Begin this soup the day before it is wanted. Take a good piece of fresh
beef that has been newly killed: any substantial part will do that has
not too much fat about it: a fore leg is very good for this purpose.
Wash it well. Cut off all the meat, and break up the bones. Put the
meat and the bones into a large pot, very early in the day, so as to
allow eight or nine hours for its boiling. Proportion the water to the
quantity of meat--about a pint and a half to each pound. Sprinkle the
meat with a small quantity of pepper and salt. Pour on the water, hang
it over a moderate fire, and boil it slowly: carefully skimming off all
the fat that rises to the top, and keeping it closely covered, except
when you raise the lid to skim it. Do not, on any account, put in
additional water to this soup while it is boiling; and take care that
the boiling goes steadily on, as, if it stops, the soup will be much
injured. But if the fire is too great, and the soup boils too fast, the
meat will become hard and tough, and will not give out its juices.
After the meat is reduced to rags, and the soup sufficiently boiled,
remove the pot from the fire, and let it stand in the corner for a
quarter of an hour to settle. Then take it up, strain it into a large
earthen pan, cover it, and set it away in a cool dry place till next
day. Straining it makes it clear and bright, and frees it from the
shreds of meat and bone. If you find that it jellies in the pan, (which
it will if properly made,) do not disturb it till you are ready to
put it into the pot for the second boiling, as breaking the jelly may
prevent it from keeping well.
On the following morning, boil separately, carrots, turnips, onions,
celery, and whatever other vegetables you intend to thicken the soup
with. Tomatas will greatly improve it. Prepare them by taking off the
skin, cutting them into small pieces, and stewing them in their own
juice till they are entirely dissolved. Put on the carrots before any
of the other vegetables, as they require the longest time to boil. Or
you may slice and put into the soup a portion of the vegetables you are
boiling for dinner; but they must be nearly done before you put them
in, as the second boiling of the soup should not exceed half an hour,
or indeed, just sufficient time to heat it thoroughly.
Scrape off carefully from the cake of jellied soup whatever fat or
sediment may still be remaining on it; divide the jelly into pieces,
and about half an hour before it is to go to table, put it into a pot,
add the various vegetables, (having first sliced them,) in sufficient
quantities to make the soup very thick; hang it over the fire and
let it boil slowly, or simmer steadily till dinner time. Boiling it
much on the second day will destroy the flavour, and render it flat
and insipid. For this reason, in making fine, clear beef soup, the
vegetables are to be cooked separately. They need not be put in the
first day, as the soup is to be strained; and on the second day,
if put in raw, the length of time required to cook them would spoil
the soup by doing it too much. We repeat, that when soup has been
sufficiently boiled on the first day, and all the juices and flavour of
the meat thoroughly extracted, half an hour is the utmost it requires
on the second.
Carefully avoid seasoning it too highly. Soup, otherwise excellent, is
frequently spoiled by too much pepper and salt. These condiments can be
added at table, according to the taste of those that are eating it; but
if too large a proportion of them is put in by the cook, there is then
no remedy, and the soup may by some be found uneatable.
Many persons prefer boiling all the vegetables in the soup on the
first day, thinking that they improve its flavour. This may be done
in common soup that is not to be strained, but is inadmissible if you
wish it to be very bright and clear. Also, unless you have a garden and
a profusion of vegetables of your own, it is somewhat extravagant, as
when strained out they are of no further use, and are therefore wasted.