Like everyone else brought up in France, I was raised on soup. We ate it at any meal and at any time. And like so many of my countrymen, I find myself perfectly content to make a whole meal just of soup. The fact is, my first real attempts at cooking were with soup, and that goes back many years before I ever thought about training to be a chef. In our home, as in all the homes in my part of France, and in other sections, too, soup was the daily breakfast food. Dig bowls of nourishing soup corresponded to the hot cereal and milk served in American homes. And what better send-off for youngsters who had to trudge to school along a mile or more of snowy road before eight o'clock on dark winter mornings? The luxury of a school bus was unknown to us.
I always used to like to help my mother prepare the morning soup, getting out the butter from the big crock. chopping the potatoes, handing her the milk, and so on, until I knew every step by heart. I was only about eight or nine years old when I begged to be allowed to take a turn at doing it all by myself, and soon my daily pot of heartening potage was as tasty as any family could ask for. And I could tackle my home-work while it cooked. In those days my repertoire was limited to two kinds. The favorite one, leek and potato soup, is well known to most Americans. The other, turnip soup, is less familiar. It was made of white turnips, les raves, but a variety that I have never wen in this country. They grow to maturity in only a few weeks and this makes them extremely soft and tender and very delicate in flavor. In no time at all they will boil away to a fine purée which both thickens and flavors the soup. Butter and cream were then added to finish and enrich it, and the result was delicious.
Of course, when I went in training to be a Chef, I learned all the professional tricks about making soups. I had plenty of opportunities to put them to good use, too, because when I went to work as potager at the Paris Ritz, I soon found out that Mr. Elles, the manager, was both a gourmet of note and a soup-fancier as well. He insisted that soup. coming as it does, at the beginning. establishes the mood of a meal and believed that the meal as a whole inevitably suffers if the soup is anything short of perfect. He himself seldom ate anything but soup for his evening meal, and I hardly need add that it had to be at the very peak of excellence. In order to please him, I worked very hard to become the best potager in Paris.
Whole books, of course, have been written on the subject of soup. I'm only going to pass along to you here a few of the tricks I've learned about making those of the potage type, that is, thick ones like cream soups and purées. But, first, I'd like to mention a French eating custom that has to do with eating clear soups like consomme and beef broth. It is a cold-weather trick that I learned as a young man and one to try when you come in from the cold and are chilled to the bone. Pour a glass of red wine into a bowl of boiling hot clear soup. I've done this all my life and have yet to 6nd anything that gives as warm and glowing a feeling as it does. I'd like also to suggest to anyone planning a visit to France to seek out the special soups because some of them are found nowhere else—like the one made with raves. Another is a pea soup in which the pods as well as the seeds are cooked for the purée. The peas are a special variety. however, that grow with very small. juicy pods, something like green beans. We call them petits pois mange-tout—little peas all of which are eaten. I've never seen them in this country.
Cream soups and those made with vegetable purées can be divided into three main groups. The first group of potages like chicken, spinach, corn, lettuce, mushroom, tomato, and the shellfish bisques are made of a base of chicken stock thickened with rice or barley. This was something to reckon with when I was a young chef, because after cooking the rice or barley with whatever foodstuff we were using. we had to pound and grind the mixture in a huge mortar whose heavy wooden pestle swung from a support in the ceiling. It took plenty of muscle to push and pull that pestle and grind up the rice with crayfish or lobster shells, for example, in order to follow the formulas we then used for making the bisques. Today one can buy cream of rice or barley, a finely ground flour, to mix with the stock. But there are some of the delicate soups like crème Crécy, cream of Carrot, in which I still prefer to use the whole rice. In this case, the vegetable and the rice can be cooked together until soft and easily rubbed through a sieve or food mill and then, if desired. strained through a fine sieve.
The second group of potages are made on a base of potage Parmentier, that is, leek and potato purée. They include cream of water cress, cream of sorrel. bonne femme, vichyssoise, and others which are improved by the texture of potatoes and enhanced by the flavor combination of leeks and potatoes.
