To remove the fat, take it off, when cold, as clean as possible; and if there be still any remaining, lay a bit of clean blotting or cap paper on the broth when in the basin, and it will take up every particle.
Beef Soup.—Cut all the lean off the shank, and with a little beef suet in the bottom of the kettle, fry it to a nice brown; put in the bones and cover with water; cover the kettle closely; let it cook slowly until the meat drops from the bones; strain through a colander and leave it in the dish during the night, which is the only way to get off all the fat. The day it is wanted for the table, fry as brown as possible a carrot, an onion, and a very small turnip sliced thin. Just before taking up, put in half a tablespoonful of sugar, a blade of mace, six cloves, a dozen kernels of allspice, a small tablespoonful of celery seed. With the vegetables this must cook slowly in the soup an hour; then strain again for the table. If you use vermicelli or pearl barley, soak in water.
Dr. Liebig's Beef Tea.—When one pound of lean beef, free from fat, and separated from the bones, in a finely-chopped state in which it is used for mince-meat, or beef-sausages, is uniformly mixed with its own weight of cold water, slowly heated till boiling, and the liquid, after boiling briskly for a minute or two, is strained through the towel from the coagulated albumen and the fibrine, now become hard and horny, we obtain an equal weight of the most aromatic soup, of such strength as cannot be obtained even by boiling for hours from a piece of flesh. When mixed with salt and the other additions by which soup is usually seasoned, and tinged somewhat darker by means of roasted onions, or burnt bread, it forms the very best soup which can, in any way, be prepared from one pound of flesh.
Brown Gravy Soup.—Shred a small plate of onions, put some dripping into a frying-pan and fry the onions till they are of a dark brown; then, having about three pounds of beef cut up in dice, without fat or bone, brown that in a frying-pan. Now get a sauce-pan to contain about a gallon, and put in the onions and meat, with a carrot and a turnip cut small, and a little celery, if you have it; if not, add two seeds of celery; put three quarts, or three and a half quarts of water to this, and stir all together with a little pepper and salt; simmer very slowly, and skim off what rises; in three or four hours the soup will be clear. When served, add a little vermicelli, which should have previously been boiled in water; the liquid should be carefully poured off through a sieve. A large quantity may be made in the same proportions. Of course, the meat and onions must be stirred whilst frying, and constantly turned; they should be of a fine brown, not black, and celery-seed will give a flavor, it is so strong.
Carrot Soup.—Put some beef bones, with four quarts of the liquor in which a leg of mutton or beef has been boiled, two large onions, a turnip, pepper and salt into a sauce-pan, and stew for three hours. Have ready six large carrots, scraped and cut thin, strain the soup on them, and stew them till soft enough to pulp through a hair sieve or coarse cloth, then boil the pulp with the soup, which is to be as thick as pea-soup. Use two wooden spoons to rub the carrots through. Make the soup the day before it is to be used. Add cayenne. Pulp only the red part of the carrot, and not the yellow.
Clam Soup.—Cut salt pork in very small squares and fry light brown; add one large or two small onions cut very fine, and cook about ten minutes; add two quarts water and one quart of raw potatoes, sliced; let it boil; then add one quart of clams. Mix one tablespoonful of flour with water, put it with one pint of milk, and pour into the soup, and let it boil about five minutes. Butter, pepper, salt. Worcestershire sauce to taste.
Croutons.—These are simply pieces of bread fried brown and crisp, to be used in soups.
Game Soups.—Cut in pieces a partridge, pheasant, or rabbit; add slices of veal, ham, onions, carrots, etc. Add a little water, heat a little on slow fire, as gravy is done; then add some good broth, boil the meat gently till it is done. Strain, and stew in the liquor what herbs you please.
Game Soup.—In the season for game, it is easy to have good game soup at very little expense, and very nice. Take the meat from off the bones of any cold game left, pound it in a mortar and break up the bones, and pour on them a quart of any good broth, and boil for an hour and a half. Boil and mash six turnips, and mix with the pounded meat, and then pass them through a sieve. Strain the broth, and stir in the mixture of meat and turnips which has been strained through the sieve; keep the soup-pot near the fire, but do not let it boil. When ready to dish the soup for table, beat the yolks of five eggs very lightly, and mix with them half a pint of good cream. Set the soup on to boil, and, as it boils, stir in the beaten eggs and cream, but be careful that it does not boil after they are stirred in, as the egg will curdle. Serve hot.
Julienne Soup.—Put a piece of butter the size of an egg into the soup-kettle; stir until melted. Cut three young onions small; fry them a nice brown; add three quarts of good clear beef-stock, a little mace, pepper and salt; let it boil an hour; add three young carrots and three turnips cut small, a stalk of celery cut fine, a pint of French beans, a pint of green peas; let this boil two hours; if not a bright, clear color, add a spoonful of soy. This is a nice summer soup.