Keep in water enough to cover the meat, or it becomes hard and dark.
In preparing for soups, it is best to make a good deal of broth at one time; cool it slowly, first removing sediment by straining through a colander. When cold, remove the fat from the top, and keep the liquor for soups and gravies. This is called stock, and as such should have no other seasoning than salt. The other seasoning is to be put in when heated and combined with other material for soup.
In hot weather, stock will keep only a day or two; but in cool weather, three or four days. If vegetables were boiled in it, it would turn sour sooner.
Remnants of cooked meats may be used together for soup; but take care that none is tainted, thus spoiling all. Liquor in which corned beef is boiled should be saved to mix with stock of fresh meat, and then little or no salt is needed. The recipes for stews that follow will make good soups by adding more water.
Beef and Potato Stew.—Cut up four pounds of beef into strips three inches by two, and put them into two quarts of water, with one onion sliced very fine. Let this simmer four hours. Add in half a cup of warm water, six even tea-spoonfuls of salt, three of sugar, three of vinegar, a tea-spoonful of black pepper, and six heaping tea-spoonfuls of flower, lumps rubbed out. Pour these upon the meat; cut up, slice, and add six potatoes, and let all stew till the meat is very tender, and the potatoes are soft. If potatoes are omitted, leave out half a tea-spoonful of salt and a pinch of the pepper.
Be sure and skim very thoroughly when boiling commences, and do not allow hard boiling, but only a gentle simmer.
French Mutton and Turnip Stew.—Cut up two pounds of mutton, with a little of the fat, into two-inch squares. Rub two heaping table-spoonfuls of butter into two table-spoonfuls of flour, and stir it into the meat, with water just enough to cover it. Add three even tea-spoonfuls of salt, half a one of pepper, four of sugar, a sprig of parsley, and a small onion, sliced very fine. Skim as soon as it begins to boil, and then add thirty pieces of turnips, each an inch square, that have been fried brown. Let all stew till meat and turnips are tender; throw out the parsley, and serve with the turnips in the centre, and the meat around it.
A Simple Mutton Stew.—Cut four pounds of mutton into two-inch squares, add four even tea-spoonfuls of salt, four of sugar, half a one of pepper, and a small onion, sliced fine. Stew three hours, in two quarts of water, and then thicken with five tea-spoonfuls of flour, lumps rubbed out. Six tomatoes, or some tomato catsup, improves this.
A Beef Stew, with Vegetable Flavors.—Cut up four pounds of beef into two-inch squares, and add two quarts of water. Let it stew one hour. Then add one sliced onion, two sliced turnips, two sliced carrots, four sliced tomatoes, four heaping tea-spoonfuls of salt, one small tea-spoonful of pepper, four tea-spoonfuls of sugar, and five cloves. Let it stew till there is only about a tea-cupful of gravy, and thicken this with a little flour.
The above may be cooked without cutting up the meat, and it is good eaten cold. Pressing it under a weight improves it, and so does putting it in an oven for half an hour.
A Stew of Chicken, Duck, or Turkey, with Celery or Tomatoes.—Take a quart of lukewarm water, and add two heaping tea-spoonfuls of salt, two of sugar, and a salt-spoonful of pepper. Cut up a large head of celery, or four large tomatoes. Cut the fowl into eight or more pieces, and let all simmer together two hours, or till the meat is very tender. Then add two table-spoonfuls of butter, worked into as much flour, and let it simmer fifteen minutes.
A Favorite Irish Stew.—Cut two pounds of mutton into pieces two inches square; add a little of the chopped fat, three tea-spoonfuls of salt, half a one of black pepper, two of sugar, two sliced onions, and a quart of water. Let them simmer half an hour, and then add six peeled potatoes, cut in quarters, that have soaked in cold water an hour. Let the whole stew an hour longer, or rather till the meat is very tender. Skim it at first and just before taking up.
Veal Stew.—Put a knuckle of veal into two quarts of boiling water, with three tea-spoonfuls of salt and half a tea-spoonful of ground pepper. Then chop fine and tie in a muslin rag one carrot, two small onions, a small bunch of summer savory, and another of parsley; put them in the water, and let them stew three or four hours, till the meat is very tender. There should only be about half a pint of gravy at the bottom. Pour in boiling water, if needed. Strain the gravy, and thicken with four spoonfuls of flour or potato-starch, and let it boil up a minute only. This is improved by adding at first half a pound of salt pork or ham, cut in strips. When this is done, no salt is to be used, or only one tea-spoonful. Tomatoes improve it.
