, serve without further straining, with small squares of toast in the tureen. Season with salt and pepper.