Any kind of potage made with broth may be made with consommé. It may also be made with water, adding butter. With consommé it is richer, and with water much inferior, than with broth.
When a rump-piece is used to make broth, it is better to bone it first, and take it from the soup-kettle after three or four hours; it is served as a relevé, or prepared as cold beef. The broth is finished as directed; the bones and vegetables being kept on the fire longer than the meat.
Chicken and turkey broth are often called potage de santé (potage of health).
Chicken.—Roast or bake till turning yellow, a chicken over two years old. Put it in a soup-kettle with three pints of water, and set it on a rather slow fire; skim off the scum, add a middling-sized onion, a leek, a few stalks of chervil if handy, a middling-sized head of lettuce, and salt; simmer about three hours. Take out the chicken and vegetables, skim off the fat, strain, and use. This broth is excellent for a weak stomach, and is easy of digestion. The chicken is served in salad.
Turkey.—Procure a rather old turkey and roast or bake it till about one-third done; put it in a soup-kettle with about a pint of water to a pound of meat, and set it on a rather slow fire. As soon as the scum comes on the surface, skim it off carefully; then add two onions, two leeks, two or three heads of lettuce, a small handful of chervil if handy, and salt. Simmer about five hours.
Use the broth as chicken-broth above, and serve the turkey in salad.
Fish (also called à la Lucullus).—Slice three middling-sized onions and fry them with one ounce of butter till turning yellow; add three or four pounds of fish (bass, pike, trout, salmon, and the like), any fish having a firm and compact flesh, of one or several kinds; add also two carrots, two onions, and one leek, all sliced; four stalks of parsley, one of thyme, one clove of garlic, a bay-leaf, one clove, six pepper-corns, salt; cover the whole with cold water, set on a good but not brisk fire, boil gently for about two hours. If the water is boiling away, add some more; then strain, and use.
This broth may be used for bisque and fish sauces, instead of beef-broth.
It may be made rich; for instance, instead of three pounds of fish, use six, seven, eight pounds, or more, and seasonings in proportion.
Louis XV. was on a visit to the monastery of Saint Denis one day during Lent; after having walked all over the grounds and gardens, he was offered a cup of broth by the superior.