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Plain Broth
Place the desired amount of beef into a stockpot, with a knuckle of veal and half a fowl, covering with plenty of water. Boil this slowly, letting the scum come to the surface and removing same until it has become quite clear; then while still boiling put in a head of celery, three or four small carrots, three leeks, three turnips and a couple of onions, stick into one of the onions a few cloves, say four or five; move the stockpot to one side and simmer for several hours; skim off all the fat, put in a lump of salt and it is ready for serving.
A classic long-simmered meat stock, written for a kitchen that kept a pot on the range all day. The quantities are deliberately vague, which is fine once you know the ratios.
- ProportionsFor a manageable batch, use about 3 lb beef (shin or chuck), a split veal knuckle of 1-2 lb, and half a chicken, covered by 4-5 quarts of cold water. That yields roughly 3 quarts of finished broth, serving eight to ten as a first course.
- Start cold, and the hinge of the whole thingCover the meat with cold water and bring it up slowly. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and breaks up albumin into cloudy specks that no amount of skimming will retrieve. "Boil slowly" here means barely trembling.
- "Half a fowl"In 1896 this meant an older stewing hen, tough and gelatinous. A supermarket broiler gives less body; a whole leg quarter plus a few wings, or a packet of chicken backs, is closer in effect.
- Knuckle of vealThe joint end of the leg, sawn open for the marrow and collagen. Ask a butcher to cut it; veal knuckle or shank bones are the substitute, and they are what makes the broth set to jelly when cold.
- SkimmingSkim early, before the vegetables go in, and do not stir. The recipe has you keep removing scum until the liquid is quite clear, and only then add the aromatics.
- Head of celeryA whole bunch, not a single rib. Nineteenth-century "head of celery" is the entire plant, and it carries a good part of the flavor here.
- Time and heat"Several hours" means four to five at a bare simmer, barely trembling rather than boiling. Beyond that, chicken and veal give up little more and the vegetables turn muddy; pull the fowl earlier if you want the meat for something else.
- SaltA "lump of salt" probably means a piece broken from block or rock salt, still sold in that form at the time. Salt only at the end, as written, since the volume will have dropped appreciably and early seasoning concentrates with it.
- FatChilling overnight lifts the fat off in a solid disc, which is cleaner than skimming hot. The layer is worth keeping for frying.
Oscar Tschirky's Cook Book (1896) belongs to the professional hotel tradition, in which a plain broth of this kind underwrote much of the rest of the menu. Beef, veal knuckle and fowl together is the standard French formula behind bouillon and consommé -- beef for flavor, veal for gelatin, poultry for sweetness -- and the studded onion is the oignon clouté still taught today.