STOCKS AND CLEAR SOUPS

Stock for Clear Soup or Bouillon.--A plain, but well-flavored, beef
stock may be made according to the accompanying recipe and used as a
basis for any clear soup served as bouillon without the addition of
anything else. However, as the addition of rice, barley, chopped
macaroni, or any other such food will increase the food value of the
soup, any of them may be supplied to produce a more nutritious soup.
When this stock is served clear, it should be used as the first course
in a comparatively heavy meal.

STOCK FOR CLEAR SOUP OR BOUILLON

4 lb. beef
4 qt. cold water
1 medium-sized onion
1 stalk celery
2 sprigs parsley

6 whole cloves
12 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
Salt
Pepper

Cut the meat into small pieces. Pour the cold water over it, place on a
slow fire, and let it come to a boil. Skim off all scum that rises to
the top. Cover tightly and keep at the simmering point for 6 to 8 hours.
Then strain and remove the fat. Add the onion and celery cut into
pieces, the parsley, cloves, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Simmer gently
for about 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Strain through
a cloth.

Household Stock.--If it is desired to make a stock that may be kept
on hand constantly and that may be used as a foundation for various
kinds of soups, sauces, and gravies, or as a broth for making casserole
dishes, household stock will be found very satisfactory. Such stock made
in quantity and kept in a sufficiently cool place may be used for
several days before it spoils. Since most of the materials used in this
stock cannot be put to any other particularly good use, and since the
labor required in making it is slight, this may be regarded as an
extremely economical stock.

HOUSEHOLD STOCK

3 qt. cold water
3 lb. meat (trimmings of fresh
meat, bones, and tough pieces
from roasts, steaks, etc.)
1 medium-sized onion
4 cloves
6 peppercorns
Herbs
Salt
Pepper

Pour the cold water over the meat and bones and put them on the fire to
cook. When they come to a boil skim well. Then cover and simmer 4 to 6
hours. Add the onion, cloves, peppercorns, and herbs and cook for
another hour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Strain and set aside to
cool. Remove the fat.

White Stock.--An especially nice broth having a delicate flavor and
generally used for special functions when an attractive meal is being
served to a large number of persons is made from veal and fowl and known
as white stock. If allowed to remain in a cool place, this stock will
solidify, and then it may be used as the basis for a jellied meat
dish or salad.

WHITE STOCK

5 lb. veal
1 fowl, 3 or 4 lb.
8 qt. cold water
2 medium-sized onions
2 Tb. butter
2 stalks celery
1 blade mace
Salt
Pepper

Cut the veal and fowl into pieces and add the cold water. Place on a
slow fire, and let come gradually to the boiling point. Skim carefully
and place where it will simmer gently for 6 hours. Slice the onions,
brown slightly in the butter, and add to the stock with the celery and
mace. Salt and pepper to suit taste. Cook 1 hour longer and then strain
and cool. Remove the fat before using.

Consomme.--One of the most delicious of the thin, clear broths is
consomme. This is usually served plain, but any material that will not
cloud it, such as finely diced vegetables, green peas, tiny pieces of
fowl or meat, may, if desired, be added to it before it is served. As a
rule, only a very small quantity of such material is used for
each serving.

FLAVORING STOCK

-It is the flavoring of stock that indicates real
skill in soup making, so this is an extremely important part of the
work. In fact, the large number of ingredients found in soup recipes
are, as a rule, the various flavorings, which give the distinctive
flavor and individuality to a soup. However, the cook whose larder
will not produce all of the many things that may be called for in a
recipe should not feel that she must forego making a particular kind of
soup. Very often certain spices or certain flavoring materials may be
omitted without any appreciable difference, or something that is on hand
may be substituted for an ingredient that is lacking.

The flavorings used most for soup include cloves, peppercorns, red,
black, and white pepper, paprika, bay leaf, sage, marjoram, thyme,
summer savory, tarragon, celery seed, fennel, mint, and rosemary. While
all of these are not absolutely necessary, the majority of them may well
be kept on the pantry shelf. In addition, a bottle of Worcestershire
sauce should be kept on hand. Celery and parsley, which are also much
used for flavoring, can usually be purchased fresh, but as they are
scarce at times it is advisable to dry some of the leaves during the
season when they can be secured, so as to have a supply when they are
not in the market. A small amount of lemon peel often improves soup, so
some of this should be kept in store. Another group of vegetables that
lend themselves admirably to soup flavoring includes leeks, shallots,
chives, garlic, and onions, all of which belong to the same family. They
must be used judiciously, however, as a strong flavor of any of them is
offensive to most persons.

As many of the flavorings used for soup lose their strength when
they are exposed to the air, every effort should be made to keep them in
good condition. Many of them can be kept an indefinite length of time if
they are placed in tightly closed metal boxes or glass jars. Flavorings
and spices bought from the grocer or the druggist in paper packages
should be transferred to, and enclosed in, a receptacle that will not
allow them to deteriorate. If proper attention is given to these
materials, the supply will not have to be replenished often; likewise,
the cost of a sufficient number to produce the proper flavorings will be
very slight.

In the use of any of the flavorings mentioned or the strongly
flavored vegetables, care should be taken not to allow any one
particular flavor to predominate. Each should be used in such quantity
that it will blend well with the others. A very good way in which to fix
spices and herbs that are to flavor soup is to tie them in a small piece
of cheesecloth and drop the bag thus made into the soup pot. When
prepared in this way, they will remain together, so that, while the
flavor can be cooked out, they can be more readily removed from the
liquid than if they are allowed to spread through the contents of the
pot. Salt, which is, of course, always used to season soup, should be
added in the proportion of 1 teaspoonful to each quart of liquid.