A STOCK POT.

Any ordinary pot or kettle can be used for preparing stock, but as a “digester” or stock pot is one of the most useful utensils known to the culinary art, and can be obtained at almost any hardware store, no kitchen should be without one. The cook, who is provided with a stock pot, and habitually uses it two or three times a week, can utilize all available scraps, and generally has a supply of stock on hand from which an acceptable soup, or delicious sauce can be improvised in a short time, and with very little trouble.The stock pot should not remain on the stove or range, and fresh material be added from time to time to that which is partly or wholly cooked; but whenever a quantity of scraps accumulate they should be carefully prepared and put to cook.

SOUP STOCK.

A great many soups are made without the previous preparation of a specially distinctive stock. But stock has as legitimate an existence in soup making, as ferment has in bread making; and its recognition is quite essential to a perfect understanding of the subject. Stock is the base of soups. It is the fluid foundation with which other materials are mixed, and skillfully incorporated into soups, that in modern bills of fare are bewilderingly designated potages, purees, and consommes.

Soup stock, in the strictest sense of the term, is the fluid extract of meat or meat and bones, and is of two kinds:—simple and compound.

Simple stock is the extract from a single kind of flesh, fish or fowl. Compound stock is the extract from two or more kinds of flesh, fish or fowl mingled and cooked together, or mixed together, after being cooked separately.

HOW TO MAKE SOUP STOCK.

To make stock, meats of any kind cut in small pieces, or meat and bones well cut and broken, should be put in a pot in cold water slightly salted, and the water heated very gradually until it reaches the boiling point, after which it should be kept simmering gently for a longer or shorter time, according to the nature and quantity of the material used, and the consistency of the stock wanted. When sufficiently cooked, it should be removed from the fire, strained into a jar or bowl, and set in a cool place.

QUANTITY OF WATER.

Authorities differ somewhat in regard to the quantity of water that should be used in preparing stock and making soup.

If the simmering is to continue six or eight hours, as some recommend, a little more water is required than when it is to continue only half that length of time. But as the correct proportions are about one quart of water to each pound of meat and bones, it is absurd to use an additional quantity of water, and waste time and material in reducing the stock to the proper consistency by evaporation.

QUANTITY OF SALT.

The principal object of using salted water in the preparation of stock, is to facilitate the separation of the blood and slime from the meat. The quantity of salt used should be regulated by the condition of the meat, and in no case more than an ounce of salt to each gallon of water.

REMOVING THE SCUM.

The blood and slime when thrown to the surface in the form of scum, should be removed as rapidly as it rises. If permitted to remain after the water reaches the boiling point, it will be speedily incorporated with the stock, and injure its appearance and flavor. A little cold water poured into the pot the moment it boils, will hasten the rising of the scum.

SOAKING AND SIMMERING THE MEAT.

The albumen of all meats, like the albumen or white of eggs, is curdled and hardened by heat, but is readily soluble in cold water, and mixes quietly with it; and when meat is put to cook in cold water, and soaked until the water reaches the boiling point, and afterward permitted to only simmer, all its juices are extracted, and mingled with the liquid so perfectly as to greatly improve the flavor, and add to the nutritive properties of the stock or soup.

QUALITY OF THE MEAT.

The flavor of soup depends upon the quality of the materials of which it is made. Tough and coarse pieces of meat, when the meat is of good quality, make good soups and sauces, and can be converted into stock advantageously, as can also a great many rough, refuse bits and scraps; but it is very important that all meats of which stock is to be made, should be cooked before they get tainted, or stale; in fact, the fresher the meat, the better will be the quality of the stock made from it.

BEEF TEA.

Especial care should be observed in regard to the freshness of the meat for beef tea, which comes under the generic name of soup, being merely a plain soup stock. A cut from the round, on account of its juiciness, is preferable, for beef tea. In preparing it, all skin and fat should be removed, and the beef cut into small pieces. It should then be covered with cold water, and allowed to soak for several hours, when the water should be brought slowly to the boiling point. This tea is not so nutritious as stock simmered for two or three hours, but is believed by physicians to exercise a special tonic and exhilarating influence upon the system independent of any directly nutritive quality it may possess.

CONSISTENCY OF STOCK.

The consistency of stock depends greatly upon the material used, and the length of time it is cooked. Bones contain a large quantity of gelatinous matter, and when equal portions of meat and bones are used, the stock, when cold, will be quite stiff and gelatinous; and the longer it is allowed to simmer, the more stiff and gelatinous it will become. If meat alone is used, or if the stock is cooked but a short time, it will remain in liquid form.

TIME REQUIRED FOR MAKING STOCK.

When meat and bones are well cut and broken up, all their valuable qualities will by proper soaking and simmering be extracted in two or three hours; and although longer cooking will render the stock thicker and more gelatinous, it is not advisable to continue it a greater length of time, as the nutrition of soup depends very little, if at all, upon the amount of gelatine it contains, and its flavor is injured by too much cooking.

STRAINING, COOLING AND KEEPING STOCK.

Stock, when sufficiently cooked, should be carefully strained, and unless wanted for immediate use should be set where it will cool as rapidly as possible. The quicker it cools the finer will be its flavor, and the greater the length of time it can be kept. In cold weather stock will keep fresh and sweet for several days; but in summer, unless kept in a cold place, it will be necessary for its preservation, to put it over the fire and bring it to a boil, or “scald it” every day.

SALTING STOCK.

After stock has been strained and while still warm, all the salt that will be needed in the soups or sauces to be prepared from it, can be added with advantage, as it becomes thoroughly incorporated with the stock and aids in its preservation.

COOKING VEGETABLES IN STOCK.

Many cook books recommend putting vegetables into the stock pot with the meat and cooking them the same length of time. But as vegetables that are cooked several hours with meat are apt to give the stock a rank taste, and also to cause it to ferment in a short time in warm weather, such a method is objectionable in making stock. Where economy is a prominent consideration, or where the stock is to be used immediately in soup, it is perhaps as well to simmer the meat and vegetables together a sufficient length of time to extract all their flavor and nutriment.