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Mixed Stock for Soups, Etc
Rub the bottom of a large stewpan well with butter, cover the bottom with two large onions sliced; place over the sliced onions two slices of ham; put the pan over a good fire when the contents are well browned; pour in a pint of water, little at a time; the meat must then be added, and to every two pounds of meat and bones put one quart of water. As soon as it begins to boil skim and place on the stove, where it will only simmer for about six hours; then add a bouquet of sweet herbs, ten or twelve peppercorns, and half a dozen cloves to every gallon of stock. Cook at least two more hours, then strain and put in a cool place. Next day take off all the fat very carefully. Keep in a very cool place. This is fine for common soups, sauces, etc.
A classic long-simmered brown stock, built on a browned onion-and-ham base rather than roasted bones. The instructions are sound; only the vessel, the heat control and the storage need translating.
- The hinge: brown, then never boilEverything after the first skim should be a bare simmer, 180-190F, with only occasional bubbles breaking. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and suspended protein into the liquid and gives you cloudy, greasy stock that no straining will fix.
- "Place over a good fire" and "place on the stove""Put the pan over a good fire" and "place on the stove" -- probably a range with hotter and cooler zones. On a modern hob, brown over medium-high, then drop to the lowest setting once it comes up; a 300F oven with the lid ajar holds a steadier simmer than most burners.
- Deglazing in stagesThe pint of water added "little at a time" is a deglaze. Add it in three or four splashes, scraping the browned onion and ham fond off the bottom each time and letting it nearly cook away before the next.
- RatiosOne quart of water per two pounds of meat and bones; herbs, 10-12 peppercorns and six cloves per gallon of finished stock. Six pounds of bones and shin meat with three quarts of water makes a workable domestic batch.
- "A bouquet of sweet herbs"A bundle of parsley stems, thyme and a bay leaf, tied or bagged. The recipe brings them in only for the last two hours or so; prolonged simmering drives off much of their aroma.
- The hamTwo slices of raw or dry-cured ham, not sandwich ham. A thick slice of gammon or a piece of prosciutto end works; the point is salt and cured pork flavour in the base, so salt the finished stock only after it is reduced.
- Total timeEight hours minimum by this method. Beef bones and shin can take it; if you add poultry carcasses, pull them at three to four hours or they go papery and muddy the flavour.
- Cooling and keeping"A very cool place" was a cellar or larder in a kitchen with no refrigeration. Cool the strained stock quickly in a sink of iced water, then refrigerate; lift the fat cap the next day as instructed. Use within three days or freeze.
- YieldExpect roughly two to two and a half quarts from three quarts of water after eight hours. It is a base, not a soup, and will need salt and further reduction in whatever you make from it.
Mixed stock of this kind is often traced to the professional French estouffade, the brown stock that underpinned nineteenth-century sauce cookery. The ham-and-onion foundation gives colour and depth by searing aromatics and cured pork in fat at the bottom of the pot. Instructions to skim carefully, to keep the pot at a simmer, and to lift the set fat the following morning reflect a kitchen where stock had to last several days in a cool larder.