Chef Juliette
Bouillabaisse à la Marseillaise
Marseille's great fish stew, saffron-gold and garlic-scented, proves that a hard boil can be the careful choice: it binds olive oil into broth before the whole pot meets bread.
Culinary Explorer
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Consommé à la Fermière
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 566a, Consommé à la Fermière, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Consommé à la Fermière proves that clarity is active cooking: finely cut garden vegetables softened in butter, barely simmered in pale consommé, diligently degreased, and finished with crisp slices of flute.
Soups & Stews
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
35 min
Prep Time
45 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
YieldAbout 2 quarts (8 first-course servings)
Consommé à la Fermière (clear consommé with butter-stewed garden vegetables) teaches the discipline behind every clear broth: flavor may deepen, but the liquid must never lose its brilliance. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is that a hard boil turns butter into a cloudy emulsion; keep the pot at a bare tremble and the consommé stays lucid.
The original assumed a saucier on staff, a white consommé from a stockpot never off the fire, and enough hands to cut vegetables for a full service. At home, begin with 1¾ quarts of finished white consommé and work in one saucepan; the low oven dries the flute, so no salamander is needed. I have scaled the book's proportions to a home tureen of about two quarts without changing their ratio. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The finished soup should be pale gold and transparent, with carrot, turnip, leek, onion, and cabbage suspended like small pieces of stained glass, then the dry flute softens at its edges as it reaches the table. The fine, even cut and patient degreasing are the dish; brigade choreography is scaffolding and can go. Guard the gentle simmer, skim patiently, and the rest follows.
Consommé à la Fermière belongs to the French bourgeois table and the classical dining room rather than to one claimed province; fermière signals the kitchen garden carried into a refined clear soup. The dish traveled from household vegetable pots into formal service by retaining familiar carrot, turnip, leek, onion, and cabbage while applying the exacting discipline of consommé. Its rustic name is easily misunderstood: in this formula the broth remains clear and the finish is dried French soup flute, with no celery, peas, or herb chiffonade.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small carrots
Quantity
2 (about 1 cup / 240 ml / 150 g)
peeled and minced somewhat finely
small white turnips
Quantity
2 (about 1¼ cups / 300 ml / 180 g)
peeled and minced somewhat finely
small leeks, white and pale green parts only
Quantity
4 (about 1¼ cups / 300 ml / 180 g)
washed and minced somewhat finely
medium yellow onion
Quantity
1 (about 1 cup / 240 ml / 150 g)
minced somewhat finely
unsalted butter
Quantity
6 tablespoons (⅜ cup / 90 ml / 85 g)
prepared white consommé
Quantity
1¾ quarts (1.65 L / 1.65 kg)
clear and well seasoned
green cabbage
Quantity
2¼ loosely packed cups (530 ml / 115 g)
cored and cut roughly julienne-fashion
French soup flute or slim crisp baguette
Quantity
1
cut into 16 thin slices
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small carrotspeeled and minced somewhat finely | 2 (about 1 cup / 240 ml / 150 g) |
| small white turnipspeeled and minced somewhat finely | 2 (about 1¼ cups / 300 ml / 180 g) |
| small leeks, white and pale green parts onlywashed and minced somewhat finely | 4 (about 1¼ cups / 300 ml / 180 g) |
| medium yellow onionminced somewhat finely | 1 (about 1 cup / 240 ml / 150 g) |
| unsalted butter | 6 tablespoons (⅜ cup / 90 ml / 85 g) |
| prepared white consomméclear and well seasoned | 1¾ quarts (1.65 L / 1.65 kg) |
| green cabbagecored and cut roughly julienne-fashion | 2¼ loosely packed cups (530 ml / 115 g) |
| French soup flute or slim crisp baguettecut into 16 thin slices | 1 |
Equipment Needed
- •5 to 6-quart heavy saucepan with lid
- •Sharp chef's knife and stable cutting board
- •Wide shallow spoon or fine skimmer
- •Rimmed baking sheet
- •Metal ladle
- •2½-quart soup tureen
Instructions
- 1
Dry the flute
Heat the oven to 275°F (135°C). Arrange the thin slices of French soup flute on a baking sheet and dry them for 8 to 12 minutes, turning once, until crisp at the surface but still pale. Do not toast them brown; the bread should absorb the consommé without giving it a roasted flavor. Set the slices aside.
