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A guide to modern cookery by A. Escoffier

2. Thick soups, which comprise the Purées, Veloutés, and Creams.

926 words  |  Chapter 102

A third class, which is independent of either of the above, inasmuch as it forms part of plain, household cookery, embraces vegetable soups and Garbures or _gratined_ soups. But in important dinners—by this I mean rich dinners—only the first two classes are recognised. When a menu contains two soups, one must be clear and the other thick. If only one is to be served, it may be either clear or thick, in which case the two kinds are represented alternately at different meals. In Part I. of this work I indicated the general mode of procedure for consommés and thick soups; I explained how the latter might be converted from plain purées into veloutés or creams, or from veloutés into creams; and all that now remains is to reveal the recipes proper to each of those soups. _Remarks._—In the course of the recipes for consommés, given hereafter, the use of Royales (Nos. 206 to 213) and of Quenelles, variously prepared (Nos. 193 to 195 and 205), will often be enjoined. For the preparation of these garnishes, therefore, the reader will have to refer to the numbers indicated. The quantities for the clear soups that follow are all calculated to be sufficient for a standard number of six people, and the quantity of Royales is always given in so many _dariole-moulds_, which contain about one-eighth pint, or _baba-moulds_, which hold about one-fifth pint. Of course, it will be understood that the poaching need not necessarily have been effected in these moulds, for very small “Charlotte” moulds would do quite as well. But I had recourse to the particular utensils mentioned above, in order that there might be no sort of doubt as to the exact quantity of royale it would be necessary to prepare for any one of the soups. =Clear Soups and Garnished Consommés= 539—CONSOMMÉ ALEXANDRA Have a quart of excellent chicken consommé ready; add thereto, in order to thicken it slightly, three tablespoonfuls of poached tapioca, strained through muslin, and very clear. Put the following garnish into the soup-tureen: One tablespoonful of white chicken-meat cut in fine _julienne-fashion_, one tablespoonful of small chicken quenelles, grooved and long in shape, and one tablespoonful of lettuce _chiffonade_. Pour the boiling consommé upon this garnish, and send to the table immediately. 540—CONSOMMÉ AMBASSADRICE Have one quart of chicken consommé ready; also there should have been prepared beforehand, with the view of using them quite cold, three different kinds of royales, consisting respectively of truffle purée, tomato purée, and purée of peas, each of which should have been poached in a _dariole-mould_. Cut these royales up into regular dice, and put them in the soup-tureen with one tablespoonful of chicken fillet and an equal quantity of small, freshly-cooked mushrooms, finely minced. Pour the boiling consommé over these garnishes, and serve at once. 541—CONSOMMÉ ANDALOUSE Prepare a _baba-mould_ of royale made from tomato purée. When quite cold, cut it into dice, and put these in the soup-tureen with one small tablespoonful of cooked ham cut in _julienne-fashion_, one tablespoonful of boiled rice, with every grain distinct and separate, and two tablespoonfuls of threaded eggs (No. 217). When about to serve, pour one quart of very clear chicken consommé over the garnish. 542—CONSOMMÉ D’ARENBERG With a small spoon-cutter, pick out a spoonful of carrot pearls and the same quantity of turnip pearls. Cook these vegetables by boiling them in consommé, taking care that the latter be reduced to a glaze when the vegetables are cooked. With the same spoon take the same quantity as above of very black truffle; also prepare a _dariole-mould_ of royale made from asparagus heads, and a dozen small chicken-forcemeat quenelles, which should be moulded to the shape of large pearls. Poach the quenelles, cut the royales up into slices, which must be stamped with an indented fancy-cutter, and put the whole into the soup-tureen with the carrots, turnips, and truffle pearls, and one tablespoonful of very green peas. Pour a quart of chicken consommé over the garnish, and send to the table at once. 543—CONSOMMÉ A LA BOHÉMIENNE Prepare three _dariole-moulds_ of foie-gras royale, and twelve _profiterolles_ (No. 218) of the size of hazel-nuts, the latter being made very crisp. When the royale is cold, cut it into little, regular squares, and put these into the soup-tureen. When about to serve, pour over this garnish a quart of chicken consommé, thickened by means of three tablespoonfuls of tapioca, poached and strained through linen. Send the _profiterolles_ to the table separately, and very hot. 544—CONSOMMÉ BOÏELDIEU Prepare eighteen chicken-forcemeat quenelles, moulded by means of a small teaspoon; some should be stuffed with foie-gras purée, moistened with a little velouté; others with chicken purée; and yet others with truffle purée—in short, six of each kind. Place these, one by one, on a buttered sauté-pan; poach them, drain them, and put them in the soup-tureen with a tablespoonful of white chicken-meat, cut into dice. When about to serve, pour one quart of chicken consommé, thickened as above with tapioca, over the garnish. 545—CONSOMMÉ BOUQUETIERE Prepare a garnish of carrots and turnips, cut with the tubular cutter or with the spoon; French beans cut into lozenges, asparagus-heads, and green peas, all of which vegetables should be fresh and young. Cook each vegetable according to its nature, and put the whole into the soup-tureen. When about to serve, pour over the garnish one quart of chicken consommé thickened with two tablespoonfuls of tapioca, poached and strained through fine linen. 546—CONSOMMÉ BOURDALOUE Prepare a _dariole-mould_ of each of the four following royales:—
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Chapters

