Let me here point out the cause of another misadven-
ture in the satisfactory appearance of a clear soup, — one
that often occurs in consomme with maccaroni, verm.icelli,
and pearl-barley. You have got your stock as bright and
clear as sherry, but after adding the ingredients just men-
tioned " a change comes over the spirit of your dream," —
the soup turns cloudy. The reason is this : preserved fari-
naceous food of the maccaroni class often contains dirt,
— dirt that you do not perceive, and which can only be
removed by parboiling. Accordingly, whenever you in-
tend to add it to consomme, you should hoil it independently
in plain water in order that the outside dirty part may be
washed off by becoming dissolved. Plain washing in
water is not enough ; besides, loashing maccaroni is the
act of an ignoramus.
There is another feature in a clear soup which I have
reserved for special attention, and that is the colouring.
Now, an idea prevails amongst numbers of English people
that a soup to be good and strong must be dark-coloured.
Old-fashioned people speak of your modern consomme as a
weak, washy composition only fit for foreigners. But if
you take the very self-same liquor and brown it with a
lot of burnt onion, and thicken it with flour and butter,
they are perfectly satisfied. Did you ever make jug-
ged beef tea for a sick friend, the strongest possible
essence of raw lean beef ? Was not the liquor so obtained
ON STOCK, AND CLEAR SOUPS. 35
as clear as sherry, pale-coloured, with a quantity of
granulated particles of the beef floating in it ? Well,
when strained that would have been consomme without
the flavouring produced from vegetables and the bouquet
of sweet herbs, and surely s^'DJ^gf enough for the veriest
John Bull that ever talked nonsense about cookery.
Now, if you desire to impart a golden brown tint to your
clear soup, or a darker tint, (which the gods forfend)
never use hurnt onion upon any account. Tou must achieve
your object by a browning (caramel) made thus : — put
a quarter pound of white sugar into a copper or enamelled
pan ; set it over the fire, and stir it till it is melted ; then
after simmering for a quarter of an hour, and it has reach-
ed the brown tint you want, add a pint of water✪ Beef Consomme to it, boil,
and skim it, let it get cold, and then bottle and cork it down
for use. A little of this should be put into the soup prior
to the three hours' simmering stage, if a golden brown be
the tint desired.
If you can obtain a small bottle of French-made sue
colorant, you need not trouble your head about the colour-
ing, for a little of that exquisite preparation will colour,
and also slightly improve the flavour of your consomme.
Messrs. Moir and Son now provide this useful ingredient.
Page 20 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1885. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Let me here point out the cause of another misadventure in the satisfactory appearance of a clear soup, — one that often occurs in consomme with maccaroni, vermicelli, and pearl-barley. You have got your stock as bright and clear as sherry, but after adding the ingredients just mentioned " a change comes over the spirit of your dream," — the soup turns cloudy. The reason is this : preserved farinaceous food of the maccaroni class often contains dirt, — dirt that you do not perceive, and which can only be removed by parboiling. Accordingly, whenever you intend to add it to consomme, you should hoil it independently in plain water in order that the outside dirty part may be washed off by becoming dissolved. Plain washing in water is not enough ; besides, boiling maccaroni is the act of an ignoramus.
There is another feature in a clear soup which I have reserved for special attention, and that is the colouring. Now, an idea prevails amongst numbers of English people that a soup to be good and strong must be dark-coloured. Old-fashioned people speak of your modern consomme as a weak, washy composition only fit for foreigners. But if you take the very self-same liquor and brown it with a lot of burnt onion, and thicken it with flour and butter, they are perfectly satisfied. Did you ever make jugged beef tea for a sick friend, the strongest possible essence of raw lean beef ? Was not the liquor so obtained
as clear as sherry, pale-coloured, with a quantity of granulated particles of the beef floating in it ? Well, when strained that would have been consomme without the flavouring produced from vegetables and the bouquet of sweet herbs, and surely strong enough for the veriest John Bull that ever talked nonsense about cookery.
Now, if you desire to impart a golden brown tint to your clear soup, or a darker tint, (which the gods forfend) never use hurnt onion upon any account. You must achieve your object by a browning (caramel) made thus : — put a quarter pound of white sugar into a copper or enamelled pan ; set it over the fire, and stir it till it is melted ; then after simmering for a quarter of an hour, and it has reached the brown tint you want, add a pint of water to it, boil, and skim it, let it get cold, and then bottle and cork it down for use. A little of this should be put into the soup prior to the three hours' simmering stage, if a golden brown be the tint desired.
If you can obtain a small bottle of French-made sue colorant, you need not trouble your head about the colouring, for a little of that exquisite preparation will colour, and also slightly improve the flavour of your consomme. Messrs. Moir and Son now provide this useful ingredient.
Records on this page
Beef Consomme