Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Copper 'stock-pots have been in general use for many years, but they are expensive to begin with and require tinning every year. The seamless steel stock-pots are excellent, and so are the French marmites of glazed earthenware ; both are much cheaper than copper, and of course they require no tinning. A family stock-pot should hold eight quarts. It must be kept perfectly clean, and to ensure this it should be well scalded with boiling water in which a lump of soda has been dissolved. This must be done every time before the stock-pot is used. If there is a gas-stove in the kitchen the stock-pot should be placed upon it, as the heat can be easily regulated. This is difficult to manage on the fire, as if the stock-pot has to be taken off whilst the fire is mended the stock will cool and be injured, if not spoilt altogether. It is best to make stock in small quantities for family use. If begun in the morning the whole process of heating, skimming, simmering, and straining can be slowly carried on, and the broth can be set aside in an earthenware bowl for use next day. But in this case no vegetables must be used, or the stock will not keep. They must be added when it is boiled up next day. The proportionate quantities of meat and water must be most carefully attended to : one quart of water to one pound of meat and bone. No stock should be allowed to get cool in the I stock-pot, and the stock-pot should be cleaned out and dried every time it is emptied. All stock-pots must remain either wholly or partially uncovered if clear soup is to be made, for if the stock-pot is covered the stock will become turbid, and no efforts can clear the soup. Stock for clear soup is better made the day before it is wanted, as it takes time to clear. It used to be thought that bones should be left out in making clear soup, for fear of its becoming clouded, but if the bones are broken into small pieces, the marrow removed, and the stock patiently and carefully skimmed, this result need not be feared. But the meat and bones must be covered thoroughly by the water in the stock-pot. To make Stock. — Take one pound and a half of beef, cut from the leg and not from the shoulder, and ascertain that the beef is freshly killed, not merely fresh. Take half a pound of fresh beef-bones, break them into three-inch lengths, remove and reserve all the marrow. Bones, being nearly half gelatine, give consistency to the stock, but they add no flavour. Cut the meat into two-inch squares. Lay the pieces of bone at the bottom of the stock-pot, put the meat upon them, add a quarter of an ounce of salt, and three pints and a half of cold water. The water must completely cover the meat ; but on no account follow the old practice of soaking the meat and bones in cold water before putting them into the stock-pot. Put the stock-pot on the gas-stove or fire, and let it heat very slowly and gradually, going step by step “ from cold to cool, from cool to warn, and from warm to hot.” Whilst this process is beginning, wash the vegetables to be used, cut them up, and leave them in a bowl of cold water. Take five ounces of carrot, of leeks, and of onions, (if liked, a clove may be stuck in the onion), one ounce of parsnip (or an extra ounce of carrot), and one ounce of celery.