Search Articles

Subscribe To Our Site

  • subscribe to our XML feed
  • Google Reader or Homepage
  • Add to My Yahoo!
  • Subscribe in NewsGator Online
  • add our feed to your MSN subsciptions
  • Add to My AOL

to Die For Recipes Article:

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. Stale meat renders them bad, and fat is not so well adapted for making them. 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. 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. Soups will, in general, take from three to six hours doing, 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 settlings 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 consistence of cream. To thicken and give body to soups and gravies, potato-mucilage, arrow-root, bread-raspings, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice, or oatmeal, in a little 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 found 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. When soups and gravies are kept from day to day in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh scalded pans or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar. In temperate weather, every other day may be sufficient.

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-raspings, peas, beans, rice, vermicelli, macaroni, isinglass, potato-mucilage, mushroom or mushroom ketchup, champignons, parsnips, carrots, beetroot, turnips, garlic, shallots and onions. Sliced onions, fried with butter and flour till they are browned, and then rubbed through a sieve, are excellent to heighten the color and flavor of brown soups and sauces, and form the basis of many of the fine relishes furnished by the cook. The older and drier the onion, the stronger will be its flavor. 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.

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, are all taken. The latter imparts a finer flavour than the lemon, and the acid is much milder. These materials, with wine, mushroom ketchup, Harvey's sauce, tomato sauce, combined in various proportions, are, with other ingredients, manipulated into an almost endless variety of excellent soups and gravies. 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.

Sausage seasoning varies with the region and the country. Since sausages are preferred by some spicy or simply garlicky, you can imagine how various the sausage herb and spices blends can be. Every individual likes a certain flavor added to the meat and the flavor also varies with the style of cooking the meat. Generally speaking sausages are fired or grilled so perhaps people would be more inclined to use sausage seasoning that somewhat resembles that of barbecued meat. And it so happens that if you want to purchase a certain kind of sausage seasoning and you are in a foreign country, you might not find it on the store shelves. Instead you will find other brands that will reflect the local tendencies in cuisine. Thus the sausage seasoning is not of only one kind and another tendency nowadays is to combine whatever you are into in terms of flavors borrowing ideas from other cultures and cuisines all over the world.

Recipe for a delicious oyster stuffing, perfect for that Thanksgiving turkey, or maybe the Christmas goose. My friend said a couple of years ago "that's the best oyster dressing I have ever eaten. I hope you like it too! -- Frank

Sauces are unusual components of meals. Often they do not merit more than an afterthought as they are the natural cooking mediums of stews. Or they're made as an afterthought. Yet, in French-influenced cuisine a sauce is a central part of the culinary experience that adds to the meal itself. Here, two sauces are presented: one classic and one very modern.

Is your social calendar so packed with activities that you don't have time to cook? Try cooking Olive Garden Restaurant recipes - many only need 1/2 an hour to cook.

Are you wondering how you can use up all that leftover turkey? Are you looking for a new way to use it that will surprise your family? Try this Day After Hash! Surprise your family and/or friends at breakfast or brunch with this turkey hash.