The Classical French cooking segment during the CMC exam was extremely difficult for me! Although the format changes slightly from exam to exam, I was required to prepare Consommé Florial; a baked, Dover Sole course and Roasted Lamb chops with pistachio forcemeat for 10 people-with appropriate sides and sauces.
It was probably the hardest day of the 10 day exam for me.
I sourced frozen peas (fresh peas were not in season) for the consommé and completely forgot to use them as garnish for my soup!
I barely passed that day and managed to totally annoy one of the nicest CMC evaluators... never a smart thing to do!
But I still love preparing and eating delicious consommé-great satisfaction when it comes out crystal clear.
Consommé
Consommé is delicious!
I fondly remember teaching my CIA students how to prepare this challenging soup in Skills class. I loved describing how to achieve the delicate flavor and talking about the stickiness from the gelatin on your lips when you enjoy a properly prepared cup of consommé.
It's a very sophisticated soup so the garnishes are also sophisticated... and often challenging.
Consider Consommé garnished with pluches of chervil, carrots and turnips cut into daisy shaped pieces and then glazed in bouillon, asparagus tips, peas and fine chicken forcemeat with pistachio puree, piped into the shape of leaves...
I remember practicing consommé for the CMC exam with amazing CIA students like Michelle, Lon, Alex, Kong, Meghan and many more who actually taught me techniques to master such as cutting perfectly julienned chicken, preparing fresh delicious, pea custard, forcemeats, pastry etc...
I was teaching and always learning.
If you have the chance to enjoy a cup of properly preparedconsommé,-go for it. You'll become a fan... and also try this recipe-it's actually not as hard as it looks.
Prep Time: 4 hours
Cooking Time: 60 min
Yield: 10 portions
Ingredients
1 ea. Sachet (Thyme stem, bay leaf, parsley, 10 peppercorns)
1 ea. Onion, half
4 ea Egg whites
3 Lb. Chicken, ground (I like using breast and thigh together)
1 Cup Mirepoix (carrot, celery, leek whites, tomato) finely chopped
1 Tbsp Cider vinegar
3 qts Chicken stock, homemade and flavorful
t.t. Salt & Pepper
Garnish of choice
How to prepare Consommé
Step 1
Prepare a sachet d'épices by placing 1 bay leaf, a few sprigs of parsley and thyme, 10 peppercorns onto cheesecloth, wrap and tie with butcher twine. You can use a varity of herbs, depending on your preference.
A sachet d'épices adds flavor to stocks, soups, stews, rice and sauces.
Always use herbs compatible to the Consommé being prepared, such as dill, thyme, parsley or tarragon for chicken or fish Consommés.
Prepare an onion brûlée by heavily caramelizing/ charring an onion half (peeled) on a griddle to add flavor and color.
Onion brûlée adds depth and color to stocks, soups, stews etc...
Step 2
Whisk the egg whites until frothy, add the ground chicken and mirepoix; blend until homogenous. Slowly add the cold, chicken stock to the ground meat mixture.
Place the mixture into a pot-the best pot would be a taller, narrow pot to help the ground chicken form a thick, strong raft floating on top of the simmering chicken stock.
Egg whites make the raft stronger but take away flavor; I prefer more ground chicken and less egg whites! It's a little more challenging but more flavorful.
Step 3
Heat the stock and clarification ingredients (ground chicken, egg white and mirepoix mixture) at low to medium temperature, stirring gently with a wooden spoon to keep any of the ground chicken from sticking to the bottom. The objective is to create a 'raft' of the chicken, egg white, vegetables, floating on top to clarify the stock. You can chop up the Onion brûlée and add it to the mirepoix or simply place it into the pot at the beginning.
The sachet d'épices goes on top, I like to tie the string to the handle of the pot so I can fish out the sachet if I find the consomme getting to much herb flavor.
Simmer for 60-90 minutes, carefully ladeling the simmering stock over the raft periodically. I slide the pot over to the side to help create a 'perculating' type set up which moves the raft a little to the side so it's easier for me to ladel stock over the raft. The raft will begin to sink when it's done. Season to taste.
Step 4
Prepare the garnish while the Consommé is cooking. There are dozens of classical Consommé with a variety of garnishes.
Julienne and brunoise cuts of vegetables are common garnishes.
Place the garnish into clean, warm cups or bowls and heat; ladel the seasoned, clear Consommé though a fine sieve into the cup of garnish and enjoy immediately. .
If the Consommé is greasy, carefully spoon off any grease floating on top.
