There is no room for doubt here, no matter how we may
proceed afterwards. The first thing to be done is to clear
away the fat, which will have settled in a cake on the top
of the stock. If the stock is a jelly, we may take this off
more easily if we use a metal spoon which has first been
dipped into hot water ; and after we have taken off as much
fat as we can in this way, we must wipe the jelly and the
basin with the corner of a napkin which has been wrung
out of hot water.
It is said that people learned in cookery know of five
hundred different kinds of soup. If this be true, it is
probable that a large proportion of these soups are so
much like each other that ordinary people could not dis-
cover the points of difi'erence between them. It is also
probable that a goodly number are made of clear soup.
Besides, cooks who can make good clear soup can make
all kinds of soup ; and therefore we will begin our lesson
now by describing the process of clarification.
Soup is sometimes made clear with white of egg, and
sometimes with raw lean meat, beef, or veal, the medium
in each -case being the same — albumen.
I dare say you remember that when we were talking
about boiling meat w-e said that we put meat which was
to be eaten into boiling water for two or three minutes, in
order that the albumen might harden on the outside and
form a sort of shield to keep in the goodness of the meat.
When we boil the raw meat in the stock the albumen
hardens as before, but being mixed with the liquid it takes
the impurities contained there with it, and all are collected
in a mass together, and can be strained away.
We must not suppose, however, that it makes no dif-
ference whether we use white of eggs or lean meat in
clarifying soup. Lean meat enriches soup, white of egg
F
66
The GiiTs Owfi Cookery Book
impoverishes it ; and it is more profitable to clarify weak
stock with lean meat than it is to clarify strong stock with
white of egg.
As to the quantity of meat to be used for clarification,
that must depend on the weight of meat employed in
making the stock, not upon the measure of liquor which
we have at our disposal. The proportion of meat needed
for clarification is half a pound of lean meat for every two
and a half pounds of meat used in making the stock, and
the quantity of lean meat needed would be no less if in
making stock we had used half a pint only of water to the
pound of meat. Indeed, if the liquid were very' strong we
should find it an advantage to mix about a teaspoonful of
white of egg with the raw meat, because strong liquids
are more difficult to clarify than thin ones.
We will, therefore, suppose that we have stock made
with two pounds and a half of meat, and that we are going
to clarify it with half a pound of lean meat freed entirely
from fat and skin. How should we proceed ?
We must first cut the meat into very small pieces (if we
have such a thing, we may pass it through the sausage
machine instead), and put with it a carrot, a turnip, and
the white part of a good-sized leek, or, wanting this, an
onion✪ Fish Soup, but a leek is much the more delicate in flavour of
the two. Of course, we must wash the vegetables, scrape
the carrot, and cut the turnip and the leek into small pieces.
We may add also a stick of celery, half a bay leaf, a sprig
of thyme and parsley, and half a dozen peppercorns.
Page 41 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1882. 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
There is no room for doubt here, no matter how we may proceed afterwards. The first thing to be done is to clear away the fat, which will have settled in a cake on the top of the stock. If the stock is a jelly, we may take this off more easily if we use a metal spoon which has first been dipped into hot water ; and after we have taken off as much fat as we can in this way, we must wipe the jelly and the basin with the corner of a napkin which has been wrung out of hot water.
It is said that people learned in cookery know of five hundred different kinds of soup. If this be true, it is probable that a large proportion of these soups are so much like each other that ordinary people could not discover the points of difference between them. It is also probable that a goodly number are made of clear soup. Besides, cooks who can make good clear soup can make all kinds of soup ; and therefore we will begin our lesson now by describing the process of clarification.
Soup is sometimes made clear with white of egg, and sometimes with raw lean meat, beef, or veal, the medium in each -case being the same — albumen.
I dare say you remember that when we were talking about boiling meat w-e said that we put meat which was to be eaten into boiling water for two or three minutes, in order that the albumen might harden on the outside and form a sort of shield to keep in the goodness of the meat. When we boil the raw meat in the stock the albumen hardens as before, but being mixed with the liquid it takes the impurities contained there with it, and all are collected in a mass together, and can be strained away.
We must not suppose, however, that it makes no difference whether we use white of eggs or lean meat in clarifying soup. Lean meat enriches soup, white of egg
F
The GiiTs Owfi Cookery Book
impoverishes it ; and it is more profitable to clarify weak stock with lean meat than it is to clarify strong stock with white of egg.
As to the quantity of meat to be used for clarification, that must depend on the weight of meat employed in making the stock, not upon the measure of liquor which we have at our disposal. The proportion of meat needed for clarification is half a pound of lean meat for every two and a half pounds of meat used in making the stock, and the quantity of lean meat needed would be no less if in making stock we had used half a pint only of water to the pound of meat. Indeed, if the liquid were very' strong we should find it an advantage to mix about a teaspoonful of white of egg with the raw meat, because strong liquids are more difficult to clarify than thin ones.
We will, therefore, suppose that we have stock made with two pounds and a half of meat, and that we are going to clarify it with half a pound of lean meat freed entirely from fat and skin. How should we proceed ?
We must first cut the meat into very small pieces (if we have such a thing, we may pass it through the sausage machine instead), and put with it a carrot, a turnip, and the white part of a good-sized leek, or, wanting this, an onion, but a leek is much the more delicate in flavour of the two. Of course, we must wash the vegetables, scrape the carrot, and cut the turnip and the leek into small pieces. We may add also a stick of celery, half a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme and parsley, and half a dozen peppercorns.
Records on this page
Fish SoupClarified Soup