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SOUPS
Good soup stock must have for its base uncooked meat and bone, and the water
must be soft. Remnants of cooked meat and bones may be added, but never until
the prime stock, made with uncooked meat, has slowly simmered at least one hour.
Do not let soup boil hard-- to do so gives a flat taste to the soup. Good soup
stock, made of uncooked meat and bones, should simmer six to seven hours. Keep
the stock pot covered, removing only to skim off fat arising to top from time to
time, and to add ingredients. All stock should be strained before using-- use
fine tammy cloth or fine mesh Chinese strainer. When vegetables are used, they
must be added in time to cook thoroughly, but not before. All vegetables should
be washed in cold water before adding to the soup stock-- when onions are used,
they should first be fried. This improves color and taste.
Soups made of meat stock are generally called consommé, bouillon or brown
stock. Cream soups, purees and bisque of shell fish soups are made without using
meat stock, the base, of course, being milk and cream, thickened with arrowroot,
corn starch, butter, and flour, or yolk of eggs, to which is added the
vegetables or fish as the case may be. Purees are thicker than cream soups, and
a little clear meat stock is sometimes added.
Refining or clearing meat stock is done by using the whites of eggs with the
shells, allowing one egg to each quart of stock-- beat all together and add to
stock when cold, then put on the fire, stirring constantly until it comes to a
boil, then simmer for a half hour, skimming frequently-- strain thoroughly.
Chicken stock is made in precisely the same manner as uncooked meat stock, with
an added advantage of using for other purposes the fowl used to boil for stock.
Potage soups are made by using chicken stock as a base and adding different
ingredients, as, for instance, Potage Alexander-- all kinds of vegetables and
herbs minced and added to cream of chicken; Potage Imperial-- boil celery, make
of it a thick cream soup, and add equal quantities, minced ham, carrots,
potatoes, onions, turnips, covered with chicken stock-- simmered, strained and
added to rich chicken stock.
Purees take their name from the vegetable or fruit used; i.e., puree of
asparagus, apple, apricot, green pea, green corn, bean, lentil, tomato, carrot,
cucumber, cauliflower, etc.
Puree Mongole-- equal quantities of puree of tomato and puree of split pea,
finish by adding julienne of vegetables and green peas.
 
 
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