about two quarts of _first stock_, or better put it into an oven, and suffer it to stew, till the liquid assumes a light brown colour. When this has taken place, add to the mass six quarts of boiling water, suffer it to boil up gently, and remove the scum as it rises; and suffer it to evaporate till reduced to about three quarts, then strain it through a sieve, and clarify it as before directed. OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHOICE OF MEAT. The flesh of animals which are suddenly killed when in high health, so far as the palate is concerned, is not yet fit for the table, although fully nutritious and in perfection for making soup; because sometime after the death, the muscular parts suffer contraction--their fibres become rigid. When this has taken place, the flesh is not long in experiencing the commencement of those chemical changes which terminate in putrefaction; and it is of the utmost importance, in domestic economy, to take care that all large joints of meat be in this intermediate state when they are cooked: for no skill in the culinary art will compensate for negligence in this point, as every one must have often experienced to his great disappointment. The degree of inteneration may be known by the flesh yielding readily to the pressure of the finger, and by its opposing little resistance to an attempt to bend the joint. Poultry also thus part readily with their feathers; and it would be advisable to leave a few when the bird is plucked, in order to assist in determining their state. The following wholesome advice on this subject we copy from Doctor Kitchiner:[30]--“_When you order meat, poultry, or fish, tell the tradesman when you intend to dress it_, and he will then have it in his power to serve you with provision that will do him credit, which the finest meat, &c. in the world, will never do, unless it has been kept a proper time to be ripe and tender. If you have a well-ventilated larder, in a shady, dry situation, you may make still surer, by ordering in your meat and poultry, such a time before you want it as will render it tender, which the finest meat cannot be, unless hung a proper time, according to the season and nature of the meat, &c. but always till it has made some very slight advance towards putrefaction.” [30] The Cook’s Oracle. _Ox-beef_--when of a young animal, has a shining oily smoothness, a fine open grain, and dark florid red colour. The fat is splendish yellowish white. If the animal has been fed upon oil cakes, the fat has a golden yellow colour. _Cow-Beef_--is closer in the grain than ox-beef, but the muscular parts are not of so bright a red colour. In old meat there is a streak of cartilage or bone in the ribs, called by butchers, _the crush-bone_; the harder this is, the older has been the animal.