Clear Soup or Consomme
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the fat from the surface of the cold stock.
In a saucepan, mix the egg white, shell, and cold water.
Pour in the stock and heat gradually, stirring occasionally.
Clarify and serve
Allow the stock to boil gently until clear under the egg, which will form a thick white scum.
Pour the stock through a folded towel in a colander set over a bowl without squeezing.
Salt to taste and serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Egg white and shell
- Egg white and shell trap cloudy particles as they coagulate, clarifying the stock.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base that becomes the clear consommé.
The step that matters
Boil gently until clear under the egg. Boiling vigorously breaks up the egg raft and disperses particles into the stock, leaving it cloudy. A gentle simmer lets the egg coagulate and capture impurities, and straining without squeezing keeps them out of the final liquid.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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