Velouté Marie Louise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-quart heavy saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Heatproof mixing bowl and whisk
• •Flexible spatula or small ladle
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Soup tureen or warmed shallow soup plates

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the macaroni

   Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil and season it with the salt. Cook the macaroni until fully tender, one or two minutes beyond al dente; this garnish should yield softly in the spoon, not put up a fight. Drain well, cut it crosswise into fine 1/8-inch (3 mm) dice, and cover it so the edges do not dry while you finish the soup.

   Straight macaroni or narrow ziti is easiest to dice neatly. Tiny pasta shapes are convenient, but the cut macaroni is the garnish specified for Marie Louise and gives the spoonful its proper character.
2. 2

   Combine and sieve

   Whisk the poultry velouté and Crème d’Orge (No. 712) together in a heavy saucepan over low heat, warming them only until they loosen and combine. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a clean pot and rub the mixture through with a flexible spatula or the back of a ladle. The old tammy is brigade equipment; the fine sieve is its honest home equivalent. Do not omit the sieving. It removes the last barley grain and gives Marie Louise its defining smoothness.

   If the soup still shows coarse flecks, pass it through the sieve once more. Ça se rattrape. A blender adds air and froth, while the sieve preserves the quiet gloss you want.
3. 3

   Add the consommé

   Whisk the white consommé into the sieved base and set the pot over medium-low heat. Bring the soup gradually to just below a simmer, stirring along the bottom so the barley body cannot catch. No bubble should break the surface. If a skin begins to form, whisk it in gently rather than beating air through the velouté.

4. 4

   Temper the liaison

   Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cold cream, then whisk the remaining cream with the egg yolks until completely smooth. While whisking constantly, add about 2 cups of the hot soup to the yolk mixture one ladle at a time. Lower the heat beneath the saucepan, then pour the tempered liaison back in a thin stream, stirring without pause. Keep it between 160 and 170°F (71 and 77°C), until it lightly nappes, or coats, the back of a spoon while remaining fluid. Never let it boil. If the first fine specks of yolk appear, pull the pan from the heat, whisk in the reserved cold cream, and pass the soup immediately through a clean sieve. Ça se rattrape if you catch it at once.

5. 5

   Mount with butter

   Take the saucepan completely off the heat. If the reserved cream was not needed for rescue, whisk it in now. Add the cold butter a few cubes at a time, whisking until each disappears before adding more; this is monter au beurre, mounting with butter, and it gives the surface its final sheen. Taste before adding any seasoning, because the velouté and consommé should already carry salt. Do not return the finished soup to direct heat.

6. 6

   Garnish and serve

   Scatter the diced macaroni into a warmed soup tureen or divide it among warmed shallow soup plates. Ladle the Marie Louise over it immediately, letting a few tender dice remain visible beneath the ivory surface. Serve at once, before the liaison cools and tightens. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Treat the poultry velouté and white consommé as finished foundations. Making them ahead replaces the old stock fire honestly; trying to build either one inside this recipe muddies the sequence and turns one evening into three.
• •Crème d’Orge (No. 712) must be the finished, sieved barley cream, not loose cooked pearl barley stirred into the pot. The barley's round body is the point, but no grain should remain on the tongue.
• •The liaison does not make a heavy soup. It rounds the texture and carries the butter, provided you temper it slowly and refuse it a boil. If dinner is delayed, hold the saucepan in a basin of warm water rather than over a burner.
• •A restrained white Burgundy or a dry Champagne suits the poultry foundation and creamy finish. Serve small portions first; this is a composed opening to dinner, not a bowl meant to exhaust the appetite.

Advance Preparation

• •The poultry velouté, white consommé, and Crème d’Orge (No. 712) may be prepared separately up to three days ahead and kept chilled in covered containers.
• •The soup can be assembled through the addition of the consommé one day ahead. Chill it promptly, then reheat it gently before adding the liaison, butter, and macaroni at serving time.
• •The macaroni may be cooked and diced several hours ahead. Keep it covered and chilled, then let it lose its refrigerator chill before placing it in the warmed tureen.
• •Once bound with liaison, the soup keeps for two days under refrigeration but must be reheated over very gentle heat, with constant stirring and no simmer. Freezing spoils the smooth barley and yolk texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 245g)