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TAPIOCA SOUP (another way)
Large-grained tapioca is the best for soup. Take as much tapioca as may be required, and soak it in cold water for a quarter of an hour. Drain it, and put it into a stewpan with as much cold stock as will cover it; let it boil, and afterwards simmer it gently until it is quite clear and tender. Stir. . the rest of the stock, already flavoured, into it, let it boil up, and serve immediately. Time to simmer the tapioca, from three-quarters of an hour to one hour. Sufficient--an ounce of tapioca will thicken a pint of soup.
A clear consommé thickened with tapioca, from an era when garnished clear soups opened most formal dinners. The proportion given at the end is the only measurement you need.
- ProportionsOne ounce of tapioca (about 2 tablespoons of large pearl) per pint of stock. For four servings, figure 2 oz tapioca to about 1 quart of stock.
- Which tapiocaLarge pearl tapioca is what is meant — the opaque white beads, not instant or minute tapioca and not the dark boba pearls. Instant tapioca dissolves into paste and will cloud the soup instead of suspending in it.
- The hinge: cook it in stock, not waterThe tapioca goes into just enough cold stock to cover, then the remaining seasoned stock is added at the end and the whole is brought back to the boil. Cooking the pearls in a small volume keeps them from being lost in a large quantity of liquid, and the bulk of the stock is only briefly boiled.
- Simmering timeThree-quarters of an hour to an hour is right for genuine large pearl tapioca, which needs long, slow hydration to lose its white centre. Judge by eye: the beads should be translucent all the way through with no chalky core.
- Keep the heat lowA hard boil bursts the pearls and turns the broth cloudy and slimy. Bring it up once, then hold it at a bare tremble, stirring now and then so nothing catches on the bottom.
- "Already flavoured"The book assumes a good seasoned stock made elsewhere — the tapioca adds body only, no taste. Season the reserve stock fully before it goes in; a bland base cannot be rescued once the starch is in suspension.
- StewpanA heavy-bottomed saucepan large enough to take all the stock. Thin pans scorch starch.
- Serve immediatelyTapioca soup thickens as it stands and sets almost solid when cold. Make it to be eaten, and thin any leftovers with hot stock rather than water.
Tapioca is starch extracted from cassava root, a South American plant that reached European kitchens through colonial trade; by the mid-nineteenth century it arrived in Britain as pearl or "flake" tapioca. Victorian cookery books tended to treat clear soups thickened with a grain garnish — tapioca, sago, vermicelli, barley — as a whole category of first courses, distinguished from purées and cream soups by the requirement that the liquid stay bright. Tapioca had the particular virtue of turning transparent when properly cooked, so it added body and visible interest without muddying the consommé, which is why the recipe insists on simmering "until it is quite clear." The same books that offer this soup commonly offer tapioca pudding as well.