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.
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Soupe Aux Cerises
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 742, Soupe Aux Cerises, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Soupe aux Cerises turns ripe cherries, cinnamon, lemon, wine, and fécule into a garnet first course, with whole fruit beneath floating Biscottes and the almond perfume once drawn from the stones.
Soups & Stews
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
30 min
Active Time
20 min cook•50 min total
YieldAbout 2 quarts (8 first-course servings)
Soupe aux Cerises (cherry soup) teaches restraint with fruit: cook it fast enough to release its flesh, then stop before its perfume and garnet color turn dull. Its body comes from the fine sieve and measured fécule (starch), not cream; the wine enters last, where its fragrance stays alive, and the Biscottes wait in the tureen to drink at their edges.
The book's kitchen assumed two sugar-boilers, a mortar, muslin, and the ease of running both pans at once. For one cook, one stove, one evening, two ordinary saucepans and a fine sieve do the work. The specialized copper and muslin are scaffolding; the brisk eight-minute boil, the sieve, the four-minute fécule finish, and the off-heat wine are the dish. The quantity here is fixed at about 2 quarts, eight first-course bowls, with the book's ratio of cherries, water, wine, starch, and sugar intact.
The book perfumes the wine with crushed cherry stones. Cracking fruit pits at home is the one point that should not travel: damaged kernels can release cyanide, so a measured drop of food-grade bitter almond extract supplies the intended kernel scent without the hazard. Before the cherries meet the pan, set an eight-minute timer. That brief, brisk boil decides whether Soupe aux Cerises tastes vivid or tired.
Soupe aux Cerises belongs to the French classical service table rather than to one regional larder: grand kitchens took the household combination of summer cherries, wine, spice, and dried bread and served it from a tureen as a composed potage. Its sieved fruit, fécule-thickened liquor, stone-perfumed wine, and Biscottes mark the passage from fruit cookery into the formal canon. Despite its modern place among cream soups, it contains no cream; fruit purée and starch make its body.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small, fleshy dark cherries
Quantity
4½ cups whole (1½ lb / 680 g), with 45 cherries reserved (about 1½ cups / 225 g)
stemmed and pitted
hot water
Quantity
3⅝ cups (860 ml / 860 g)
lemon rind
Quantity
2 small strips, each 2 by ½ inch / 5 by 1.25 cm (about 3 g total)
cut without white pith
cinnamon stick
Quantity
1 piece, 1 inch / 2.5 cm long (about 1 g)
ruby Port or dry red Bordeaux-style wine
Quantity
2⅔ cups (640 ml / about 635 g)
food-grade bitter almond extract
Quantity
⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / about 0.5 g)
fécule de maïs (cornstarch)
Quantity
2¼ tablespoons (34 ml / 18 g)
cold water
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g)
caster sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus ⅜ teaspoon (17 ml / 14 g)
Biscottes (rusks)
Quantity
8 small (about 2 oz / 55 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small, fleshy dark cherriesstemmed and pitted | 4½ cups whole (1½ lb / 680 g), with 45 cherries reserved (about 1½ cups / 225 g) |
| hot water | 3⅝ cups (860 ml / 860 g) |
| lemon rindcut without white pith | 2 small strips, each 2 by ½ inch / 5 by 1.25 cm (about 3 g total) |
| cinnamon stick | 1 piece, 1 inch / 2.5 cm long (about 1 g) |
| ruby Port or dry red Bordeaux-style wine | 2⅔ cups (640 ml / about 635 g) |
| food-grade bitter almond extract | ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / about 0.5 g) |
| fécule de maïs (cornstarch) | 2¼ tablespoons (34 ml / 18 g) |
| cold water | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g) |
| caster sugar | 1 tablespoon plus ⅜ teaspoon (17 ml / 14 g) |
| Biscottes (rusks) | 8 small (about 2 oz / 55 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Cherry pitter
- •4-quart nonreactive saucepan
- •2-quart saucepan
- •8-inch / 20 cm fine-mesh sieve
- •Heatproof bowl
- •Slotted spoon and whisk
- •2½-quart soupière
Instructions
- 1
Pit and divide
Stem and pit the cherries over a tray so none of their juice is lost. Reserve 45 of the neatest whole cherries for the garnish and put the remaining fruit and any collected juice into a 4-quart nonreactive saucepan. Discard the pits without cracking or tasting them.
