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A Good Brown Stock

221. Cut in pieces a shin of beef and a knuckle of veal. Rub a quarter of a pound of butter on the bottom of a stewpan which will hold two gallons of water, and put in the meat with half a pint of water, a little salt, three or four onions, a turnip, a carrot or two, a head of celery, and one or two leeks-add a few cloves and a little mace; put the stewpan over a sharp fire (occasionally stirring the whole with a wooden spoon) till it becomes of a brown colour, and the stewpan is covered with a thickish glaze, then fill up the pan with cold water, and, when on the point of boiling, draw it off the fire and simmer very gently for three or four hours. Skim it frequently, strain through a hair sieve and it is ready for use. From this may be made any brown soup, as clear gravy soup, ox tail, Julienne soup, &c. TO MAKE STOCK FOR BROWN OR WHITE FISH SOUPS. 222. Take a pound of skate, four or five flounders, and two pounds of eels; clean them well, and cut them into pieces; cover them with water, and season them with mace, pepper, salt, an onion stuck with cloves, a head of celery, two parsley roots sliced, and a bunch of sweet herbs. Simmer an hour and a half closely covered, and then strain it off for use. If for brown soup, first fry the fish brown in butter, and then do as above. It will not keep more than two or three days. GLAZE. 223. Glaze is a boiled-down animal jelly, made from the stock as above; but avoiding the use of salt, as when boiled down sufficiently it would be too strong of that saline material. It only requires care not to burn it, and should be properly strained. A quart of stock will only make about a spoonful of glaze; and as it consists almost entirely of gelatine, the portable soups sold in the shops answer all the purpose at much less trouble and cost; indeed, glaze itself may be bought there cheaper than it can be made at home.