FoodNetArchive

The Toronto Cook Book

1915

Page 99

Presented as published in 1915. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Meat soup should have for its base uncooked meat and bone, and the water with which it is to be made should be soft. There may be added to the fresh meat the bones and remnants of cooked beef, veal, lamb and mutton; but the principal nourish- ment of the soup comes from the raw meat, the usual quantity being one pound of clear lean meat to a quart of water. Success largely depends upon the cooking and skimming, and failure is generally owing to rapid boiling and neglecting to skim the pot. The soup pot must be perfectly clean. The meat must be cleaned. The water must heat gradually and simmer until the soup is cooked; the pot must be kept covered while the soup is cooking, removing the cover only to skim and add the necessary ingredients. From the time the soup commences to boil till it is done the fat and scum should be frequently removed. If cooked meat or bones are to be used they may be added after the soup has cooked three-quarters of an hour. If the soup is allowed to simmer, the allowance of water given in the recipes will not require replenishing. If, however, it is allowed to boil hard, the water will evaporate fast and require replenishing with boiling water. Fast boiling drives off much of the aroma of the ingre- dients. Where soup requires seven hours or longer to cook, it is advisable to make it the day previous, especially in the winter months, when it will keep fresh and sweet for a week. If it is made in an iron pot, it must be strained as soon as cooked, or while hot, into a tin or earthen vessel, for if allowed to remain in an iron pot over night it will be discolored and have an unpleas- ant taste. When vegetables are used, they should be added only in time to become thoroughly done. To prepare vegetables for soup they must be picked over, washed, pared, and cut into small pieces from a quarter to a half inch thick, put into a pan of cold water, rinsed and drained. Tomatoes should be scalded, peeled and sliced. Onions fried give a richer color and a different flavor to soup than when used raw. Vegetables should be put into the soup one hour and a quarter or one hour and a half before it is cooked. Potatoes are an exception to this rule; they should be put in only thirty minutes before the soup is cooked. To pre- pare rice it must be picked over, washed and drained. Season the soup lightly with salt and pepper when it is to be served. Good, rich soup can be made from the heads, tails, and soup bones of cattle. The heads must be skinned and split into 200 The Toronto Cook Book pieces. Remove the eyes and brains; wash out with cold water all impurities; skin, wash and chop the tails into small pieces. Crack soup bones well open. The canned soups are in effect soup stock and, when used according to the recipes printed upon the cans, furnish a good substitute in case sudden calls are made for soup. Fresh stock is, however, the most satisfactory. Stock for Soup Pot