Consommé Divette

Consommé Divette (a clear broth garnished with crayfish custard, smelt dumpling pearls, and black truffle) teaches the sternest lesson in the clear-soup family: the broth must be brilliant before a single garnish enters it. Royale is the delicate savory custard, and quenelles are the little forcemeat dumplings. Neither can distract from a cloudy foundation. Clarify cold, let the raft form slowly, and strain without pressing.

The original assumed a stockpot never off the fire, a saucier making crayfish velouté, and another pair of hands shaping pearls. At home, begin with rich stock made earlier, clarify it in one pot, and prepare the garnishes while it settles. Two small ramekins replace the tapered baba-moulds without changing the custard. The book's one quart, two royales, eighteen quenelles, and tablespoon of truffle divide perfectly into six small courses, so those proportions remain intact. The brigade's separate vats and hands are scaffolding and can go. The clarification and all three garnishes are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

When Consommé Divette is right, amber broth reveals everything beneath it: coral-ivory ovals of royale, pale smelt pearls, and points of black truffle. It is intricate, but it isn't fussy. Once the clarification raft rises, keep the broth at a bare tremble and do not touch it. That is the step that decides the dish.