Colorings for Soup

Colorings for Soup

Having given the recipes for the "mother soups," which are the bases of all soups, a word must be said about colorings for soup. While colorings have been extensively used in New Orleans, the good old Creoles long ago found out that coloring matter, whether in liquid form or in balls or tablets, detracted from the good flavor of the soup, and that a properly made soup needed no coloring. The good Bouillon has a color peculiar to itself—a reddish yellow, which comes from the juice of the meat. The absence of natural color in the soup indicates that too small an amount or a poor quality of meat has been used in proportion to the water, or there has been a too rapid process of boiling. Still if colorings are desired the following recipe, which is free from deleterious compounds, has long been used by the Creoles for coloring gravies and may be used with good effect in soups.  It is called by the Creoles

Caramel

Take about a half pint of brown sugar, put in a pan on a slow fire and let it burn or parch,  slowly stirring all the time.  When it turns dark brown, add two pints of water, stir well and then bottle.   Put it away and use a few drops at a time to color and thicken gravies and soup broths.  Or take a large raw onion skin and all and thrust into the burning coals. When it begins to brown well, take out of the coals, dust off all the ashes and throw into the soup or gravy.  This will give all the coloring that is needed.