Stock — General Remarks. — Stock being the basis of all meat-
soups, and also of all the principal sauces, it is essential to the suc-
cess of these culinary operations to know the most complete and
economical method of extracting from a certain quantity of meat the
best possible stock of broth.
Beef makes the best stock ; veal stock has less color and taste,
whilst mutton sometimes gives it a tallowy smell, far from agreeable,
unless the meat has been previously roasted or broiled. Fowls add'
very little to the flavor of stock, unless they be old and fat.
Bones ought always to form a component part of the stock-pot.
Brown meats contain more than white, and make the stock more
fragrant.
By roasting meat, the osmazome appears to acquire higher proper-
ties; so, by putting the remains of roast meats into your stock-pots,
you obtain a better flavor.
When the stock is well skimmed and begins to boil, put in salt
and vegetables, which may be two or three carrots, two turnips, one
parsnip, a bunch of leeks and celery tied together.
You can add, according to taste, a piece of cabbage, two or three
cloves stuck in an onion, and a tomato.
The latter gives a very agreeable flavor to the stock. If fried onion
be added, it ought, according to the advice of a famous French chef,
to be tied in a little bag ; without this precaution, the color of the
stock is liable to be clouded.
Soups will, in general, take from three to six hours' doing, and are
much better prepared the day before they are wanted.
COOKERY RECIPES. 4O5
When soups and gravies are kept from day to day in hot weather,
they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh-scalded pans
•or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar.
In temperate weather, every other day may be sufficient.
Soups which are intended to constitute the principal part of a meal
certainly ought not to be flavored like sauces, which are only designed
to give a relish to some particular dish.
Really good soup can never be made but in a well-closed vessel,
although, perhaps, greater wholesomeness is obtained by an occasional
exposure to the air.
Soft water should always be used for making soup, unless it be of
green peas, in which case hard water better preserves its color ; and
it is a good general rule to apportion a quart of water to a pound of
meat — that is to say, flesh without bone ; but rich soups may have a
smaller quantity of water.
Meat for soup should never be drowned at first with water, but
put into the kettle with a very small quantity and a piece of butter,
merely to keep it from burning until the juices are extracted, by
which means of stewing the gravy will be drawn from it before the
remainder of the water is added. A single pound will thus afford
better and richer soup than treble the quantity saturated with cold
water ; but it will take six or eight hours to extract the essence from
a few pounds of raw beef Bouilli beef is rendered very rich and
palatable, though a considerable quantity of soup may be made from
it, by being stewed at first in a little butter and some of its own
gravy.
To thicken and give body to soups and gravies, potato-mucilage,
corn-starch, bread-raspings, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice or
oatmeal in a little water, rubbed well together, are used.
Page 256
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Stock — General Remarks. — Stock being the basis of all meatsoups, and also of all the principal sauces, it is essential to the success of these culinary operations to know the most complete and economical method of extracting from a certain quantity of meat the best possible stock of broth.
Beef makes the best stock ; veal stock has less color and taste, whilst mutton sometimes gives it a tallowy smell, far from agreeable, unless the meat has been previously roasted or broiled. Fowls add very little to the flavor of stock, unless they be old and fat.
Bones ought always to form a component part of the stock-pot.
Brown meats contain more than white, and make the stock more fragrant.
By roasting meat, the osmazome appears to acquire higher properties; so, by putting the remains of roast meats into your stock-pots, you obtain a better flavor.
When the stock is well skimmed and begins to boil, put in salt and vegetables, which may be two or three carrots, two turnips, one parsnip, a bunch of leeks and celery tied together.
You can add, according to taste, a piece of cabbage, two or three cloves stuck in an onion, and a tomato.
The latter gives a very agreeable flavor to the stock. If fried onion be added, it ought, according to the advice of a famous French chef, to be tied in a little bag ; without this precaution, the color of the stock is liable to be clouded.
Soups will, in general, take from three to six hours' doing, and are much better prepared the day before they are wanted.
When soups and gravies are kept from day to day in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh-scalded pans •or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar.
In temperate weather, every other day may be sufficient.
Soups which are intended to constitute the principal part of a meal certainly ought not to be flavored like sauces, which are only designed to give a relish to some particular dish.
Really good soup can never be made but in a well-closed vessel, although, perhaps, greater wholesomeness is obtained by an occasional exposure to the air.
Soft water should always be used for making soup, unless it be of green peas, in which case hard water better preserves its color ; and it is a good general rule to apportion a quart of water to a pound of meat — that is to say, flesh without bone ; but rich soups may have a smaller quantity of water.
Meat for soup should never be drowned at first with water, but put into the kettle with a very small quantity and a piece of butter, merely to keep it from burning until the juices are extracted, by which means of stewing the gravy will be drawn from it before the remainder of the water is added. A single pound will thus afford better and richer soup than treble the quantity saturated with cold water ; but it will take six or eight hours to extract the essence from a few pounds of raw beef Bouilli beef is rendered very rich and palatable, though a considerable quantity of soup may be made from it, by being stewed at first in a little butter and some of its own gravy.
To thicken and give body to soups and gravies, potato-mucilage, corn-starch, bread-raspings, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice or oatmeal in a little water, rubbed well together, are used.