Stock, to Clarify
INGREDIENTS. -The whites of 2 eggs, 1/2 pint of water, 2 quarts of stock.
Supposing that by some accident the soup is not quite clear, and that its quantity is 2 quarts, take the whites of 2 eggs, carefully separated from the yolks, whisk them well together with the water, and add gradually the 2 quarts of boiling stock, still whisking. Place the soup on the fire, and when boiling and well skimmed, whisk the eggs with it till nearly boiling again; then draw it from the fire, and let it settle, until the whites of the eggs become separated. Pass through a fine cloth, and the soup should be clear.
Note. The rule is. that all clear soups should be of a light straw-colour, and should not savour too strongly of the meat; and that all white or brown thick soups should have no more consistency than will enable them to adhere slightly to the spoon when hot. All purées should be somewhat thicker.
Stock, White (to be used in the preparation of White Soups). INGREDIENTS.-4 lbs. of knuckle of veal, any poultry trimmings, 4 slices of lean ham, 3 carrots, 2 onions, 1 head of celery, 12 white peppercorns, 2 oz. of salt, 1 blade of mace, a bunch of herbs, 1 oz. of butter, 4 quarts of water.
AVERAGE COST, 3s.
Cut up the veal, and put it with the bones and trimmings of poultry, and the ham, into the stewpan, which has been rubbed with the butter. Moisten with 1/2 pint of water, and simmer till the gravy begins to flow. Then add the 4 quarts of water and the remainder of the ingredients; simmer for 5½ hours. After skimming, and straining it carefully through a very fine hair sieve, it will be ready for use.
TIME.-5 hours.
Note.
When stronger stock is desired, double the quantity of veal, or put in an old fowl. The liquor in which a young turkey has been boiled is an excellent addition to all white stock or soups.
STRAWBERRY JAM.
Stock, Consommé, White (for many Sauces). - Consommé is made precisely in the same manner as white stock, and, for ordinary purposes, will be found quite good enough. When, however, a stronger stock is desired, either put in half the quantity of water, or double that of the meat. This is a very good foundation for all white sauces. of Stone Cream of Tous les Mois. -INGREDIENTS for dish for 4 or 5 persons. -1/2 lb. of preserve, 1 pint of milk, 2 oz. of lump sugar, 1 heaped tablespoonful of tous les mois, 3 drops of essence of cloves, 3 drops almond-flavouring. AVERAGE Cosr, 10d.
Place the preserve at the bottom of a glass dish; put the milk into a lined saucepan, with the sugar, and make it boil. Mix to a smooth batter the tous les mois with a very little cold milk; stir it briskly into the boiling milk, add the flavouring, and simmer for 2 minutes. When rather cool, but before turning solid, pour the cream over the jam, and ornament it with strips of red-currant jelly or preserved fruit.
TIME.-2 minutes.
SEASONABLE at any time.
This is the classic egg-white raft, used to rescue a soup that has gone cloudy. The proportions given -- two egg whites and half a pint of water to two quarts of stock -- still hold, but a few points of modern practice make the result more reliable.
- Degrease firstClarifying will not remove fat, and any fat left in the stock will cloud it again as it warms. Chill the stock and lift the solid cap off, or blot the surface with paper towel, before you start.
- The hinge: never let it boilA rolling boil breaks the coagulated egg into shreds and drives them back through the liquid, undoing the work. Bring it to a bare tremble, around 185F, and hold it there.
- Stop whisking once it setsThe recipe itself directs whisking until the stock is nearly boiling again, but modern practice is to stop as soon as the albumen begins to coagulate and rise. After that, leave it alone; the raft has to knit together undisturbed.
- Half a pint of waterAn imperial half-pint, roughly ten fluid ounces -- is used to loosen the whites so they disperse. It dilutes the stock slightly, so season after clarifying, not before.
- Crushed shells helpCommon professional practice is to add the rinsed, crushed shells with the whites. They give the raft something to bind to and make it easier to lift clear.
- StrainingA fine cloth means a doubled square of muslin or a coffee filter set in a sieve, rinsed in cold water first so it does not absorb the stock. Ladle rather than pour, and do not press the raft.
- Colour and bodyThe note's standards are useful: clear soups pale straw, thick soups only just coating the spoon, purees a little heavier. Judge consistency while hot, since all of them thicken as they cool.
- YieldSome liquid is always lost to the raft and the cloth, so expect appreciably less finished consomme than went in; enough for roughly six to eight servings.
Clarified stock is the foundation of consomme: egg white, whisked into cool stock and warmed slowly, coagulates and traps the suspended proteins and fine particles that make a broth cloudy, rising as a grey raft that can be strained away. A perfectly limpid soup was taken as a mark of both good ingredients and a cook with time and fuel to spare -- five hours of simmering, in the case of the white stock that follows on the same page. The insistence that a clear soup should not "savour too strongly of the meat" is consistent with the period's taste for delicacy at the opening of a long dinner, where the soup was meant to whet the appetite rather than satisfy it.