Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Let all this simmer gently for three or four hours, and then strain it off into a large basin. We are supposing sufficient water to have been added to make the quantity when strained ofi" about two quarts. Then add to this a good tea-spoonful of extract of meat ; this will not merely have the effect of making the stock richer and more nutritious, but will also very materially assist the colour, as the leg of mutton bone was not in itself sufficient to enable the cook to boil down the stock to a glaze, and to obtain a colour by that means. By this method an exceedingly palatable and nice stock is obtained, that can be thickened for gravy with brown thickening, or can have various ingredients added to it, such as young vegetables cut up, macaroni, vermicelli, etc., to transform it into excellent soup. Good stock, when it is cold, should form a jelly, owing to the presence of the gelatine in the meat or the bones used ; indeed, stock made from bones alone will often be found to be a harder jelly than stock made from meat alone, owing to the fact that bones contain a great quantity of gelatine. Now, in making stock, we have referred to extract of meat — one of the most useful of modern inventions — that has not only assisted the cook but the doctor. Good beef-tea is in reality a very plain stock made from gravy-beef, without the assistance of the few herbs we have named. Beef-tea when cold, if properly made, is, like good stock, a firm jelly. Of late years, extract of meat has been largely used as a substitute for gravy-beef, as a quick method of making beef-tea where the absence of meat, or lack of time, have rendered its substitution desirable. It is not our province to discuss the respective merits of beef-tea made from meat, and that made from its extract. Medical men, however, are unanimous in their opinion that where the former cannot be obtained, the latter is a most valuable substitute. We will, however, show how stock can be made quickly — say, at a quarter of an hour's notice — without using not only gravy-beef but bones. We would first remind our readers that extract of meat when dissolved in water is a thin liquid, and however great the quantity of extract used, the mixture exhibits no symptoms of becoming a jelly. This is simply owing to the absence of gelatine. We will now take the extremely common case of a little stock being required at almost a moment's notice to make a little soup. Por instance, an unexpected stranger has arrived, when, unfortunately, the mistress of the house feels conscious that the dinner happens to be what is called a made-up one. Under Die