The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

BEEF, ESSENCE OF. — Essence of beef is a very useful concentrated form of soup. It is preserved in small tins, and has to be mixed with about three or four times its own bulk of water. It is j not a hard jelly when cold, but has the 1 appearance- of a very thick glutinous clear syrup. Its taste when heated with water resembles that of very good clear mock turtle soup, such as is made by Mons. Burlet, of the Freemasons’ Tavern. I mention this soup, as too often the so-called clear mock turtle sold in ordinary restaurants is wretched stuff, thin and tasteless. Mock turtle i soup, properly so-called, resembles real turtle in flavour, and this essence of beef has a decided flavour of its own that recalls City banquets. I would ask any one to fairly try the following receipt : — Take a small tin of Crosse and Blackwell’s essence of meat, then take double the amount of water and let it boil for ten or fifteen minutes with a dessertspoonful of mixed sweet herbs (see Herbs) and half an onion sliced up. Strain this off and press the strainer to strain out the goodness. Then add a little soluble cayenne pepper (Indian salt, see Cayenne Pepper), and add it to the contents of the tin of essence of beef. Just before serving add a tablespoonful of sherry, or, still better, madeira. If by chance you had some cold calves’- I head in the house, and could add a few slices of what is know as the horn part, you would have as good a basin of clear mock turtle as it is possible to get. Another very good way of serving essence of beef is to add it to three or four times its bulk of water, and boil in it a short time two or three heads of garlic and a little bunch of parsley. As soon as the flavour is sufficiently extracted out of the garlic and parsley, say half an hour, strain it off, and add a brimming tablespoonful of macedoines (see Macedoines). You now have a nice bright clear spring soup, enough for four persons. Essence of beef can be used, in fact, to make almost any kind of clear soup, and is particularly useful to make, in a quick, cheap way, without trouble, many of those clear thin soups that are met with at Continental tables d'Mte. Mix the tin of essence of beef with four or five times its quantity of water, boil in it three heads of garlic, and a bunch of celery-seed tied up in a piece of muslin fastened to a string. Also put in a little parsley. Taste, so as to be careful not to overdo the celery. Then thicken with a little arrowroot, and you have a clear thick soup that, thanks to the garlic, will recall Continental living. Boil some sago and add to the clear soup ; boil the sago in it till it is perfectly tender, but be sure and boil the sago in some plain water separate first, or it will make your soup cloudy. The same with vermicelli. Get some vermicelli, wash it, and boil it till it is nearly tender in some plain water, then add the vermicelli to the clear soap, and you have some excellent vermicelli soup. Italian paste of all kinds, as well as macaroni, can be treated and added exactly in the same way. Essence of beef will also be found to be an excellent substitute for gravybeef and knuckle of veal in making soup.