Stock

Ingredients

• a pound of meat
• a pint of stock
• a pint of water
• a teaspoonful of salt

Method

1. 1

   To make stock, simmer the meat gently in water, skimming off any scum.

2. 2

   The aim is to extract the goodness from the meat into the liquor.

3. 3

   Boil and skim daily in summer, every other day in winter.

4. 4

   Use a clean tinned iron pan for best results.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 1898. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

tea- spoonful of salt to a quart of water — I think salt is best added towards the end of the cooking, ao the tendency is to harden the meat. Peas when boiled with salt pork will remain hard throughout the cooking. Bring the wat«>r gradually to the boil, remove aU the scum, and let the contents simmer till the flavour of the meat is absorbed in the liquor. Kemove all the fat, which can be eaten, with bread, or used for puddings or frying. All and every kind of meat will do for a stew. They may be used together or separately, according to taste or convenience. The better the meat, the better the stew ; but by careful stewing the coarsest and roughest parts will become soft, tender, and easily digested, which would not be possible by any other method of cooking. All the gri.stly parts — the feet, shanks, knuckles — should be stewed. There is no other way of cooking these parts to advantage. They require time, and this is often the difliculty and" objection ; but what is there to prevent a woman, when the family are all sitting round the fire in the ev'ening, think- ing about to-morrow's dinner ? The fire which warms the children will also cook their dinner. The great vice of most women, not only among the i^oor, but among the middle classes, is that they never think of cooking till thej' feel hungrj-. Trimmings of all kinds of meat can sometimes be purchased cheaply. A woman who has but little to spend should watch her opportunities. Sheep's feet, the shank -bones of legs of mutton, and pieces of bono and giistlc, are often thrown away as useless. We used formerly to send ox tails to the tan-yard, and even now much goes there which could be turned into good food. Twopence or three- pence spent in the purchase of bones — although containing little meat, they contain 30 per cent, of gelatine, and may be made to yield excellent food; large bones should be broken into small pieces, and allowed to simmer till every piece of bone is white and drj'. I have said nothing- about flavouring or thickening, or adding vegetables. As a rule, all vegetables except potatoes may be cut into .slices and cooked in the Etew ; or, if preferred, they maj^ be cooked, separately, and added afterwards. Carrots, tur- nips, parsnips, swedes, cabbages, leeks, onions, celerj', beetroot, vegetable-marrow — any or all of these may be used in a stew. I Stews, Forcemeat for {see Forcemeat j for Fish, Soups, or Stews). } Stews, Onions for Garnishing {see • Onions, Brown, for Garnishing Stews). j Stilton Cheese {see Cheese, Stilton). j Stock. — Stock is the basis of all meat- I sauces, soups, and purees. It is really the juice of meat extracted by long and gentle simmer- ! ing, and in making it, it should bo remembered ! that the object to be aimed at is to draw the goodness out of the materials into the liquor. It may be prepared in various ways, richly and expensively, or economically, and recipes for all modes are given in this work. All general stock, or stock which is to be used for miscellaneous }iu.r'poscF.; r.iculd be simply STO ( 925 ) STO made, that is, all iiavouriiig- ingredients should be omitted entirely until its use is decided upon. The stock will then keep longer than it would do if vegetables, herbs, and spices were boiled in it, besides which the flavoui-ing- can be adapted to its spi?cial purpose. To ensure its keeping, stock should be boiled and skimmed every day in summer, and every other day in winter. The pan and the lid used in making it should be sci-upulously clean. A tinned iron pan is the best for the purpose. Those who need to practise economy will do well to procure a digester, which is a kind of stock-pot made with the object of retaliiiug the goodness of the materials, and preventing its escape in steam. "When ready, stock should be poured into an earthenware pan, and left uncovered until it is cold. It should on no account be allowed to cool in a metal pan. Before being used, everj- particle of fat which has settled on the surface should be removed, :i,nd the liquor should be poured off free from sodiment. A few years ago it was customary for cooks to make stock with fresh meat only, the rule being a pound of meat to a pint of stock. Altered prices have necessitated the adoption of more economical methods, and now excellent stock is constantly made with the bones and trimmings of meat and poultry, with the addition or not of a Httle fresli meat, or a portion of Liebig's Extract of Meat. In a house where meat is regularly used, a good cook will never be without a little stock. Broken remnants of all kinds v/ill find their way to the stock-pot, and will not be thrown away until, by gentle stewing, they have been made to yield to the utmost whatever of fla- vour and of goodness they possessed. ^Vhen fresh meat is used it is better for being freshly killed. The liquor in which fresh meat has been boiled should always be used as stock. {See Pkixciples ok Cookeky, xxv.) Stock, Browning for. — There are Tarious ways of browning stock. The best of all is to let it boil to a glaze when making it, and then to let it colour itself over the fire. Stock made from bones cannot be thus coloured, and it is therefore necessary to impart a brown look to it by other means. The addition of Liebig's Extract answers the purpose slightly, but not always sufiiciently. Burnt onions and colouring-balls may be bought, which are manufactured expressly for this end, but they often impart an impleasant flavour- to the soup. Brown thickening mjiy be used when it is wished that the stock should be tliickened as well as browned, though it must be remembered that after it is added the stcck must simmer by the side of the fire, that it may throw up the fat, which should be removed. Liquid browning, which can be bottled and used i^s required, may be made as follows : — Put a quarter of a pint of moist sugar into a stewpan, and let it remain over a gentle fire till it is melted. Keep stirring it with a wooden spoon till it is abnost black, then pour upon it a i)int of wate

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.