Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

Sometimes it is desired to improve the appearance of soup stock particularly a small amount of soup that is to be served at a very dainty luncheon or dinner.

In order to do this, the stock may be treated by a certain process that will cause it to become clear. After being cleared, it may be served as a thin soup or, if it is heavy enough, it may be made into a clear, sparkling jelly into which many desirable things may be molded for salad or for a dish to accompany a heavy course. Clearing soup is rather extravagant; however, while it does not improve the taste, it does improve the appearance.

A very satisfactory way in which to clear stock is to use egg whites and crushed eggshell. To each quart of cold stock should be added the crushed shell and a slightly beaten egg white. These should be mixed well, placed on the fire, and the mixture stirred constantly until it boils.

As the egg coagulates, some of the floating particles in the stock are caught and carried to the top while others are carried to the bottom by the particles of shell as they settle. After the mixture has boiled for 5 or 10 minutes, the top should be skimmed carefully and the stock then strained through a fine cloth. When it has been reheated, the cleared stock will be ready to serve.

Previously: Got Soup? (8) - Removing Grease From Soup
Coming Up Next: Thickening Soup

A greasy soup is always unpalatable. Therefore, a very important feature of soup making, whether a thin or a thick soup is being made, is the removal of all grease. Various ways of removing grease have been devised depending on whether the soup is hot or cold.

In the case of hot or warm soup, all the grease that it is possible to remove with a spoon may be skimmed from the top and the remainder then taken up with a piece of clean blotting paper, tissue-paper or absorbent cotton.

Another plan by which the fat may be hardened and then collected, consists in tying a few small pieces of ice in a piece of cloth and drawing them over the surface of the soup.

A very simple method is to allow the soup or stock to become cold, and then remove the fat, which collects on the top and hardens, by merely lifting off the cake that forms.

Previously: Got Soup? (7) - Processes Involved In Making Stock
Coming Up Next: Clearing Soup

Although the making of stock or soup is a simple process, it must necessarily be a rather long one. The reason for this is that all flavors cannot be drawn from the soup materials unless they are subjected to long, slow cooking at a temperature lower than the boiling point. With this point definitely understood, the actual work of soup making may be taken up.

Cooking Meat For Soup

When clear stock is to be made from fresh meat, the required quantity of meat should be cut into small pieces so as to expose as much of the surface as possible from which the flavor of the meat can be drawn. A little more flavor is obtained and a brown color developed if a small part, perhaps a fourth, of the pieces of meat is first browned in the frying pan. The pieces thus browned, together with the pieces of fresh meat, are put into a kettle and a quart of cold water for each pound of meat is then added.

The reason for using cold rather than hot water will be evident when the action of water on raw meat is understood.

The fiber of meat is composed of innumerable thread-like tubes containing the flavor that is to be drawn out into the water in order to make the stock appetizing. When the meat is cut, these tiny tubes are laid open. Putting the meat thus prepared into cold water and allowing it to heat gradually tend to extract the contents of the tubes. This material is known as extractives and it contains in its composition stimulating substances.

On the other hand, plunging the meat into hot water and subjecting it quickly to a high temperature will coagulate the protein in the tissue and prevent the extractives from leaving the tubes.

To obtain the most flavors from meat that is properly prepared, it should be put over a slow fire and allowed to come gradually to the boiling point. As the water approaches the boiling point, a scum consisting of coagulated albumin, blood, and foreign material will begin to rise to the top. This should be skimmed off at once and the process of skimming must be continued until no scum remains.

When the water begins to boil rapidly, the fire should be lowered so that the water will bubble only enough for a very slight motion to be observed. Throughout the cooking, the meat should not be allowed to boil violently or to cease bubbling entirely.

The meat should be allowed to cook for at least 4 hours, but longer if possible. If, during this long cooking, too much water evaporates, more should be added to dilute the stock.

The salt that is required for seasoning may be added just a few minutes before the stock is removed from the kettle. However, it is better to add the salt together with the other seasonings after the stock has been drawn off, for salt, has a tendency to harden the tissues of meat and to prevent the flavor from being readily extracted.

Although, as has been explained, flavor is drawn from the fibers of meat by boiling it slowly for a long time, the cooking of meat for soup does not extract the nourishment from it to any extent. In reality, the meat itself largely retains its original nutritive value after it has been cooked for soup, although a small quantity of protein is drawn out and much of the fat is removed. This meat should never be wasted; rather, it should be used carefully with materials that will take the place of the flavor that has been cooked from it.

Previously: Got Soup? (6) - Principal Ingredient (Herbs And Vegetables)
Coming Up Next: Clearing Grease From Soup

In soup making, a large number of vegetables are used. Any vegetable that has a decided flavor may be used.

