Purée de Tomates au Tapioca, otherwise Waldèze

Purée de Tomates au Tapioca, dite Waldèze (light tomato and tapioca soup) teaches one true thing: judge tapioca before it looks finished. The pearls continue drinking their broth after the pan leaves the fire, so a soup that seems perfectly thick at the stove arrives at the table heavy. Keep it lighter than instinct suggests.

The original recipe assumed a saucier on staff and a stockpot never off the fire. At home, you need measured white consommé, one large saucepan, and a small pan for the tomatoes. The constant stockpot is brigade scaffolding and can go; the separate poaching of the tomato, the loose tapioca, and the grated cheese passed at table are the dish itself, so they stay. The proportions here make a family pot for one cook, one stove, one evening.

With ripe tomatoes, Waldèze holds bright red dice among translucent pearls in a pale gold broth. Out of season, concentrated tomato purée is the book's own honest pantry answer. The one step that decides the soup is stopping while the tapioca still seems a shade too loose; do that, and it reaches the bowl exactly right.