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To Clarify Stock for Soup

A method to clarify soup stock by whisking egg whites, heating, and straining to remove impurities.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Clarify Stock for Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl.

  2. Combine the whisked egg whites with the stock or soup and cold water.

Clarify

  1. Heat the mixture gently, stirring occasionally, until it begins to simmer.

  2. Remove from heat and let it sit for a few minutes to allow the impurities to settle.

  3. Strain the stock through a fine sieve or cheesecloth to clarify.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 whites
Their proteins coagulate as they heat, trapping cloudy particles so they can be strained out.
Stock or soup
Forms the base liquid whose flavor and body the clarified stock keeps.

The step that matters

Heating gently until it just begins to simmer. Boiling vigorously breaks up the egg white raft, so impurities mix back into the liquid instead of being caught and strained out. Gentle heating lets the raft form and hold the particles.

“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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