Potage Derby

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-quart saucepan
• •Wide 2-quart saucepan for poaching
• •Fine-mesh chinois, tamis, or sturdy sieve
• •Two small teaspoons for shaping quenelles
• •Flexible bowl scraper
• •Whisk
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the quenelles

   Fold the very cold foie gras purée into the very cold chicken forcemeat, preserving the book's proportion of one part foie gras to three parts forcemeat by volume. Keep the mixture over ice while bringing a wide pan of lightly salted water to a bare tremble, about 80 to 85°C (176 to 185°F). With two wet teaspoons, shape 18 small oval quenelles and test one first. Poach the rest gently for 5 to 7 minutes, turning once, until tender but firm and 74°C (165°F) at the center. Lift them into a shallow dish and cover. If the test quenelle feathers at the edges, the water is too active or the mixture is too warm. Lower the heat and chill the remaining forcemeat for 10 minutes. Ça se rattrape.

   Shape them small enough to sit on a soup spoon. Large quenelles dominate the bowl and take longer to cook through.
2. 2

   Ready the small garnishes

   Spread the poached rice on a plate so the grains remain separate. Keep the truffle pearls covered at room temperature, where their aroma can wake without drying. If the rice has clumped, rinse it briefly in hot water, drain it thoroughly, and separate the grains with a fork. Do not mash at it. The garnish should look deliberate, not handled to exhaustion.

3. 3

   Join the soup bases

   Put the Crème de Riz (No. 711) in a heavy 4-quart saucepan and whisk in the curry powder until no speck remains. Taste before adding anything else. The curry should register as warmth behind the rice, never announce itself by name. Whisk in the Soubise Sauce (No. 104) and warm the mixture over low heat just until fluid enough to pass through the sieve.

4. 4

   Pass through the sieve

   Press the warm mixture through a fine-mesh chinois or sturdy sieve into a clean saucepan, using a flexible scraper to work it through without forcing dry fibers after the smooth purée. This second sieving is not ceremony. It is the dish. Whisk in the white consommé and heat gently, stirring along the bottom, until the surface quivers but never boils. If the soup seems rough, pass it through once more; if it is too thick to flow from the ladle in a broad ribbon, loosen it with hot water one teaspoon at a time.

   A blender can smooth particles, but it cannot remove them. The sieve gives Potage Derby its quiet, continuous texture.
5. 5

   Temper the liaison

   Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cream, then whisk the remaining cream with the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl. Take the soup off the heat and whisk three ladlefuls into the liaison, one at a time. Pour the tempered liaison back into the saucepan and cook over the lowest heat, stirring constantly, until the soup lightly coats the back of a spoon and reaches at least 74°C (165°F). Do not let it simmer. If tiny curds appear, stop immediately. Ça se rattrape: pour the soup through the clean sieve into a cool saucepan and whisk in the reserved cold cream. Return it only to the gentlest heat.

6. 6

   Monter au beurre

   Take the saucepan completely off the heat. Monter au beurre, whisk in the cold butter, a few cubes at a time, letting each addition disappear before adding the next. Taste for salt and white pepper only after all the butter is incorporated, since the finished components may already be seasoned. The soup should be ivory, glossy, and thick enough to veil the spoon without sitting like porridge. If butter gathers in oily beads, whisk a teaspoon of hot water in a clean bowl, then add the soup to it gradually while whisking. The emulsion will come back.

   The butter is not decoration. It rounds the onion, carries the truffle, and gives the rice purée its final gloss. We don't apologize for butter.
7. 7

   Garnish and serve

   Warm the quenelles and rice briefly in barely hot water, then drain them well. Place two or three quenelles in each warmed soup plate and divide the rice and truffle pearls among them. Ladle the Potage Derby around the garnish so the pieces remain visible and distinct. Serve at once, before the liaison cools and the butter loses its sheen. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use the curry with a small hand. Potage Derby is not a curry soup; the spice should deepen the rice and onion without coloring the bowl more than pale straw.
• •For the foie gras purée, press cold bloc de foie gras or foie gras mi-cuit through a fine sieve. Avoid a strongly flavored mousse, whose alcohol and seasoning will take command of the quenelles.
• •Fresh black truffle is splendid, but a good preserved whole truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer. Drain it and cut it into tiny pearls with a narrow cutter or paring knife. Truffle oil gives aroma without the required garnish and is not the same thing.
• •The finished Soubise Sauce (No. 104) and Crème de Riz (No. 711) must already be smooth before they enter this recipe. Their second passage through the sieve unifies them; it does not repair careless component work.
• •Pour a dry Champagne or a mineral white Burgundy. The wine needs enough freshness to clear the foie gras and butter without trampling the quiet curry.

Advance Preparation

• •The Soubise Sauce (No. 104) and Crème de Riz (No. 711) can be prepared up to 2 days ahead and chilled separately. The time listed for Potage Derby assumes these referenced components are finished and ready.
• •The quenelles can be poached 1 day ahead, cooled promptly, covered, and refrigerated. Warm them gently just before serving; boiling makes them tough and loosens the foie gras.
• •Prepare the rice earlier the same day and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Cut preserved truffle pearls ahead, but cut fresh truffle as close to serving as practical.
• •Combine and sieve the soup base several hours ahead if needed, but add the liaison and perform the monter au beurre only before serving. Finished leftovers should be cooled promptly, refrigerated, and reheated the next day without boiling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 255g)