BONE STOCK is made from meat bones to which vegetables are added for flavor, and it is used for making any of the ordinary soups.
VEGETABLE STOCK is made from either dried or fresh vegetables or both. Such stock is employed in making vegetable soups.
GAME STOCK is made from the bones and trimmings of game to which vegetables are added for flavor. This kind of stock is used for making game soups.
FISH STOCK is made from fish or fish trimmings to which vegetables are added for flavor. Shell fish make especially good stock of this kind. Fish stock is employed for making chowders and fish soups.
14. ADDITIONAL USES OF STOCK.--As has already been shown, stock is used principally as a foundation for certain varieties of soup. This material, however, may be utilized in many other ways, being especially valuable in the use of left-over foods. Any bits of meat or fowl that are left over can be made into an appetizing dish by adding thickened stock to them and serving the combination over toast or rice. In fact, a large variety of made dishes can be devised if there is stock on hand to add for flavor. The convenience of a supply of stock will be apparent when it is realized that gravy or sauce for almost any purpose can be made from the contents of the stock pot.
15. SOUP EXTRACTS.--If a housewife does not have sufficient time to go through the various processes involved in making soup, her family need not be deprived of this article of diet, for there are a number of concentrated meat and vegetable extracts on the market for making soups quickly. The meat extracts are made of the same flavoring material as that which is drawn from meat in the making of stock. Almost all the liquid is evaporated and the result is a thick, dark substance that must be diluted greatly with water to obtain the basis for a soup or a broth. Some of the vegetable extracts, such as Japanese soy and English marmite, are so similar in appearance and taste to the meat extracts as to make it quite difficult to detect any difference. Both varieties of these extracts may be used for sauces and gravies, as well as for soups, but it should be remembered that they are not highly nutritious and are valuable merely for flavoring.
THE STOCK POT
16. NATURE, USE, AND CARE OF STOCK POT.--Among the utensils used for cooking there is probably none more convenient and useful than the stock pot. It is nothing more or less than a covered crock or pot like that shown in Fig. 1, into which materials that will make a well-flavored stock are put from time to time. From such a supply, stock can be drawn when it is needed for soup; then, when some is taken out, more water and materials may be added to replenish the pot. The stock pot should be made of either enamel or earthenware, since a metal pot of any kind is liable to impart flavor to the food. Likewise, its lid, or cover, should be tight-fitting, for then it will be an excellent utensil in which the materials may be stored until they are to be heated, when they can be poured or dipped into a saucepan or a kettle.