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Consomme

Consomme is the term applied to the clarified liquor in which meat or poultry or both have been boiled, but it is applied generally to any strong clear gravy soup. The following is a good recipe for its preparation. Wipe but do not wash two pounds of lean beef. Cut it into small slices, and fry them to a brown colour. Then divide the slices into small pieces, and put them, along with a chicken (also cleaned and cut into small pieces) into a saucepan, along with a quarter of a pound of lean ham and three quarts of cold water. Let it slowly reach boiling point, and simmer gently for six hours. When it has been cooking three hours, fry a carrot, turnip, and onion, all minced, together in a little butter until they are brown, and put them with three cloves, a table-spoonful of mixed sweet herbs, three peppercorns, and a table-spoonful of chopped celery into the soup. At the end of the six hours, when the meat is in rags, strain the liquid into a china bowl, and set it away to cool until all the fat rises and forms in a cake on the top. It is a good plan to cool it over-night when there is plenty of time. Every particle of fat must be removed, and it is not possible to do this unless the soup is cooled. To clear consomme return it to the fire, and as soon as it becomes liquid break into it two eggs, and stir them in slowly until the soup begins to steam and the albumen of the eggs is coagulated. The coagulum will entangle all the insoluble matter; then strain the liquid through a napkin, salt it, and heat it just to the boiling-point, when it is ready to serve. It should be perfectly clear, and of a golden-brown colour, like sherry. Probable cost, 4s. 6d.