VEGETABLE VERMICELLI

(_Vegetables cut very fine for soups._)

Cut the carrots into inch lengths, then pare them round and round in ribands of equal thickness, till the inside is reached; next cut these ribands into straws, or very small strips; celery is prepared in the same way, and turnips also are first pared into ribands, then sliced into strips; these last require less boiling than the carrots, and attention must be paid to this, for if broken, the whole would have a bad appearance in soup. The safer plan is to boil each vegetable separately, till tolerably tender, in a little pale broth (in water if this be not at hand), to drain them well, and put them into the soup, which should be clear, only a few minutes before it is dished. For cutting them small, in other forms, the proper instruments will be found at the ironmonger’s.

EXTRACT OF BEEF; OR, VERY STRONG PLAIN BEEF GRAVY SOUP.

(_Baron Liebeg’s Receipt._)

OBSERVATION.—This admirable preparation is not only most valuable as a restorative of the best kind for invalids who require light but highly nutritious diet, it is also of the utmost utility for the general purposes of the kitchen, and will enable a cook who can take skilful advantage of it, to convert the _cold meat_ which often abounds so inconveniently in an English larder, from our habit of having joints of large size so much served, into good nourishing dishes, which the hashes and minces of our common cookery _are not_, though they may answer well enough as mere varieties of diet. We shall indicate in the proper chapters the many other uses to which this _beef juice_—for such indeed it is—will be found eminently adapted. Of its value in illness it is impossible to speak too highly; and in every family, therefore, the _exact_ mode of making it ought to be thoroughly understood. The economist who may consider it expensive, must remember that drugs and medical advice are usually far more so; and in cases of extreme debility the benefit derived from it, when it is well prepared and judiciously administered, is often remarkable. It should be given in small quantities at first, and in its pure state. It may afterwards be varied by the addition of vermicelli, semoulina, or other preparations of the kind; and also by using for it a portion of mutton, calf’s head, poultry, or game, when these suit a patient as well as the beef.

RECEIPT.—Take a pound of good, juicy beef (rump-steak is best for the purpose), from which all the skin and fat that can possibly be separated from it, has been cut away. Chop it up small like sausage-meat; then mix it thoroughly with an exact pint of cold water, and place it on the side of the stove to heat _very slowly indeed_; and give it an occasional stir. It may stand two or three hours before it is allowed to simmer, and will then require at the utmost but fifteen minutes of gentle boiling. Professor Liebeg directs even less time than this, but the soup then occasionally retains a raw flavour which is distasteful. Salt should be added when the boiling first commences, and for invalids, this, in general, is the only seasoning required. When the extract is thus far prepared, it may be poured from the meat into a basin, and allowed to stand until any particles of fat it may exhibit on the surface can be skimmed off entirely, and the sediment has subsided and left the soup quite clear (which it speedily becomes), when it may be poured gently off, heated in a clean saucepan, and served at once. It will contain all the nutriment which the meat will yield. The scum should always be well cleared from the surface of the soup as it accumulates.

To make light beef tea or broth, merely increase the proportion of water to a pint and a half or a quart; but in all else proceed as above.

Meat (without fat or skin), 1 lb.; cold water, exact pint: heating 2 hours or more; to boil 15 minutes at the utmost. Beef tea or broth.—Beef, 1 lb.; water, 1-1/2 pint or 1 quart.

_Obs._—To mingle vegetable diet in its best form with this extract, it will be sufficient, as we have explained in “Cookery for Invalids,” to boil down the kind of vegetable desired, sliced or cut up small, in a very moderate quantity of water, until its juices are well drawn out; then to strain off the liquid from it with slight pressure, and, when it has become cold, to pour it to the chopped meat instead of water. Several different sorts can be mixed together, and cooked in this way: the water must boil before they are added to it.

They should be much more tender than when merely boiled for table, but not reduced to pulp. The juice should remain clear; no salt should be added; and it should be quite cold before it is stirred to the meat.

When the extract is wanted for gravy, a small portion of onion, and of herbs, carrots, celery, and the other usual vegetables, may be stewed together, to give it the requisite flavour.

About an inch square of the Jewish beef (see Chapter of FOREIGN COOKERY), whether cooked or uncooked, will impart a fine savour to it; the smoked surface of this should be pared off before it is used, and it may be added in thin slices.

(_The Common Soup or Beef-Broth of France; cheap, and very wholesome._)

This soup, or _broth_ as we should perhaps designate it in England, is made once or twice in the week, in every family of respectability in France; and by the poorer classes as often as their means will enable them to substitute it for the vegetable or _maigre_ soups, on which they are more commonly obliged to subsist. It is served usually on the first day with slices of untoasted bread soaked in it; on the second, it is generally varied with vermicelli, rice, or semoulina. The ingredients are, of course, often otherwise proportioned than as we have given them, and more or less meat is allowed according to the taste or circumstances of the persons for whom the _bouillon_ is prepared; but the process of making it is always the same, and is thus described (rather learnedly) by one of the most skilful cooks in Europe: “The stock-pot of the French artisan,” says Monsieur Carême, “supplies his principal nourishment; and it is thus managed by his wife, who, without the slightest knowledge of chemistry, conducts the process in a truly scientific manner. She first lays the meat into an earthen stock-pot, and pours cold water to it in the proportion of about two quarts to three pounds of the beef;[15] she then places it by the side of the fire, where it slowly becomes hot; and as it does so, the heat enlarges the fibre of the meat, dissolves the gelatinous substances which it contains, allows the albumen (or the muscular part which produces the scum) to disengage itself, and rise to the surface, and the OZMAZOME (_which is the most savoury part of the meat_) to be diffused through the broth. Thus, from the simple circumstance of boiling it in the gentlest manner, a relishing and nutritious soup will be obtained, and a dish of tender and palatable meat; but if the pot be placed and kept over a quick fire, the _albumen_ will coagulate, harden the meat, prevent the water from penetrating it, and the _ozmazome_ from disengaging itself; the result will be a broth without flavour

Footnote 15:

This is a large proportion of meat for the family of a French artisan, a pound to the quart would be nearer the reality; but it is not the refuse-meat which would be purchased by persons of the same rank in England for making broth.

