FoodNetArchive

Cassell's dictionary of cookery

1892

Page 31 · 3 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
often little apparently unimportant matters of detail are omitted. In preparing stock, therefore, for a very large number of persons, we will suppose the following quantity of perfectly fresh meat to have been sent into the lai-der : — Forty pounds of gravy- beef, forty pounds of leg of beef, and knuckles of veal and two legs of white veal weighing probably about forty pounds. Cut away the meat from the bones, taking care to reserve those pieces of the veal next the udder that are suitable for fricandeau, &c., as well as the best pai"ts of the veal, to be used as afterwards directed. Then break up the bones small, and put them with all the trimmings of the veal into a lai'ge stock-pot, with the remainder of the meat, which should be cut up, and to which may be added a few turnips, carrots, celery, and leeks ; add also a little saltCommon Stock, but very little, and do not put any herbs or spices in by way of flavour- ing. The stock-pot should be tilled up with cold water, and put on the fire to boil, very gently, for about seven or eight hours. As soon as the stock-pot boils up, or^ rather, as soon as it begins to simmer, it should be carefully skimmed ; the stock-pot should be kept well closed the whole time, except when it is necessary to take oS the lid, for the purpose of skimming. Avoid having too fierce a fire, as should the stock boil up furiously, part of the scum which ought to rise gently, and then be removed, will be dissolved, and the consequence will be that there will be considerable difficulty in obtaining the stock clear. After the stock has simmered for the time we have mentioned it should be strained through a large cloth or sieve into basins, and put by for use, aU the fat being removed when cold. It may here be advisable to look, in a general way, at what is done to make ordinary stock. It is simply bones of beef and veal broken xip, and placed with the few vegetables mentioned, and a considerable quantity of gravy-beef and veal, for only the best pieces of the latter should be reserved, and the whole gently simmered for some hours, care, as we have said, being taken to skim at intervals, and to avoid fast boiling. What pi-obably will at once excite the attention of the ordinary cook is the absence of flavoui-ing, but this is the very point we would have them bear in mind. They too often in making stock simply make a highly-seasoned soup. Good stock should not be seasoned, as it may be wanted for a variety of piu'poses where seasoning would be objectionable. Recollect, soup is made from stock by adding flavouring, &c., to the stock; when, therefore, it is possible, make the stock as simple as possible, and add to it afterwards what is considered necessary, which, of course, will depend upon the nature of the soup or gravy that has to be made. We will now proceed to describe how brown sauce and white sauce is to be made in what we may call wholesale quantities. Brown Sauce