My Best Twenty Soups

How Clear Soup Should Be Made

It must be understood that clear meat soups do not contain nourishment, but when served warm they are stimulating and draw into the stomach the gastric secretions which prepare it for the heavy food which is to follow.

Clear soups are the best dinner soups. Soups containing milk, thickening of butter and flour, rice, etc., are nutritious, and make excellent luncheon soups.

Clear soup is made from a shin of beef, or from beef and veal; the latter makes a fine consommé. Bouillon, also a clear soup, is made from lean beef. Stock is made from lean meat and bone in the proportion of one pound of meat to three-quarters of a pound of bone. Long, slow cooking is necessary to draw out the extractives and to dissolve the gelatine. The fibre of beef, which holds a large proportion of nourishment, is not soluble in water; the albumin is the only nutrient extracted, but in boiling this is coagulated and strained out, and is lost to the soup. All bones left from roasts, steaks and the carcasses of poultry should be used for stock and bits of meat. Crack the bones, put them in the bottom of a kettle, cut the meat into small bits, or chop it, and put it on top of the bones; cover with cold water in the proportion of one quart of water to half a pound of meat and its proportion of bone. Bring quickly to the boiling point and skim. An ordinary shin of beef requires five quarts of water, while the leg, from the hind-quarter being heavier, requires seven quarts. Push the kettle to the back of the stove where it will simmer at 180° Fahrenheit for five hours. Make stock twice a week in summer; once in winter.

To save fuel, make the stock on ironing or baking days, or over the simmering burner of a gas-stove. To have good, clear soup the cooking must be evenly done from beginning to end. If it boils rapidly for five minutes it is clouded; if it drops below the simmering point, 180° Fahrenheit, it is greasy, has a bad flavor, and will not solidify when cold. One hour before the stock is finished add the flavorings - an onion with twelve whole cloves stuck in, two bay leaves, a small carrot chopped fine, a level teaspoonful of celery seed, a teaspoonful of whole peppercorns, and a tablespoonful of salt. At the end of the cooking strain and stand it aside to cool. When cold remove the fat from the surface and it will be ready for use. Stock made in this way will keep a week in winter and three or four days in summer; from it almost all clear soups are made.