Vegetables make a stock sour very quickly, so if you wish to keep stock do not use
them. Many advise putting vegetables into the stock-pot with the meat and water, and
cooking from the beginning. When this is done they absorb the fine flavor of the meat
and give the soup a rank taste. They should cook not more than an hour — the last hour
— in the stock. Potatoes if boiled in the soup, are thought by some to render it unwhole-
some, from the opinion that the water in which potatoes have been cooked is almost a
poison. As potatoes are a part of every dinner, it is very easy to take a few out of the
pot in which they have been boiled by themselves, and cut them up and add them to the
soup just before it goes to the table. The soup should be seasoned but very slightly with
salt and pepper. If too much it may spoil it for the taste of most of those who are to eat
it; but if too little, it is easy to add more.
A soup stock must be cooled quickly or it will not keep well. In winter any kind of
stock ought to keep a week. That boiled down to a jelly will keep the longest. In the
warm months three days will be the average time stock will keep.
STOCK FOR CLEAR SOUP.
During cold weather the stock for beef soup can be kept on hand. At any season it
should always be prepared the day before using. The shin is a good piece for this pur-
pose, or the lower part of the round. Have the bones well cracked and extract the mar-
row, which should be put in the soup. To each pound of lean beef allow one quart of
SOUP. 71
water. Put five pounds of beef into five quarts of cold water into a close kettle and set
it where it will heat gradually. Let it boil very slowly for six or seven hours. Look at it
once in a while to see if the water is sinking too rapidly. Should this be the case, replen-
ish it with boiling water, taking care, however, not to add too much of it. When it has
boiled seven hours, remove the meat, which can be used for salad with potatoes and
onions. Strain, and set away to cool. In the morning skim off all the fat and turn the
soup into the kettle, being careful not to let the sediment pass in. Into the soup put an
onion, one stalk of celery, two leaves of sage, two sprigs of parsley, two of thyme, two of
summer savory, two bay leaves, twelve pepper-corns, and six whole cloves✪ Stock for Clear Soup. Boil gently
from ten to twenty minutes, salt and pepper to taste. Strain through a fine sieve. This
is now ready for serving as a simple clear soup, or for the foundation of all kinds of clear
soup. Put in such vegetables as are desired. If these are cut fine it is "Julian " soup.
If young cabbage, quartered and boiled, and young carrots and turnips are put in whole
and dished up with the soup, with the addition of toasted crusts, it is the French family
soup, according to the taste. The vegetables are better when cooked by themselves and
added with their juices to the soup. The seasoning, too, is a matter of taste. Vermicelli
or macaroni which has been boiled tender can be added if desired.
There is no more absurd notion in regard to soup-making than the idea that all sorts
of scraps can be thrown into a pot and made into a good soup. A skillful cook can
create a good soup from chicken or turkey bones, but for meat soup only fresh and un-
cooked meat must be used.
Page 60 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1891. 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
Vegetables make a stock sour very quickly, so if you wish to keep stock do not use them. Many advise putting vegetables into the stock-pot with the meat and water, and cooking from the beginning. When this is done they absorb the fine flavor of the meat and give the soup a rank taste. They should cook not more than an hour — the last hour — in the stock. Potatoes if boiled in the soup, are thought by some to render it unwholesome, from the opinion that the water in which potatoes have been cooked is almost a poison. As potatoes are a part of every dinner, it is very easy to take a few out of the pot in which they have been boiled by themselves, and cut them up and add them to the soup just before it goes to the table. The soup should be seasoned but very slightly with salt and pepper. If too much it may spoil it for the taste of most of those who are to eat it; but if too little, it is easy to add more.
A soup stock must be cooled quickly or it will not keep well. In winter any kind of stock ought to keep a week. That boiled down to a jelly will keep the longest. In the warm months three days will be the average time stock will keep.
STOCK FOR CLEAR SOUP.
During cold weather the stock for beef soup can be kept on hand. At any season it should always be prepared the day before using. The shin is a good piece for this purpose, or the lower part of the round. Have the bones well cracked and extract the marrow, which should be put in the soup. To each pound of lean beef allow one quart of
water. Put five pounds of beef into five quarts of cold water into a close kettle and set it where it will heat gradually. Let it boil very slowly for six or seven hours. Look at it once in a while to see if the water is sinking too rapidly. Should this be the case, replenish it with boiling water, taking care, however, not to add too much of it. When it has boiled seven hours, remove the meat, which can be used for salad with potatoes and onions. Strain, and set away to cool. In the morning skim off all the fat and turn the soup into the kettle, being careful not to let the sediment pass in. Into the soup put an onion, one stalk of celery, two leaves of sage, two sprigs of parsley, two of thyme, two of summer savory, two bay leaves, twelve pepper-corns, and six whole cloves. Boil gently from ten to twenty minutes, salt and pepper to taste. Strain through a fine sieve. This is now ready for serving as a simple clear soup, or for the foundation of all kinds of clear soup. Put in such vegetables as are desired. If these are cut fine it is "Julian " soup. If young cabbage, quartered and boiled, and young carrots and turnips are put in whole and dished up with the soup, with the addition of toasted crusts, it is the French family soup, according to the taste. The vegetables are better when cooked by themselves and added with their juices to the soup. The seasoning, too, is a matter of taste. Vermicelli or macaroni which has been boiled tender can be added if desired.
There is no more absurd notion in regard to soup-making than the idea that all sorts of scraps can be thrown into a pot and made into a good soup. A skillful cook can create a good soup from chicken or turkey bones, but for meat soup only fresh and uncooked meat must be used.
Records on this page
Stock for Clear Soup