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French Soup
Put 4 pounds of meat into a stock pot with 3 quarts of water; set over slow fire and let it boil gently, carefully taking off scum that will rise to the top. Pour in teacupful of cold water to help scum to rise. When no more scum rises, add 3 small sliced carrots, 3 medium-sized onions, 2 cut-up turnips, 1 head of celery, 1 bunch thyme, 1 bay leaf, a little parsley tied together, and 2 teaspoonfuls salt. Let all boil gently for two hours. If necessary, add more water.
This is a plain pot-au-feu style broth: meat first, aromatics later, and a gentle heat throughout. The technique matters more than the quantities.
- Never let it boil hard"Boil gently" means a bare simmer, with the surface barely trembling and a bubble breaking every second or two. A rolling boil emulsifies the fat and albumin into the liquid and the broth turns cloudy and greasy, which no amount of later skimming will fix.
- What "4 pounds of meat" meansThe recipe does not say. For a soup of this type beef shin, chuck, short rib or a mix of meat and marrow bones would suit, left in large pieces rather than cut small. Boneless lean stew meat will give a thinner result; a bone-in cut helps.
- The cold-water trickA teacupful here is roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup. Adding cold water drops the temperature briefly, which slows convection and lets the coagulated protein rise and gather instead of being churned back in. It works, though skimming patiently with a shallow spoon does the same job.
- A head of celeryThis is the whole bunch as sold today, not a single rib. Use the bunch with its leaves, or trim the outer ribs and leaves for the pot and keep the tender heart for another use.
- Tie the herbsThe thyme, bay and parsley should go in as a bundle tied with kitchen string, or in a small muslin bag, so they can be lifted out whole. Loose thyme leaves and shredded bay are tedious to strain from a finished broth.
- Salt lightlyTwo teaspoons for three quarts is restrained for the volume. If you intend to reduce it further, hold back the salt until the end.
- Two hours is the minimumTwo hours of gentle simmering gives a light, clean broth. Three to four hours draws more gelatin from shin and bone and yields something with body that sets in the refrigerator.
- Yield and finishingExpect about 2 to 2 1/2 quarts after evaporation, six to eight servings as a first course. Strain, then chill and lift the solid fat from the top; serve the broth clear, or return the meat and vegetables to it as a plain boiled dinner.
Under the name "French soup" nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American compilers were often reproducing the French domestic pot-au-feu or its restaurant cousin the stockpot, the foundation on which a professional kitchen built its sauces and consomme. The method here follows the classical order: meat and cold water started slowly so the proteins rise and can be skimmed, aromatics added only after the broth has run clear, and a controlled simmer that never breaks into a boil. The bundle of thyme, bay and parsley is what French practice calls a bouquet garni.