1. Chapter 1 2. PART I 3. CHAPTER I PAGE 4. CHAPTER II 5. CHAPTER III 6. CHAPTER IV 7. CHAPTER V 8. CHAPTER VI 9. CHAPTER VII 10. CHAPTER VIII 11. CHAPTER IX 12. CHAPTER X 13. PART II 14. CHAPTER XI PAGE 15. CHAPTER XII 16. CHAPTER XIII 17. CHAPTER XIV 18. CHAPTER XV 19. CHAPTER XVI 20. CHAPTER XVII 21. CHAPTER XVIII 22. CHAPTER XIX 23. CHAPTER XX 24. CHAPTER XXI 25. CHAPTER XXII 26. CHAPTER XXIII 27. PART I 28. CHAPTER I 29. 2. The brown stock or “_estouffade_,” game stocks, the bases of 30. 5. The various essences of poultry, game, fish, &c., the complements 31. 7. The basic sauces: Espagnole, Velouté, Béchamel, Tomato, and 32. 8. The savoury jellies or aspics of old-fashioned cooking. 33. 6. The various garnishes for soups, for relevés, for entrées, &c. 34. CHAPTER II 35. 2. Be scrupulously careful of the roux, however it may be made. By 36. CHAPTER III 37. 1. After having strained the braising sauce, completely remove its 38. 2. Strain the poëling stock, for ducklings or wild ducks, through 39. 1. Heat two oz. of butter in a stewpan, and insert one lb. of raw 40. 2. Pass the sauce through a strainer, pressing the aromatics; add a 41. 2. Substitute white fish jelly for poultry jelly. 42. 1. The Soubise is rather a cullis than a sauce; _i.e._, its consistence 43. 2. The admixture of Béchamel in Soubise is preferable to that of rice, 44. 3. In accordance with the uses to which it may be put, the Soubise 45. 2. The Villeroy Tomatée may be finally seasoned with curry or paprika, 46. 1. Add one-quarter pint of fish _fumet_ to one pint of thickened 47. 2. Almost entirely reduce one-quarter pint of fish _fumet_. To this 48. 3. Put the yolks of five eggs into a small stewpan and mix them with 49. CHAPTER IV 50. 1. If the sauce forms badly, or not at all, the reason is that the 51. 2. It is quite an error to suppose that it is necessary to work over 52. 3. It is a further error to suppose that the seasoning interferes with 53. 3. Excess of oil in proportion to the number of yolks, the 54. CHAPTER V 55. 2. That it be only added to the aspic when the latter is already 56. CHAPTER VI 57. 3. To apportion the wine and water in the ratio of two-thirds 58. 1. _Court-bouillon_ must always be prepared in advance for all fish, 59. 2. When a fish is of such a size as to need more than half an 60. 3. Fish, when whole, should be immersed in cold _court-bouillon_; when 61. 4. If fish be cooked in short liquor the aromatics are put under the 62. 5. _Court-bouillon_ for ordinary and spiny lobsters should always be at 63. 6. Fish which is to be served cold, also shell-fish, should cool in the 64. CHAPTER VII 65. 2. _Acid seasonings._—Plain vinegar, or the same aromatised with 66. 3. _Hot seasonings._—Peppercorns, ground or _concassed_ pepper, or 67. 4. _Saccharine seasonings._—Sugar and honey. 68. 2. _Hot condiments._—Mustard, gherkins, capers, English sauces, such 69. 3. _Fatty substances._—Most animal fats, butter, vegetable greases 70. 1. The quantity of spiced salt varies, a few grammes either way, 71. 2. According to the purpose of the forcemeat, and with a view to 72. 3. As a rule, forcemeat should always be rubbed through a sieve so as 73. 4. Whether the foie gras be added or not, chicken forcemeat may always 74. 1. _To roll quenelles_ it is necessary to keep the forcemeat somewhat 75. 2. _To Mould Quenelles with a Spoon._—This method may be applied to all 76. 3. _To Form Quenelles with a Piping-bag._—This process is especially 77. 4. _To Mould Forcemeat with the Fingers._—This excellent process is 78. CHAPTER VIII 79. CHAPTER IX 80. CHAPTER X 81. introduction into the vocabulary of cookery is comparatively recent, 82. 1. In all circumstances, _i.e._, whatever be the nature of the soup, 83. 2. The correct consistence of the soup is got by means of milk 84. 4. They are not buttered, but they are finished with one-fifth or 85. 1. If the liquor is required to be clear it need only be strained, over 86. 2. If, on the contrary, a sauce be required, the liquor should 87. 1. Too violent evaporation, which would reduce the liquor and disturb 88. 2. The running of a considerable risk of bursting the piece of poultry, 89. 1. All red meats containing a large quantity of juice should be 90. 2. In the case of white meats, whose cooking should be thorough, the 91. 3. With small game the fuel should be wood, but whatever fuel be used 92. 1. If the objects in question are _panés à l’anglaise_, _i.e._, dipped 93. 