Many of the most popular French soups are the variations of this leek and potato soup. In our section of France it was served for breakfast, especially in cold weather, like the hot cereal of American and English breakfasts.
Alors, If you are going to be a good potager, a competent soup chef, you'll need a capacious kettle—a six-quart size for an average family — measuring spoons, cup and quart measures, a wooden cutting board, knives, a large spoon, sieves, and kitchen bowls. This basic equipment is used for many other things besides soup. If you are buying new equipment, select good sturdy utensils of heavy metal, because food is less apt to scorch in heavy metal. A heavy pan will not dent and warp; in addition it holds the heat and thus saves fuel. The cutting board must be thick and heavy, and it must not warp even after hundreds of washings, because unless it is absolutely flat the slicing knife misses a part of the final edge of whatever food you are cutting up. Also it must be large enough to hold the food as it falls away from the knife and perhaps scatters a bit. Knives are important; I consider that nothing takes the place of good steel that will hold a sharp edge. A chef has his knives regularly sharpened and then keeps a steel handy to touch up the edge whenever he uses one. As you progress you may acquire knives of many sizes and shapes, but three really good knives—a small one for paring, one slightly larger for cutting vegetables and the like,and a big one for slicing meat and poultry—are better than a dozen poor knives that never hold a good cutting edge. Two sieves, one with a fine screen, the other coarser, will be needed; and they should be large enough to handle material poured through by the quart.
Gourmet cookery requires meticulous perfection even in small details. And the first detail every chef apprenti must learn is to cut vegetables up quickly and correctly, particularly the onions, potatoes. and carrots that be uses every day. You must have noticed how evenly the vegetables are sliced and diced in first-class restaurants! Chances arc that the chef who cut them up learned to cut vegetables when he was twelve or thirteen years old and has done if every day since. If you were to watch him, his hand would be quicker than your eye. There is a goal for you! Aside from the fact that a hodgepodge of uneven pieces is not attractive, uneven pieces cook unevenly. For example, small bits of onion cooking in butter will brown—may almost burn—before the larger pieces are soft, while tiny pieces of potato boil to a mush before the larger chunks are tender.
A basic rule to remember in cutting food is that you cannot do a good job unless the surface which lies on the board is Hat. When a vegetable slips and rolls under the hand, it is only too easy to cut the lingers, too, so the curved side of the carrot, potato, or onion must be sliced off or the vegetable cut in half, so that it lies Hat and firm on the board. Also, if you watch a chef, you will see that he holds his hand on the vegetable in such a way that the ends of the fingers curve under it slightly and that he angles the blade of the knife very slightly away from his hand. He then can work with lightning speed with no danger of cutting himself. Now prepare to shed some tears!
ONIONS
Cut a thin slice from the top of the onion and peel the onion from top to bottom, tearing it away from the bottom. Trim the base a little, being careful to leave the layers of onion firmly attached to it.
To dice the onion, place it on its base and slash it in half from top to bottom. Work with one half at a time. Lay the half onion cut side down on the board with the base end to the left. Hold the onion with the left hand and cut it with the right, unless you too are left-handed! Put the blade of the knife on top of the onion, point toward the base end bur about one-half inch away from it. Cut down to the board, making even, lengthwise slices from the base end to the top end the thickness of the dice desired. The slices remain attached to the base. Now hold the knife so that its flat side is parallel to the board and slice through the onion sideways. starting at the top end, to one-half inch from the base end, making the horizontal slices the same thickness as the vertical ones. Hold this bundle of strips firmly with the left hand and Cut across them, starting at the top end and working back toward the base. Voilàl! Off fall the evenly diced pieces of onion. The tiny half-inch bit left at the base can be cut separately or used in the stock pot.
To slice an onion, cut a thin piece off one side of the peeled onion to make a firm flat surface to rest on the board. Lay the onion flat side down with the base of the onion at the left. Starting at the right and working toward the base, cur across the onion in even slices of the desired thickness.
CARROTS
Peel or scrape the carrots, trim both ends, and cut than Crosswise in halves or thirds. Work on one piece at a time. To dice the carrots, cut a thin slice from one side to make a flat surface and lay the carrot flat side down on a board. Slice it lengthwise to any desired thickness, discarding a thin slice from one side to make another flat surface. Turn over the pile of slices 60 that they rest on the last cut surface. Slice again lengthwise to the same thickness as the first slices, making square-ended strips. Grasp the bundle of strips with the left hand and slice across them to make square, uniform dice.
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