Читать книгу The Gastronomic Regenerator: A Simplified and Entirely New System of Cookery - Soyer Alexis - Страница 170

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This may be made of all beef or all veal, but an equal quantity of each is the best. Cut up two knuckles of veal and a leg of beef with the bones, the whole being about sixteen pounds; rub a quarter of a pound of butter over the bottom of a large stewpan, into which put the meat, with one pound of lean ham, four onions, four turnips, two middling-sized carrots, six cloves, one blade of mace, and a pint of water; set it over a brisk fire, stirring it round occasionally until the bottom is covered with a clear light glaze, then fill it up with four gallons of light broth (No. 133), or water; when boiling place it at the corner of the stove, skim it well, add a good bunch of parsley, three sprigs of thyme, and two bay-leaves, a quarter of a pound of salt, two leeks, and two heads of celery; let it simmer three hours, skim off all the fat, then pass it through a cloth into a basin, give it the colour of light brown sherry with some brown gravy (No. 135), if sufficiently clear, which it will be if properly attended to. Some soups require to be lighter and some browner than others, which is easily regulated by adding more or less of the gravy. But by placing the stewpan over a slow fire when the stock is drawn down to a glaze, and allowing it to remain a short time, the glaze will become brownish, (but be careful not to let it burn,) then fill it up and your consommé will be sufficiently coloured.

But should it require clarifying, put it into a stewpan and when boiling have the whites of eight eggs with their shells in another stewpan, whisk them half a minute, then add a quart of cold stock, whisk all well together, then whisk the boiling consommé and pour in the whites of eggs; still continue whisking it over a clear fire until it simmers and the eggs separate from the consommé, which will be then quite clear; then pass it through a thin but very fine cloth into a basin and it is ready for use. This is a new mode of clarifying and cannot fail.

For the proportions for smaller quantities of consommé, to four pounds of veal put a quarter of a pound of ham, one ounce of butter, two onions, half a carrot, a turnip, half a leek, half a head of celery, a sprig of parsley, one of thyme, a bay-leaf, three cloves, six peppercorns, an ounce and a half of salt and four quarts of water; it will require an hour and three quarters boiling. Or if you have to prepare it from beef, veal, and the trimmings of other meats, and require a larger quantity, take ten pounds of meat, to which add three onions, half a pound of ham, a carrot, two turnips, a leek, head of celery, two sprigs of parsley, thyme, and two bay-leaves, six cloves, six peppercorns, two ounces and a half of salt, a blade of mace, and ten quarts of water; it will require two hours and a half boiling; trimmings of rabbit, poultry, or even game, may be added, but not too much game, especially if at all high. You will here perceive that by increasing the quantity of stock there is a diminution in the quantity of seasonings and vegetables, for the larger quantity requiring a longer ebullition, extracts more flavour from the spices and vegetables; a stock for consommé by gently simmering will lose a pint and a half to every four quarts; I must here also observe that by again filling up a stock with cold water and boiling it the same time over again, you will have an excellent second stock, a little of which may be added to the first, if it should have suffered from over reduction, for vegetable soups are not so palatable when made too strong; the second stock is also very useful to fill up a first stock, whereby some of the meat otherwise required can be saved, and if not required for that it may be converted into glaze by mixing it with other stock and proceeding as directed (No. 132).