Chicken Bouillon Chantilly

This is a garnish and service instruction rather than a cooking method: the work is in the bouillon, and the hinge is timing the cream so it reaches the table still standing.

• Add the cream at the last secondWhipped cream slumps quickly once it meets hot liquid. Whip it in advance, keep it chilled, and spoon it onto the filled cups immediately before they leave the kitchen.
• Bouillon cups and yieldA bouillon cup of the period held about 5 to 6 oz. "Six cups" here may mean six cupfuls of liquid, which would fill rather more than six such cups. Two handles, no saucer necessary, and the soup was often drunk rather than spooned.
• What "Chicken Bouillon" means hereNot a cube dissolved in water but a clear, clarified chicken stock, strained and skimmed of fat. Cloudy or greasy stock will not carry a floating cap of cream; fat also breaks the foam on contact.
• Hot cups matter"Hot bouillon cups" is a real instruction. Fill them with boiling water and dump it out, or warm them in a low oven, otherwise a 6 oz portion drops below serving temperature almost at once.
• Whip to soft peaks onlyHeavy cream taken to stiff peaks sits on the surface as a dense lump. Soft peaks spread into a smooth cap. Use cream with at least 36 percent fat; ultra-pasteurized whips more slowly but holds adequately.
• "A few grains cayenne"A pinch, on the order of 1/16 teaspoon for the whole batch of cream. The heat should register only after the cream has melted into the broth.
• PaprikaIn American recipes of this period paprika generally meant a sweet, mild paprika, used as much for color as flavor. Smoked paprika, uncommon in American kitchens until much later, will dominate the dish.
• Where it sits in a mealThis is a first course. Allow roughly 1 tablespoon of whipped cream per cup, as written.