591—Consommé aux Nids d’Hirondelles

The nests used for this soup are those of the esculent swallow, and their shape somewhat resembles that of the rind of a quartered, dry orange.

In the first place, prepare a chicken consommé containing a large proportion of nutritious principles. Set three nests to soak in cold water for twenty-four hours, the object being to swell the mucilaginous elements of which they are composed and to make them transparent.

When they have soaked sufficiently remove any pieces of feather which may have remained in them, using for this purpose the point of a needle, and, when the nests are quite clean, drain them and put them into the consommé. At this stage set the consommé to boil, gently, for thirty or thirty-five minutes without interruption. During this time the gummy portions of the nests will melt into the consommé, giving the latter its characteristic viscidity, and there will only remain visible those portions which, in the natural state, constitute the framework of the nests; that is to say, little threads not unlike superfine transparent vermicelli.