The spirit of cookery

To this recipe we have further to observe that the beef and veal, in order to be extracted completely, should be passed through the mincing-machine, either raw, before going into the stock-pot, or after it has been boiled to facilitate the mincing, and should be pressed in a screw press after the consomme has been filtered off. The bones of the knuckles of veal might be removed before boiling to save space. We may assume that the whole of the meat will amount to 47 lb., out of 58 lb. with bones ; if twenty quarts of standard broth be added at the beginning, and twenty for dilution of the consommé, there ought to result at least forty quarts, or ten gallons of consomm6, allowing all the water furnished by the meat to have evaporated. These forty quarts would represent the extract of 127 lb. of meat, with the extracts of the vegetables, the quantities of which are not prescribed, added. If the proportion prescribed for the French household pot-au-feu discussed below were observed, the compound would require at least a hundredweight of vegetables, but practically nothing like this quantity is ever taken. One pint of the consommd, diluted BROTH, GRAVY, CONSOMME with two pints of water, would, with the addition required to specialize the product, make excellent soup for four persons. If all the consomme were then transformed into soup, it would be sufficient for 240 persons, each person thus receiving the absolute soluble extract of half a pound of meat in a highly attractive and digestible form. Beef-G-ravy, or Common (Brown) Gravy. This preparation passed in French magirism under the name of Jus de Bceuf,* and was to be used to ‘ colour ’ soups, sauces, entremets, and entr6es which require f.e., gravy. The expression ‘ colour ’ here means the imparting not only of a tint perceptible by the eye, but particularly a savoury character and taste similar to that of the gravy of roast meat. Fuse some butter over the bottom of a stewpan, and cover it with thin slices of bacon or of beef suet ; over this place some thin slices of onions and carrots, and then some pounds of minced gravy-beef ; fry this mixture gently with constant stirring, and when it is light brown add a quart of standard broth, and boil briskly. When the broth is reduced to a glace, put the stewpan on a moderate fire, and allow the glace to acquire a deep red-brown colour ; then fill up again with standard broth ; add some parsley, celery, mushroom, or its ketchup, some cloves, some blades of mace, a few pepper-corns, or their equivalent of tincture, and a little salt. Boil the mixture, skim it, let it simmer until all the vegetable be done; then strain it through a silk tammy into another stewpan, and use it for the purposes indicated. In case you desire to use any portion for clear souj), or for a clear aspic, the gravy has to be clarified. This clarifica- * Cf. Beaiivilliers, loc. cit., i. 32 ; repr. Francatelli 221, partly. It will be noticed that nn preci«!e weights of the ingredients, particularly of meat, are given.