How to make a traditional consomme

Content

Ingredients
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Stage 1: Making the broth
Method 2 of 4: Stage 2: Purification of the broth
Method 3 of 4: Stage 3: Ice Filtration
Method 4 of 4:: Stage 4: Serve the consommé
Tips
Warnings
What do you need

Consommé soup is a refined broth with a wide variety of flavors and styles. Few people prepare consommé soups today, as the preparation of this dish requires a lot of patience and easily succumbs to the modern temptations to open a tin can or bag of convenience foods.

But with a resurgence of interest in cooking, the consommé is back in vogue. Fortunately, ice filtration is quick to tackle this old-fashioned delicacy, and you'll find that the canned food tastes far from the real food you can now make at home.

Ingredients

Portions: This is a traditional consommé that is prepared for four people from scratch

1 liter of clear broth. Usually fatty chicken or beef is used
1 large carrot, onion and a packet of celery, chop everything
2 peppercorns and 1 clove
2 tomatoes, peel and seed, chop
Side dishes as desired: Cut vegetables such as carrots, onions, mushrooms, zucchini and turnips into neat strips (approx. 50 g per serving), parsley or other herb leaves, especially small herbs; cut the bread into neat pieces and fry, etc.

Steps

1 Note that this article focuses on ways to make your consommé work faster. For example, steps that cover both simmering or pressure cooker and ice filtration to make this endless dish less complicated
2 Be aware that many chefs strive to make the soup as clear as possible. There are various complex methods to achieve this goal, in which you will have to take risks at some points. Making the soup crystal clear is a classic, delicious and very impressive dish worth making for the experience.

Method 1 of 4: Stage 1: Making the broth

1 Decide if you want to make your own stock if you don't use one that is already cooked. According to this recipe, it can be prepared in 1 or 2 days, and at home. The next step is related to the recipe, which explains how to make your own broth from scratch.
- If you are using quality pre-cooked broth from a tetra-pack or can, skip the next step and go to step 8, which talks about reheating the broth. But this will not always make it as transparent and tasty as a homemade consommé, unless of course you find a package with a quality consommé. Anyone trained in cooking will always be able to tell the difference between pre-cooked broth and tetra-pak, so be very selective in which one you use.

Make seafood broth, chicken broth, or bright brown beef broth according to your recipe, or look for another recipe. When making beef broth, ask your butcher to set aside bones with a few cartilages and buy an additional 500 grams of drumstick meat (per liter) to make the broth. You can buy both types of meat at a low price from the butcher. Roast the drumstick meat along with the bones as indicated in the recipe, as this will add richness and flavor. The longer you cook the broth, the more moisture will evaporate from it, leaving a richer soup. The downside to flavoring the soup is that the flavor is often lost with steam, while spices and herbs leave a bitter or unpleasant taste. Rich broths that have been cooked over time have traditionally been served with rich flavored side dishes to re-enhance the flavor, but this was a tedious operation that did not always work well. Lighter broths that take less time to cook tend to have a more sophisticated flavor. They were also more palatable in a refined or subtle tasting context. In the past, as today, the broth took less time to cook, but with the addition of more grilled drumstick meat for a more concentrated flavor. The herbs you use for the side dish bouquet should contain parsley, bay leaf, and thyme (if you haven't already prepared one). Add additional vegetables (no garnishes optional), spices, and tomatoes to the hot broth and let sit (like making tea) for 1 hour. Keep the broth hot, but do not bring it to a boil. Slow cooking on a low heat is a great way to save time and effort. It is important that the consommé does not boil, keep it below the boiling point, preferably around 80 ͦC / 176 ͦF. Pressure cookers are not ideal for making a traditional consommé as they boil quickly and turn vegetables into a smooth porridge. However, you can save a lot of time and go to the ice filtration method below and get a decent product.The temperature spray is a very useful tool when cooking on a conventional oven. Other options that you can use to replace the sprayer or copy its actions include: 1. Place the pot on the wok support ring, 2. Using a steam bath (steamer) or steam bath and letting the ingredients submerge. This is a rather old-fashioned method, but this is where the name "strong broth" comes from.

1 Stir the broth as little as possible when cooking on the stove top or when cooking slowly. Stirring helps to saturate the aroma, but can make it cloudy. If you could completely avoid stirring, this would make the following steps easier, as it allows more sediment to settle and not interfere with the broth.

But if you want to interfere, then use the whisk only in liquid, without breaking or disturbing the ingredients of the broth. Don't boil it to make sure it stays as clear as possible.

