Like M. Andre Maurois, the famous French novelist, I also say : " Beware of the vegetable marrow," for few things in the repertory of the English cook can equal the insipidity, dullness and tastelessness of" Marrow with White Sauce." As it is usually served, it is a mere watery mass plastered over with paperhanger's paste. When properly cooked, very young marrow can be extremely good and an excellent soup can be made of it.

Ingredients

1 medium-sized marrow, or preferably 2 small marrows, milk, butter, cream, salt and pepper.

Method

Peel and slice the marrow and put in boiling salted water and cook till very tender. Now put the slices of marrow on a colander, and with a wooden spoon, squeeze as much of the water out of them as possible. Then rub the marrow through a hair sieve into a basin, put the puree into a saucepan, pour over it 1 pint or a little more of boiling milk, season highly with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the fire, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of cream, stirring well, and a small pat of butter. Replace on the fire for a few minutes, but do not let the soup boil. Serve with croutons of fried bread.