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📝 Description
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🥘 Ingredients
6 lbs. of shin of beef, a knuckle of veal weighing 5 lbs., a few pieces or trimmings, 2 slices of nicely-flavoured lean, ham; 1/4 lb. of butter, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 1 turnip, nearly a head of celery, 1 blade of mace, 6 cloves, a hunch of savoury herb with endive, seasoning of salt and pepper to taste, 3 lumps of sugar, 5 quarts of boiling soft water. It can be flavoured with ketchup, Leamington sauce (_see_ SAUCES), Harvey's sauce, and a little soy.
👨🍳 Method
Slightly brown the meat and ham in the butter, but do not let them burn. When this is done, pour to it the water, and as the scum rises, take it off; when no more appears, add all the other ingredients, and let the soup simmer slowly by the fire for 6 hours without stirring it any more from the bottom; take it off, and let it settle; skim off all the fat you can, and pass it through a tammy. When perfectly cold, you can remove all the fat, and leave the sediment untouched, which serves very nicely for thick gravies, hashes, &c.
📜 From Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861). Public domain.
⭐ Reader Reviews
Honest opinions from readers who have explored this book.
I tried Mrs. Beeton's Gravy Soup this week, drawn to its promise of deep, complex flavors born from hours of slow cooking. I found the process of browning the meats and aromatics in butter to be a delightful start, setting the stage for the long, slow simmer that followed. The real revelation came when I skimmed the fat after the soup had cooled—it was like lifting a blanket of pure, golden goodness, leaving behind a rich, concentrated broth. This recipe is a labor of love, best suited for the weekend cook who enjoys the ritual of slow food. The resulting gravy soup is a umami bomb, perfect for sipping on a chilly evening or using as a base for hearty stews. I ended up with enough sediment to make a generous batch of thick gravy, a pleasant surprise that made the effort worthwhile. The next time I make this, I'll be sure to have some crusty bread on hand to soak up every last drop.
