Consommé Tosca

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor with metal blade
• •Fine-mesh sieve and damp muslin or a lint-free kitchen towel
• •4-quart heavy saucepan and small saucepan
• •Two teaspoons for shaping quenelles
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •2-quart heatproof soup tureen

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the farce mousseline

   Chill the food processor bowl and blade for 10 minutes. Process the cold chicken with 3/4 teaspoon (4 g) of the salt and the white pepper until the meat becomes tacky. Add all but the reserved teaspoon of egg white and process until smooth, then add the cold cream gradually in short pulses. Stop as soon as the farce mousseline, the silky chicken forcemeat, looks glossy and cohesive. If greasy streaks appear, the mixture is warming; stop, set the bowl over ice for 10 minutes, and resume with brief pulses. Press the forcemeat through a fine-mesh sieve, work in the cold foie gras until evenly incorporated, and fold in the chopped truffle. The foie gras and truffle together weigh one-third as much as the chicken forcemeat, which preserves the source ratio. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

   Cold is part of the technique. Warm chicken and cream lose their emulsion, leaving greasy quenelles instead of tender ones, so chill the bowl again whenever it stops feeling cold beneath your hand.
2. 2

   Bind the consommé

   Bring 2 quarts of the water to a gentle boil and add the dry tapioca. Cook for 15 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pearls are transparent with no chalky centre. Drain and measure exactly 6 tablespoons of poached tapioca. Reserve 1 cup of the chicken consommé, then bring 2 cups of the remainder to a bare simmer with the tapioca. Cook gently for 8 minutes, stirring enough to release its starch, then whisk in the rest of the unreserved consommé. Pass the broth through a fine sieve lined with damp muslin or a clean lint-free towel, letting gravity do the work. Do not squeeze. If the broth looks veiled, leave it undisturbed for 5 minutes and pass it through fresh damp cloth. Ça se rattrape. Return it to a clean saucepan and add enough reserved consommé to restore the full two-quart volume, keeping 1/4 cup aside for the carrot.

3. 3

   Stew the julienne

   Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat without letting it colour. Add the carrot julienne and a pinch of the remaining salt, cover, and stew for 3 minutes, tossing once so every matchstick receives butter. Add the reserved 1/4 cup of consommé and cook gently for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the carrot bends easily but still holds its shape. This completes the cooking in the consommé exactly as the entry directs. Set the carrot aside in its cooking liquid.

4. 4

   Shape and poach

   Bring the remaining 2 quarts of water and the remaining salt to 175 to 185°F (80 to 85°C), a quiet poach with movement below the surface but no hard bubbling. Poach a teaspoon of forcemeat as a test. If it feathers apart, return the mixture to the cold for 15 minutes, beat in the reserved teaspoon of egg white, and test again. Dip two teaspoons in the hot water and use them to shape 20 small oval quenelles, each about the size of a large hazelnut. Poach in batches for about 5 minutes, keeping the water below a simmer, until they feel lightly springy and reach 165°F (74°C) at the centre. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and keep them covered.

5. 5

   Crisp the profiterolles

   Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Arrange the Profiterolles for Soups (No. 218) on a small tray and warm them for 6 to 8 minutes, until their shells are dry and crisp and the chicken and pistachio filling is hot. They remain separate from the broth. Putting them into the tureen would soften the very contrast the dish was composed to preserve.

6. 6

   Fill the tureen

   Fill the soup tureen with hot water, leave it for 2 minutes, then empty and dry it. Bring the strained consommé to one clean boil and pull it immediately from the heat; taste and correct the salt without dulling the broth. Put the quenelles, the carrot julienne, and its little cooking liquor into the warm tureen, then pour in the boiling consommé. Carry it straight to the table and pass the very hot profiterolles on their own plate. Each guest takes them between spoonfuls rather than drowning them. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Begin with chicken consommé you would happily drink unadorned. Ordinary boxed broth is not the same preparation; if making and clarifying your own isn't practical, seek a properly clarified consommé and correct its seasoning only after the tapioca has gone in.
• •Use a firm, chilled piece of cooked foie gras rather than foie gras mousse. Mousse brings its own cream and seasoning, alters the one-third ratio, and can loosen the quenelles.
• •Fresh black truffle is splendid when available, but a properly preserved whole black truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer. Drain it well and chop it finely; truffle oil changes both the flavour and the texture and does not belong here.
• •The profiterolles must arrive hot and separate. That isn't fussy service, it is the architecture of the dish: lucid broth in one spoonful, crisp choux and rich chicken-pistachio filling in the next.
• •A dry Champagne suits the clear broth, foie gras, and truffle without weighing them down. Keep the pours modest until the soup has had its say.

Advance Preparation

• •The timing begins with finished clear chicken consommé and finished Profiterolles for Soups (No. 218), as the source directs. Prepare the consommé up to two days ahead, chill it promptly, and remove any set fat before reheating.
• •The quenelles may be shaped and poached one day ahead. Chill them in a covered container with a ladleful of the measured consommé to prevent drying, then return that liquid to the main pan before the final heating.
• •Cut and stew the carrot earlier on the day of service. Keep it in its cooking liquor, then warm the Profiterolles for Soups (No. 218) only during the final minutes so their shells reach the table crisp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)