Method 2 of 4: Stage 2: Purification of the broth

Allow the broth to cool OR go to the ice cold alternative method described below. Putting broth in the refrigerator is also a good way to chill it, but make sure it does not interact with other foods in the refrigerator that also need refrigeration, and the broth should be kept away from them. Allow the broth to cool and settle at the same time until the surface is clear. If you didn’t break the sediment in the pan by stirring, it shouldn’t take long. When it gets room temperature or cold, carefully pour the clear liquid into a jug or clean saucepan without disturbing the sediment. Freeze until all the fat has turned into hard lumps. Do not rush to start the filtration stage; it will be easier if you do this in batches, allowing the traditional broth to settle further. Remove as much fat as possible. If possible, remove all the fat in one plate if you're lucky, as this will make the task easier than wasting time scooping it up. It is advisable to remove as much fat as possible so you get a clean taste when you taste the soup. The broth can also turn into a weak jelly (due to the gelatinous proteins in meat and bones). This can all be prepared in advance, a day earlier, and the broth can be gently cooked in the background as you cook other food. Using a slow cooker will provide a greater convenience factor; if done correctly, you will get a clear, rich color. If not, it will still taste fantastic, but you can still use the ice filtration method.

Method 3 of 4: Stage 3: Ice Filtration

1 Pour your stock into a freezer storage container or an ice cube freezer with a nice lid. Try to keep the broth particles in the pot, but this is not a problem if they get into the dishes - they will still freeze to a solid state.

The purpose of the lid is to make sure that the flavor will freeze with the broth and know that it will not absorb the flavors of other nearby foods (such as ice cream).
2 Place in a perforated tray, flat colander, wire rack, or other drainage container that has a flat base with gauze or clean tea towel / tea towel, finely woven. Ideally, the utensil in which you freeze the broth should fit in a sieve or perforated flat tray. Then place this tray in another dish with drainage at the bottom.

The dishes under the sieve or tray should be wide and deep enough to collect all the liquid without leaking.

Remove your broth ice block from the bowl it was in and place it on a flat drainage tray or sieve.Cover with cling film and set aside - preferably in the refrigerator overnight if you have time. Let the block melt and the broth clears up, leaving ice and small particles that would cloud it in the fabric. For a richer broth, use a higher portion of white ice (large ice crystals that take the longest to melt), rather than letting them dilute with the broth. White ice has a faint aroma; this method is quite modern, but makes the liquid excellently clear. You may have already tried this scientific trick if you've ever eaten frozen jelly / popsicles on a stick and sucked out the sweet syrup when it melted, leaving a tasteless ice. You can also repeat this process to get more and more concentrated syrup. You can freeze them in cubes for long-term storage to add to a cup of hot water for a quick and tasty snack, or for someone who is sick and cannot eat solid foods. You can also use gelatin to hold the broth together by dissolving it in a large bowl of hot water.

1 Heat broth gently to serve. This method doesn't actually require a lot of effort - just leave it to melt, purists think the richer traditional consommé is the best product.

Method 4 of 4:: Stage 4: Serve the consommé

1 Heat broth gently to serve (not boil) and taste with seasoning. It is liquefied, but you may need to add a little salt, adding chopped pepper will make it cloudy, so peppercorns were added earlier. Lay out your side dishes before serving. Chop the vegetables as gently as possible, or use the machine to do this, then boil them, sauté them, or steam them gently until tender.

Pre-cooked broths tend to be seasoned before they are sold and will need to be seasoned a little, although a little spice and lemon can be beneficial.

There are a wide variety of utensils in which to serve consommé, such as short kirsch aperitif glasses, champagne or brandy goblets for more formal elegance, or crisp white plates to let light through for a traditional touch. Meals should be reheated before use and side dishes should be added at the last minute before you enjoy your work.

You can also serve it frozen as a jelly in warmer weather using gelatin or agar. Garnishes should be immersed in frozen water until crisp and / or a small amount of fresh, sliced salad greens (such as chervil, mint, chives, or other soft leaves) or lemon wedges.
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Tips

Looking at how to make the broth, the soup recipe is pretty simple, it just takes a little time to cook it, so it's best to prepare it ahead of time, in the background. Your anxiety can make soup more difficult for you than it actually is.
A trifle: To make the soup as clear as possible, some traditional recipes go a step further by using thickly beaten egg white and adding it to the broth to filter out more particles. The proteins are driven into cold broth, which is then heated. As the protein is boiled, it "captures" additional particles and lifts them to the surface, from which it is lifted away and thrown away. If you want to do this, use 3 egg whites per liter and let the eggs simmer for at least 10 minutes (not boiling again), then remove and strain the broth. The benefit is a cleaner broth, but imagine the loss of flavor the eggs will take in and the egg flavor they leave behind.