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Queen Vermicelli Soup
Boil 1/4 of a pound of vermicelli until tender; drain, and plunge it in cold water. Put it in a saucepan with 2 quarts of well-seasoned broth and simmer half an hour. Beat the yolks of 8 eggs, and mix well with them 1/2 or 2/3 of a cup of cream, and add a little grated nutmeg. Have the soup just at the boiling point without boiling, pour in the egg, stir briskly two minutes, and serve with small triangles of crisp toast. The stiffly beaten white of the eggs may be served in spoonfuls floating on the top of the soup.
A classic egg-and-cream liaison poured into hot broth, with vermicelli for body. The whole dish turns on the temperature of the soup when the eggs go in.
- The hinge: never let it boilHave the soup hot but well below a boil when the eggs go in; around 180-185F is the safe working range for yolks. Once the yolks are in, keep the pan below a simmer and stir constantly; at a true boil the yolks curdle and the soup goes grainy in seconds. If your stove runs hot, pull the pan off the heat entirely before adding the egg.
- Temper the eggs firstThe original assumes you know to do this. Whisk a ladleful of hot broth into the yolk-and-cream mixture, then return the lot to the pan. Poured in cold and straight, eight yolks will scramble at the edges.
- Vermicelli timingBoil it a minute or two short of tender rather than fully soft. It sits in broth for a further half hour and will otherwise disintegrate into starch. The plunge into cold water stops the cooking and rinses off surface starch so the soup stays clear.
- Broth quality is the whole flavour"Well-seasoned broth" means real stock, already salted to taste; a light meat stock such as chicken or veal suits the dish. Nothing in the rest of the method adds savour, so a thin or bland stock cannot be rescued later.
- Eight yolks is period-richEight yolks and two-thirds of a cup of cream to two quarts gives a texture closer to a thin custard than to modern soup. Four to five yolks will still thicken it noticeably if you want something lighter.
- The floating whitesBeaten whites dropped on hot soup at the table are barely cooked. If you want them, use pasteurized whites, or spoon them onto the surface, cover the pan, and let them set over low heat for two or three minutes before serving.
- NutmegGrate it fresh and use it sparingly; a rasp or two over the cream is enough. Pre-ground nutmeg turns dusty and dominates a delicate egg-thickened soup.
- YieldTwo quarts serves six to eight as a first course. Serve immediately in warmed bowls, as the liaison will separate if the soup is held or reheated.