A Flute is a long, crisp French soup roll. A slim baguette with a close crumb is its honest home equivalent. - 2
Make the fine cuts
Mince the carrot, turnip, leek, and onion into even pieces about ⅛ inch (3 mm) across. Cut the cabbage separately julienne-fashion, into match-shaped rods about ⅛ inch (3 mm) wide and 1½ inches (4 cm) long. Uniform pieces cook at the same pace and remain distinct in the clear broth; large or ragged ones turn a refined consommé into an ordinary vegetable soup.
The book's Cut means julienne-fashion, or match-shaped rods. Apply it roughly to the cabbage while keeping the other vegetables finely minced, exactly as this formula directs. - 3
Parboil the cabbage
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add the cabbage and parboil it for 2 minutes, just until pliant but nowhere near tender. Drain immediately, rinse briefly under cold water, and spread it on a clean towel to remove excess moisture. Parboiling softens the cabbage's raw edge and keeps its stronger flavor from overtaking the consommé.
- 4
Étuver the vegetables
Étuver means to stew gently in butter without browning. Dry the saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, and add the carrot, turnip, leek, and onion. Cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until their edges soften and the kitchen smells sweet, but every piece remains pale. If the butter begins to color, pull the pan off the heat and add 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) of the measured consommé. If dark flecks appear, transfer the vegetables without scraping the base into a clean saucepan; the browned milk solids must stay behind.
- 5
Moisten and simmer
Moisten the vegetables with the remaining white consommé and add the parboiled cabbage. Bring the liquid up slowly until only a few small bubbles break around the edge, then lower the heat and cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, until the vegetables are tender but retain their shapes. Stir as little as possible. A full boil disperses the butter into a cloudy emulsion; if it happens, remove the pan from the heat, leave it untouched for 5 minutes, skim as the fat rises, and return it to the gentlest heat. Ça se rattrape.
- 6
Degrease and serve
Skim the surface repeatedly with a wide spoon as the soup finishes. Let the pan stand off the heat for 3 minutes, then fill a metal ladle with ice water and sweep its rounded underside across the surface, keeping the water safely inside the ladle. Wipe and repeat until the broth carries a fine shimmer but no visible butter eyes. Warm the soup tureen with hot water, dry it, and pour in the consommé and vegetables. Add the dried flute slices at the last moment so their centers remain crisp as they reach the table. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Begin with prepared white consommé, not cloudy stock. It should already be pale, brilliant, clean-tasting, and properly seasoned; this entry is a vegetable garnish and finishing method, not a clarification formula hidden inside another recipe.
- •The prescribed garnish is carrot, turnip, leek, onion, and cabbage. Peas, celery, and chiffonade occur in other renderings, but adding them here would rewrite this specific formula rather than translate it.
- •Use ordinary green cabbage and plain yellow onion. Their firm texture and savory backbone survive the gentle simmer; tender spring leaves or sweet onions lose themselves too quickly.
- •Dry the flute without browning it. The pale crisp slices drink in the consommé at the table, while toasted bread would color both the broth and its flavor.
- •For a dinner party, serve about 1 cup per person in warmed bowls. A restrained dry white Burgundy, served cool rather than icy, will sit beside the delicate broth without bullying it.
Advance Preparation
- •Prepare the white consommé up to 2 days ahead and keep it chilled. Any remaining fat will set at the surface and lift away cleanly before the vegetables are added.
- •The finished soup can be made 1 day ahead without the flute. Cool it promptly, cover and chill it, then remove the set butter and reheat at a bare tremble so the vegetables do not break apart.
- •The flute slices can be dried up to 6 hours ahead. Let them cool completely and keep them airtight, then add them only when the soup enters the tureen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 255g)
Calories
190 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
25 mg
Sodium
830 mg
Total Carbohydrates
21 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
7 g
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