ABC OF SOUP MAKING.
ABC OF SOUP MAKING.
Lean, juicy beef, mutton, and veal form the basis of all good soups; therefore it is advisable to procure those
pieces which afford the richest succulence, and such as are fresh-killed. Stale
meat renders them bad, and fat is not so well adapted for making them. The
principal art in composing good rich soup is so to proportion the several
ingredients that 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 perfectly
well cleaned and that the water is proportioned to the quantity of meat and
other ingredients. Generally, a quart of water may be allowed to a pound of meat
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 never 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 six hours doing, and are
much better prepared the day before they are wanted. When the soup is cold, the
fat may be much more easily and completely removed; and when it is poured off, care
must be taken not to disturb the settings at the bottom of the vessel, which
is so fine that they will escape through a sieve. A tamis is the best
strainer, and if the soup is strained while it is hot, let the tamis or cloth
be previously soaked in cold water. Clear soups must be perfectly transparent,
and thickened soups about the consistency 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 pounded to a pulp, with a bit of
butter and flour, and rubbed through a sieve, and gradually incorporated with
the soup, will be found an excellent addition. When the soup appears to be too thin or too weak, 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
mentioned, should be added. When soups and gravies are kept from day to day in
hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh scalded
pans or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar. In temperate weather, every other
day may be sufficient.
Various herbs and vegetables are
required for the purpose of making soups and gravies. Of these the principal
are, Scotch barley, pearl barley, wheat flour, oatmeal, bread-raspings, pease,
beans, rice, vermicelli, macaroni, isinglass, potato-mucilage, mushroom or
mushroom ketchup, champignons, parsnips, carrots, beetroot, turnips, garlic,
shallots, and onions. Sliced onions, fried with butter and flour till they are
browned, and then rubbed through a sieve, are excellent to heighten the color
and flavor of brown soups and sauces and form the basis of many of the fine
relishes furnished by the cook.
The older and drier the onion, the stronger
will be its flavor. Leeks, cucumber, or burnet vinegar; celery or celery-seed
pounded. The latter, though equally strong, does not impart the delicate
sweetness of the fresh vegetable; and when used as a substitute, its flavor
should be corrected by the addition of a bit of sugar. Cress-seed, parsley,
common thyme, lemon thyme, orange thyme, knotted marjoram, sage, mint, winter
savory, and basil. As fresh green basil is seldom to be procured, and its fine
flavor is soon lost, the best way of preserving the extract is by pouring wine
on the fresh leaves.
For the seasoning of soups,
bay-leaves, tomato, tarragon, chervil, burnet, allspice, cinnamon, ginger,
nutmeg, clove, mace, black and white pepper, the essence of anchovy, lemon-peel,
and juice, and Seville orange-juice, are all taken. The latter imparts a finer
flavor than the lemon, and the acid is much milder. These materials, with
wine, mushroom ketchup, Harvey's sauce, tomato sauce, combined in various
proportions, are, with other ingredients, manipulated into an almost endless
variety of excellent soups and gravies. Soups, which are intended to constitute
the principal part of a meal, certainly ought not to be flavored like sauces,
which are only designed to give a relish to some particular dish.
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