Spiced Stock

This was traditional in high-level cookery in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

A few minutes before lifting the meat, pour off about a pint (6 dl.) of the stock into a small saucepan and stir into it half a teaspoon of powdered mace, ½ teaspoon turmeric, a few stamens of saffron and a little white pepper. Taste carefully, for if the beef is fresh it may want salt; if salt, this is unlikely. Stir in some orange zest and about the juice of one orange. Bring to the boil and strain: the liquid should be a clear bright golden colour.