No. 218

Consomme Balzac

The garnishing for this consomme is composed of three kinds of timbales, chicken, shrimps, and green peas, and turnip balls.

For the Chicken Timbales have half a pint of chicken puree, two spoonfuls of bechamel, six egg-yolks, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

For the Shrimp Timbales, half a pint of shrimp puree, two spoonfuls of bechamel, six egg-yolks, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

For the Green Pea Timbales, half a pint of puree of green peas (No. 261), two spoonfuls of bechamel, six yolks, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Butter twenty-four timbale molds (Fig. 137, No. 2) fill each eight with a different one of the compositions; stand them on a baking tin with boiling water, reaching to half their height and poach in a slack oven. When partly cooled off, unmold, pare and divide in three parts, cutting them across. Put them into a vegetable dish with a garnishing of turnip balls, blanched, and cooked in consomme till they have fallen to a glaze; send this garnishing to the table with a soup tureen full of consomme.

← No. 217 Consomme Antonelli,' Lean or Fat Soups & Broths No. 219 Consomme a la Bariatenski →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a garnish recipe rather than a soup recipe: three savoury custards (what most kitchens would call a royale) plus glazed turnip balls, served alongside a tureen of clear consommé. Ranhofer assumes you already have the consommé, the béchamel and the purées on hand.

The hinge: gentle heatSix yolks to half a pint of purée sets firm, but only if the bath is kept below a simmer once it is in the oven. "Slack oven" in this period means something in the region of 275-300F. Ranhofer starts the bath with boiling water reaching halfway up the molds; pull the custards when the centres are just set, as a hard-boiling bath will curdle them and they will weep when unmolded.
SpoonfulsA "spoonful" here is most likely a tablespoon. Two spoonfuls of béchamel to half a pint of purée is a stiffener, not a sauce component.
Timbale moldsThe molds intended here are small dariole or timbale cups of roughly 1.5 fl oz, since each mixture is divided among eight of them. Small metal espresso cups, ramekins or a mini muffin tin work; butter them well and cooking time shortens with smaller volumes.
Half a pintHalf a pint is one cup, so each of the three custards is about 8 fl oz of purée bound with 6 yolks. That ratio is very rich by modern standards and is deliberate: it must be firm enough to unmold, pare and slice cleanly.
Shrimp puréeNineteenth-century shrimp purée meant cooked shrimp pounded to a paste and sieved, shells and all in some kitchens. A food processor plus a fine sieve gets there in a minute; keep it thick or the custard will not set.
Turnip ballsCut them with a small melon or Parisienne scoop, blanch in salted water, then cook in consommé until the liquid reduces to a glaze that coats them. Watch the last minute; the glaze scorches quickly in a shallow pan.
Cutting and servingLet the custards cool only partly before unmolding, as the original directs, then trim the outsides and cut each into three across. Twenty-four molds yield about seventy pieces, enough garnish for ten to twelve servings of consommé.
Serving the two partsThe garnish goes to the table in a vegetable dish and the hot consommé in a separate tureen, as the recipe directs. Spoon a few pieces of each colour into each bowl and pour the broth over.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its consommé section runs to scores of numbered variations, each distinguished only by its garnish and each named for a patron, a performer, a statesman or, here, a writer. Naming garnished consommés after celebrated figures was standard high-restaurant practice of the period, following French usage; Honoré de Balzac was a name a New York dining room could count on its customers recognising, though the recipe carries no documented link to the novelist beyond the compliment. The three-colour custard garnish itself belongs to the older tradition of the royale, a bound purée poached in a water bath and cut into shapes, which gave a kitchen a way to make a clear broth look composed and deliberate without clouding it.