necessary, 170° to 180°. The regulating power of these handy ranges gives them a great advantage.
If the temperature does not rise above 70°, stock can be made as has been described and kept with safety for a day or two; but it is a mistake in warm weather to add the vegetables until the day on which the soup is to be served. First make the pure broth with water, meat, bone, and salt, as described for pot-au-feu, omitting all vegetables and flavourings. This should be poured into china or enamelled basins, and kept in a cool larder, as milk is kept, and all fat removed. The process of adding vegetables, &c., should be proceeded with the next day, as if the making of the pot-au-feu had been divided into two parts. Bring the broth to the boil before adding anything. Stock while keeping should, in any circumstances, be boiled up daily, after which it may be replaced as before in the larder.
SECOND BOILINGS.
N.B. It should be noted that if the rules I have given be accurately carried out, and the cooking of the meat and bones be not overdone on the first day, they will yield a useful liquid by second boiling and simmering. The gelatine contained in bones, for instance, is not fully extracted under three days' slow boiling. Accordingly these materials should be put on the fire with water enough to cover them a second time, and any available scraps there may be—cutlet trimmings, chicken bones, &c. Advice as to the use of the broth will be given in due course.
HIGH-CLASS STOCKS, AND CONSOMMÉ.
I have hitherto confined myself strictly to the making of plain beef bouillon or broth. This, however, is not consommé according to the canons of high-class cookery. We now enter upon what at first sight appears to be a series of difficulties, for the student who conscientiously reads what the great French writers have to say on the subject soon finds himself lost among contradictory precepts, and no little complexity. He observes that the best authorities differ as to the proportion of water
that should be allowed for the meat in the stock-pot, and in regard to the relative weights of beef, veal, fowl, and vegetables necessary for a good clear soup, while all propound so much expensive material and such elaborate working that he probably closes the books, and asks himself:—“Are these extravagant directions ever carried out, are they not mere flourishes which are never put into practice seriously?” He then thinks over the soups he has tasted at places of note where the first scientists are supposed to be at work yet cannot remember having ever been struck by any peculiarly excellent composition which might have been the result of such prodigality. Nay, he acknowledges to himself that for pleasant expression of savour and strength he never met anything better than the soup produced by a really good English woman cook in the house of a friend who “knows.”
At the same time it must be confessed that even in the English system there is too often an astounding degree of extravagance in meat. The quantity that some “professed” cooks require for the production of good soup is preposterous—a pound per head or more! The liquid thus obtained is often as strong or nearly so as Liebig's extract—as heavy a tax on the system, that is to say, as a complete meal. That this impression of soup-making is as erroneous as it is extravagant need scarcely be said. What should be aimed at is a good sound broth of moderate strength, to which a pleasant savour has been imparted by a judicious assortment of vegetables, herbs, and seasoning. Then as a gill for each guest is a correct allowance, it is clear that no very great expense is necessary under this head.
So I am bold enough to say do not trouble yourselves with perplexing dissertations about grand bouillon, and expensive recipes for game, chicken, or veal consommé, but note what Urbain Dubois says in “La Cuisine d'Aujourd'hui,” and be of good cheer:—
“Nothing resembles consommé so well as clarified bouillon, and if it does not quite come up to it in quality it may be said that it often supplies its place. Besides, it is evident that the
expense demanded by true consommé often exceeds the resources at the cook's disposal. Very nice compositions are always expensive. In short, if clarified bouillon is not an exact imitation of consommé it is not less true that with care it can be produced in excellent quality without any heavy expenditure. The thing is, after all, to work upon a foundation compatible with satisfactory results. That is to say, if you want a clear broth of fowl or game, you must make use of those materials. It is clear that you cannot make consommé de volaille with beef alone.”
Now we should understand from this that the bouillon we have already carefully worked out is a very good substitute for consommé, while if we add a small proportion of veal and the giblets of two fowls to the ordinary stock meat, the soup will, practically speaking, be good enough for anybody. It is of course unnecessary to say that the clarifying must be very carefully carried out.
GRAND BOUILLON is a common stock made from beef bones, veal bones, fresh meat trimmings, &c., with vegetables, on the lines of the pot-au-feu. It is used instead of water as the liquid for moistening the meats used for high-class consommés. With this, or the pot-au-feu broth that has been described, various consommés are made in the following manner:—
TRUE CONSOMMÉ:—Add to the ingredients given at page 27 one pound of veal cut from the knuckle, and a quarter of a pound of veal bones: for the larger quantity (page 35) one and a half pounds of veal and half a pound of bones. These should either be boiled with the beef, or in the strained broth of the latter, separately, before clarifying.
FOWL CONSOMMÉ:—Boil in the strained broth a pound of veal, and the giblets and carcase of a fowl, from which the fillets may be taken for an entrée and the legs and thighs for a grill. This should be part roasted in the oven till coloured, in order that a special flavour may be imparted to the broth.
GAME CONSOMMÉ:—The necessary flavour can be easily obtained in this case by breaking up into pieces a well-hung