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Soup Bone Soup
I MEATY SOUP BONE, CRACKED 4 QUARTS WATER I TABLESPOON SALT Simmer 2 hours, skim and add:
I TOMATO, CUT UP 1/4 CUP SLICED ONION 13 CUP MINCED PARSLEY I TABLESPOON BARLEY 1 cup diced celery, 1 cup diced carrots or similar vegetable. Simmer 1 hour more. I LARGE BEEF BONE, CRACKED 3 QUARTS WATER I SLICED ONION I SLICED CARROT I PARSNIP, SHREDDED BEEF BONE 3 GARLIC CLOVES, CRUSHED I RED PEPPER POD I TABLESPOON WORCES- TERSHIRE SALT Cook everything except Worcestershire and salt 2 hours, remove bones, and stir in seasonings.
Two long-simmered bone broths from the camp-cooking tradition, both built on the same principle: a cracked bone, a lot of water, and time. Neither will taste of much unless the bone carries meat and marrow.
- Ask for the bone crackedCracked or sawn bones expose marrow and cancellous bone, which is where the gelatin and flavor come from. A butcher will do this on request; a whole shank or knuckle left intact gives a thin, watery result.
- Simmer, never boilA rolling boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and turns the broth cloudy and greasy. Hold it at a bare tremble, lid ajar, for the full two hours.
- SkimmingThe gray foam that rises in the first twenty minutes is coagulated protein, not dirt, but it clouds the pot. Lift it off with a shallow spoon before the vegetables go in.
- The parsley measureThe first soup's parsley quantity is unclear as printed; a third of a cup of minced parsley is a reasonable reading and is on the generous side. Add half, taste, and adjust.
- Barley timingOne tablespoon of pearl barley in four quarts is a seasoning, not a filler, and one hour of simmering suits it. Hulled barley needs closer to 90 minutes and will not soften in the time given.
- Red pepper podThis means a whole dried hot red pepper; no variety is specified, so the heat will vary considerably. Fish it out after an hour if you want the broth mild, or leave it in and expect real heat.
- Salt at the endThe second version salts only after the bones come out, which is correct for anything reduced over hours. Salting the three-quart pot at the start leaves you no room to adjust once it has cooked down.
- DegreasingChill the strained broth and lift the solid fat off the top. If you are cooking outdoors and serving straight away, blot the surface with a folded paper towel.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield. Four quarts of water will likely reduce to something in the region of three quarts of finished soup, enough for perhaps eight to ten bowls. Any meat picked from the bone should be chopped and returned to the pot.
Bone soup of this kind is less a recipe than a standing instruction, and it suits the simplest equipment: one large pot, one fire, and hours of low heat while other work is being done. The bone itself was the point. A soup bone was among the cheapest things at a butcher's counter well into the twentieth century, sometimes given away or sold for pennies, and household economy writing of the period returns to it often as proof that a family could eat well on very little. The second version, with garlic, a dried pepper pod, and Worcestershire, may reflect a reliance on bottled sauce for the savory depth that a longer reduction or a browned bone would otherwise provide.