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English Beef Soup
Take 2 1/2 pounds of lean beef, cut off and lay aside about 1/4 of a pound, and pass the remainder through the meat chopper. Pour over it 3 pints of cold water, let stand for half an hour, then heat gradually, and simmer for three hours, then strain. Boil separately until tender 2 tablespoonfuls of fine barley and 1/2 of a cupful of diced carrot. Cut the reserved piece of meat into tiny pieces, peel and thinly slice one small onion, and brown with the meat in a spoonful of drippings. Add 1 scant cupful of finely cut celery and 1 cupful of boiling water and simmer for an hour. Stir in 2 tablespoonfuls of flour smoothly mixed with cold water, add gradually the meat stock, and stir for a few moments. Bring to the boiling point, add the previously cooked carrot and barley, 1/2 of a teaspoonful of Worcestershire, 1 tablespoonful of tomato catsup, and salt and pepper to taste, then simmer for ten minutes longer.
A two-part soup: a clear extracted beef stock, plus a separately browned garnish of meat and vegetables bound with flour. The method rewards patience at the start and nothing else is fussy.
- The cold soak mattersGrinding the beef and steeping it in cold water before any heat is applied helps draw soluble protein into the liquid, and cooks of this period held that it was what gave the broth its body and flavour. Starting in hot water coagulates protein at the surface instead, and was said to give a thinner stock.
- Simmer, do not boilBring the stock up slowly and hold it at a bare tremble for the three hours. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and clouds the liquid, which defeats the point of straining.
- Meat chopperThis is a hand-cranked grinder. Coarse ground beef from the butcher works, or pulse chunks briefly in a food processor. Choose a lean cut with connective tissue such as shin or chuck.
- Quantities in modern terms3 pints is 6 cups (about 1.4 L) on American measure; a cupful is 8 fl oz. Two tablespoons of barley will want something like 30-45 minutes at a simmer depending on the grade, the diced carrot 8-10.
- DrippingsRendered beef fat, saved from a roast. Any neutral oil or butter substitutes, though beef fat suits the soup. Get real colour on the meat and onion before adding liquid; that browning adds much of the finished flavour.
- ThickeningTwo tablespoons of flour slaked with cold water will leave the soup lightly bound rather than thick. Add the stock gradually and stir as it comes up, or the flour will settle into lumps.
- Skim and degreaseSkim the scum during the first half hour, and lift the fat from the strained stock. Chilling the stock makes the fat easy to remove in a sheet.
- Yield and seasoningRoughly 5 to 6 cups depending on how much reduces away, serving four. Season at the end only: three hours of reduction concentrates whatever salt goes in early. The Worcestershire and catsup are there for depth and a little acid, so taste before adding more.