Best French Consomme Recipes

FRENCH CONSOMME

Steps:

• Put the beaf with the bones in a pot with the water.
• add salt and boil slowly.
• remove the scum from the top as it is formed.
• add the vegetables and cook slowly for 3 hours.
• remove the bones
• place the mixture in a blender.

BEEF CONSOMMé

Steps:

• Prepare clarification mixture Pulse chopped onion, carrot, and celery in a food processor or mini-chopper until finely chopped. Whisk egg whites until frothy, then add ground beef and chopped vegetables and mix well with your hands. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (or overnight).
• Make onion brûlé Sear the remaining onion wedge in a small cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat on both cut sides until blackened, then coarsely chop.
• Clarify stock Pour stock into a stockpot. Remove the clarification mixture from the refrigerator and add the browned onion and the tomato, then add this mixture to the pot. Set over medium-high heat and whisk briskly until thoroughly incorporated with the stock. Use a wooden spoon to stir at a slower speed until the solids rise to the top, then stop stirring. Continue cooking until frothy bubbles start to form around the sides of the raft. Reduce heat to medium-low and use a spoon or a ladle to make a hole in the raft so the consommé can bubble freely, and you can see the color and clarity of the broth. At this point the broth should be clear; further simmering is to develop more flavor.
• Remove raft and strain consommé Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the raft starts to sink a bit. Ladle the consommé from the pot through the hole in the raft (or you can crack it at this point, since it has solidified) into a cheesecloth-lined sieve set over a heatproof container. Discard the raft. Then strain broth again, this time through a coffee filter. Remove fat by sweeping a paper towel across top of consommé several times. Reheat if necessary. Season with salt and garnish as desired. If not serving immediately, allow consommé to cool and then refrigerate overnight in an airtight container. Before using, remove and discard solidified fat that has accumulated at the top and reheat consommé over gentle heat, just until hot.
• Follow the directions above for beef consommé, substituting ground chicken and chicken stock for the ground beef and beef stock.
• Use only coarse salt to season consommé; iodized (table) salt will cause it to turn cloudy.
• The clarification mixture should be kept as cold as possible until needed (always add tomato, or other acidic ingredient, just before using, since it will cause the egg whites to coagulate too soon).
• Monitor the temperature of the consommé as it cooks to make sure it is at a gentle simmer.

CONSOMME

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Put bones and meat in large baking pan and roast for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until nicely browned.
• Put vegetables and seasonings into large stockpot. Add browned meat and bones. Rinse baking pan several times with some of water, scraping to loosen all browning, and add rinsings and remaining water to stockpot.
• Bring stock to boil slowly, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 3 1/2 hours.
• Strain broth through double cheesecloth or bouillon strainer and refrigerate overnight. Residual meats, if combined with fresh vegetables in aggressively seasoned sauce -with, say, plenty of Madeira and Worchestershire sauce - will make quite good pot pies for freezing.
• Mix first 4 ingredients thoroughly and stir into cold stock.
• Bring stock slowly to boiling point, stirring frequently. Do not let it come to full boil; simmer very gently, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Add thyme and simmer 10 minutes more. Remove from heat, allow to settle and cool for 10 minutes and strain through double cheesecloth or bouillon strainer. (The residual solids can be used for pet food.)
• Reheat clarified consomme, check for salt, and serve piping hot in demitasses or small bouillon cups.

SPEEDY FRENCH ONION SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 15 minutes or until well browned and caramelized, stirring occasionally.
• Stir the soup, consomme and 1 soup can water in the saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Top each serving with 1 toast.