Chef Juliette
Purée de Carottes, otherwise Crécy
Purée de Carottes, otherwise Crécy, turns carrots, butter, rice, and white consommé into a silken soup. The lesson is simple and absolute: blend for smoothness, then sieve for finesse.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Potage Windsor
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 740, Potage Windsor, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Potage Windsor layers crème de riz, gelatinous calf’s-foot liquor, turtle herbs, and tiny egg-yolk quenelles into a stately soup, scaled for one attentive cook and a generous table.
Soups & Stews
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
45 min
Active Time
3 hr 15 min cook•4 hr total
YieldAbout 2 quarts (8 first-course servings)
Potage Windsor (Windsor cream soup) teaches that a cream soup’s body must be built before it is enriched. Here the calf’s-foot liquor supplies gelatin, the rice supplies velvet, and the ordinary liaison (egg yolks and cream) gives the final polish. Ask the liaison to create the thickness and the soup becomes stodgy. C’est la même grammaire as every careful sauce: foundation first, finish last.
The original kitchen assumed a saucier on staff, a white stock never off the fire, a blanched foot waiting at one station, and a garde-manger shaping twenty quenelles at another. At home, a damp cloth in a fine sieve replaces the muslin and tammy, two small spoons replace practiced brigade hands, and the cooking liquor is measured to a dependable home yield. The brigade handoffs are scaffolding and can go. The calf’s-foot extraction, the two-to-one ratio of yolk purée to chicken forcemeat, the faint herbes à tortue (turtle-soup herbs), and the last-minute liaison are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Finished properly, Potage Windsor is pale ivory and quietly glossy, with tender julienne of calf’s foot and little butter-yellow quenelles beneath the surface. The herb perfume should remain elusive, never medicinal. The one step that decides everything comes when the liaison enters: keep the soup below a simmer, because boiling turns silk into curds.
Potage Windsor takes its name from Windsor in Berkshire, yet its real setting is the Franco-English grand-house table, where French cooks recast English turtle and mock-turtle seasonings in the grammar of potage crème. It traveled into the French classical repertoire as a pale rice cream enriched with calf’s-foot liquor and liaison, not as the beefy brown soup often sold under the Windsor name. Its yolk-and-chicken quenelles preserve the grand-kitchen habit of placing a second piece of careful work inside the first.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small boned calf’s foot
Quantity
1 (about 1¼ lb / 570 g), prepared and cooled through Blanchings (No. 273)
prepared mirepoix
Quantity
1½ cups (360 ml / 240 g) Mirepoix (No. 228)
dry white wine
Quantity
1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g)
unsalted light chicken or veal stock
Quantity
5 cups (1.18 L / 1.18 kg)
prepared rice cream
Quantity
3½ cups (830 ml / 845 g) Crème de Riz (No. 711)
slight herbes à tortue infusion
Quantity
1½ tablespoons (22 ml / 22 g), made by steeping ¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml / 0.6 g) equal parts dried basil, marjoram, rosemary, sage, savory, and thyme in ¼ cup (60 ml / 60 g) boiling water
large egg yolks for the liaison
Quantity
4 (about ¼ cup / 60 ml / 68 g)
heavy cream
Quantity
¾ cup (180 ml / 180 g)
divided
unsalted butter
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 43 g)
chilled and cubed
hard-boiled egg yolks
Quantity
4 (about ¼ cup / 60 ml / 64 g)
pressed through a fine sieve
prepared plain chicken forcemeat
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 32 g)
well chilled
water for poaching
Quantity
4 cups (950 ml / 950 g)
fine sea salt
Quantity
1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml / 9 g), divided, plus more only if needed
ground white pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small boned calf’s foot | 1 (about 1¼ lb / 570 g), prepared and cooled through Blanchings (No. 273) |
| prepared mirepoix | 1½ cups (360 ml / 240 g) Mirepoix (No. 228) |
