Clear Beef Soup

Ingredients:

2 pounds ( 0,91 kg ) beef meat
1 pound ( 0,453 kg ) beef bones
2 quarts ( 2,27 l ) cold water
2 large carrots, scraped and cut into smaller pieces
1 parsnip, scraped and cut in strips lengthwise
1 onion peeled and cut into quarters
2 garlic cloves
1 small potato, peeled
1 small tomato cut into halves
1 small stick of celery
1 small piece of cauliflower
1 string of fresh parsley leaves
5 peppercorns
salt to taste


Preparation:
  • Rinse meat and bones quickly in a cold water. 
  • Put meat and bones into large pot, cover with  cold water, add salt, peppercorn, and bring to boil. 
  • Add prepared vegetables and reduce the flame. 
  • Simmer very slowly (do not let soup boil), until meat is tender (about 2-1/2 to 3 hours), and add a cup of cold water every 35 to 40 minutes to replace water lost by evaporation. 
  • When the meat is tender, lift meat out, with a little soup poured over the meat, and strain soup through a fine sieve or clean kitchen towel. 
  • Garnish your soup with soup garnishes. 

NOTE: In Europe beef soups are usually named after soup garnish (Noodle Beef Soup or Butter Dumplings Beef Soup etc.,). 

Tips: Keep beef meat from soup covered and hot (over steam for example). Beef from soup can be sliced and served with any kind of cooked vegetables, mashed potatoes and some hot or cold sauce.

Real Cooking
Did You Know?
The quantity of food required to maintain the body in a vigorous condition depends upon the following conditions:
(1) Climate and season,
(2) clothing,
(3) occupation,
(4) age and sex.
In civilized countries more food is eaten, as a rule, than is necessary to maintain health and strength. Climate and seasons influence the quantity of food eaten.

A cold, bracing atmosphere stimulates the appetite, tempts one to exercise, while a hot climate has the contrary effect; hence the need for more or less food.

Abundant clothing in cold weather conserves the body heat; less food is therefore required to maintain life.

Exercise and muscular work cause greater oxidation in the tissues and greater waste of the muscles; this must be replaced by proper food. Outdoor work requires more food than indoor, and physical labor more than mental.

It has been estimated "that a child of ten years requires half as much food as a grown woman, and one of fourteen an equal amount. The rapidly growing active boy often eats as much as a man, and the middle-aged man requires more than the aged. A man of seventy years may preserve health on a quantity which would soon starve his grandson."