How To Clarify Stocks and Broths

When from some cause or other your stocks are not bright and clear, as they should be if properly attended to in boiling down to a glaze, or else through insufficient skimming, the evil so produced may be remedied thus :—

Chop a pound of lean beef or veal, and then pound it to a very fine smooth pulp with three whites of eggs in a mortar; to this add a quart of cold water; mix the whole in the stewpan of broth to be clarified, due care having been previously taken to remove every particle of grease: let the mixture now be stirred over a brisk fire until it boils, then to be removed to the side, there to continue gently boiling for half an hour; when, if perfectly bright, it must be strained through a cloth or napkin into an earthen pan.

It happens sometimes, that from either the stock being very thick and dull, or more frequently through want of proper attention to the foregoing instructions, the first clarification proves insufficient to clear the stock in a satisfactory manner. This fault will be rectified by the addition of two more whites of eggs well whipped in a pint of cold water, which being well mixed in the stock, and allowed to boil for a quarter of an hour longer, will then become bright enough.