Home › The Waldorf Kitchen › Noodle Soup
Noodle Soup
Beat well the yolks of four eggs in two tablespoonfuls of water and one salt-spoonful of salt, whip the white of one egg separately, add it to the rest and sift in gradually, stirring at the same time, a sufficient quantity of finely sifted flour to make a stiff paste. When quite smooth lay the paste on a floured board and roll out very thinly. Cut the paste into diamond-shaped pieces, put them on a cloth and keep them in a warm place until dry. Prepare some nicely flavored clear soup and when it is boiling very fast throw in the pieces of paste and boil for ten to fifteen minutes. Pour the soup in a soup tureen and serve while very hot, with a plate of Parmesan cheese.
An egg-rich noodle dough with no flour quantity given, finished in clear broth. The two things worth attention are how much flour the eggs will actually take and how long the noodles need once they hit the pot.
- Salt-spoonfulA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. It seasons the dough only; the broth carries the rest of the salt.
- How much flourFour yolks, one white and two tablespoons of water will absorb roughly 1 1/2 to 2 cups of all-purpose flour before the paste turns stiff. Add it in stages and stop when the dough is firm and no longer tacky rather than working to a fixed weight.
- Rolling thin"Very thinly" here means you should see the board through the sheet. A pasta roller taken to the second-thinnest setting gives the same result with less effort, and the dough is stiff enough to take it.
- DryingSpread the diamonds in a single layer, not touching, and give them 30 minutes to an hour in a warm dry spot. They should be leathery and dry to the touch, not brittle; fully hardened noodles need longer cooking and can crack.
- The boilTen to fifteen minutes is far too long for a paper-thin egg noodle. Partly dried, they are done in 3 to 5 minutes. Test one, and pull them the moment they lose their floury core.
- Clear soupThis means consommé or a well-clarified beef or chicken broth. Cooking the noodles directly in it will cloud the surface with starch; if you want it crystal-clear, boil them in salted water and add them to the hot broth in the tureen.
- Yield and servingOn the flour quantity estimated above, roughly enough noodles to garnish six to eight bowls of soup. The plate of Parmesan is passed at table, not stirred in beforehand.
Oscar Tschirky's The Cook Book by "Oscar" of the Waldorf (1896) drew on the hotel's largely European kitchen brigade, and the noodle sits within that tradition. Noodles cut into diamonds or lozenges rather than ribbons appear as a soup garnish in cookery of the period. The recipe gives no flour quantity, leaving the cook to judge the dough by feel; the egg-heavy formula -- four yolks and one white for a modest batch -- suits a garnish for a good clear soup rather than an everyday pasta.