Calf’s Feet Stock

Modern cookery for private families · Acton, Eliza · 1845
Source
Modern cookery for private families
Time
Cook: 6 min Total: 6 min
Status
success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (2)
For the stock
Instructions (11)
  1. Prepare the calf's feet: If the hair has not been cleared, sprinkle with resin in fine powder, dip into cold water, then cover with boiling water and leave for a minute or two before scraping.
  2. Alternatively, the feet can be prepared by scalding or laying them into water at the point of boiling and keeping them in it for a few minutes by the side of the fire.
  3. Scrape the hair very closely from the feet with a blunt-edged knife.
  4. Remove the hoofs by striking them sharply down against the edge of a strong table or sink, holding the leg-bone tightly in the hand.
  5. Wash the feet delicately clean.
  6. Divide the feet at the joint, split the claws, and take away the fat that is between them.
  7. Place the feet in a pot with cold water. Use 1 gallon of water for four large feet, or a pint to a quart less for moderate or small feet.
  8. Boil them gently down until the flesh has parted entirely from the bones, and the liquor is reduced nearly or quite half.
  9. Strain the liquor and let it stand until cold.
  10. Remove every particle of fat from the top before using.
  11. Be careful not to take the sediment.
Original Text
TO PREPARE CALF’S FEET STOCK. White and Rose-coloured Jelly. The feet are usually sent in from the butcher’s ready to be dressed, but as they are sold at a very much cheaper rate when the hair has not been cleared from them, and as they may then be depended on for supplying the utmost amount of nutriment which they contain, it is often desirable to have them altogether prepared by the cook. In former editions of this work we directed that they should be “dipped into cold 454water, and sprinkled with resin in fine powder; then covered with boiling water and left for a minute or two untouched before they were scraped;” and this method we had followed with entire success for a long time, but we afterwards discovered that the resin was not necessary, and that the feet could be quite as well prepared by mere scalding, or being laid into water at the point of boiling, and kept in it for a few minutes by the side of the fire. The hair, as we have already stated in the first pages of Chapter IX. (Veal), must be very closely scraped from them with a blunt-edged knife; and the hoofs must be removed by being struck sharply down against the edge of a strong table or sink, the leg-bone being held tightly in the hand. The feet must be afterwards washed delicately clean before they are further used. When this has been done, divide them at the joint, split the claws, and take away the fat that is between them. Should the feet be large, put a gallon of cold water to the four, but from a pint to a quart less if they be of moderate size or small. Boil them gently down until the flesh has parted entirely from the bones, and the liquor is reduced nearly or quite half; strain, and let it stand until cold; remove every particle of fat from the top before it is used, and be careful not to take the sediment. Calf’s feet (large), 4; water, 1 gallon: 6 to 7 hours.
Notes
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