Finally, there are the potages which use potage St. Germain for the base, that is, a purée made of peas, dried or fresh, or a combination of the two, or on a base made of bean purée. In this group are potage Longchamps, fontange, Chantilly, and mongole. A dried bean purée is used for crème soissonnaise, black bean soup, and minestrone; and a purée of lentils is used for many soups made with the bones of game.
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.
Crème Santé (Sorrel Soup Parmentier)
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a Sauce-pan and add 1 cup of sorrel, cleaned, removed from the stems, and cut in fine julienne. Cover and simmer very gently until the sorrel cooks down to about ½ cup. Combine this with 2 quarts potage Parmentier. Finish with 1 tablespoon butter and. if desired, more cream.
Potage Germiny (Sorrel Soup Germiny)
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a sauce-pan and add 1 cup sorrel, cleaned, removed from the stems, and cut in fine julienne. Cover and simmer very gently until the sorrel cooks down to about ½ cup. Bring 4 cups chicken consommé to a boil. Mix 4 egg yolks with 1 cup cream and combine with the consommé, stirring briskly. Return slowly to a boil but do not boil. Add 1 tablespoon butter and ½ cup cream. Add the sorrel and correct the seasoning with salt Serve with crusts of French bread.
Soupe à l'Oseille (Sorrel Soup)
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a sauce-pan. Add 1 cup sorrel, cleaned, removed from the stems, and cut in line julienne. Cover and simmer very gently until the sorrel has cooked down to about ½ cup. Add 1 tablespoon Hour, mix, and add 1 quart water and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook slowly for 15 minutes. Mix together 2 slightly beaten eggs with 2 cups rich milk or light cream and combine with the soup. Add 1 tablespoon butter, bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. but do not boil. Correct the sea-soning with salt. Serve with toasted crusts of bread floating on top.
At this time of the year, people who like oysters can hardly get enough of them. In the early years of the Ritz Carlton, we attempted to take care of our special guests who felt that way about oysters by having a small oyster bar in our kitchen adjacent to the place where the oysters were opened. Special guests, those who were our most exacting connoisseurs, were allowed to come down to the kitchen and have their oyster course from this bar before going on to dinner. Every night you'd see a score or more of men in evening clothes trooping down the stairs to the oyster bar where they would ear quantities of the mollusks, the man behind the counter adding them on and on to the plates as he removed the empty shells.
I remember one guest who brought his little girl down, a youngster of seven or eight, to see how oysters looked before they were opened and how we opened them. I said to her, “You see, they are all alive.” But she was quite shocked at eating something alive. “How can you do such a thing?” she asked. We explained that after they are opened, they are no longer alive but that they are juicier and better-flavored. Which seemed to satisfy her.
Opening oysters for serving on the half-shell has always been a problem for people who want to serve them at home. Some of you will be delighted, therefore, to learn the trick that Mr. Royal Toner, who is an authority on the subject of oysters, told me recently. He puts the oysters into a moderately hot oven (400° F.) for five or six minutes, depending upon their size, or seven minutes for very large ones. Then they are dropped into ice water. The heat relaxes the muscle, and they can be opened as easily us a clam, yet the shell is so heavy that the heat never affects the oyster at all. He has served oysters this way and oysters freshly opened by an experienced oyster-opener and finds that it if almost impossible to tell the difference between the two.
In cooking oysters, the trick is not to overcook them, and this means very little cooking, indeed. Never boil, for example, merely poach them, and then only for a few minutes. In making stew, oysters are cooked enough when the edges curl. When preparing dishes in which the oysters are cooked in their own shell, remember to reserve the deep shell, not the shallow one, for this. Also, have a supply of rock salt on hand to place in the tray or pan in which they will be cooked. This is a trick to keep them level and prevent their own juice or the sauce that is on them from spilling out. I usually cook them for about 2 minutes in their own juice. add the Sauce, sprinkle with fine bread or cracker crumbs, and finish the cooking just until the crumbs are browned. If the oysters are very large, trim off a little of the edge which sometimes becomes tough in cooking.
