Excerpt
CHAPTER I.
Soups.
STOCK OR CONSOMMÉ.This is the basis of all kinds of soup and sauces. Shin of beef or ox-cheek make excellent stock, although good gravy-beef is sometimes preferred; the bones should always be broken, and the meat cut up, as the juices are better extracted; it is advisable to put on, at first, but very little water, and to add more when the first quantity is nearly dried up. The time required for boiling depends upon the quantity of meat; six pounds of meat will take about five hours; if bones, the same quantity will require double the time.
Gravy beef with a knuckle of veal makes a fine and nutritious stock; the stock for white soups should be prepared with veal or white poultry. Very tolerable stock can be procured without purchasing meat expressly for the purpose, by boiling down bones and the trimmings of meat or poultry.
The liquor in which beef or mutton intended for the table has been boiled, will also, with small additions and skilful flavoring, make an excellent soup at a trifling expense.
To thicken soups, mix a little potatoe-flour, ground rice, or pounded vermicelli, in a little water, till perfectly smooth; add a little of the soup to it in a cup, until sufficiently thin, then pour it into the rest and boil it up, to prevent the raw taste it would otherwise have; the presence of the above ingredients should not be discovered, and judgment and care are therefore requisite.
If colouring is necessary, a crust of bread stewed in the stock will give a fine brown, or the common browning may be used; it is made in the following manner:
Put one pound of coarse brown sugar in a stew-pan with a lump of clarified suet; when it begins to froth, pour in a wine-glass of port wine, half an ounce of black pepper, a little mace, four spoonsful of ketchup or Harvey's sauce, a little salt, and the peel of a lemon grated; boil all together, let it grow cold, when it must be skimmed and bottled for use.
It may also be prepared as required, by putting a small piece of clarified fat with one ounce of coarse sugar, in an iron spoon, melting them together, and stirring in a little ketchup and pepper.
When good stock or consommé is prepared, it is very easy to form it into any kind of soup or sauce that may be required.
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GRAVY SOUP.Take about three quarts of any strong stock, seasoned with a bunch of sweet herbs, a carrot, turnip, and a head of celery, which must not be served in the soup. Vermicelli, maccaroni, or thin slices of carrot and small sippets of fried bread cut in fancy shapes, are usually served in this soup.
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MOCK TURTLE.Half boil a well-cleaned calf's head, then cut off all the meat in small square pieces, and break the bones; return it to the stew-pan, with some good stock made of beef and veal; dredge in flour, add fried shalot, pepper, parsley, tarragon, a little mushroom ketchup, and a pint of white wine; simmer gently until the meat is perfectly soft and tender. Balls of force-meat, and egg-balls, should be put in a short time before serving; the juice of a lemon is considered an improvement....