ABC OF SOUP MAKING
Soups Can Be Made In Many Ways
You Can Cook… Try making the soup with your favorite herbs, vegetables, and pasta!
You are the maker of the masterpiece of flavors!
ABC OF SOUP MAKING.
Lean, juicy beef, mutton, and veal, form the basis of all good soups; therefore it is advisable to procure those pieces which afford the richest succulence, and such as are fresh-killed or vegan tofu, the choice is yours. Stale meat renders them bad, and fat is not so well adapted for making them. As well, make sure to brown the firm tofu squares before adding to the soup. Make sure the ingredients are well simmered to combine the flavors before adding the tofu squares. When using meats, brown the cut first and then add the water and vegetables to simmer until tender and done.
The principal art in composing good rich soup, is so to proportion the several ingredients that the flavor of one shall not predominate over another, and that all the articles of which it is composed, shall form an agreeable whole. To accomplish this, care must be taken that the roots and herbs are perfectly well cleaned, and that the water is proportioned to the quantity of meat and other ingredients. Filtered water is best because it makes it easier to taste all of the flavors that have been combined in the pot.
Generally a quart of water may be allowed to a pound of meat for soups, and half the quantity for gravies. In making soups or gravies, gentle stewing or simmering is incomparably the best. It may be remarked, however, that a really good soup can never be made but in a well-closed vessel, although, perhaps, greater wholesomeness is obtained by an occasional exposure to the air. It is best to keep the pot covered and to not add too much water often, especially when the water is from the tap and not filtered.
Soups will, in general, take from three to six hours, and are much better prepared the day before they are wanted. When the soup is cold, the fat may be much more easily and completely removed; and when it is poured off, care must be taken not to disturb the settings at the bottom of the vessel, which are so fine that they will escape through a sieve. A tamis is the best strainer, and if the soup is strained while it is hot, let the tamis or cloth be previously soaked in cold water. Clear soups must be perfectly transparent, and thickened soups about the consistency of cream. It's been done like this for hundreds of years and has been the source of many homecooked comfort meals.
To thicken and give body to soups and gravies, potato-mucilage, arrow-root, bread-rasping's, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice, or oatmeal, in a little cold 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 sieve, and gradually incorporated with the soup, will be an excellent addition. When the soup appears to be too thin or too weak , 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 mentioned, should be added.
Various herbs and vegetables are required for the purpose of making soups and gravies. Of these the principal are;
- Scotch barley, pearl barley, wheat flour, oatmeal,
- bread-rasping's,
- peas, beans, rice,
- vermicelli, macaroni, isinglass,
- potato-mucilage, mashed or quartered potatoes
- mushroom or mushroom ketchup, whole fresh are best
- champignons,
- parsnips, carrots,
- beetroot, turnips,
- garlic, shallots and onions.
The older and drier the onion, the stronger its flavor will be.
Leeks, cucumber, or burnet vinegar; celery or celery-seed pounded. The latter, though equally strong, 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 savory, and basil. As fresh green basil is seldom to be procured, and its fine flavor is soon lost, the best way of preserving the extract is by pouring wine on the fresh leaves. A few dry bay leaves will impart a nicely and imposing flavor to the other ingredients. Bay leaves are popular in stews and fish soup.
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 The latter imparts a finer flavor than the lemon, and the acid is much milder.
Soups, which are intended to constitute the principal part of a meal, certainly ought not to be flavored like sauces, which are only designed to give a relish to some particular dish.
