We now pour the stock, already freed from fat, very steadily into a perfectly clean saucepan, being careful always not to disturb and also to leave behind any sedi- ment there may be at the bottom of the vessel. We put the saucepan on a quick fire, stir the chopped meat and the flavouring ingredients into it, and keep stirring until a froth begins to form on the liquor. We then stop stir- ring at once, wait until the liquor rises high, draw the pan back instantly', and let it stand at the side of the fire lor a quarter of an hour or so. If we now take a little ot the liquid in a silver spoon we shall find that part of it is bright and clear, and we can see the silver through it ; the other is a sort of curd, mixed with vegetables and meat. This curd is the albumen which 67 Clear Soups. has hardened and gathered the impurities which were in the soup with it, and this it is which must be removed by straining. Whilst the liquor is standing by the side of the fire we may prepare the strainer. A jelly bag is not the best thing we can take, because we want to pour the liquid in gently, and it is awkward to do this with a deep jelly bag. Better to take the thick flannel of which the jelly bag would have been made, wring it out of boiling water, and tie it to the four legs of a chair which has been turned upside down on a table. The vessel for the soup can be placed underneath the flannel, and the liquor can be poured on slowly and gently so as not to disturb the scum, which will serve as a filter for the soup. Now, if my directions have been followed e.xactly I am quite sure that a beautifully bright, clear soup will be obtained, and one that will taste plea- santly also when it has been boiled up again with salt and a small piece of sugar. Perhaps girls feel inclined to ask. Must the flavouring ingredients be put into stock which has already been flavoured when it was made ? Yes, they must. The quan- tities here given are for flavoured stock. If the stock were not flavoured at all, a larger proportion of vegetables would be needed. One secret of having well-tasting soup is- to let it be freshly flavoured. The vegetables are put in here to revive the flavour, and the flavour needs reviving after the stock has been all night in the larder. Otherwise the soup will have a sta.e taste, which will be anything but agreeable. I may say in passing that it is this necessity for reviving the flavours which makes the difficulty with tinned soups. People often say that tinned soups taste of the tin, or, in other words, the flavour is stale. If they would take the trouble to boil a few fresh flavourers with a small quantity of fresh stock, and add this either strained, or, in the case oi purges, rubbed through a sieve, to the soup which is in the tin, they would find that the tinned taste was scarcely perceptible. One point must be carefully noted in clearing soup, and that is, the cook must stop whisking imtanily when the scum begins to rise ; also, the pan must be drawn back as soon as the liquor bubbles. If the liquor is whisked 68 The Girl's Own Cookery Book. too long, or boiled too long, the scum may sink down again, and the soup will be spoiled. Another point to be noted is that the soup must not be clarified before the day on which it is wanted, or it will become cloudy with standing.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

We now pour the stock, already freed from fat, very steadily into a perfectly clean saucepan, being careful always not to disturb and also to leave behind any sediment there may be at the bottom of the vessel. We put the saucepan on a quick fire, stir the chopped meat and the flavouring ingredients into it, and keep stirring until a froth begins to form on the liquor. We then stop stirring at once, wait until the liquor rises high, draw the pan back instantly', and let it stand at the side of the fire lor a quarter of an hour or so. If we now take a little ot the liquid in a silver spoon we shall find that part of it is bright and clear, and we can see the silver through it ; the other is a sort of curd, mixed with vegetables and meat. This curd is the albumen which Clear Soups. has hardened and gathered the impurities which were in the soup with it, and this it is which must be removed by straining. Whilst the liquor is standing by the side of the fire we may prepare the strainer. A jelly bag is not the best thing we can take, because we want to pour the liquid in gently, and it is awkward to do this with a deep jelly bag. Better to take the thick flannel of which the jelly bag would have been made, wring it out of boiling water, and tie it to the four legs of a chair which has been turned upside down on a table. The vessel for the soup can be placed underneath the flannel, and the liquor can be poured on slowly and gently so as not to disturb the scum, which will serve as a filter for the soup. Now, if my directions have been followed e.xactly I am quite sure that a beautifully bright, clear soup will be obtained, and one that will taste pleasantly also when it has been boiled up again with salt and a small piece of sugar. Perhaps girls feel inclined to ask. Must the flavouring ingredients be put into stock which has already been flavoured when it was made ? Yes, they must. The quantities here given are for flavoured stock. If the stock were not flavoured at all, a larger proportion of vegetables would be needed. One secret of having well-tasting soup is- to let it be freshly flavoured. The vegetables are put in here to revive the flavour, and the flavour needs reviving after the stock has been all night in the larder. Otherwise the soup will have a sta.e taste, which will be anything but agreeable. I may say in passing that it is this necessity for reviving the flavours which makes the difficulty with tinned soups. People often say that tinned soups taste of the tin, or, in other words, the flavour is stale. If they would take the trouble to boil a few fresh flavourers with a small quantity of fresh stock, and add this either strained, or, in the case oi purges, rubbed through a sieve, to the soup which is in the tin, they would find that the tinned taste was scarcely perceptible. One point must be carefully noted in clearing soup, and that is, the cook must stop whisking instantly when the scum begins to rise ; also, the pan must be drawn back as soon as the liquor bubbles. If the liquor is whisked The Girl's Own Cookery Book. too long, or boiled too long, the scum may sink down again, and the soup will be spoiled. Another point to be noted is that the soup must not be clarified before the day on which it is wanted, or it will become cloudy with standing.

The girl's own cookery book