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Tinned Skewers

XII. A Famous Cook on Boiling.

Carème, a celebrated French cook, says of soup: The good housewife puts her meat into an earthen stock-pot, and pours on cold water in the proportion of two quarts of water to three pounds of beef. She sets it by the fire. The pot becomes gradually hot, and as the water heats, it dilates the muscular fibers of the flesh by dissolving the gelatinous matter which covers them, and allows the albumen to detach itself easily and rise to the surface in light foam or scum, while the osmazone, which is the savory juice of the meat, dissolving little by little, adds flavor to the broth. By this simple process of slow boiling or simmering, the housewife obtains a savory and nourishing broth and a bouilli (boiled meat), which latter is tender and of good flavor.

As to the reverse way of boiling, he says: If you place the pot au feu (or souppot), on too hot a fire, it boils too soon; the albumen coagulates and hardens; the water, not having the necessary time to penetrate the meat, hinders the osmazone from disengaging itself, and the sad result is, you have only a hard piece of boiled meat and a broth without flavor or goodness. A little fresh water poured into the pot at intervals, helps the scum to rise more abundantly.