ABC Of Making Soup
Lean, juicy beef, mutton, and veal, form the basis of all good soups ; so it is advisable to gain those pieces which afford the wealthiest succulence, and like are fresh-killed. Stale beef renders them bad, and fat is not so well changed for making them. The principal art in composing good rich soup, is so to proportion the many ingredients the flavor of one shall not predominate over another, and that all the articles of which it is composed, shall form an agreeable whole. To accomplish this, care must be taken that the roots and herbs are quite well cleaned, and that the water is proportioned to the amount of meat and other ingredients. Generally a quart of water might be allowed to a pound of beef for soups, and half the quantity for gravies. In making soups or gravies, gentle stewing or simmering is incomparably the best. It may be remarked {, however ,} that a really good soup can’t ever be made but in a well-closed vessel, although, perhaps, greater wholesomeness is obtained by an occasional exposure to the air. Soups will, in general, take from three to 6 hours doing, and are far better prepared the day before they are wanted. When the soup is cold, the fat may be much easier and utterly removed ; and when it is poured off, care must be taken not to annoy the settlings at the bottom of the vessel, which are so fine that they can escape thru a sieve. A tamis is the best sieve, and if the soup is strained even though it is hot, let the tamis or material be formerly dunked in cold water. Clear soups must be completely clear, and thickened soups about the consistence of cream. To thicken and give body to soups and gravies, potato-mucilage, arrow-root, bread-raspings, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice, or oatmeal, in a little water rubbed well together, are used. A piece of boiled beef battered to a pulp, with a bit of butter and flour, and rubbed thru a sift, and steadily incorporated with the soup, will be found a good addition. When the soup seems to be too thin or too feeble, the cover of the boiler should be taken off, and the contents allowed to boil till some of the watery parts have evaporated ; or some of the thickening materials, above discussed, should be added. When soups and gravies are kept from daily in hot weather, they need to be heated up every day, and put into fresh burned pans or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar. In temperate weather, each other day may be sufficient.
Tags: cooking, easy cooking, Simple Soup, soup
