When the extract has become cold, set it to dry in a closet or a baker’s oven after the bread has been removed, taking care not to let it get either roasted or burned, hut * La Chapelle, ‘Le Cuisinier Moderne,’ vol. i., p. 84, 1742. BOUILLON. OR MEAT-BROTH 109 only hard like dry glue, so that it can be easily broken. Preserve this in well-closed vessels. These tablets, dis- solved in water, are of excellent taste, and serve to make all kinds of bouillons and simmered soups. The quantity to be used is from 1 oz. to oz. ✪ Extract of Meat in Dry Tablets to a pint (chopine) of water ; even 2 oz. may be used, according to the strength desired. This is excellent broth, even though half its solid matter be gelatine. To the bouillon any flavour may be imparted by carrots, turnips, onions, chervil, celery, leeks, or any mixture of them. La Chapelle also gives the proportion for small quantities. He flnds the tablets of great use during travelling. At the head of his soups La Chapelle describes what we call stock in this country, bouillon, qtce Von appelle Mitonnacjc {simmer incjs). It is produced by boiling an edible piece {morceau de tranche) and a portion of leg {trumeau, gravy- beef) ; boil and skim, then salt and add vegetables and spices ; then the other fancy additions are given : a hen, a knuckle of veal, celery, chicory, leeks, lettuces, onions stuck with cloves, roots, etc. With this bouillon all other soups can be produced; but soups of cabbage or turnips must not be mixed with it, as they have a separate strong flavour. In vol. V., p. 10, La Chapelle repeats the recipe for the portable bouillon in the shape of tablets. He adds all the vegetables and spices for general stock ; the meat, beef, veal, old hens, or cocks, even a turkey, and partridges are amongst the facultative ingredients, and are all cut into small pieces. The boiling is continued during ten hours, the boiler being heated from the side to boil gently ; the broth is filtered through hair sieve and napkin, and allowed to cool ; the green stuff is removed, and the clear liquid is boiled down to the consistence of extract, being skimmed as often as need may be. The thick glace is put in earthen no THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY shallow pans, and dried in hot closet or oven as above described, to the condition of solid glue. La Chapelle says (p. 12) that some made great mystery of these tablets, but his under-cooks knew all about them, and left their production to the plain helps. Perhaps this information may assist in explaining how it was that they became discredited. A recipe printed in Johann Christoph Wiegleb’s* edition of the ‘Natural Magic’ of Martius, seems to be a copy, with slight variations, of that of La Chapelle ; the two sheep are omitted, but the single turkey is multiplied by twelve. The recipe and the tablets seem to have been gradually forgotten, and found httle or no practical application. Towards the end of the last and in the beginning of the present century, however, there were pre- pared at Buenos Ayres, by a privileged company, and in England and some of her colonies, tablets which were sold in trade for the rapid and cheap production of bouillon.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

When the extract has become cold, set it to dry in a closet or a baker’s oven after the bread has been removed, taking care not to let it get either roasted or burned, hut * La Chapelle, ‘Le Cuisinier Moderne,’ vol. i., p. 84, 1742. only hard like dry glue, so that it can be easily broken. Preserve this in well-closed vessels. These tablets, dissolved in water, are of excellent taste, and serve to make all kinds of bouillons and simmered soups. The quantity to be used is from 1 oz. to 1½ oz. to a pint (chopine) of water ; even 2 oz. may be used, according to the strength desired. This is excellent broth, even though half its solid matter be gelatine. To the bouillon any flavour may be imparted by carrots, turnips, onions, chervil, celery, leeks, or any mixture of them. La Chapelle also gives the proportion for small quantities. He flnds the tablets of great use during travelling. At the head of his soups La Chapelle describes what we call stock in this country, bouillon, qu'on appelle Mitonnade (simmerings). It is produced by boiling an edible piece {morceau de tranche) and a portion of leg {trumeau, gravybeef) ; boil and skim, then salt and add vegetables and spices ; then the other fancy additions are given : a hen, a knuckle of veal, celery, chicory, leeks, lettuces, onions stuck with cloves, roots, etc. With this bouillon all other soups can be produced; but soups of cabbage or turnips must not be mixed with it, as they have a separate strong flavour. In vol. V., p. 10, La Chapelle repeats the recipe for the portable bouillon in the shape of tablets. He adds all the vegetables and spices for general stock ; the meat, beef, veal, old hens, or cocks, even a turkey, and partridges are amongst the facultative ingredients, and are all cut into small pieces. The boiling is continued during ten hours, the boiler being heated from the side to boil gently ; the broth is filtered through hair sieve and napkin, and allowed to cool ; the green stuff is removed, and the clear liquid is boiled down to the consistence of extract, being skimmed as often as need may be. The thick glace is put in earthen no shallow pans, and dried in hot closet or oven as above described, to the condition of solid glue. La Chapelle says (p. 12) that some made great mystery of these tablets, but his under-cooks knew all about them, and left their production to the plain helps. Perhaps this information may assist in explaining how it was that they became discredited. A recipe printed in Johann Christoph Wiegleb's* edition of the 'Natural Magic' of Martius, seems to be a copy, with slight variations, of that of La Chapelle ; the two sheep are omitted, but the single turkey is multiplied by twelve. The recipe and the tablets seem to have been gradually forgotten, and found little or no practical application. Towards the end of the last and in the beginning of the present century, however, there were prepared at Buenos Ayres, by a privileged company, and in England and some of her colonies, tablets which were sold in trade for the rapid and cheap production of bouillon.

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Extract of Meat in Dry Tablets

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