2. The same holds with objects treated with batter. Hence the absolute 94. 1. If too much sauce were used in proportion to the size of the object, 95. 2. If the sauce used were insufficient, it would be reduced before the 96. 3. The larger the piece, and consequently the longer it takes to cook, 97. 3. The blanching of certain other vegetables, which in reality 98. PART II 99. CHAPTER XI 100. CHAPTER XII 101. CHAPTER XIII 102. 2. Thick soups, which comprise the Purées, Veloutés, and Creams. 103. 3. Of a purée of asparagus-tops combined with a few cooked spinach 104. 4. Of a carrot purée (Purée Crécy). 105. 2. Cut six rectangles out of lettuce leaves; spread a thin layer of 106. 3. Prepare two tablespoonfuls of a coarse _julienne_ of carrots and 107. 1. Make a broth of the flesh of turtle alone, and then add a very 108. 2. Make an ordinary broth of shin of beef, using the same quantity 109. 2. The flavour which typifies them should be at once decided and yet 110. 3. When the flavour is imparted by a wine, the latter should be of the 111. 4. Supper consommés never contain any garnish. 112. 2. The velouté d’éperlans should, like almost all fish veloutés, be 113. 3. For this soup I elected to use a panada as the thickening element, 114. CHAPTER XIV 115. 1. +Crayfish Mousse+ with fillets of trout, decked with crayfish tails 116. 2. +Lobster Mousse+ with fillets of trout, decked with slices of 117. 3. +Shrimp Mousse+ with fillets of trout, decked with crayfish tails 118. 4. +Capsicum Mousse+ with fillets of trout, decked with strips of 119. 5. +Physalia Mousse+ with fillets of trout, decked with chervil, 120. 6. +Green Pimentos Mousse+ with fillets of trout, decked with strips of 121. 7. +Early-season Herb Mousse+ with fillets of trout, decked with 122. 8. +Volnay Mousse+ with fillets of trout, decked with anchovy fillets, 123. 9. +Chambertin Mousse+ with fillets of trout decked like No. 8. 124. 1. Put a preparation of Duchesse potatoes in a piping-bag fitted with 125. 2. Bake some large potatoes in the oven. Open them; remove their pulp, 126. 2. A garnish consisting of twelve rolled or folded fillets of sole 127. 1. For a mould capable of holding one quart, fold twelve small fillets 128. 1. A hot ravigote sauce combined with the gravy of the lobster, from 129. 2. Strain the contents of the dripping-pan (cleared of all grease) 130. CHAPTER XV 131. 2. At either end a nice heap of potatoes, shaped like long olives, and 132. 1. With a preparation of sweet potatoes, made after the manner of 133. 2. Cut some chow-chows in thick slices, _paysanne fashion_; parboil 134. 1. About one-quarter lb. of carrots turned to the shape of elongated 135. 3. The calf’s feet cut into small, square, or rectangular pieces. 136. 2. VEAL. 137. CHAPTER XVI 138. 1. The various pheasants, grey and red partridges, the Tetras 139. 10. The ortolans. 140. CHAPTER XVII 141. 1. _Oil seasoning_ may be applied to all salads, and is made up of 142. 2. _Cream seasoning_ is particularly well suited to salads of 143. 3. _Egg seasoning_ is prepared from crushed hard-boiled yolks of egg, 144. 4. _Bacon seasoning_ is used especially for dandelion, red-cabbage, 145. 5. _Mustard with cream seasoning_ is used particularly with beetroot 146. CHAPTER XVIII 147. 2. The green, Parisian asparagus, which is very small, and of which the 148. 4. English asparagus, which is somewhat delicate in quality, but 149. 2. Flemish chicory, which is genuine endive in its primitive state, 150. 3. Brussels chicory, or the Belgian kind; obtained from cultivating the 151. 2. Red cabbages: used as a vegetable, as a hors-d’œuvre, or as a 152. 3. Round-headed or Savoy cabbages: specially suited to braising and the 153. 4. Scotch kale and spring cabbages: always prepared in the English 154. 5. Cauliflowers and broccoli: the flower of these is most commonly 155. 7. Kohlrabi: the roots of these may be dished as turnips, and the 156. CHAPTER XIX 157. 1. The simplest way is to cover the pieces of toast with a thick layer 158. 2. The original method consists in melting the dice or slices of cheese 159. CHAPTER XX 160. 1. Extract the butter-milk, which is always present in more or less 161. 2. Make it sufficiently soft to mix with the various ingredients of 162. 3. For the quantities given (No. 2373), eight oz. of fresh Gruyère, cut 163. 4. Surprise omelets. 164. CHAPTER XXI 165. CHAPTER XXII 166. CHAPTER XXIII

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