| dry white wine | 1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g) |
| unsalted light chicken or veal stock | 5 cups (1.18 L / 1.18 kg) |
| prepared rice cream | 3½ cups (830 ml / 845 g) Crème de Riz (No. 711) |
| slight herbes à tortue infusion | 1½ tablespoons (22 ml / 22 g), made by steeping ¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml / 0.6 g) equal parts dried basil, marjoram, rosemary, sage, savory, and thyme in ¼ cup (60 ml / 60 g) boiling water |
| large egg yolks for the liaison | 4 (about ¼ cup / 60 ml / 68 g) |
| heavy creamdivided | ¾ cup (180 ml / 180 g) |
| unsalted butterchilled and cubed | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 43 g) |
| hard-boiled egg yolkspressed through a fine sieve | 4 (about ¼ cup / 60 ml / 64 g) |
| prepared plain chicken forcemeatwell chilled | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 32 g) |
| water for poaching | 4 cups (950 ml / 950 g) |
| fine sea salt | 1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml / 9 g), divided, plus more only if needed |
| ground white pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 6-quart saucepan with lid
- •Fine-mesh sieve lined with damp cheesecloth
- •Two demitasse spoons or a small piping bag
- •Slotted spoon
- •Instant-read thermometer
Instructions
- 1
Simmer the calf’s foot
Spread the Mirepoix (No. 228) in a heavy 6-quart saucepan and add the white wine. Simmer gently for 3 minutes, then settle in the calf’s foot already prepared through Blanchings (No. 273). Add the stock, which should cover the foot narrowly, and bring it slowly to the barest tremble. Cover partly and cook for 2½ to 3 hours, turning the foot occasionally, until its skin and cartilage yield easily to a small knife. Never let the liquid pound at a boil, which clouds the liquor and tightens the outer flesh. If it does boil, pull the pan from the heat, skim the surface, and resume gently. Ça se rattrape.
Keep the foot just submerged. If evaporation exposes it before it is tender, add a little hot stock rather than cold water, which arrests the cooking. - 2
Infuse herbes à tortue
While the foot cooks, combine equal parts dried basil, marjoram, rosemary, sage, savory, and thyme. Steep the measured mixture in the boiling water for 5 minutes, then strain without pressing. Measure exactly 1½ tablespoons of the infusion. It should smell gently green and savory, not bitter or medicinal; if it is too forceful, dilute it with boiling water until the edges soften, then measure again.
- 3
Shape and poach
Work the sieved hard-boiled yolks and chilled chicken forcemeat together until smooth and tacky, preserving the source’s exact proportion of two parts yolk purée to one part forcemeat by weight. Season with a small pinch of the salt and white pepper. Bring the poaching water to 175°F to 180°F (79°C to 82°C), where it barely quivers. Using two damp demitasse spoons, shape 20 tiny oval quenelles and poach them for 4 to 5 minutes, until firm and cooked through to 165°F (74°C). Lift them out with a slotted spoon. If the first quenelle feathers apart, the water is too hot or the mixture too warm. Lower the heat and chill the paste for 10 minutes before continuing.
The first quenelle is your test. Cut it open, taste the seasoning, and correct the remaining paste before poaching the other nineteen. - 4
Strain and measure
Lift the tender calf’s foot onto a tray. Line a fine-mesh sieve with damp cheesecloth and strain the cooking liquor into a clean saucepan without pressing the Mirepoix, since pressure pushes cloudiness through the cloth. Skim away the surface fat and measure 3½ cups. If there is more, reduce it gently; if there is less, add enough light stock to reach the measure. Chill a spoonful on a small plate: it should set softly from the natural gelatin, not turn rubbery.
- 5
Cut the garnish
When the calf’s foot is cool enough to handle, divide it in half. Cut one half in julienne, match-shaped rods about 1 inch long and ⅛ inch wide, discarding any hard gristle the knife resists. Moisten the julienne with a spoonful of the strained liquor and cover it so it stays supple. Chill the remaining half for another use.
