Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Place your soup-pot over a moderate fire, which will make the water hot ■w'ithout causing it to boil, for at least half an hoiu-. If the water boils immediately, it will not jjenetrate the meat [ and cleanse it from the clotted blood and other i matters which ought to go off in scum; the j meat will be hardened allover by violent heat, | wiU shrink up as if it were scorched, and give hardly any gra\->'. On the contrary, by keeping the water a certain time heating without boil- ing, the meat swells, becomes tender, its fibres are_ dilated, and it yields a quantity of scum, which must be taken off as soon as it appears. It is not till after a good half hour's hot •infusion that we may mend the fire and make the pot boil ; still continue to remove the scum, and when no more appears, put in the vege- tables, &c., and a little salt. These will cause more scum to rise, which must be taken off immediately, then cover the pot very closely, and place it at a proper distance from' the fire, where it will boil very gently, and equally, and by no means fast. By quick and strong boiling the volatile and finest parts of the ingredients are evaporated, and fly oft' with the steam, and the coarser parts are rendered soluble ; so you lose the good and get the bad. Soups will generally take from three to six hours. Prepare your broths and soups the evening before you want them. This will give you more time to attend to the rest of your dinner the next day ; and when the soup is cold the fat may be much more easily and completely removed from the surface of it ; when you de- cant it, take care not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the vessel, which are so fine that they -will escape through a sieve, or even through a tamis, which is the best strainer. The soups appear smoother and finer, and it is much easier cleaned than any sieve. If you strain it white it is hot, pass it through a clean tamis or napkin previously soaked in cold water — the coldness of this will coagulate the fat, and only suffer the pure broth to pass through. The full flavour of the ingTcdients can only be extracted by very long and slow simmering, during which take care to prevent evaporation by covering the pot as close as possible. The best stew-pot is a " digester." Clear soups mvist be perfectly transparent, thickened soups about the consistence of rich cream ; and remember that thickened soups require nearly double the quantity of seasoning. The piquance of spice, &c., is as much blunted by the flour and butter as the sisirit of rum is by the addition of sugar and acid ; so they are less salubrious, without being more savour}', from the additional quantity of spice, &c., that is smuggled into the stomach.