Instant Stock

Ingredients

• an onion
• two or three cloves
• a good bunch of parsley
• a little salt
• a little cayenne pepper
• about a quarter of one of those little packets

Method

1. 1

   Peel and split the onion, stick cloves in it, and place in a saucepan with water, parsley, salt, cayenne pepper, and gelatine.

2. 2

   Boil until the gelatine is dissolved, then strain into a basin, pressing the onion and parsley to extract maximum flavor.

Nutrition per serving

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 34. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

two or three cloves have been stuck, a carrot, or two small carrots, one turnip, if young — but do not put in any in very hot weather, or when they are old and sweet — one head of celery, or, if no celery is in season, a little celery-seed (about one-third of a salt-spoonful, or about enough to cover a three- penny piece), a small pinch of thyme, a little cayenne pepper, and a little salt; also, if they can be obtained, a couple of leeks. Let all this simmer gently for three or four hours, and then strain it off into a large basin. We ai-e sujjposing 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, jfec, to transform it into excellent soup. Good stock, when it is cold, should form a jelly, OAving 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 gi'avy-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 siibstitute 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 fi-om 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 Avater 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 CASSELL S DICTIONARY OP COOKERY. Die these circumstances the cook who can improvise an extra dish or two is a vahiable one; but as we are speaking at present on the subject of stock, we will confine our directions to the instantaneous manufacture of that necessary basis of all culinary oj)erations. We will suppose the house, or at any rate an adjacent grocer's, to contain some extract of meat and some gelatine. Most houses likewise have at hand a few onions and some parsley. Let the cook proceed as follows : — Take an onion, and having peeled and split it in two, stick two or three"- cloves in it, and place it in a saucepan of water with a good bunch of parsley, a little salt and cayenne pepper, and a small quantity of gelatine — about a quarter of one of those little packets

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.