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Glaze

Glaze is made from clear stock, boiled down until it forms a sort of meat varnish, or strong jelly; it is used to improve the appearance of many dishes. It is also made in large quantities for use in soups and sauces, and for this purpose is very convenient. It is especially suited for travellers, as it is nourishing, compact, and economical. The knuckle of veal, the legs and shins of beef, and the shanks of mutton are particularly gelatinous, and therefore the best for making glaze. Glaze may be kept for some time in small jars, such as are used for jelly, if kept dry. When a little is wanted in domestic cookery, a pint of clear beef stock may be boiled quickly down, to produce about a table-spoonful, or as much as will ornament a joint. Or the gravy found under the fat left from a roasted joint may be mixed with melted gelatine to make glaze. Glaze should be kept in an earthen jar, and when it is wanted for use this jar should be placed in a saucepan of boiling water, and its contents melted in this way, care being taken that the saucepan is not so full that the water will go into the glaze. Glaze must never be put upon a joint unless the latter is quite dry, and two or three layers should be put on it, with a paste-brush, allowing one layer to dry before another is put on. Glaze may be purchased at Italian warehouses in any quantity. It is usually sold in skins, and costs about 2s. 6d. per pound.