Chef Juliette
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Consommé aux Cheveux D’Ange
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 553, Consommé aux Cheveux D’Ange, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Consommé aux Cheveux d’Ange is clarity and timing in one bowl: fine vermicelli poached at the last instant in brilliant consommé, with freshly grated Parmesan passed at the table.
Soups & Stews
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
10 min
Active Time
5 min cook•15 min total
YieldAbout 2 quarts (8 first-course servings)
Consommé aux Cheveux d’Ange (clear consommé with angel-hair vermicelli) teaches a severe and useful lesson: once a broth is perfect, the garnish must not disturb it. The consommé is already the dish. The fine noodles enter only long enough to soften, then the bowls move. Let them linger and the threads swell, drink the broth, and dull its clarity.
The original entry assumed a saucier on staff and a stockpot never off the fire, so a quart of excellent boiling consommé could appear at command. For one cook, one stove, one evening, the honest equivalent is two quarts of finished consommé made ahead and reheated just before the guests sit. I have doubled the book’s three ounces of vermicelli per quart to six ounces, preserving its ratio while giving a home table eight first-course bowls. The separate service station is brigade scaffolding and can go. The brilliant consommé and last-instant poach are the dish and must stay.
Cheveux d’ange are so fine that Blanchings (No. 273) would only invite tangles and needless handling; the book expressly sends them straight into the boil. Scatter them instead of dropping a bundle, separate them once, and serve within two minutes. That is the step that matters.
Consommé aux Cheveux d’Ange belongs to the formal Parisian dinner table, where perfectly clarified consommé opened the meal with a precisely named garnish. Its fine vermicelli and accompanying Parmesan show the French canon’s easy exchange with Italian pasta traditions; contrary to the treatment given sturdier pastes, these threads were dropped in raw and poached only at service, never blanched first.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
excellent clear consommé
Quantity
8 cups (1.9 L / about 1.9 kg)
very fine dried vermicelli, cheveux d’ange
Quantity
6 ounces (170 g / about 4 loose cups), used directly without Blanchings (No. 273)
Parmesan cheese
Quantity
1 cup (100 g / 3.5 oz)
freshly and finely grated
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| excellent clear consommé | 8 cups (1.9 L / about 1.9 kg) |
| very fine dried vermicelli, cheveux d’ange | 6 ounces (170 g / about 4 loose cups), used directly without Blanchings (No. 273) |
| Parmesan cheesefreshly and finely grated | 1 cup (100 g / 3.5 oz) |
Equipment Needed
- •4-quart saucepan
- •Fine Parmesan grater
- •Soup ladle
- •Warmed soup bowls
Instructions
- 1
Arrange the service
Grate the Parmesan finely and place it in a small serving bowl. Measure the cheveux d’ange, warm the soup bowls, and set the ladle beside the stove. Once the vermicelli enters the consommé, there is no useful holding time, so the table must be ready before the saucepan boils.
- 2
Heat the consommé
Pour the finished consommé into a 4-quart saucepan and bring it to a clear, decisive boil over medium-high heat. Taste it hot. Its seasoning should already be complete, because the vermicelli softens the broth’s impression without adding flavor of its own. If a little surface fat or protein appears, skim it gently rather than stirring it back into the liquid.
- 3
Poach the cheveux d’ange
Scatter the cheveux d’ange over the whole surface in a thin rain, then pass a fork gently through the consommé once to separate the threads. Do not perform Blanchings (No. 273); these fine vermicelli go directly into the boiling consommé and need only 30 to 60 seconds to poach. If they gather into a knot, don’t beat the broth. Ça se rattrape: lift the knot with two forks, tease the strands apart above the saucepan, and lower them back into the liquid.
The vermicelli is ready when a strand bends freely and has lost its dry center but still feels distinct under the teeth. Waiting for conventional pasta tenderness takes it too far. - 4
Ladle without delay
The instant the strands are poached, take the saucepan off the heat and ladle the consommé into the warm bowls, dividing the vermicelli evenly. Carry it straight to the table with the freshly grated Parmesan passed separately, so each guest adds a little without clouding the serving pot. À table!
Chef Tips
- •The consommé must be genuinely finished before this recipe begins: brilliantly clear and strong enough to remain itself after the pasta enters. Ordinary broth with noodles may be pleasant, but it is not this dish.
- •Choose the finest dried vermicelli you can find. Thick angel-hair pasta needs longer cooking, releases more starch, and turns a lucid consommé cloudy before its center softens.
- •Warm bowls matter here. Cold porcelain steals heat from such a light soup immediately, while a warm bowl gives you the brief minute needed to carry it from stove to guest.
- •Pass the Parmesan rather than stirring it into the saucepan. The cheese belongs with the soup, but its richness should arrive in each bowl without muddying the consommé prepared for everyone.
Advance Preparation
- •Make and clarify the consommé up to three days ahead. Chill it promptly, lift away any set fat, and reheat it only when the table is ready.
- •Measure the vermicelli and arrange the bowls earlier in the day, but grate the Parmesan shortly before serving. Never cook the noodles ahead or hold them in the broth; they continue swelling and erase the clarity that defines the dish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 260g)
Calories
160 calories
Total Fat
4 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
1000 mg
Total Carbohydrates
17 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
12 g
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