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Cold Chicken Broth
Thoroughly wash in cold water and drain one pound fresh chicken bones, chop up very finely and place in a saucepan with two and a half quarts cold water, set pan on fire and season with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper. As soon as it comes to a boil skim scum from surface, then add one each sliced carrot, onion, turnip and two leeks, two branches each celery and parsley, one bay leaf, one clove and a sprig of thyme. Cover pan and let simmer for one and a half hours, skim fat from surface, strain through a cheesecloth into a stone jar, place jar in a basin with cracked ice around and let get thoroughly cold, then pour into six cups and serve.
A clear chicken broth meant to be served cold in cups rather than bowls. Nearly everything hinges on a lazy simmer and thorough skimming, since the point is transparency.
- Never let it boil after the first skimOnce the scum is off, keep the pot at a bare tremble — a few bubbles breaking at the edge. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and drives fine protein into suspension, and no amount of straining will clear it afterward.
- Chicken bonesA pound of raw backs, necks and wing tips is what is wanted; ask a butcher, or save trimmings in the freezer. "Chop up very finely" means cracking them with a heavy knife or cleaver to open the marrow — a modern shortcut is to use wings, which are already small and rich in gelatin.
- Quantities and yieldTwo and a half quarts is ten cups going in; some is lost to evaporation, to the bones and vegetables, and to the straining cloth. The recipe gives no serving volume, only that the finished broth is poured into six cups. If your pot is wide and reduces faster, top up with water rather than ending short.
- Vegetables go in secondThey are added after skimming so the first cloud of protein can be removed cleanly. One clove means one whole clove, not a spoonful of ground.
- Leeks and turnipBoth are load-bearing here rather than decorative — the leeks give sweetness and the turnip a faint pepperiness that reads as seasoning in a cold broth. Wash the leeks in split halves; grit will not strain out.
- Stone jar and cracked iceThis is an ice-water bath, the period method for cooling stock fast. Use a metal bowl set in ice water, stir now and then, then refrigerate. Chill it through within about two hours; a large volume of warm broth left standing at room temperature is exactly where stock goes wrong.
- Season again when coldA teaspoon of salt in two and a half quarts is light, and cold food tastes flatter than hot. Taste after chilling and correct then, not while it simmers.
- It may setA bone broth chilled hard can jelly, though at one pound of bones to two and a half quarts this one may stay liquid. If it does set, stir it slack with a spoon before pouring, or serve it lightly jellied in the cup.
Cold clear broths and jellied consommés were familiar hot-weather and sickroom fare in professional kitchens of the period, and this entry treats them as a matter of course, right down to serving in cups rather than soup plates. The stone jar and the basin of cracked ice point to a kitchen chilling by hand with bought ice rather than by machine — though ice-house cooling remained common in commercial kitchens long after mechanical refrigeration existed, so the detail dates the entry only loosely. The vegetable and herb list — carrot, onion, turnip, leek, celery, parsley, bay, clove, thyme — is the familiar French aromatic combination written out for English-speaking cooks.