ABC Of Soup Making

Lean, juicy meat, mutton, and veal, form the root of all good soups ; thus it is a good idea to procure those pieces which afford the wealthiest succulence, and such as are fresh-killed.  Rancid beef renders them bad, and fat is not so well evolved for making them.  The principal art in composing good rich soup, is so to proportion the many ingredients that the flavour of one shall not predominate over another, and that all of the articles of which it is composed, shall form an agreeable entire.  To accomplish this, care must be taken the roots and herbs are perfectly well cleaned, and so the water is proportioned to the quantity of beef and other ingredients.  Generally a quart of water may be permitted to a pound of meat for soups, and 1/2 of the quantity for gravies.  In making soups or gravies, gentle stewing or simmering is incomparably the best.  It may be remarked {, however ,} that a truly good soup can’t ever be made but in a well-closed vessel, though, perhaps, bigger wholesomeness is obtained by an occasional exposure to the air.  Soups will, in general, take from three to 6 hours doing, and are far better prepared the day before they’re wanted.  When the soup is cold, the fat might be much more easily and utterly removed ; and when it is poured off, care must be taken not to disturb the settlings at the base of the vessel, which are so fine that they will escape thru a sieve.  A tamis is the best sieve, and if the soup is strained even though it is hot, let the tamis or material be formerly soaked in cold water.  Clear soups must be perfectly clear, and thickened soups about the consistence of cream.  To thicken and give body to soups and gravies, potato-mucilage, arrow-root, bread-raspings, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice, or oatmeal, in a little water rubbed well together, are used.  A piece of boiled beef pounded to a pulp, with a bit of butter and flour, and rubbed through a sift, and continuously incorporated with the soup, will be found a superb addition.  When the soup appears to be too thin or too feeble, the cover of the boiler should be taken off, and the contents allowed to boil till some of the watery parts have evaporated ; or some of the thickening materials, above discussed, should be added.  When soups and gravies are kept from daily in hot weather, they need to be warmed up each day, and put into fresh burned pans or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar.  In temperate weather, each other day could be sufficient. 

Varied herbs and veggies are needed for the purpose of making soups and gravies.  Of these the principal are, Scotch barley, pearl barley, wheat flour, oatmeal, bread-raspings, pease, beans, rice, vermicelli, macaroni, isinglass, potato-mucilage, mushroom or mushroom ketchup, champignons, parsnips, carrots, beetroot, turnips, garlic, shalots and onions.  Chopped onions, fried with butter and flour till they’re browned, and then rubbed thru a sift, are excellent to increase the colour and flavour of brown soups and sauces, and form the root of many of the fine relishes furnished by the cook.  The older and drier the onion, the stronger will be its flavour.  Leeks, cucumber, or burnet vinegar ; celery or celery-seed battered.  The latter, though similarly robust, does not impart the delicate sweetness of the fresh vegetable ; and when used as a substitute, its flavor should be corrected by the addition of a bit of sugar.  Cress-seed, parsley, common thyme, lemon thyme, orange thyme, knotted marjoram, sage, mint, winter tasty, and basil.  As fresh green basil is rarely to be procured, and its fine flavor is soon lost, the only way of protecting the extract is by pouring wine on the fresh leaves. 

For the seasoning of soups, bay-leaves, tomato, tarragon, chervil, burnet, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, mace, black and white pepper, essence of anchovy, lemon-peel, and juice, and Seville orange-juice, are all taken.  The latter provides a finer flavor than the lemon, and the acid is much milder.  These materials, with wine, mushroom ketchup, Harvey’s sauce, catsup, combined in various proportions, are, with other ingredients, manipulated into a nearly unlimited variety of excellent soups and gravies.  Soups, which are planned to constitute the principal part of a meal, certainly ought not to be flavoured like sauces, which are only designed to give a relish to some particular dish.

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