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Family Soup
Put any meat bones from dressed meats, together with trimmings of poultry and scraps of meat, into a stewpan. Add to the meat 2 onions which have been stuck with 5 cloves; 2 carrots, 1 turnip, a little celery seed, tied in a piece of muslin, bunch savory herbs, 1 sprig parsley, a little mace, and pepper and salt to taste. Pour 3 or 4 quarts of cold water over this, and let simmer gently for several hours. Strain through a fine sieve. This makes a good foundation for any soup.
This is a plain household stock built from carving-board leftovers rather than bought bones, and it behaves like any stock: start cold, never let it boil hard, and strain while hot.
- "Dressed meats"Means meat already cooked and carved for the table, so this is a scrap stock rather than a fresh bone broth. Expect a lighter, less gelatinous result than one made from raw joints; adding a raw split veal or chicken bone or two gives it body.
- Quantity of bonesThe original leaves the amount entirely to whatever came off the table. For 3 to 4 quarts of water, aim for roughly 2 to 3 lb of bones and trimmings, or the stock will be thin and flat.
- Keep it at a bare simmerThis is the hinge. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and drives fine particles into suspension, giving cloudy, greasy stock. Hold it just below a simmer, with the surface barely trembling, and skim the grey foam off in the first half hour.
- "Several hours"Three to four hours is enough for cooked bones and scraps; beyond that you gain little and the vegetables begin to turn the flavour muddy. If you want a longer extraction, add the carrot, turnip and celery seed only for the last hour.
- Onions stuck with clovesPeel the onions, halve them if large, and press the whole cloves in so they can be lifted out with the onion. Five cloves for two onions is assertive; three is plenty if the stock is going into a delicate soup.
- Mace and celery seedMace is the outer covering of the nutmeg, sold as blades or ground; the recipe says only "a little," so a single blade or a pinch of ground suits. Celery seed is strong in quantity, and here it is tied into muslin so it can be lifted out.
- Bunch of savory herbsUsually a tied bundle of whatever sweet herbs were to hand, commonly thyme, marjoram or savory with a bay leaf; note the recipe lists its sprig of parsley separately, and specifies muslin only for the celery seed.
- SaltThe recipe seasons "to taste," but since this is a foundation for other dishes it is safer to season lightly or not at all and adjust in the finished soup.
- Yield and keepingThree to four quarts of water yields roughly 2 to 3 quarts of strained stock after simmering. Cool it quickly in a shallow pan rather than leaving the pot on the stove, refrigerate up to three days, or freeze. Chilling sets the fat in a cap that lifts off cleanly.