combined in various proportions, will make an endless variety
of excellent broths and soups. The general fault of English soups seems
to be the employment of an excess of spice, and too small a proportion
of roots and herbs. This is especially the case with tavern soups, where
cayenne and garlic are often used instead of black pepper and onion, for
the purpose of obtaining a higher relish. Soups, which are intended to
constitute the principal part of a meal, certainly ought not to be
flavoured like sauces, which are only designed to give a relish to some
particular dish. The principal art in composing a good rich soup, is so
to proportion the several ingredients one to another, that no particular
taste be stronger than the rest; but to produce such a fine harmonious
relish, that the whole becomes delightful. In order to this, care must
be taken that the roots and herbs be perfectly well cleaned, and that
the water be proportioned to the quantity of meat, and other
ingredients. In general a quart of water may be allowed to a pound of
meat for soups; and half the quantity for gravies. If they stew gently,
little more water need be put in at first, than is expected at the end;
for when the pot is covered quite close, and the fire gentle, very
little is wasted. Gentle stewing is incomparably the best; the meat is
more tender, and the soup better flavoured. The cover of a soup kettle
should fit very close, or the most essential parts of the broth will
soon evaporate, as will also be the case with quick boiling. It is not
merely the fibres of the meat that afford nourishment, but chiefly the
juices they contain; and these are not only extracted but exhaled, if
it be boiled fast in an open vessel. A succulent soup can never be made
but in a well closed vessel, which preserves the nutritive parts by
preventing their dissipation, yet the flavour is perhaps more wholesome
by an exposure to the air. Place the soup kettle over a moderate fire,
sufficient to make the water hot, without causing it to boil; for if the
water boils immediately, it will not penetrate the meat, and cleanse it
from the clotted blood and other matters, which ought to go off in scum.
The meat will be hardened all over by violent heat, will shrink up as if
it were scorched, and afford very little gravy. On the contrary, by
keeping the water heating about half an hour without boiling, the meat
swells, becomes tender, and its fibres are dilated. By this process,