Evening star., 1944-12-13
Readers Clearing House

from the slices, forms the basis of
my stew.
make no effort to eliminate
fat or gristle at this stage-all goes
into the saucepan and is covered
with the water drained from boiled
vegetables, which I have collected
in a covered jar in the refrigerator.
In the final results the stew is en-
tirely greaseless. All kinds of vege-
table water may be used, including
especially the water in which pota-
toes have been boiled, but water IN
which members of the cabbage fam
lily, including broccoli, have been
cooked, must be used with discre-
ton lest the favor overpoWer that
of the other vegetables. Using vege-
table water instead of plain water
adds greatly. to the goodness of the
stew in both flavor and nutritive
value.
The bone is simmered until
the meat clinging to it may be
lifted off without effort. l now
strain off the broth and leave it
to get cold, usually overnight. When
it is taken from the refrigerator the
grease has risen to the surface and
hardened and is removed for frying
or added to the contents of the
waste grease can for The war effort
and the broth underneath is a solid
jelly with strong meat flavor, in
spite OF the fact that it was made
from previously roasted meat and
bones.
If the broth has remained
liquid it only means that too much
water was used and it may be al
lowed to boil down The meat Is
now removed from the bone and
all the fat and gristle is discarded.
This latter task is difficult and in
evitably wasteful in the case of raw
meat, is easily accomplished after
the stewing and it is surprising how
much lean meat is obtainable from
the bone and trimmings since every
fiher is available. If it has seemed
that the quantity of meat on the
bone was not enough for really
meaty stew l have added freshly
bought stewing meat before the
simmering, but this is rarely needed.
I next examine the icebox for
small amounts of leftover cooked
vegetables and put all that are
found into the broth. Small left
overs of fried or creamed potatoes
or of any dish topped. with buttered
crumbs with cheese, such as seal
loped eggplant or macaroni or spha-
ghetti baked with tomato and
cheese, are prizes when a stew is
in the making-they give richness
and favor as we'll as thickening
Onions, celery and carrots are
"musts" for a stew and the last
named can well be used in larger
quantity than any other one vege-
table.
In my own opinion nothing
adds so delightful touch to a stew
as small amount of parsnip-not
more than a third of the quantity
of carrot used-cut in small pieces.
One does not actually taste the
parsnip favor, but it gives a bou-
quet to the broth. A little tomato,
in some form. is also valuable
addition. If one likes holiness shake
in a good dash of chilli powder. The
cooked meat is added the last thing,
after the raw vegetables are cooked.
to avoid its breaking up into small
fragments One secret of an ap-
petizing stew is that while some of
the ingredients are cut fine, so that
their presence is recognizable only
by their favor, others appear as
large slices or strips. A stew is like
a salad in that it Is susceptible of
infinite variety and offers an at
tractive field to the cook. who likes
to try out new combinations.