- 6
Join the creams
Warm the Crème de Riz (No. 711) over medium-low heat. Whisk in the measured calf’s-foot liquor gradually so the rice cream remains perfectly smooth, then hold the soup at a bare simmer for 5 minutes. Judge the body now, before the liaison enters: it should coat a spoon lightly and flow back into the pan in a broad ribbon. If it is too thick, loosen it with hot stock; if it is thin, simmer a little longer. The liaison finishes the texture but must not be asked to repair it.
- 7
Finish the liaison
Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cold cream, then whisk the remaining cream with the raw egg yolks. Temper the liaison by whisking in about 2 cups of hot soup, one ladleful at a time. Remove the soup pot from the heat, whisk the tempered liaison back into it, and return it to the lowest heat. Stir constantly until the soup reaches 175°F (80°C) and gains a satin gloss, but never let it boil. Whisk in the measured herbes à tortue infusion, then monter au beurre, whisk in the cold butter piece by piece to finish. If tiny grains appear, stop heating at once, whisk in the reserved cold cream, and pass the soup through a clean fine sieve. Ça se rattrape. Season carefully with the remaining salt and white pepper.
Once the liaison and butter are in, the soup must remain below a simmer. High heat curdles the yolks and throws the butter out of suspension. - 8
Garnish and serve
Warm the calf’s-foot julienne and quenelles in a ladleful of finished soup over very low heat. Divide them among warmed soup plates, allowing two or three quenelles per serving, then ladle the Potage Windsor over them. Serve immediately, with no stray herbs or decorative fuss. The pale surface, the tender garnish, and the quiet scent of herbes à tortue are decoration enough. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Order the calf’s foot from a butcher several days ahead and ask for it cleaned and boned. This soup truly needs the flavor and gelatin extracted from the foot; powdered gelatin can copy the set but not the liquor.
- •The Crème de Riz (No. 711) and Mirepoix (No. 228) remain separate preparations because the original recipe treats them that way. Adding raw rice or loose diced vegetables directly to this pot would change both the texture and the sequence.
- •Ask a butcher for a small quantity of plain, finely worked chicken forcemeat. Decline a heavily seasoned sausage filling, which brings garlic or herbs the Potage Windsor never asked for.
- •The second half of the calf’s foot is deliberately left over because the source garnishes the soup with only half. Chill it under a little liquor for up to two days, then use it in a mustardy salade de pied de veau.
- •Pour a dry Madeira in small glasses. Its savory, nutty character answers the turtle-herb perfume without bullying the pale soup.
Advance Preparation
- •The calf’s foot can be cooked and its liquor strained one day ahead. Chill them separately; the liquor should set to a soft jelly, and any remaining fat will lift away cleanly.
- •The 20 quenelles can be shaped and poached one day ahead. Refrigerate them covered with a spoonful of light stock, then warm them gently in the finished soup.
- •The Crème de Riz and calf’s-foot liquor may be combined earlier on the day of service. Add the liaison, herbes à tortue infusion, and butter only just before serving.
- •Reheat leftovers very gently to 165°F (74°C), stirring constantly and stopping there. A finished liaison must never return to a boil.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 245g)
Calories
315 calories
Total Fat
23 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
220 mg
Sodium
520 mg
Total Carbohydrates
13 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
14 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Soups - Thick Soups
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Purée de Carottes au Tapioca, otherwise Velours
Purée Crécy meets tender tapioca poached in white consommé, then butter brings the two together. Velours earns its name from the spoon: glossy, softly pearled, and entirely itself.
Chef Juliette
Purée de Céleri-rave
Purée de Céleri-rave turns knobby celeriac into an ivory, butter-glossed soup, its bitterness blanched away, its body supplied by potato, and its sweetness clarified by a patient half-hour of skimming.
Chef Juliette
Purée de Choux de Bruxelles, otherwise Flamande
A pale-green Flamande purée built on fresh Brussels sprouts, butter, white consommé, and potato, passed smooth and milk-finished, with crisp bread dice for the necessary bite.