Tips for Soup Stock

Tips for Making Stock

1. Stock may be made the same day it is used, however, it is better to make it ahead of time. Keep stock refrigerated or, if it will not be used within a few days, frozen.
2. Vegetables should not be added to stock if it is to be kept for long, as their juices cause it to ferment sooner.
3. Cut meat in small pieces. Crack or saw the bones to allow quicker and more thorough extraction of the juices and the gelatine of the bones.
4. The marrow should be removed from the inside of the bones and placed in the kettle first.
5. When cooked meats are to be used, carefully trim from the steak or roast any parts of fat or bone that have been burned in broiling or roasting, as these will give a bitter flavor to the stock.
6. After adding the water to the meat and bones, let it stand for half an hour or more to allow the juices to be drawn out before heating. Then, put the kettle over a low heat and bring the contents to a gentle simmer.
7. Never let a soup boil rapidly as the rapid boiling hardens the outside of the meat and prevents the escape of the juices. Gentle simmering extracts the nutritive qualities.
8. After simmering has begun, add the seasoning in the proportion of 1 teaspoon of salt to a quart of water, a half saltspoon of ground white pepper, a celery root, or a tiny bit of celery seed or the tops of celery.
9. Add a sprig of parsley and, if cloves or allspice are used, whole ones are better.
10. When the meat has cooked until reduced to shreds or drops from the bones, strain the stock into the stock jar of earthen or stone ware.
11. If a good proportion of bone has been used, the stock, when cold, will be a stiff jelly.

Clarifying Stock

1. To clarify stock, remove every particle of fat. Beat the white of one egg for every quart of stock and add this and the crushed eggshell while the stock is cold, mixing it in very thoroughly.
2. Put it over the heat and stir constantly while heating so that the egg will not settle.
3. When it has reached the boiling point, leave it to simmer for ten minutes; a thick scum will then have formed.
4. Take the stock from the heat and add a half cup of cold water. Let it stand a few minutes and strain through a colander in which a fine napkin or other thin cloth, wrung out of cold water, has been laid.
5. Do not pour the stock directly on the napkin or the scum will clog it, but let it first run through a fine wire strainer which will catch the scum and the shells.
6. If dark soup is desired, it may be made by the addition of a little caramel, dark roux, browned vegetables, or diced fresh meat.
7. To make a white stock, use veal and chicken in about equal parts, omitting any seasoning or spices that will darken the stock.

Making Soup from Stock

1. In the making of soups from stock, cooked vegetables, a little meat or vegetable hash, or even a some rice or oatmeal, will add substance to the thick soup. All of these will contribute to the delicious flavor in which no single one predominates.
2. Either before or after clarifying, this stock is ready for an almost endless variety of soups or consommes by the addition of cooked vegetables, macaroni, spaghetti or vermicelli, rice or barley--or it may be used in gravies and side-dishes.

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