The art of cookery

The flavor of soup depends greatly upon the freshness of the meat of which it is made, and the evenness of the temperature at which it is cooked. Tough and coarse pieces of meat make good soups and sauces, and can be converted into stock advantageously, as can also a great many refuse bits and scraps. But it is quite important that all meats of which stock is to made should be cooked before they get stale ; and the fresher the meat is, the finer will be the quality of the stock or juice extracted from it, and the better the soup made therefrom. It is quite customary to carefully remove all the scum that rises to the surface when preparing soup stock, but there is no necessity whatever for doing so, as this scum is merely albumen or meat-juice coagulated by the increasing temperature of the water. If permitted to remain after the water reaches the boiling point it will shortly become incorporated with the stock and increase its nutritive value. Its removal is not, therefore, recommended. When meat and bones are well cut and broken up, all their valuable properties can, by proper cooking, be extracted in four or five hours. After simmering that length of time the kettle should be taken from the fire, the stock strained through a colander into an earthen I02 The Art of Cookery. bowl, and, unless wanted for immediate use, should be set where it will cool as rapidly as possible, as the more rapidly it cools the finer will be its flavor, and the greater the length of time it can be kept. If stock is made of meat alone it will remain in liquid form when cold ; but if made of meat and bones in about equal proportions, it will be quite stiff and gelatinous on account of the gelatine extracted from the bones in cooking. Some soups are made without a special stock having been previously prepared, but stock of some kind is the base of a large majority of soups, and is the fluid foundation with which other materials are mixed and incorporated to form the various soups that in cook-books and bills of fare are designated potages, purees, and consommes. Soup stock may be classified as : 1. Simple Stock. 2. Compound Stock. 3. Mixed Stock No. i. 4. Mixed Stock No. 2. Simple stock is the extract from a single kind of flesh, fish, fowl, or vegetable. Compound stock is the extract of two or more kinds of flesh, fish, fowl, or vegetables. Mixed Stock No. i is stock made from scraps and odds and ends of uncooked meats, vegetables, etc. And Mixed Stock No. 2 is stock made from scraps and odds and ends of cooked meats, vegetables, etc. Simple Stock of Vegetables. — Cut the prepared vegetable of which the stock is to be made into small pieces, put in slightly salted water, and simmer gently Soup-Making. 103 until the vegetable is tender, and the stock sufficiently flavored. Asparagus Stock. — Cut the tender ends or points from a bunch of asparagus and reserve for stewing. Put the remainder into two quarts of slightly salted water, and simmer gently until the water is sufficiently flavored with asparagus, then strain and use for soup stock. Celery Stock. — Put the roots and coarse outside pieces of half a dozen stalks of celery into three pints of slightly salted water, simmer an hour, strain, and use for stock.