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CLEAR SOUP (made from fresh meat)
Cut three pounds of the shin of beef, two pounds of veal, and two slices of ham into small pieces, and lay them at the bottom of a stewpan with a lump of butter; put the bones with the meat, and also a couple of large carrots and turnips sliced, a small tea-spoonful of bruised celery-seed tied in muslin, and an onion stuck with three cloves. Cover the stewpan, and set it on the fire. Let the meat brown on both sides, and when there is a brown glaze at the bottom of the pan, put a little hot water to it. Let it come just to the point of boiling, then add a little cold water; repeat this, and remove the scum till no more rises, and then add three quarts of water. Simmer gently by the side of the fire for four or five hours. Strain through a jelly-bag, but do not squeeze or press it at all, and let the liquid remain until the next day, when every particle of fat must be removed, and any sediment or impurities which may be at the bottom of the basin left untouched. When it is to be used, warm it, and, if necessary, clarify it, but if the directions given have been attended to, namely, the meat boiled gently and without ceasing, the scum removed, the liquid gently strained, and the sediment left out, the soup will be as clear as spring water, and of a bright golden colour. As was said in the last recipe this soup may be varied to any extent (see CLEAR SOUP, made from bones). Season, while boiling, with pepper, salt, and a piece of sugar. Probable cost, 4s. Sufficient for two quarts.
A classic brown consommé built on gelatine-rich shin and veal. Everything about the method serves one end — clarity — and the instructions that look fussy are the ones that matter.
- The hinge: never let it boilThe hinge is heat control: "Simmer gently by the side of the fire" for the whole four to five hours. The recipe's own gloss — "the meat boiled gently and without ceasing" — means a bare simmer whose surface barely trembles, not a rolling boil. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and drives fine protein through the stock, and later clarifying will not fully undo it.
- The hot-then-cold water trickAdding cold water to a pot approaching the boil drops the temperature and drives coagulated protein to the surface as scum, where it can be lifted off. It is worth doing two or three times before the main three quarts go in; each round removes what would otherwise cloud the finished soup.
- The meatShin of beef is the foreshank — ask for it cut across the bone, or use beef shank cross-cuts. Two pounds of veal means stewing veal with bone, veal breast or neck; if unavailable, substitute more shin plus a couple of split veal or chicken feet for the gelatine.
- The hamTwo slices of ham here means dry-cured, bone-in style ham, not sandwich ham. A thick slab of unsmoked gammon or a piece of prosciutto end does the job. The recipe seasons while boiling, with pepper, salt and a piece of sugar; go light on the salt, since the ham brings its own.
- StrainingA jelly-bag is a conical flannel or muslin bag hung over a bowl. A colander lined with two or three layers of damp cheesecloth is the modern equivalent. The instruction not to squeeze is literal — pressing forces fine solids through and turns golden stock cloudy.
- The overnight restChilling sets the fat into a solid cap that lifts off cleanly, and lets the last fine sediment settle. Decant the clear stock carefully and leave the last half-inch in the bowl. Modern refrigeration makes this easier than it was for the original cook.
- Clarifying, if neededThe traditional finish is a raft of lightly beaten egg white with a little minced lean beef, whisked into the cold stock, brought slowly to a bare simmer and left undisturbed until the raft sets, then ladled through cloth. The recipe rightly treats it as optional insurance.
- Celery seedA small teaspoon of bruised celery seed tied in muslin gives a concentrated, slightly bitter celery note. Two or three sticks of celery with their leaves will substitute, though the flavour is milder and greener.
- Yield and costThree quarts of water reduce to the stated two quarts (roughly 2 litres) over the long simmer, i.e. about eight cups of finished soup. "Probable cost, 4s" is four shillings, a Victorian price marker of no use as a conversion.
Clear soup — consommé in the French kitchen, from which the British repertoire took it whole — was the standard opening of a formal Victorian dinner, and its transparency was a point of pride: a cook was judged on whether her broth was, as the recipe text has it, "as clear as spring water." The book treats stock-making as a foundational skill from which soups, sauces and gravies all descend, and gives parallel recipes for clear soup made from bones and from fresh meat so the reader can see the difference economy makes. The combination of shin of beef for flavour, veal for the gelatine that gives body and gloss, and a little cured ham for depth is the standard nineteenth-century brown stock formula. Three pounds of beef and two of veal to produce two quarts of soup is a ratio that says a good deal about the households the book addressed.