Consommebody please help this chef before they get the guillotine
It looks like posh water, but every spoonful tastes like a whole roast dinner. First you make a deep, gelatinous stock, then you let a floating raft of egg white and mince quietly filter it to glass-like clarity. The hardest part is keeping your hands off the pot.
The challenge
- Making rich stock base
- Creating stable egg white raft
- Precise temperature control
- Achieving crystal clarity
- Straining without breaking raft
French culinary school torture disguised as simple broth. You're starting with hours of rich stock-making, then clarifying it to absolute crystal transparency using a "raft" of egg whites, ground meat, mirepoix, and tomatoes.
After hours of vigilant heat management, you punch a hole in the raft and ladle the consommé through cheesecloth without disturbing anything. The final result should be so clear you can read through it, with intense, concentrated flavor. One mistake at any stage and you've got expensive cloudy soup that looks like you failed cooking school.
Prep: 45 minutes · Cook: 6 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the brown beef stock
- 2 kg (4.4 lb) beef shin bones and oxtail
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) chicken wings
- 2 onions, halved (skin on)
- 2 carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay, parsley stalks)
- 10 black peppercorns
For the clarification raft
- 400 g (14 oz) very lean minced (ground) beef
- 4 egg whites
- 1 small carrot, finely chopped
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 small leek (white part), finely chopped
- 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
- Small handful of ice cubes
To serve
- Sea salt
- 1 tbsp dry sherry or Madeira (optional)
- Brunoise of carrot and leek, blanched
- Chervil or flat-leaf parsley leaves
Method
- Roast the bonesHeat the oven to 220°C (430°F). Spread the bones, oxtail and wings in a roasting tin and roast 40 minutes, turning once, until deep brown. Add the onions, carrots and celery, smear with tomato paste and roast another 15 minutes. Brown, not burnt: burnt bits make bitter stock.
- Make the stockTip everything into a large stockpot. Deglaze the tin with a splash of water, scraping up the brown bits, and add to the pot. Cover with 5 litres (5.3 qt) cold water, add the bouquet garni and peppercorns, and bring slowly to a bare simmer. Skim off all the scum.
- Simmer gentlyKeep the stock at a lazy simmer, around 85–90°C (185–195°F), with just a bubble breaking the surface now and then, for 4–5 hours. Never boil it: boiling emulsifies fat and makes cloudiness you'll never get out. Skim every 30 minutes.
- Strain and chillStrain through a fine sieve without pressing. You want about 2.5 litres (2.6 qt). Cool, then refrigerate until fully cold (overnight is ideal) and lift off every bit of the set fat.
- Build the raftIn a bowl, mix the mince, egg whites, chopped vegetables, tomatoes and ice cubes into a sticky paste. The ice keeps the proteins cold so they coagulate slowly and trap more impurities.
- Combine coldPut the cold, defatted stock in a tall, narrow, heavy pot and whisk in the raft mixture thoroughly. Everything must start cold.
- Heat slowly and stirSet over medium-low heat. Stir gently every minute or so, scraping the bottom, until the mixture reaches about 50°C (120°F) and the proteins start to cloud and float. Stop stirring completely at that point.
- Let the raft formAs it nears a simmer the raft will rise and set into a crust on top. Turn the heat right down so it barely trembles, around 85°C (185°F). Gently poke a hole about 5 cm (2 in) wide near the edge with a ladle so the liquid can bubble up through it and baste the raft. Leave untouched for 1 hour.
- Strain through the holeLine a sieve with 4 layers of damp muslin (cheesecloth) set over a clean pot. Ladle the consommé out through the hole in the raft, slowly and gently, without breaking the crust. Tip the pot as you get low rather than pressing on the raft.
- Season and serveBlot any fat spots off the surface with strips of kitchen paper. Reheat gently, season with salt and add sherry if using. Ladle into warm bowls over a spoonful of blanched brunoise and a few chervil leaves.
- The window testHold a bowl up to the light. If you can read a newspaper through it, you've won and your head stays firmly on your shoulders. If it's cloudy, blame the egg whites and don't make eye contact with anyone French.
Tips from the trenches
- Boiling is the enemy at every stage. Use a thermometer and keep the stock below 90°C (195°F).
- Start the clarification with completely cold, fat-free stock. Any fat floating on top will cloud the final soup.
- Once the raft forms, hands off. Stirring or breaking it releases all the trapped impurities back in.
- Still a bit hazy? Pass it once more through fresh, damp muslin. It won't fix a boiled stock, but it will polish a nearly-there one.
“I watch cooking change the cook, just as it transforms the food.”— Laura Esquivel
