Take two lbs. fish and fish bones, set it in a pot with two quarts of water, an onion stuck with two cloves, a few peppercorns, mace, and a bouquet✪ Fish Stock. Skim as it comes to a boil, and allow it to reduce to about half its quantity by very slow simmering. A little white wine or vinegar is often put with this stock. Wine gives a specially nice flavour to fish broth. Salt must be added at the last moment. Preparations made from Stocks are summarised as follows : First stock (bouillon or broth). Second, or general stock (remouil- lage) ; this is a refill of the first stock. Essences. Half-glaze, a reduction of first or second stock. Glaze. SOUPS IN GENERAL Soup As unquestionably the most judicious beginning of a dinner, no matter whether plain or recherche. When properly prepared they are most stimulating, wholesome, and highly esteemed compounds. No part of cookery seemed until recent years to be so imperfectly understood, especially by ordinary cooks, as the preparation of soups. The upper classes look upon soup as an essential part or course of a dinner. Properly speaking it is the prelude of a dinner. The middle classes, generally speaking, appreciate the importance of soup as a nutritive and sustaining diet, whilst the poorer and labouring classes look upon it with disdain, which, to be quite plain, can only be regarded as a sign of ignorance. THE NEW CENTURY COOKERY BOOK There has been a good deal of needless discussion regarding the importance of soup, some people finding in it a complete dinner, whilst others regard it as a weak wash, though suitable for the nursery or sick-room. The Marquis de Cussy, a great gourmet of his time, described soup as the preface of a dinner, and said that a good work can do without a preface ; and, as a reply to this argument, the great Careme is reported to have said, ‘ Why should the Marquis wage war against soup ? I cannot understand a dinner without it. I hold soup to be the well-beloved of the stomach.’ Whatever these opinions may be worth, it is an acknowledged fact that a plate of good soup or broth partaken at the commence- ment of a meal prepares one to enjoy the more solid portions all the better. It must, however, be remembered that a little soup of good quality is far better than a large quantity of poor soup. Nothing can be more disappointing to a guest than a plate of weak, badly flavoured, watery or greasy-looking liquid, which some cooks serve up as soup. The English taste, it will be found, is in favour of rich, strong, and highly flavoured soups. This does not necessarily mean that it is universally so, as even these may be and are judiciously varied by others of a plainer description, as circumstances may require, and in accordance with the needs and taste of the guests. Before anyone can pretend to make soup of any kind, it is abso- lutely necessary that he should be well and fully acquainted with the subject of stocks and broths and their preparation, for these form with very few exceptions the basis of every soup. For this reason a cook’s whole attention must for a time be turned to that' subject in particular. It has been reckoned that there are between 550 to 600 different kinds of soup. The greater portion of this number is of course reached by giving the dignity of a separate recipe to every little variation, to all of which fashion accords separate names.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Take two lbs. fish and fish bones, set it in a pot with two quarts of water, an onion stuck with two cloves, a few peppercorns, mace, and a bouquet. Skim as it comes to a boil, and allow it to reduce to about half its quantity by very slow simmering. A little white wine or vinegar is often put with this stock. Wine gives a specially nice flavour to fish broth. Salt must be added at the last moment. Preparations made from Stocks are summarised as follows : First stock (bouillon or broth). Second, or general stock (remouillage) ; this is a refill of the first stock. Essences. Half-glaze, a reduction of first or second stock. Glaze. SOUPS IN GENERAL Soup As unquestionably the most judicious beginning of a dinner, no matter whether plain or recherche. When properly prepared they are most stimulating, wholesome, and highly esteemed compounds. No part of cookery seemed until recent years to be so imperfectly understood, especially by ordinary cooks, as the preparation of soups. The upper classes look upon soup as an essential part or course of a dinner. Properly speaking it is the prelude of a dinner. The middle classes, generally speaking, appreciate the importance of soup as a nutritive and sustaining diet, whilst the poorer and labouring classes look upon it with disdain, which, to be quite plain, can only be regarded as a sign of ignorance. There has been a good deal of needless discussion regarding the importance of soup, some people finding in it a complete dinner, whilst others regard it as a weak wash, though suitable for the nursery or sick-room. The Marquis de Cussy, a great gourmet of his time, described soup as the preface of a dinner, and said that a good work can do without a preface ; and, as a reply to this argument, the great Careme is reported to have said, ‘ Why should the Marquis wage war against soup ? I cannot understand a dinner without it. I hold soup to be the well-beloved of the stomach.’ Whatever these opinions may be worth, it is an acknowledged fact that a plate of good soup or broth partaken at the commencement of a meal prepares one to enjoy the more solid portions all the better. It must, however, be remembered that a little soup of good quality is far better than a large quantity of poor soup. Nothing can be more disappointing to a guest than a plate of weak, badly flavoured, watery or greasy-looking liquid, which some cooks serve up as soup. The English taste, it will be found, is in favour of rich, strong, and highly flavoured soups. This does not necessarily mean that it is universally so, as even these may be and are judiciously varied by others of a plainer description, as circumstances may require, and in accordance with the needs and taste of the guests. Before anyone can pretend to make soup of any kind, it is absolutely necessary that he should be well and fully acquainted with the subject of stocks and broths and their preparation, for these form with very few exceptions the basis of every soup. For this reason a cook’s whole attention must for a time be turned to that' subject in particular. It has been reckoned that there are between 550 to 600 different kinds of soup. The greater portion of this number is of course reached by giving the dignity of a separate recipe to every little variation, to all of which fashion accords separate names.

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Fish Stock

The new century cookery book