It is customary to thicken some dishes with a compound of two parts of
flour and one of butter, first made into a paste by heating slowly the
ingredients in a pan, till the mass acquires a yellow gold colour, the
flour and butter being stirred all the time to prevent the mass from
burning to the bottom of the pan. The substance thus obtained is called
_thickening_, or _thickening paste_, for it is the basis employed by
cooks for thickening soups, gravies, stews, sauces, and other dishes.
The mass readily combines with water; a large table spoonful is
sufficient to thicken a quart of meat broth. Besides this _thickening
paste_, other farinaceous substances are employed for that purpose,
such as bread raspings, crumbs of stale bread, biscuit powder, potatoe
mucilage, oatmeal, sago powder, rice powder, &c. A cow-heel, on account
of the vast quantity of gelatine with which it abounds, is excellently
well calculated for giving _body_ to soups: the cow-heel, after being
cracked, is boiled with the broth or soup.