Oysters à l'Américaine
Arrange oysters in their deep shells on a tray of coarse salt and bake in a moderately hot oven (400° F.) for 2 minutes. Season with salt and a little freshly ground pepper and sprinkle with fine crumbs. Put a little butter on top and a piece of sliced bacon. Return to the oven or broiler and cook until the bacon is crisp and the crumbs are brown. Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Oysters Bourguignonne
Arrange oysters in their deep shells on a tray of coarse salt and bake in a moderately hot oven (400° F.) for 2 minutes. Spread each with 1 teaspoon of this special butter: Mix 2 cloves of garlic, crushed, and 1 teaspoon finely chopped shallots with 1 cup butter. Add 1 teaspoon each chopped chives, tarragon, and parsley. Season with salt and a little freshly ground pepper. Sprinkle with fine crumbs and bake in a hot oven or under the broiler flame until the crumbs are lightly browned. Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Oysters Eleanore
Arrange oysters in their deep shells on a tray of coarse salt and bake in a moderately hot oven (400° F.) for 2 minutes. Spread each with ½ teaspoon chili sauce. Prepare 1 cup Mornay sauce (see April, 1950) and fold in 1 or 2 tablespoons whipped cream. Spread this over the oysters and return to the oven or broiler to brown.
Another popular way of using oysters is in the stuffing for birds. Here the trick is to have the cavity cleaned and dried, ready to be filled with the warm stuffing and go right into the oven. This cuts down the roasting time a little because warm Minting helps start the cooking and I believe the flavor is far superior.
Oyster Stuffing
Melt 1 cup butter or any good fat in a saucepan. Add 1 cup chopped onions and cook until they turn golden. Add 2 cups fresh bread crumbs, firmly packed, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon thyme, a little rosemary, if desired, and season with salt and pepper. Cool and add 2 stalks celery, cut in small pieces and stewed in a little water until tender, and a little juice from the oysters. In preparing the oysters, allow 3 or 4 for each serving. Drain the oysters. Roll them in flour, in beaten egg mixed with a very little salad oil, and then in cracker crumbs. Sauté in hot butter or oil for 1 minute on each side. The oysters should be goldenbrown but still juicy inside. To stuff the bird, put in some of the stuffing and lay on it some of the oysters, then more stuffing and more oysters, and so on until all is used. Sew up the vent of the bird and roast as usual.
Oyster Stew à la Ritz
Drain the juice from 2 or 3 dozen oysters. Cut away the hard pans around the edges of the oysters, if large oysters are used, and put the rest in a saucepan. In another pan put the oyster juice and enough water to make 2 cups, or enough liquid to cook the trimmings. Add the trimmings and cook slowly for 8 or 10 minutes. Strain this liquor onto the oysters and let Stand in a warm place for a few minutes without boiling. They will be cooked enough. If they boil, they will shrink and become tough. Add 2 cups boiling light cream and 2 to 3 tablespoons butter. Correct the seasoning with salt and, if desired, a little nut-meg and freshly ground white pepper. Serve with oyster crackers.
One of the vegetables that many people seem to be puzzled about preparing is the artichoke. Some even are puzzled about how to eat it! But that isn't strange if you come from a part of the country where they are not served. I recall a guest's sending one back to the kitchen, saying that she couldn't eat it because it wasn't cooked enough. It seems she had tried to cut right through the leaves with her fork as for hearts of lettuce. When that didn't work, she tried to cut through the leaves with her knife and was no more successful. We had the headwaiter, who is always the soul of tact—he has to be. in his position— bring her a freshly cooked one and show her how to eat the artichoke without hurting her feelings. She was very grateful for the lesson. The way is to pull each leaf off, dip the thick end in the sauce that is served on the side, and then draw the pulp off through the teeth, laying aside the tough leaf on the plate. When all the leaves are finished. there is a delicate round piece called the bottom and that is broken in pieces with the fork, dipped in the sauce, and eaten with the fork.
