Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

are, to those prepared with it, what rye or corn bread is to wheat bread. Broth, and especially _consommé_, are to old age what milk is to the infant. Broth is called _bouillon_ in France, and _stock_ in England. The word _pot-au-feu_ means the meat, vegetables, seasonings, spices, and the "pot" or soup-kettle itself, _i. e._, every thing made use of in making broth. The popular meaning of the term in France is, the soup and the beef and vegetables served as _relevés_; and, with the working-classes, the only thing (with bread, wine, and fruit) composing the family dinner. The French army is fed on this _pot-au-feu_ three hundred and sixty days in the year. It is a great mistake to believe that bones or veal make good broth; by boiling or simmering bones or veal, you obtain a gelatinous liquid, but not a rich broth with a pleasant flavor. When properly made, broth is clear. If milky, it has been made with bones, veal, or very inferior beef. _Broth for Potages._--Take three pounds of good, lean, fresh beef, from any part except the shin. There must not be more than two ounces of bone to a pound of meat, and the less bone the better. Place the meat in a soup-kettle or iron saucepan lined with tin, with three quarts of cold water and salt, and set it on a good fire. After about thirty minutes, the scum or albumen of the meat will gather on the surface, and the water will commence boiling. Now place the kettle on a more moderate fire, add one gill of cold water, and begin to skim off the scum, which will take only a few minutes. Then add one middle-sized carrot, half as much turnip, one middle-sized leek, a stalk of celery, one of parsley, a bay-leaf, one onion with two cloves stuck in it, and two cloves of garlic. Keep the kettle between simmering and boiling heat for about five hours. Dish the meat with carrot, turnip, and leek around it, and serve it as a _relevé_. Strain the broth, and