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Consomme from Larkin Extract of Beef
Allow one-fourth teaspoon of Larkin Extract of Beef for each cup of consomme desired. Put into a saucepan and pour over the Extract the required number of cups of boiling water. Season with Larkin Table Salt and Larkin White Pepper and with Larkin Celery Salt, allowing one-fourth teaspoon of Celery Salt to each cup of consomme.
This is a branded convenience recipe rather than a true consommé: no bones, no clarification, no long simmer. It scales by the cup, which makes it easy to adapt.
- What beef extract wasLarkin Extract of Beef was a thick, dark, salty meat paste of the Bovril and Liebig type, sold in small jars. The closest current equivalents are Bovril or a concentrated beef base such as Better Than Bouillon.
- Substitution ratioModern beef bases are usually mixed at about 1 teaspoon per cup of water, not one-fourth teaspoon. Start with the amount the jar recommends and adjust; the smaller dose here suggests the old extracts were more concentrated than most supermarket bases.
- Go easy on the saltA quarter teaspoon of celery salt per cup, on top of table salt and an already salty extract, will taste harsh to modern palates. Add the celery salt a pinch at a time and taste before adding any plain salt at all.
- Dissolve, then heatPut the paste in the pan first and pour a little boiling water over it, stirring to a smooth slurry before adding the rest. Extract dropped into a full pan of water can leave undissolved specks.
- Not a clarified consomméReal consommé is clarified with egg white and lean meat to a brilliant, fat-free liquid. This is a seasoned beef tea borrowing the name; do not expect the body or gloss of a stock-based version.
- Yield and servingEach cup of water yields one serving, traditionally drunk from a bouillon cup or two-handled broth cup rather than eaten from a soup plate. A thin slice of lemon, a spoon of sherry, or a few croutons brings it closer to the real thing.
The Larkin Company of Buffalo, New York, began as a soap manufacturer in the 1870s and grew into one of the great American mail-order houses, selling groceries, toiletries and household goods direct to customers and rewarding bulk orders with premiums, including furniture. The company's Buffalo administration building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Cookbooks like this one were part of that machine: every ingredient named is a Larkin product, and the recipe exists as much to move jars of extract, celery salt and white pepper as to feed anyone. Beef extract itself was a serious commercial product of the period, descended from Justus von Liebig's meat concentrate, commercialised from the mid-1860s, and beef tea was widely prescribed as nourishment for invalids and the elderly. Dressing it up with celery salt and calling it consomme let a household serve something with a French name in about two minutes.