Another.—Cut four pounds of veal into strips one inch thick and three inches long, and peel and soak twelve potatoes cut into slices half an inch thick. Then put a layer of pork at the bottom, and alternate layers of potatoes and veal, with a layer of salt pork on the top. Put three tea-spoonfuls of salt, half a one of pepper, four of sugar, and six tea-spoonfuls of flour, with lumps rubbed out, into two quarts of water. Pour all upon the veal and potatoes, and let them stew till the veal is very tender. Add twelve peeled and sliced tomatoes, which will improve this.
A Favorite Turkish Stew, (called Pilaff.)—Take some rich broth, seasoned to the taste with pepper, salt, and tomato catsup. Add two tea-cups of rice, and let it simmer till the rice absorbs as much as it will take up without losing its form—say about fifteen minutes. Cut up a chicken, and season it with salt and pepper, and fry it in sweet butter or cream. Then put the chicken in the centre of the rice, and cover it entirely with rice. Then pour on half a pound of melted butter, and let it stand where it is hot, and yet will not fry, for fifteen minutes. To be served hot.
A Rice or Hominy Stew.—Take four pounds of any kind of fresh meat, cut into pieces two inches square, and put in the stew-pan with one pint of hominy. Then put into two quarts of warm water five heaping tea-spoonfuls of salt, four of sugar, half a one of pepper, and three of vinegar. Let them simmer four or five hours, till the meat is very tender. A tea-cup of rice may be used instead of hominy. A little salt pork improves this, as well as all other stews.
A Favorite English Beef Stew.—Simmer a shank or hock of beef in four quarts of water, with four heaping table-spoonfuls of salt, until the beef is soft and the water reduced to about two quarts. Then add peeled and soaked potatoes cut into thick slices, two tea-spoonfuls of pepper, two of sweet marjoram, and two of either thyme or summer savory. Stew till the potatoes are soft, add bread-crumbs and more salt if needful. One or two onions cut fine, and put in at first, improve it for most persons.
French Stew, or Pot au Feu.—Put three pounds of fresh meat into three quarts of cold water, with two tea-spoonfuls of salt. When it begins to simmer, add a gill of cold water, and skim thoroughly. Then add a quarter of a pound of liver, a medium-sized carrot sliced, two small turnips, two middle-sized leeks, half a head of celery, one sprig of parsley, a bay leaf, one onion with two cloves stuck in it, and two cloves of garlic. Simmer five hours. Strain the broth into a soup-dish, and serve the meat and vegetables on a platter. If more water is needed, add that which is boiling.
When the dish is served all together, it is called Pot au Feu, and the vessel in which it is cooked has the same name. It is the common dish of the French peasantry.
The following is the receipe for the favorite Spanish dish. A superior housekeeper tried it, and it was so much liked that several of her family were harmed by eating too much:
Spanish Olla Podrida.—Fry four ounces of salt pork in the pot, and, when partly done, add two pounds of fresh beef and a quarter of a pound of ham. Add two tea-spoonfuls of salt in cold water, and only enough just to cover the meat. Skim carefully the first half-hour, and then add a gill of peas, (if dried, soak them an hour first,) half a head of cabbage, one carrot, one turnip, two leeks, three stalks of celery, three stalks of parsley, two stalks of thyme, two cloves, two onions sliced, two cloves of garlic, ten pepper-corns, and a pinch of powdered mace or nutmeg. Simmer steadily for five hours. When the water is too low, add that which is boiling. Put the meat on a platter, and the vegetables around it. Strain the liquor on to toasted bread in a soup-dish.
All these articles can be obtained at grocers’ or markets in our large cities, and of course can be procured in the country.
French Mutton Stew.—Take a leg of mutton and remove the large bone, leaving the bone at the small end as a handle; cut off also the bone below the knuckle, and fix it with skewers.
Put it in a stew-pan with a pinch of allspice, four onions, two cloves, two carrots, each cut in four pieces, a small bunch of parsley, two bay leaves, three sprigs of thyme, and salt and pepper to the taste. Add two ounces of bacon cut in slices, a quarter of a pint of broth, and cold water enough to cover it. After one hour of simmering, add a wine-glass of French brandy.
Let them simmer five hours longer, and then dish it; strain the sauce on it, and serve.
The American housekeeper by experiments can modify these foreign recipes to meet the taste of her family, and will find them economical modes of cooking, as well as healthful to most persons.
FRENCH MODES OF COOKING SOUPS AND STEWS.
The writer has examined the recipes of Gouffee, the chief French cook of the Queen of England, set forth in the expensive Royal Cook-Book; also those of Soyer and Professor Blot. She and her friends also have tested many of their recipes.