Book Excerpt: Soup Recipes COTTAGE SOUP.--Fry two onions, a carrot and a turnip, and a small head of celery cut up into small pieces, in a frying-pan, with a little butter, till they are lightly browned. Then put them in a saucepan, with about two quarts of water and a tablespoonful of mixed savoury herbs. Let this boil till the vegetables are quite tender, and then thicken the soup with two ounces of oatmeal or prepared barley.