[Sidenote: Brown Stock, see page 88.]
The brown stock is made from beef, or from beef, veal, and fowl combined, and mixed vegetables.
[Sidenote: White Stock, see page 99.]
White stock is made of veal and chicken together, or from veal alone, seasoned with onion, celery, white pepper, and salt, nothing being used which will give color.
[Sidenote: Chicken Consomme or Broth, see page 98.]
Chicken stock is made from the fowl alone, and seasoned with celery, white pepper, and salt.
[Sidenote: Cream Soups, see page 105.]
Cream soups are made without stock, the basis being vegetables boiled and mashed to a puree by being pressed through a colander or sieve, then mixed with cream or milk and seasoned to taste.
[Sidenote: Soup Meats.]
The meats used for soups are: the lower or tough part of the round, the shin, and the neck pieces of beef, the knuckle of veal, and fowls. Mutton is not used except for mutton broth.
A very little ham is sometimes used; game also gives good flavor.
Bones contain gelatine and cause the stock to jelly when cold.
[Sidenote: Soup Vegetables.]
The soup vegetables are onions, carrots, turnips, and celery. They are cut into small pieces and are sometimes fried before being added to the soup pot.
[Sidenote: The Bouquet.]
Parsley wrapped around peppercorns, cloves, bay-leaves and other herbs, excepting sage, and tied, makes what is called a bouquet. In this shape the herbs are more easily removed.
[Sidenote: Proportions.]
The proportions are one quart of cold water to a pound of meat, and to four quarts of water one each of the vegetables of medium size, named above, two sticks of celery, and a bouquet containing one root of parsley with leaves, one bay-leaf, twelve peppercorns, six cloves,--one sprig of thyme, and sweet marjoram if desired.
[Sidenote: The order of preparing Soups.]
In making good soup the first essential is a perfectly clean pot. I would emphasize the word clean. First have the pot thoroughly washed with soda and water to remove any grease, then scoured with sapolio to take off any bits of burned or hardened matter.
The meat should be wiped clean with a wet cloth and carefully examined to see if there are any tainted spots, then cut into pieces about one and a half inches square (except in the case where a round of beef is used, which is to be removed when tender and served as bouilli). The meat and bones must be put into cold water in order to extract the juices, and never be allowed to boil. Slow cooking best effects the object desired (see article on boiling, page 67). After the meat has stood fifteen minutes in cold water, put it on the fire, cover, and let it come slowly to the simmering-point, then place on the back of range to simmer for six hours or more. An hour before the cooking is completed, add the vegetables, cut into small pieces. When the soup is to be served clear, it is well to remove the sc.u.m as it rises, but this is not essential, for much of it comes off when the soup is strained, and perfectly clear soup requires clarifying in any case. The French receipts all say remove the sc.u.m, but as it is a nutrient part of the meat, unless clearness is desired, it seems better to let it remain during the period of cooking.
[Sidenote: Removing the Grease.]
When the soup has simmered five or six hours, it should be strained into an earthen bowl and left to cool uncovered.
Under no circ.u.mstances let it stand in the pot after it is cooked. The grease will rise to the top and form a cake which can be easily removed when cold. Any little particles which may stick to the jelly may be wiped off with a cloth wet in hot water. Where a quant.i.ty of stock is made at one time, it is well to strain it into two or even three bowls; the grease forms an air-tight cover and will help to keep it from souring. Stock should be made the day before it is to be used in order to let the grease rise and the floating particles settle, but where it is needed at once, the grease that cannot be skimmed off with a spoon can be absorbed by pa.s.sing tissue paper over it carefully.
[Sidenote: Clarifying.]
Soup can be made perfectly clear by taking the jellied stock from which every particle of grease and sediment has been removed, and stirring into it, while cold, the slightly-beaten white and crushed sh.e.l.l of one egg to each quart of stock. It must be stirred constantly until the soup is hot enough to coagulate the alb.u.men, by which time it has thoroughly mixed with and imprisoned the fine particles which cloud the liquid.
Let it boil violently for five minutes, then let it stand five minutes longer on the side of the range to settle. Strain through a fine cloth laid on a sieve. Let it drain through without pressing. In some cases a small bit of lemon rind used with the egg in clearing gives a pleasant flavor to the soup.
After clearing it will ordinarily need to be heated again before serving. In high-cla.s.s cooking, soups are cleared with chopped raw meat or chicken, which adds to, instead of detracting from the richness of the soup. The alb.u.men of egg does not materially affect the quality of the soup, and is recommended for general practice.[87-*]
[Sidenote: Coloring.]
If a deeper color is wanted, it may be obtained by adding a very little caramel (see page 78) or a few drops of a preparation called "Kitchen Bouquet." Artificial coloring, however, is not so good as that obtained by browning the vegetables and part of the meat before adding them to the soup pot. (See brown stock, page 88.)
[Sidenote: Names.]
The meat soups are called broths, bouillon, or consomme, according to their richness.
The purees are thick soups made with or without stock, the basis being mashed vegetables or meat pounded to a paste.
[Sidenote: Meat Stock.]
Stock made of meat alone will keep better than where vegetables are used. In warm weather it is well to have it so prepared.
COMMON STOCK (POT-AU-FEU)
For this stock pieces of fresh or cooked meat are used, also all odds and ends, chicken bones, gravies, cooked or raw vegetables, etc. Water in which fish or vegetables (excepting cabbage or potatoes) have been boiled may or may not be used.
They are put together cold and are simmered for five or six hours, then strained through a colander into an earthen bowl and left to cool uncovered. Clear soup should not be attempted with this stock, but it is good to combine with vegetables for vegetable soup, or with other mixtures like rice, bits of meat, chicken, gumbo, etc., for soup and to use for sauces and seasoning.
BEEF OR BROWN STOCK
8 lbs. of shin of beef.
8 quarts of cold water.
1 medium-sized carrot.
1 medium-sized turnip.
1 parsley root and leaves.
1 onion.
1 stick of celery.
12 peppercorns.
6 cloves.
1 tablespoonful of salt.
Rub with a wet cloth the outside of the shin of beef, which has been well broken by the butcher. Take the meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces. Put aside a half pound of the meat. Place the rest of the meat and the bones in a perfectly clean pot with the cold water, and let it stand fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the water is red; then place them on the fire and let them come slowly to the simmering point. Meanwhile, place in a saute-pan some of the marrow from the bones, or a tablespoonful of drippings. When the fat is hot put in the half pound of reserved meat and cook it until it is well browned. When the water in the pot has begun to simmer, put in the browned meat and rinse the saute-pan with a few spoonfuls of water so none of the value of the browned meat will be lost. This will give good color and also flavor to the soup. Place the pot where the water will simmer only, and leave it to cook for six hours, or until the meat is cooked to shreds and its nutriment fully extracted. Add the vegetables, which have been well washed, sc.r.a.ped, and cut into pieces, one hour before the cooking is completed, and add the salt just before removing the stock from the fire.
If a clear soup is not desired, the care to keep it below the boiling point is not essential. (See note, page 87.)
When the stock is done strain it through a close cloth or a fine sieve into an earthen bowl, and let it cool without covering.
When ready to serve, remove the grease, clear it if desired for transparent soup, add more pepper and salt to taste.
FOR MACARONI, NOODLE, VERMICELLI, VEGETABLE OR PRINTANIeRE, JULIENNE, TAPIOCA, AND CROuTE-AU-POT SOUPS,
Take as much of the beef stock as will be needed, allowing one half pint for each person, remove all the grease, heat it, and season to taste. Just before serving add any of the above articles, which must have been boiled separately. The soup will then have the name of the ingredient used.