If the broth is required to be richer, use more beef and less water, but follow the same process; if weaker, use more water and less beef, but still follow the same process.
Broth for Sauces and Gravies.—Place in a soup-kettle or saucepan fresh bones of beef, mutton, lamb, veal, or poultry—of either, or of all; also, bones of the same meats from roasted pieces; also trimmings of the same, if very fresh, with one quart of cold water to every pound of bones or meat; skim it like the preceding, add the same vegetables and seasonings, and simmer for at least six hours. Then skim off very carefully all the fat on the surface, pass the remainder through a strainer or a sieve, and it is ready for use. This broth is certainly very inferior to the preceding one, but it is excellent for sauces and gravies, and is very cheaply made. It may be used for potages also; but, as we have said above, it is very gelatinous, and cannot be compared with the highly nutritious beef-broth.
Broth that is not to be used immediately must be cooled quickly after being strained, as the quicker it is cooled the longer it keeps. As soon as cold, put it in a stone jar or crockery vessel, and place it in a cool, dry, and dark place. It will keep three or four days in winter, but only one day in summer. If the weather is stormy, it will not keep even for twelve hours; it turns sour very quickly.
I do not put parsnips or thyme in broth, the taste of these two vegetables being too strong. They really neutralize the fine aroma of broth. Even in this nineteenth century there are some pretty good cooks who put thyme and parsnip in broth, but they do it by routine. Routine is in every thing the greatest enemy of progress. Ancient cookery used to put in the pot (old name for soup-kettle) a burnt onion to give an amber color to the broth. This has exactly the same effect as thyme and parsnip, giving it a bad taste, and neutralizing the flavor given to the broth by the osmazome of the meat. When broth of an amber color is desired, add to it a few drops of burnt sugar, the receipt for making which will be found elsewhere.
Consommé.—There are two ways of making consommé: one is to make broth as above, with the exception that five pounds of lean beef, instead of three, are used with three quarts of water, and simmered from seven to eight hours, instead of five, the vegetables and seasonings being the same; or by boiling broth gently till properly reduced.
The other way is to roast, until they are only one-third done, one, two, or three fowls, not under two years old; then place them in a soup-kettle with three pounds of lean beef; wet with three quarts of cold water; skim off as above directed; add the same vegetables and seasonings as for broth for potages. After having simmered the whole for three hours, the fowl or fowls must be taken out of the kettle, and the rest is to be simmered for about three hours longer. The meat, vegetables, and seasonings are then taken from the kettle or saucepan; the liquor is strained, and that liquor is the best consommé that can be made; or by boiling the same, gently, in three quarts of good broth, you make consommé also.
The reason for directing to use one, two, or three fowls is, that the more fowls used, the better and richer the broth. The fowls after having been thus used may be prepared in salad, and make a very excellent dish.
One pound of beef is enough to make broth for a potage for three or four persons.
Always use fresh meat; meat with a venison taste or tainted would spoil if not entirely destroy the broth.
To clarify Broth.—If not as clear as wanted, beat the white of an egg with a gill of cold broth, and turn into the broth; boil gently about ten minutes, and strain through a cloth or towel.