Modern cookery for private families

be stewed. Pour in three quarts of cold water, and when it has been brought slowly to boil, and been well skimmed, as directed for _bouillon_ (Page 8), throw in an ounce and a half of salt, half a large teaspoonful of peppercorns, eight cloves, two blades of mace, a faggot of savoury herbs, a couple of small carrots, and the heart of a root of celery; to these add a mild onion or not, at choice. When the whole has stewed very softly for four hours, probe the larger bit of beef, and if quite tender, lift it out for table; let the soup be simmered from two to three hours longer, and then strain it through a fine sieve, into a clean pan. When it is perfectly cold, clear off every particle of fat; heat a couple of quarts, stir in, when it boils, half an ounce of sugar, a small tablespoonful of good soy, and twice as much of Harvey’s sauce, or instead of this, of clear and fine mushroom catsup. If carefully made, the soup will be perfectly transparent and of good colour and flavour. A thick slice of lean ham will improve it, and a pound or so of the neck of beef with an additional pint of water, will likewise enrich its quality. A small quantity of good broth may be made of the fragments of the whole boiled down with a few fresh vegetables. Brown caper, or hot horseradish sauce, or _sauce Robert_, or _sauce piquante_, made with the liquor in which it is boiled, may be served with the portion of the meat which is sent to table. VERMICELLI SOUP. (_Potage au Vermicelle._) Drop very lightly, and by degrees, six ounces of vermicelli, broken rather small, into three quarts of boiling bouillon or clear gravy soup; let it simmer for half an hour[18] over a gentle fire, and stir it often. This is the common French mode of making vermicelli soup, and we can recommend it as a particularly good one for family use. In England it is customary to soak, or