Among those from which soups can be made successfully are cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus, corn, onions, turnips, carrots, parsnips, tomatoes, beans, peas, lentils, salsify, potatoes, spinach, celery, mushrooms, okra and even sweet potatoes.

These vegetables are used to provide flavoring and to form part of the soup itself. When they are used simply for flavoring, they are cooked until their flavor is obtained and then removed from the stock. When they are to form part of the soup, as well as to impart flavor, they are left in the soup in small pieces or made into a puree and eaten with the soup.

The cook should season the soup but very slightly with salt and pepper. If he puts in too much, it may spoil it for the taste of most of those that are to eat it; but if too little, it is easy to add more to your own plate.

The herbs usually used in soups are parsley, common thyme, summer savory, knotted marjoram, and other seasonings such as bay leaves, tarragon, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, black and white pepper, red pepper etc.

Attention must be given to the condition of the vegetables that are used in soup. The fresh vegetables that are used should be in perfect condition.

They should have no decayed places that might taint or discolor the soups and they should be as crisp and solid as possible. When dried vegetables are to be used for soup making, they should first be soaked well in cold water and then, before being added to the stock, either partly cooked or entirely cooked and made into a puree.

Previously: Got Soup? (5) - Principal Ingredient (Meat)
Coming Up Next: Processes Involved In Making Stock

The making of the stock that is used in soup is the most important of the soup making processes; in fact, these two things soup and stock may be regarded, in many instances, as one and the same.

It is important to keep in mind that whenever reference is made to the making of soup usually stock making is also involved and meant. Before the actual soup making processes are taken up, the nature of the ingredients required should be well understood; for this reason, suitable meats and vegetables, which are the principal ingredients in soups, are first discussed.

Meat Used For Soup Making

Almost every kind of meat including beef, veal, mutton, lamb, game and poultry, is used for soup making. When soup stock is made from these meats, they may be cooked separately or as a combination, several kinds may be combined. For instance, mutton used alone makes a very strongly flavored soup, so that it is usually advisable to combine this kind of meat with another meat that has a less distinctive flavor. On the other hand, veal alone does not have sufficient flavor, so it must be combined with lamb, game, fowl or some other well-flavored meat.

Certain cuts of meats are preferred to others in the making of soups because of the difference in their texture. The tender cuts which are the expensive ones, should not be used for soups, as they do not produce enough flavor. The tough cuts, which come from the muscles that the animal uses constantly and that therefore grow hard and tough, are usually cheaper, but they are more suitable because they contain the material that makes the best soup.

The pieces best adapted to soup making are the shins, the shanks, the lower part of the round, the neck, the flank, the shoulder, the tail and the brisket. Stock made from one of these cuts will be improved if a small amount of the fat of the meat is cooked with it; but to avoid soup that is too greasy, any excess fat that remains after cooking should be carefully removed. The marrow of the shinbone is the best fat for soup making.

If soup is to be made from fish, a white variety should be selected. The head and trimmings may be utilized, but these alone are not sufficient because soup requires some solid pieces of meat. The same is true of meat bones; they are valuable only when they are used with meat, an equal proportion of bone and meat being required for the best stock.

Soup should always be made entirely of fresh meat that has not been previously cooked. An exception to this rule may sometimes be made in favor of the remains of a piece of roast beef that has been very much under-done in roasting. This may be added to a good piece of raw meat.

Soup made of cold meat has always a vapid, disagreeable taste, very perceptible through all the seasoning and which nothing indeed can disguise. Also, it will be of a bad, dingy color. The juices of the meat having been exhausted by the first cooking, the undue proportion of watery liquid renders it indigestible and unwholesome, as well as unpalatable.

As there is little or no nutriment to be derived from soup made with cold meat, it is better to refrain from using it for this purpose and to devote the leavings of the table to some other object. No person accustomed to really good soup, made from fresh meat, can ever be deceived in the taste, even when flavored with wine and spices.

Soup that has been originally made of raw meat entirely is frequently better the second day than the first; provided that it is re-boiled only for a very short time and that no additional water is added to it.

Unless it has been allowed to boil too hard, so as to exhaust the water, the soup-pot will not require replenishing. When it is found absolutely necessary to do so, the additional water must be boiling hot when poured in; if lukewarm or cold, it will entirely spoil the soup.

Every particle of fat should be carefully skimmed from the surface. Greasy soup is disgusting and unwholesome. The lean of meat is much better for soup than the fat.

Long and slow boiling is necessary to extract the strength from the meat. If boiled fast over a large fire, the meat becomes hard and tough and will not give out its juices.

Previously: Got Soup? (4) - Soup Extracts, Stock Pot, Flavoring Stock
Coming Up Next: Principal Ingredient (Herbs And Vegetables)