- 2
Boil cherries briskly
Add the hot water, lemon rind, and cinnamon to the saucepan. Bring rapidly to a full boil, then boil briskly for exactly 8 minutes. Keep the pan lively without letting it splash over. The short cooking must soften and open the cherries while their color remains a vivid garnet; a long, lazy simmer gives a duller soup.
Start the timer when the liquid returns to a full boil. The cherries need eight brisk minutes, not eight quiet ones. - 3
Scent the wine
While the cherries cook, pour the Port or Bordeaux-style wine into a second saucepan and bring it just to a full boil. Remove it from the heat immediately, stir in the measured bitter almond extract, cover, and leave it off the fire while the cherries are sieved. Measure the extract rather than pouring by eye; the finished soup should suggest the kernel, never taste of marzipan.
- 4
Sieve the fruit
Remove and discard the lemon rind and cinnamon. With a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked cherries to a fine-mesh sieve set over a heatproof bowl, leaving their cooking liquor in the saucepan. Press the softened fruit firmly through the sieve with the back of a ladle, then scrape the thick purée from the underside. Stop when only skins remain. This fine sieving is what gives the soup its smooth body without making it heavy.
- 5
Thicken with fécule
Whisk the fécule with the cold water until completely smooth. Bring the cherry cooking liquor back to a lively simmer, whisk the slurry once more, and pour it in slowly while whisking. Boil for 30 seconds, until the liquor turns glossy and lightly thickened, then whisk in the sieved purée. If the fécule forms beads or lumps, take the pan off the heat and pass the base through the cleaned sieve before adding the whole cherries. Ça se rattrape. Add the reserved cherries and caster sugar, return the soup to a quick boil, and cook for exactly 4 minutes. It should lightly coat a spoon but still pour freely; if it tightens too far, loosen it with hot water, one tablespoon at a time.
Starch settles quickly in its bowl. Whisk the slurry again immediately before it enters the hot liquor, or the first pour will be water and the last a stubborn paste. - 6
Finish in the tureen
Take the soup off the heat and pour in the scented wine in a steady stream, stirring gently so the whole cherries remain intact. Do not boil it again; the final wine addition restores the aroma driven away by cooking. Transfer the Soupe aux Cerises to a warmed soupière and add the Biscottes just before carrying it to the table, allowing their rims to soften while their centers keep a little bite. Ladle from the bottom so every bowl receives cherries, soup, and rusk. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Small, fleshy cherries form the soup as well as its garnish. This dish truly wants cherry season. Frozen pitted cherries can carry the purée, but they soften too much for a handsome whole garnish, so use them only when you accept that change.
- •The source allows Port or Bordeaux wine, and the choice matters. Ruby Port makes the soup rounder and sweeter; a dry Bordeaux-style red keeps the cherry flavor sharper and the finish more vinous.
- •Do not reproduce the crushed-stone infusion with home-pitted cherries. A tiny measured amount of food-grade bitter almond extract supplies the intended aroma safely; never crack, grind, or steep cherry kernels.
- •Biscottes are plain rusks, dry enough to absorb the garnet liquor without vanishing at once. For the book's sweeter variation, replace them with the same number and approximate weight of ladyfinger biscuits.
Advance Preparation
- •The cherries may be stemmed, pitted, and divided up to 8 hours ahead. Keep the fruit and every drop of collected juice covered in the refrigerator.
- •The cooked, sieved cherry base can be prepared one day ahead and chilled. At service, bring it back to a simmer, complete the fécule thickening and four-minute cook with the reserved cherries, then add freshly boiled scented wine off the heat.
- •Add the Biscottes only when the soupière goes to the table. Put them in earlier and they surrender completely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 245g)
Calories
155 calories
Total Fat
1 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
50 mg
Total Carbohydrates
32 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
23 g
Protein
2 g
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