The title of this soup from 1913 made me smile. Is the soup excellent or the family?
The soup relies on extracting the flavour from the meat and vegetables which are then discarded (or used elsewhere) and the remaining liquor is thickened before serving. It involves the use of 3½ quarts (or seven pints) of water – a very big pan is necessary – and a comparatively small amount of other ingredients.
This soup uses sago for thickening. Some people may remember sago pudding , which was a popular milk pudding for children in the middle of the twentieth century. Children who didn’t like sago (and its near-relation tapioca) said it resembled frogspawn.
Shin of beef is from the upper part of the foreleg.
The final flavourings of mace (which is a spice, and comes from the lacy covering of nutmegs ) and cayenne pepper, which is red and fiery, is a bit unexpected and exciting!
[HP]
