Consommé Demidoff

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small food processor with a sharp blade
• •6 mm Parisienne scoop or smallest melon baller
• •Two teaspoons or demitasse spoons for shaping quenelles
• •2-quart saucepan for sequential garnish cooking
• •3-quart saucepan for heating the consommé
• •Fine-mesh sieve lined with damp cheesecloth
• •Slotted spoon
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •3-quart soup tureen

Instructions

1. 1

   Blend the forcemeat

   Chill the food-processor bowl and blade for 10 minutes. Process the cold chicken with ½ teaspoon of the salt until it becomes a very fine, sticky paste, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the egg white and white pepper, then process until completely incorporated. With the motor running, pour in the cream in a thin thread, holding back 1 tablespoon. The forcemeat should stay cold, smooth, and glossy. If it turns grainy or beads of cream appear at the edge, stop. Ça se rattrape: set the bowl over ice for 10 minutes, then pulse in the reserved cold cream a teaspoon at a time until the emulsion comes together. Pulse in the chopped chervil and parsley, cover, and chill for 20 minutes.

   Temperature decides this forcemeat. Warm chicken releases its fat and refuses the cream, so chill the meat, bowl, blade, egg white, and cream before beginning.
2. 2

   Poach tiny quenelles

   Bring 6 cups of water seasoned with ¾ teaspoon salt to 175 to 180°F (80 to 82°C), a surface that barely trembles. Dip two teaspoons in the water and use them to shape one tester quenelle of about 2 teaspoons (10 ml). Poach it for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until firm but springy and 165°F (74°C) at the center. Taste it and adjust the forcemeat seasoning if needed. Shape and poach the remaining mixture in batches of eight, making about 32 to 36 small quenelles. If the water begins to boil, lift the pan from the heat and add a splash of cold water before continuing; hard boiling roughens the surface and tightens the chicken. Lift each batch out with a slotted spoon and drain on a clean tray.

3. 3

   Cut the pearls

   Use a 6 mm Parisienne scoop, the small modern melon baller that replaces the book's spoon-cutter, to cut 2 tablespoons each of carrot and turnip pearls. Work from the thickest part of each vegetable and reserve every scrap for stock. Cut 2 tablespoons of pearls from the black truffle where its shape permits. An irregular home-sized truffle will not surrender perfect spheres without absurd waste, so round the remaining 6 mm pieces neatly and reserve the trimmings; this preserves the source's quantity, scale, and dark truffle bite.

4. 4

   Cook garnishes separately

   Prepare a bowl of ice water. Bring a saucepan of fresh water seasoned with ¾ teaspoon salt to a gentle simmer. Cook the turnip pearls first for 2 to 3 minutes, just until a knife enters with faint resistance, then transfer them to the ice water. Use the same pan for the carrot pearls, giving them 3 to 4 minutes, and finish with the peas, 1 to 2 minutes for fresh peas or about 45 seconds for frozen. Chill each garnish promptly, then drain them separately and blot them dry. If a pearl's edge begins to feather, cool it immediately and replace only the collapsed pieces from the reserved scraps. Several brigade pans are unnecessary; separate timing is what matters.

   The vegetables should be tender enough to eat with a spoon but firm enough to remain round when the hot consommé reaches them.
5. 5

   Heat the consommé

   Pass the prepared chicken consommé through a damp, fine cloth into a clean saucepan if it carries any sediment. Taste it cold enough to judge the salt, then heat it without disturbing the bottom of the pan. When every garnish is ready and the table is set, bring the consommé to one clean boil. If fine particles or fat flecks rise, remove the pan from the heat, let it settle for 2 minutes, skim carefully, and strain again without pressing the cloth. Never simmer the garnish in this broth; clarity is the dish.

6. 6

   Fill the tureen

   Warm a 3-quart soup tureen with hot water, then empty and dry it. If the quenelles were prepared ahead, lower them into barely simmering salted water for 1 minute and drain them thoroughly. Put the carrot pearls, turnip pearls, black-truffle pearls, peas, and quenelles into the warm tureen. Pour the boiling chicken consommé over the garnish, then scatter in the chervil pluches. Ladle it immediately, making certain every bowl receives a little of each garnish. À table!

Chef Tips

• •This entry begins with finished chicken consommé because that is exactly what the classical formula assumes. Consommé means clarified, concentrated broth, not ordinary chicken stock; a cloudy stock may taste splendid, but it cannot give this dish its defining brilliance.
• •Use actual black truffle. Fresh black truffle is magnificent in season, while a good whole preserved truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer at other times. Truffle oil cannot provide the required pearls and overwhelms a clear broth.
• •Frozen peas picked at their peak are preferable to tired fresh ones. Blanch them only long enough to heat the center and fix their bright green color, then cool and drain them promptly.
• •The vegetable and truffle scraps are not waste. Add the carrot and turnip pieces to the next stockpot, and fold the truffle trimmings into real butter for eggs or toast.

Advance Preparation

• •The finished chicken consommé may be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for several weeks. Chill it promptly in a shallow container, then lift off any settled fat before reheating.
• •Poach the chicken quenelles one day ahead, cool them within two hours, and refrigerate them covered. Rewarm them briefly in barely simmering salted water so they do not cloud the serving broth.
• •The carrot and turnip pearls and peas may be cooked earlier the same day. Keep each garnish drained and covered in its own container; cut the truffle and prepare the chervil pluches close to serving.
• •Never assemble the tureen ahead. The boiling consommé meets the dry garnish only when the guests are ready, or the vegetables soften and the chervil loses its fragrance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 295g)