Soup & sayings

I'm in the midst of making soup for dinner. It's another recipe from the "Olio" cookbook. I'm thinking of adapting it a bit. The beef, carrots, onions, herbs & spices are all simmering away now. The recipe suggests I cook it for 9 hours, then strain it. I'm thinking of doing it for just 3 hours & not straining it. Nine hours cooking to my mind is only feasible if you're using an Aga or a live fire. I hate to think what the fuel bill would be using gas or electricity for so long. I can also see that if you've cooked the meat & veg for nine hours it would be pretty tasteless. All the flavour & texture would be in the liquor & so you might as well strain the meat & veg out. To me, that's a waste of good meat & veg. Three hours is about the time I would simmer shin of beef if I was making a stew. And to my mind, this soup ought to be a more liquid form of stew. Anyhow I'm going to see how it tastes after three hours & decide then.

Meanwhile I'm pondering the meanings of the sayings at the bottom of the page. On the soup page is "Observation is the best teacher". I'm left wondering what I should be observing, let alone learning.

On the facing page it says "Sloth is the key to poverty". I can't help thinking poverty can be the result of so many causes - old age, poor health, poor education, bad luck, all of which of have little to do with sloth. To me it sounds like a very puritanical, rather Victorian view of the world, a world in which there is little sympathy for the problems of others. The poor are often not the lazy. Indeed often they are the people who work the hardest, for long hours & little pay.