Stock is usually made from the cheaper, inferior parts
of meat, which yield the most nutriment when cooked in
this way ; also from odds and ends of cooked meat,
which perhaps could not be used otherwise. The chief
object in making stock is to obtain in the quickest manner
the largest possible amount of nutriment from the cheap-
est parts of meat, and after getting it to keep and use it.
This is best accomplished by observing the following
rules : —
First. Cut the meat into small pieces, and soak them
in cold water before heating, that every atom of nourish-
ment may be extracted. Cold water draws out and
dissolves the meat juices, while hot water hardens the
albumen on the outside of the meat and prevents the
juices from escaping into the liquid.
Second. Use a careful selection and proportion of meat,
bone, and water, and season judiciously, so that no one
flavor will predominate.
Third, Use a steam-tight kettle, and simmer., — not boil
the material rapidl}', — that the juices may be retained in
the water, and not wasted by evaporation.
Fourth. Make stock the day before using, if possible,
that the fat ma}^ be more easily remeved ; but do not give
up making it simply from ''lack of time," for it ccm be
made qu^ckl3^
A soitp digester is the proper vessel for making stock.
This is a porcelain-lined iron kettle with a bale, and hav-
ing a cover fitting closely into a groove, so that no steam
can escape except from the valve in the top of the cover,
which at once indicates when the water is boiling rapidly.
One holding six quarts, and costing three dollars, is a con-
venient size for a small family. If you cannot afford a
digester, get a granite ironware kettle, with a tightly fit-
ting cover. Plain ironware will do if 3^ou have nothing
better ; but it rusts easily, and, if tin-lined, the tin melts
in careless usage.
The meats used in making stock should contain gelatine,,
osmazome^ and a small amount of fat.
The Boston Cook Book,
123
Gelatine is found in the bones, skin, tendinous and gristly
portions of flesh, especially in veal. It is this which causes
the stock to become a jelly. But a soup which forms a
jelly, or is made principally from bones, is not the most
nutritious. The jelly of bones and sinews boiled into soup
can furnish only jelly for our bones and sinews. It is use-
ful in convalescence, for then the portions of the system in
which gelatine is needed have been wasted ; but in other
cases, though easily digested, it is unwholesome, for it
loads the blood with disturbing products. It is entirel}'
destitute of flavor, and therefore we need with it meat con-
taining osmazome.
Osmazome is that part of meat which gives to each of the
various kinds its distinctive flavor. It is more abundant
in brown than in white meats, and in the meat of old
rather than in that of young animals. It is found largely
in lean beef, mutton, and fowls. Osmazome is more highly
developed in roasted meals ; therefore all the bones and
remnants of roasts which cannot be utilized in entrees^
should be put into the soup-kettle.
We need also the alkaline and acid salts found in the
blood and juices of the flesh ; therefore a small portion of
raw^ lean meat should form a part of all stock. ✪ Stock
Page 76 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1884. 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 is usually made from the cheaper, inferior parts of meat, which yield the most nutriment when cooked in this way ; also from odds and ends of cooked meat, which perhaps could not be used otherwise. The chief object in making stock is to obtain in the quickest manner the largest possible amount of nutriment from the cheapest parts of meat, and after getting it to keep and use it. This is best accomplished by observing the following rules : —
First. Cut the meat into small pieces, and soak them in cold water before heating, that every atom of nourishment may be extracted. Cold water draws out and dissolves the meat juices, while hot water hardens the albumen on the outside of the meat and prevents the juices from escaping into the liquid.
Second. Use a careful selection and proportion of meat, bone, and water, and season judiciously, so that no one flavor will predominate.
Third, Use a steam-tight kettle, and simmer, not boil the material rapidly, — that the juices may be retained in the water, and not wasted by evaporation.
Fourth. Make stock the day before using, if possible, that the fat may be more easily removed ; but do not give up making it simply from ''lack of time," for it can be made quickly.
A soitp digester is the proper vessel for making stock. This is a porcelain-lined iron kettle with a bale, and having a cover fitting closely into a groove, so that no steam can escape except from the valve in the top of the cover, which at once indicates when the water is boiling rapidly. One holding six quarts, and costing three dollars, is a convenient size for a small family. If you cannot afford a digester, get a granite ironware kettle, with a tightly fitting cover. Plain ironware will do if 3^ou have nothing better ; but it rusts easily, and, if tin-lined, the tin melts in careless usage.
The meats used in making stock should contain gelatine, osmazome, and a small amount of fat.
The Boston Cook Book,
Gelatine is found in the bones, skin, tendinous and gristly portions of flesh, especially in veal. It is this which causes the stock to become a jelly. But a soup which forms a jelly, or is made principally from bones, is not the most nutritious. The jelly of bones and sinews boiled into soup can furnish only jelly for our bones and sinews. It is useful in convalescence, for then the portions of the system in which gelatine is needed have been wasted ; but in other cases, though easily digested, it is unwholesome, for it loads the blood with disturbing products. It is entirely destitute of flavor, and therefore we need with it meat containing osmazome.
Osmazome is that part of meat which gives to each of the various kinds its distinctive flavor. It is more abundant in brown than in white meats, and in the meat of old rather than in that of young animals. It is found largely in lean beef, mutton, and fowls. Osmazome is more highly developed in roasted meals ; therefore all the bones and remnants of roasts which cannot be utilized in entrees, should be put into the soup-kettle.
We need also the alkaline and acid salts found in the blood and juices of the flesh ; therefore a small portion of raw, lean meat should form a part of all stock.
Records on this page
Stock