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Chicken Consommé with Poached Egg Yolks
Heat six cups of Chicken Consommé to the boiling point. Poach the yolks of six eggs in hot water until firm; remove from water with a skimmer. Place one yolk in each Bouillon cup and pour on hot consommé. Sprinkle slightly with finely chopped chives or parsley.
A simple assembly that depends entirely on two things: a properly clarified consommé and yolks that hold their shape. Six servings.
- The hinge: water temperature for the yolksBare yolks disintegrate in boiling water. Bring the poaching water to about 175F, where it barely trembles, and hold it there. A firm yolk takes roughly 4 to 5 minutes at that temperature.
- Separating without breakingSlip each separated yolk into a small cup or ladle first, then lower it into the water and let it roll out. Dropping a yolk from a height into water is likely to split the membrane.
- What "consommé" means hereNot canned broth. The book assumes a chicken stock clarified with lightly beaten egg white and lean minced meat, strained through a cloth until it is transparent. Any cloudiness shows badly against a pale yolk.
- Bouillon cupsA bouillon cup of the period typically holds around 6 to 8 ounces and often has two handles, meant to be drunk from rather than spooned. Six cups of consommé divides out to about a cupful each; warm the cups first or the soup arrives lukewarm.
- Do not let the consommé boil hardIt is heated to the boiling point and poured at once. Prolonged boiling drives off the aromatics and can throw a haze back into a clear soup.
- Chives or parsleyChop finely and sprinkle on just before serving, as the recipe directs. Herbs left standing in hot soup soon lose their colour.
- ServingAssemble and serve immediately. The residual heat of the consommé continues to cook the yolk, and a yolk that sits will go grainy and stiff.
Consomm he opening of a formal American dinner around 1900: a clear soup first, on the reasoning \ often offered at the time \ that it prepared the stomach without dulling the appetite. The poached yolk belongs to a large family of period consomm ies custard, tiny quenelles, shredded pancake, poached eggs \ whose purpose was to make an otherwise plain broth look composed and deliberate. Clarified soup was also a quiet display of skill, demanding the cook get a raft to form and a broth to run clear, and a bouillon cup put that clarity where every guest at the table could see it.