Purée de Haricots Rouges, otherwise Condé

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •6-quart heavy pot with lid
• •2-quart saucepan for heating the wine
• •Immersion blender
• •Sturdy fine-mesh sieve, at least 8 inches wide
• •Flexible spatula or small ladle for pressing the purée
• •12-inch skillet for the croûtons

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   Put the sorted beans in a large bowl with 2 quarts (1.9 liters) of the cold water and leave them for 8 hours. They will swell to more than twice their dry size. Drain, rinse well, and discard the soaking water. This added soak doesn't replace the long wine simmer; it gives beans of uneven age a fair chance to soften once the acidic wine enters the pot.

   A bean that remains wrinkled and hard after soaking may be very old. Replace the batch now if many look that way, because no amount of elegant consommé can persuade a spent bean to become silk.
2. 2

   Boil beans safely

   Put the soaked beans in a heavy pot with the remaining 2 quarts (1.9 liters) of cold water. Bring the water up gradually, then hold it at a full rolling boil for 10 minutes, skimming away the grey foam as it rises. Red kidney beans require this hard boil to neutralize their natural lectin before gentle cooking; a low simmer alone is not enough.

3. 3

   Add wine and aromatics

   While the beans boil, heat the entire bottle of red wine in a separate saucepan until it reaches a lively boil. Stick the clove into the onion, then add the onion, carrots, bouquet garni, and 1 teaspoon of the salt to the beans. Pour in the boiling wine and let the pot return to a boil before lowering the heat. The wine goes in hot so the cooking never stops; this detail belongs to the dish and must stay.

4. 4

   Simmer until yielding

   Partly cover the pot and maintain the gentlest steady simmer for 1¾ to 2½ hours. Stir along the bottom occasionally and add boiling water if the beans cease to be generously covered. They are ready only when one crushes between two fingers without a grainy centre and smears like a paste. If they remain firm at the expected time, don't drain them and don't raise the heat. Add a little boiling water and continue gently. Ça se rattrape; the clock doesn't decide when a bean is cooked.

5. 5

   Crush and sieve

   Set a colander over a large bowl and drain the beans, reserving every drop of the wine-dark cooking liquor. Remove and discard the onion, clove, carrots, and bouquet garni. Return the hot beans to the pot, add ½ cup (120 ml) of their liquor, and blend until no whole bean remains. Press the purée through a sturdy fine-mesh sieve with a flexible spatula or the back of a ladle, working in small batches. If the skins clog the mesh, loosen that batch with another spoonful of liquor. Keep pressing until only dry skins remain; this passage through the tamis is what turns crushed beans into Condé.

6. 6

   Rectify the consistency

   Return the sieved purée to a clean pot and stir in 2 cups (480 ml) of the white consommé or light chicken stock. Bring it to a bare simmer, then add more consommé a little at a time until the soup pours from the spoon in a broad ribbon and measures about 2 quarts. If it becomes too thin, simmer it uncovered until it regains body; if it stands like mashed beans, add more stock or reserved cooking liquor. Skim the surface, then season with the remaining salt and the white pepper.

7. 7

   Fry the croûtons

   Melt the frying butter in a broad skillet over medium heat. Add the bread dice in one layer and toss them patiently until every face is crisp and deep butter-gold, 6 to 8 minutes. Work in two batches if the pan is crowded. Drain briefly on a clean cloth or paper, then keep the croûtons uncovered so they remain crisp.

8. 8

   Monter au beurre

   Take the soup off the heat. Whisk in the cold finishing butter a few cubes at a time until the Condé gleams and feels round on the tongue. This is monter au beurre, finishing with butter to form a soft emulsion. Don't boil it afterward. If butter beads appear on the surface, stop and whisk in 1 tablespoon of hot consommé before continuing one cube at a time. Ça se rattrape. Taste once more, ladle into warm bowls, and scatter the croûtons over each serving at the last moment. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use dried red kidney beans, not canned beans and not the smaller red varieties. The beans must absorb the wine while they cook; stirring wine into an already cooked bean purée gives colour but not the deep, joined flavour of Condé.
• •Choose a dry, fruit-led red without aggressive oak or harsh tannin. The entire bottle concentrates in the pot, so anything rough in the glass becomes louder in the soup. It needn't be dear. It does need to taste sound.
• •White consommé is the canonical choice. For the home equivalent, use a clean, unsalted light chicken stock with little surface fat. Brown beef stock is too forceful and turns the purée muddy, while ordinary salted broth can become severe as the soup concentrates.
• •The sieve is not ceremony. Kidney-bean skins remain perceptible after blending, and removing them gives Condé its satin finish. A food mill with its finest disk can do the first pass, but finish through a sieve.
• •Add the croûtons only as each bowl goes to the table. Their crisp, buttered edges against the smooth purée are part of the pleasure, and a five-minute soak turns them into little sponges.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the beans for 8 to 12 hours before cooking. If supper is the plan, put them in water that morning; the evening work then begins directly at the pot.
• •The Condé can be cooked, sieved, and loosened with consommé up to 2 days ahead. Cool and chill it promptly, then reheat at a gentle simmer and add the finishing butter only before serving.
• •The croûtons may be fried several hours ahead. Let them cool completely and keep them airtight at room temperature, away from the soup, until the bowls are filled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)