Marrow Balls for Consomme

A simple egg-and-marrow dumpling, poached separately so the consommé stays clear. The whole point is that nothing cloudy ever touches the soup.

• SaltspoonfulA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. With bread crumbs and marrow this is a light seasoning; taste the raw mixture on a poached test ball before rolling the rest.
• Getting the marrowAsk for beef marrow bones cut into 2–3 inch lengths; a butcher will often saw them lengthwise, which makes the marrow easy to lift out with a thin knife or the handle of a teaspoon. A couple of good bones should give the quarter cup needed, though yield varies. Keep it cold and chop it while firm — warm marrow smears rather than dices.
• Soft bread crumbsNot dried or packaged crumbs. Tear the crumb of a day-old white loaf and rub it apart with your fingers; dry crumbs absorb too much and give a pasty ball.
• Onion juiceGrate half a small onion on a fine grater and press the pulp through a sieve, or crush it in a garlic press. Half a teaspoon is all you want, and it should carry no visible pieces that could cloud the finished soup.
• The water, not the stockPoach in plain water, as directed (the recipe does not call for salting it), and not in the consommé itself. Marrow and egg release fat and albumen that can fog a clarified stock.
• Keep it at a bare simmerThe recipe says boiling water, but a gentler surface is safer: a rolling boil can break the balls apart. Floating is the signal, and the recipe gives two to three minutes.
• The white-of-egg coatingRoll quickly, as written: the thin film of white sets on contact and holds the ball together. Have the beaten white in a shallow dish and the water already at temperature so nothing sits and soaks.
• Yield and servingThe recipe gives no yield; this quantity of mixture will make a modest number of small balls, a few to a cup. Warm the tureen or cups, add the balls, and pour the very hot consommé over so they do not sit and cool.