It must be observed in addition, that as the meat of which the _bouillon_ is made, is almost invariably sent to table, a part of the rump, the mouse-buttock, or the leg-of-mutton piece of beef, should be selected for it; and the simmering should be continued only until this is perfectly tender. When the object is simply to make good, pure-flavoured, beef broth, part of the shin or leg, with a pound or two of the neck, will best answer the purpose. When the _bouilli_ (that is to say, the beef which is boiled in the soup), is to be served, bind it into a good shape, add to it a calf’s foot if easily procurable, as this much improves the quality of the _bouillon_; pour cold water to it in the proportion mentioned above, and proceed, as Monsieur Carême directs, to heat the soup _slowly_ by the side of the fire; remove carefully the head of scum which will gather on the surface before the boiling commences, and continue the skimming at intervals for about twenty minutes longer, pouring in once or twice a little cold water. Next, add salt in the proportion of two ounces to the gallon; this will cause a little more scum to rise; clear it quite off and throw in three or four turnips, as many carrots, half ahead of celery, four or five young leeks, an onion stuck with six or eight cloves, a large half teaspoonful of peppercorns, and a bunch of savoury herbs. Let the whole stew VERY softly without ceasing, from four hours and a half to six hours, according to the quantity: the beef in that time will be extremely tender but not overdone. It will be excellent eating if properly managed, and might often, we think, be substituted with great advantage for the hard, half-boiled, salted beef so often seen at an English table. It should be served with a couple of cabbages, which have been first boiled in the usual way, then pressed very dry, and stewed for ten minutes in a little of the broth, and seasoned with pepper and salt. The other vegetables from the _bouillon_ may be laid rou

Beef, 8 to 9 lbs.; water, 6 quarts; salt, 3 oz. (more, if needed); carrots, 4 to 6; turnips, 4 or 5; celery, one small head; leeks, 4 to 6; one onion, stuck with 6 cloves; peppercorns, one small teaspoonful; large bunch of savoury herbs (calf’s foot if convenient); to _simmer_ 5 to 6 hours.

_Obs. 1._—This broth forms in France the foundation of all richer soups and gravies. Poured on fresh meat (a portion of which should be veal) instead of water, it makes at once an excellent _consommé_ or strong jellied stock. If properly managed, it is very clear and pale; and with an additional weight of beef and some spoonsful of glaze, may easily be converted into an amber-coloured gravy-soup, suited to modern taste.

_Obs. 2._—It is a common practice abroad to boil poultry, pigeons, and even game, in the _=pot-au-feu=_ or soup-pot.[16] They should be properly trussed, stewed in the broth just long enough to render them tender, and served, when ready, with a _=good=_ sauce. A small ham, if well soaked, washed exceedingly clean, and freed entirely from any rusty or blackened parts, laid with the beef when the water is first added to it, and boiled from three hours and a half to four hours in the _bouillon_, is very superior in flavour to those cooked in water only, and infinitely improves the soup, which cannot however so well be eaten until the following day, when all the fat can easily be taken from it: it would, of course, require no salt.

Footnote 16:

In wealthy families the soup is boiled in a metal soup-pot, called a _=marmite=_.

CLEAR, PALE GRAVY SOUP OR CONSOMMÉ.

Rub a deep stewpan or soup-pot with butter, and lay into it three quarters of a pound of ham freed entirely from fat, skin, and rust, four pounds of leg or neck of veal, and the same weight of lean beef, all cut into thick slices; set it over a clear and rather brisk fire, until the meat is of a fine amber-colour; it must be often moved, and closely watched, that it may not stick to the pan, nor burn. When it is equally browned, lay the bones upon it, and pour in gradually four quarts of boiling water. Take off the scum carefully as it rises, and throw in a pint of cold water at intervals to bring it quickly to the surface. When no more appears, add two ounces of salt, two onions, two large carrots, two turnips, one head of celery, a faggot of savoury herbs, a dozen cloves, half a teaspoonful of whole white pepper, and two large blades of mace. Let the soup boil gently from five hours and a half to six hours and a half; then strain it through a very clean fine cloth, laid in a hair sieve. When it is perfectly cold, remove every particle of fat from the top; and, in taking out the soup, leave the sediment untouched; heat in a clean pan the quantity required for table, add salt to it if needed, and a few drops of chili or of cayenne vinegar. Harvey’s sauce, or very fine mushroom catsup, may be substituted for these. When thus prepared the soup is ready to serve: it should be accompanied by pale sippets of fried bread, or sippets _à la reine_. (At tables where English modes of service entirely prevailed, clear gravy-soup, until very recently, was always accompanied by dice, or sippets as they are called, of delicately toasted bread. These are now seldom seen, but some Italian paste, or nicely prepared vegetable, is served _in_ the soup instead). Rice, macaroni in lengths or in rings, vermicelli, or _nouilles_, may in turn be used to vary it; but they must always be boiled apart, till tender, in broth or water, and well drained before they are slipped into it. The addit