The Soup and Sauce Book by Elizabeth Douglas - HTML preview

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Broths and Soups for Invalids

 

It is essential in making invalid soups that the meat used should be uncooked and very good.

For beef tea use steak or shin of beef.

Every piece of skin, membrane and fat should be carefully removed from the meat to be used.

Vegetables, spice and seasoning should not be used unless permitted by the doctor.

When soup has to be made quickly a little time can be saved by removing the fat from it while it is still hot.

Beef Essence

Cut up a lean piece of juicy rump steak into small pieces. Put these into a closely covered jar without any water. Stand the jar in a large sauce-pan containing cold water. Heat slowly and keep just below boiling point. When the meat in the jar is white, it is done. This should be in about two hours. Strain off the juice, pressing the meat while doing so in order that none may be left in it. Season with a little salt.

OR,

Place the meat in a closely covered jar in a moderate oven, leaving it there for three hours. Strain as above.

In both cases the essence should be kept in a cold place. It must not be boiled when it is heated. It can be made into beef tea by adding boiling water to it.

Beef Tea—I

1 lb. very juicy rump steak or shin of beef
 1 cup cold water

Cut the meat into very small pieces. Put these in a bowl and cover with a cup of cold water. Cover the basin and leave for three or four hours. Then, squeezing the meat firmly, drain off all the liquid. Strain this, add a little salt, and when required heat very gently. It is best to do this in a bain marie, as it curdles easily.

Add another cup of cold water to the meat, and proceed as for the first cup.

Beef Tea—II

1 lb. steak or shin of beef
 2 pints water

Cut the meat, which must be lean and juicy, into small pieces. Put them into a stew-pan and cover with a quart of water. Heat very gently. Skim whenever necessary. Simmer for a little more than an hour. Strain through muslin into a basin. Let it stand until cool. Remove the fat. Pour off the clear beef tea very gently from the dregs.

Beef Tea—III

4 lbs. of steak or shin of beef
 2 lbs. bones
 2 quarts cold water

Break and crush the bones. Cut the meat into small pieces. Put into a stew-pan and cover with the cold water. Heat very slowly. Simmer for three hours. Add a little salt. Strain into a basin. Allow it to cool. Remove any fat very carefully. Pour off the clear liquid carefully from the dregs.

If allowed, a little carrot and celery may be cooked with the beef tea.

Calves’ Foot Broth (or Jelly)

2 calves’ feet
 2 quarts cold water
 2 table-spoons sugar
 Juice of half a lemon
 Glass of good white wine

Scald and clean the feet. Split and break them. Put into a stew-pan and cover with two quarts of cold water. Heat very slowly and simmer until reduced to about a pint and a half. Strain. When cold remove the fat. Add sugar and lemon juice. Return to the fire. Let it boil for five minutes, stirring continually. Skim thoroughly. Add the wine. Strain through a jelly bag, and keep in a cold place.

In making broth, the wine may be omitted, and in its place the beaten yolk of an egg added. In which case it will only be necessary to strain it instead of passing it through a jelly bag. Sago or tapioca, which has been boiled till tender, should be added.

Chicken Broth

One chicken
 1 quart of cold water
 Juice of a lemon
 Boiled rice or vermicelli

Cut up a chicken into small pieces. Remove the meat from the bones as much as possible. Crush the bones. Cover meat and bones with a quart of water. Heat very slowly. Simmer until perfectly tender. When tender strain off the liquid. Let it get cool. Remove the fat. Heat again, adding a little salt and a few drops of lemon juice. Allow the broth to boil for five minutes. Strain through a napkin. Add a little well boiled rice or vermicelli, and a little of the white meat of the chicken cut in dice.

Chicken Custard

1 chicken
 3 pints of cold water
 2 yolks of eggs

Clean, skin and cut up a young chicken. Put it into a stew-pan with about three pints of cold water. Heat very slowly. Skim carefully when it boils. Allow it to simmer for an hour. Strain off the liquid through a napkin.

To each half pint of broth add the yolks of two eggs. Put in a double boiler and stir until it thickens. Serve at once.

Chicken Panada

1 chicken
 1 French roll
 1 quart cold water

Skin a chicken and boil it gently until tender. Remove it from the liquid and let it cool. Then cut off the white meat, pound it in a mortar. Mix with it the crumb of a French roll that has been soaked in broth. Add a little of the broth the chicken was boiled in. Pass through a tammy. Dilute with broth. Salt. Heat gently, but do not allow it to boil.

A table-spoon of well-boiled rice may be substituted for the crumb of a French roll.

Game Panada

Game panada is made in exactly the same way as chicken panada, substituting a pheasant, or a couple of partridges, for the chicken.

Chicken Tea

1 chicken
 1 quart cold water

Skin a chicken and divide it into pieces. Put in a stew-pan and cover with one quart of water. Simmer gently for a full hour. Strain. Allow it to cool. Remove the fat. Serve hot or cold.

Mutton Broth

1 lb. lean mutton
 1 pint cold water
 2 table-spoons boiled rice

Chop the mutton very fine. Put it in a stew-pan with one pint of cold water. Put it in a basin and cover it with the water. Cover the basin. Let it stand for an hour. Then heat very gently. Simmer for quarter of an hour. Strain. Remove the fat. Add the well-boiled rice.

Veal Broth

A knuckle of veal
 A chicken
 2 quarts of water
 2 table-spoons well-boiled rice

Put a knuckle of veal and a chicken (an old one will do) into a large stew-pan. Cover with two quarts of water. Let it boil up gently. Skim. Simmer for three hours. Strain through a napkin. Allow it to cool. Remove the fat. Serve with a little boiled rice.