180. To clarify Stock, if required

The Modern Housewife · Soyer, Alexis · 1849

Source: The Modern Housewife
Yield: 3.0 quarts
Status: success · extracted 12 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (3)

for clarifying stock

the whites of three eggs ↝ Egg, white only, raw [Eggs and omelets]
half a pint of water ↝ Water, tap [Tap water]
half a pint of the boiling stock

Instructions (15)

If your stock is not clear, put it (say three quarts) into a stewpan.
Place it over a good fire, skim well.
When boiling, whisk together the whites of three eggs (carefully separated from their yolks) with half a pint of water.
Gradually add half a pint of the boiling stock to the egg mixture, still whisking the eggs.
Whisk the boiling stock, pouring the whites of eggs mixture in whilst so doing.
Continue whisking until the stock is nearly boiling again.
Take it from the fire and let it remain until the whites of eggs separate themselves.
Pass the stock through a clean fine cloth into a basin.

General Principles for Soups

This method must be taken as a rule for every kind of clear soup.
All clear soups ought not to be too strong of meat, and must be of a light brown sherry or straw color.
All white or brown thick soups should be rather thin, with just sufficient consistency to adhere lightly to a spoon when hot, especially soups of fish, poultry, or game.
All purées, no matter whether of meat or vegetables, require to be somewhat thicker, which may be ascertained by its adhering more thickly to the spoon.
Every Italian soup must be very clear, rather stronger of meat, and the color of pale sherry.
By following these observations, experience will teach you.
Your judgment, with the above remarks, will make you more perfect than precise quantities of weights and measurements.

Original Text

180. To clarify Stock, if required.—In case, by some accident, your stock should not be clear, put it (say three quarts) into a stewpan, and place it over a good fire, skim well, and, when boiling, have ready the whites of three eggs (carefully separated from their yolks), to which add half a pint of water; whisk well together; then add half a pint of the boiling stock gradually, still whisking the eggs; then whisk the boiling stock, pouring the whites of eggs, &c., in whilst so doing, which continue until nearly boiling again, then take it from the fire, let it remain until the whites of eggs separate themselves, pass it through a clean fine cloth into a basin; this must be taken as a rule for every kind of clear soup, which must be strictly followed by every person wishing to profit by this little work. These principles, once learned, would be useful at all times, and save a great deal of useless reference in the perusal of these receipts; and no persons can make themselves answerable for the success of any individual in making soups if the instructions recommended be not strictly followed. The following rule should be therefore punctually attended to.

All clear soups ought not to be too strong of meat, and must be of a light brown sherry or straw color. All white or brown thick soups should be rather thin, with just sufficient consistency to adhere lightly to a spoon when hot, soups of fish, poultry, or game especially. All purées, no matter whether of meat or vegetables, require to be somewhat thicker, which may be ascertained by its adhering more thickly to the spoon. Every Italian soup must be very clear, rather stronger of meat, and the color of pale sherry.

By following the few foregoing observations, experience will teach you volumes; for as there is a great difference in the quality of different materials (flour, for instance, which, if strong, would tend to thicken, but, if weak, actually almost turns to water by boiling), therefore your judgment, with the above few important remarks, will make you more perfect than the most precise quantities of weights and measurements, upon that important point.

Notes

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