These three basic potages, for which the following are recipes, are all delicious soups in themselves and are served as is just as often as they ate used as bases for other ingredients. But using them as foundations on which to prepare other soups makes for a versatile and distinguished soup repertoire. This approach to the preparation of cream soups is, incidentally, the professional one employed by French chefs and is, as you can sec. quite different from the American way. which is to make every one on the same cream sauce base.
Cream of Chicken
Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large pan and add 1 cup rice or barley flour (also called cream of rice or barley). Blend and cook slowly until the roux starts to turn golden. Add 2 quarts boiling chicken stock (and chicken bones, if available) or add a fowl, cleaned but left whole, and 2 quarts of water. Add the white parts of 4 leeks or 2 onions, 2 stalks of celery, 1 tablespoon salt, and a veal knuckle, if desired, parboiled for a few minutes and washed in cold water. Cook very slowly for 2 hours, skimming as necessary. Remove the fowl or the bones, Rub the soup through a fine sieve and bring back to a boil. Mix together 2 egg yolks and 1 cup cream and combine with the soup, stirring it for a few minutes without letting it boil. Add another cup of cream and correct the seasoning with salt. If the soup is too thick, add a little milk. Serve with some of the white meat of the fowl cut in fine dice. Or use as the base for other soups.
In using this cream of chicken soup as a base, there is one thing to remember. When making a soup with an ingredient that loses both its color and good flavor during long cooking, it is better to add it as a separate purée to the finished base. For example, in the case of spinach and lettuce, do not cook the vegetable with the chicken stock. Instead, clean the leaves, parboil them for 5 minutes, put them into cold water, and drain. Finally, rub them through a fine sieve. I developed this trick because I was never satisfied with the flavor and color of the soups when these leafy vegetables were cooked in the stock.
Cream of Spinach
Cook 1 pound well-cleaned fresh spinach for 5 minutes in a little boiling salted water. Dip in cold water, drain thoroughly, and rub through a fine sieve. Combine with 2 quarts cream of chicken. If a richer soup is desired, add ½ cup cream.
Cream of Lettuce
Chop the outside green leaves of lettuce to make about 4 cups (measured before cooking) and follow the recipe for cream of spinach soup.
On the other hand, some ingredients are better cooked with the stock base and then rubbed through the sieve. Corn, carrots, and mushrooms are examples.
Cream of Carrot and Rice
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a sauce-pan and add 4 or 5 carrots and 1 onion, all chopped. 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Cook slowly, stirring from time to time to prevent browning. Add ½ cup rice and 4 cups chicken stock (or stock and water). Cook slowly for about 45 minutes, or until the carrots are very soft. Strain through a fine sieve, return to the pan, and add 2 more cups stock (or stock and water). Bring back to a boil and add 1 tablespoon butter and I cup heated cream.
Cream of Mushroom
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a sauce-pan. add ½ pound mushrooms, finely chopped, and cook them until they are dry, shaking the pan to prevent their scorching. In another pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter, blend in ½ cup rice or barley flour, and cook until it starts to turn golden. Add 6 cups boiling chicken stock, the white part of 2 leeks or 1 onion, 2 stalks of celery, the mushrooms, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook slowly for 1 hour or more. Rub through a fine sieve and bring to the boil. Mix together 2 egg yolks and ½ cup cream and combine with the soup, stirring for a few minutes without letting it boil. Add 1 cup cream and correct the seasoning with salt.
When making potage Parmentier, select potatoes that break away in soft pieces during cooking because this gives the smoothest purée. Whether chicken stock or water is used for the liquid is a matter of taste. Stock obviously makes a more richly flavored soup, bur some prefer water because it is less apt to cover up the flavors of the other ingredients.
Potage Parmentier
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan. Add the white part of 6 leeks, sliced, and 2 onions, sliced. Cook until they just start to turn golden. Add 6 large potatoes, sliced, 6 cups chicken stock or water, and ½ tablespoon salt. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the potatoes are very soft, and rub through a fine sieve. Return to the saucepan and if the soup is very thick, add 1 or 2 cups milk. Bring back to a boil, stirring all the time, and add 2 cups cream. Return again to a boil, remove from the heat, and add 2 tablespoons butter. Correct the seasoning with salt.
Cream of Water Cress
Cook 2 bunches well-cleaned water cress for 5 minutes in boiling water. Remove to cold water, drain thoroughly, and rub through a fine sieve. Add to 2 quarts potage Parmentier.
There are several ways to make sorrel soup, which is one of the favorite and most famous of French potages. It can be made by starting with a potage Parmentier base and then it is called crème santé. Or it can be made by starting with chicken stock and thickening with egg yolks. This is called potage Germiny. Or it can be made very simply with water and milk (or cream) and thickened with eggs. This is usually simply called soupe à l'oseille, or plain sorrel soup. But in any event, there is a trick about using sorrel in soup. It is extremely acid, and to obtain a fine flavor without the acidity, the sorrel should be cooked before it is added to the soup, as is suggested in the following recipes.
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