15. There is nothing to be gained by keeping the meat simmering when once it is thoroughly done. The consomrne is at its best when the meat which made it is done to a nicety, viz., in about five hours. Boiling " to rags" is a useless proceeding. N.B. — Remember that you will never succeed in obtain- ing a nicely flavoured clear soup, unless the proportions of meat and vegetables are carefully maintained. For three pounds of meat and one of bone, Gouffe gives the following weights of vegetables : — carrots, ten ounces ; large onions, ten ounces ; leeks, fourteen ounces ; celery, one ounce ; turnips, ten ounces ; parsnip, two ounces. As leeks are not often found in the Madras market, I would substitute another large onion, about five ounces. Parsnips are only procurable on the ISTeilgherries, their weight may be made up with some extra carrot. Turnips, unless gathered fresh and young, are a2:)t to be very strong in India ; I think, therefore, that five ounces of them will be found sufiicient as a rule. Observe the weight allowed of celery ; — this is important, for celery is a very power- fully flavoured vegetable. Concerning vegetable consomme, I speak later on. Have the rules, I have given, together with the weigTits of meat and vegetables, and the recipe for pot-au-feu, written out in Tamil by your butler and pasted upon card-board, to be hung in the cook-room for Ramasamy's edification whose self-taught method of soup-making may be briefly described as follows : — He cuts up the soup-meat, and bone, and throws them into the digester pot ; he next adds the vegetables, pepper, salt and spice, covers the whole with water, puts the vessel screwed down on a good brisk fire, and walks off to Ms rice, leaving his tumiycutch to watch the boiling. All she does is to see that there is plenty of firewood under the 42 CULINARY JOTTINGS FOR MADRAS. digester. As may readily be supposed boiling point is speedily reached in this way of managing matters. In an hour or so the cook returns and finds the water he put into the pot reduced to about one-third of its original quantity ; this is, of course, a very strong broth, he accordingly strains it off, and calls it his " first sort gravy." He then returns the meat, &c., to the pot again, covers it with water, and lets that boil away. The liquid thus produced, I need scarcely say, is terrible to look upon, and very nasty to taste, the whole essence of the meat having been fritter- ed away by the first process. It is a dull, gi-easy-looking fluid like dish washings. Nevertheless Ramasamy strains it off and calls it the " second sort gravy." He next amal- gamates the two " sorts," browns the mixture with burnt onion, and clarifies it with the white of an e^g. Having got it clear, he rasps some raw potato into it to obtain a nice glutinous starch, and when the soup seems sufficiently gummy, he strains once more and sends it to table. Setting aside other considerations, pray observe the wastefulness of this awful process. It is not exaggeration to say that half the quantity of soup-meat and bone required by the ignorant native cook might be saved if he could be prevailed upon to follow the laws of intelligent cookery. o:E3:^^^TEie -^i. Thick soups and purees.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

15. There is nothing to be gained by keeping the meat simmering when once it is thoroughly done. The consomrne is at its best when the meat which made it is done to a nicety, viz., in about five hours. Boiling " to rags" is a useless proceeding. N.B. — Remember that you will never succeed in obtaining a nicely flavoured clear soup, unless the proportions of meat and vegetables are carefully maintained. For three pounds of meat and one of bone, Gouffe gives the following weights of vegetables : — carrots, ten ounces ; large onions, ten ounces ; leeks, fourteen ounces ; celery, one ounce ; turnips, ten ounces ; parsnip, two ounces. As leeks are not often found in the Madras market, I would substitute another large onion, about five ounces. Parsnips are only procurable on the ISTeilgherries, their weight may be made up with some extra carrot. Turnips, unless gathered fresh and young, are apt to be very strong in India ; I think, therefore, that five ounces of them will be found sufiicient as a rule. Observe the weight allowed of celery ; — this is important, for celery is a very powerfully flavoured vegetable. Concerning vegetable consomme, I speak later on. Have the rules, I have given, together with the weights of meat and vegetables, and the recipe for pot-au-feu, written out in Tamil by your butler and pasted upon card-board, to be hung in the cook-room for Ramasamy's edification whose self-taught method of soup-making may be briefly described as follows : — He cuts up the soup-meat, and bone, and throws them into the digester pot ; he next adds the vegetables, pepper, salt and spice, covers the whole with water, puts the vessel screwed down on a good brisk fire, and walks off to Ms rice, leaving his tumidcutch to watch the boiling. All she does is to see that there is plenty of firewood under the digester. As may readily be supposed boiling point is speedily reached in this way of managing matters. In an hour or so the cook returns and finds the water he put into the pot reduced to about one-third of its original quantity ; this is, of course, a very strong broth, he accordingly strains it off, and calls it his " first sort gravy." He then returns the meat, &c., to the pot again, covers it with water, and lets that boil away. The liquid thus produced, I need scarcely say, is terrible to look upon, and very nasty to taste, the whole essence of the meat having been frittered away by the first process. It is a dull, gi-easy-looking fluid like dish washings. Nevertheless Ramasamy strains it off and calls it the " second sort gravy." He next amalgamates the two " sorts," browns the mixture with burnt onion, and clarifies it with the white of an egg. Having got it clear, he rasps some raw potato into it to obtain a nice glutinous starch, and when the soup seems sufficiently gummy, he strains once more and sends it to table. Setting aside other considerations, pray observe the wastefulness of this awful process. It is not exaggeration to say that half the quantity of soup-meat and bone required by the ignorant native cook might be saved if he could be prevailed upon to follow the laws of intelligent cookery. Thick soups and purees.

Culinary jottings