The trick in preparing artichokes for cooking is to break off the stem, thus pulling out the fibers. Trim the base with a knife. Slice about ½ inch from the top of the artichoke and trim off about ¼ inch from the outside leaves. The easiest way is to use scissors. Put a slice of lemon on the base CO keep it while and tie the artichoke to hold the leaves and the lemon in place during cooking. Cook in a large quantity of boiling salted water for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until done. To test when done, pull out a leaf and if it slips off easily, the artichoke is cooked. To prepare for the table, remove the string and lift out and discard the fine prickly leaves in the center and all of the fine hairy section that clings to the bottom. Serve hot with melted butter, hollandaise, or vinaigrette sauce or serve cold with vinaigrette.
Artichokes come in various sizes. the very small ones being used for hors-d'oeuvre. Sometimes it is hard to find these in the market, but usually Italian greengrocers carry them. The large ones may be used for hors-d'oeuvre, but are usually prepared a little differently. Break off the stem, trim the base, and rub the cut surface well with a piece of lemon. Cut down the whole artichoke and trim the leaves so that there is no more than ½ inch above the bottom. Then cut in quarters or sixths and carefully cut away all the prickly choke from the center parts. Mix 1 tablespoon Hour with enough cold water barely to cover the artichokes and add the juice from 1 or 2 lemons, depending upon the size of the lemon. Bring to a boil, add the artichokes, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tender. Drain. These can be used with vinaigrette sauce in salads or for bors-d'oeuvre, or they can be sautéed in butter and used its a garnish for meat, poultry, or fish.
Artichokes for Garnishing
Trim artichokes so that there is less than 1 inch of leaves from the bottom. Cut in quarters or sixths, discard the prickly choke, and drop them immediately into sufficient water to cover, to which has been added the juice of 1 or 2 lemons and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the artichokes are lender. Drain. Sauté in butter and use to garnish meat, poultry, or fish.
Artichokes à la Grecque
Use very tiny artichokes, about 1 to 1 ½ inches in diameter. Or trim larger ones until there is less than 1 inch of leaves above the bottoms, cut in quarters or sixths, and remove the prickly chokes. Put in a saucepan 3 cups water, the juice of 1 or 2 lemons or 2 tablespoons vinegar, ½ cup olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 stalks fennel, minced, 2 or 3 stalks celery, minced, a few coriander seeds, and 8 peppercorns. Bring to a boil, add the artichokes, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool the artichokes in the cooking liquid.
Stuffed Artichokes
Cut a third of the tops from 6 artichokes and trim the lower leaves. Put them in boiling salted water and cook for 15 or 20 minutes. Cool in cold water, drain, and remove the prickly chokes. Prepare the stuffing as follows:
Melt ¼ cup butter in a saucepan, add 2 teaspoons finely chopped shallots or 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions, and cook until soft but not brown. Add ½ cup mushrooms, finely chopped, and cook for a few minutes, or until the moisture is cooked away. Add 2 tablespoons chopped cooked ham, 2 teaspoons chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon salt, a little pepper, and 4 tablespoons tomato sauce or tomato purée. Fill artichokes with this mixture, wrap a piece of fat salt pork around each, and tie with a string to hold in shape.
Place in a casserole 1 carrot and 1 onion, both sliced, 2 sprigs of parsley, 1 small bay leaf, a little thyme, and 4 or 5 ounces white wine or stock or water with a little lemon juice. Arrange the artichokes on top, bring to a boil, cover, and bake in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 1 hour. Fifteen minutes before they are done, remove the cover to brown the slices of fat pork. Remove the artichokes to a serving dish and cut away the string. Strain the liquid from the casserole into another pan, skim the far, and cook until reduced to ½ the original quantity. Serve with the artichokes in a separate sauceboat.