No. 237

Consomme a la Noailles

A garnishing made of artichoke bottoms, two inches in diameter; remove the centers, using a half inch tube for the purpose, then divide the rest into sixteen equal sized pieces, and pare them nicely; put them into a vegetable dish with a little consomme, also some consistent Royal garnishing (No. 241), cut into quarter of an inch squares. Have also round timbales made of game, hare, or leveret, or any other seasonable game; half a pint of game puree, half a pint of espagnole sauce with tomatoes (No. 414); salt, pepper, nutmeg, and five whole or twelve yolks; butter the insides of the molds, fill them with the preparation, and poach them in a slow oven; when firm to the touch, unmold and set them in a vegetable dish with the royal cream cut in squares, and the artichoke bottoms. Serve very hot, and at the same time send a soup tureen of game consomme slightly thickened with arrowroot; adding just when ready to serve a little good Xeres or Madeira wine.

← No. 236 Consomme a la Laguipierre Soups & Broths No. 238 Consomme a la Plumerey →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a garnish recipe more than a soup recipe: the consommé itself is assumed, and what Ranhofer specifies is the assembly of artichoke, savory custard and small game timbales that go into the plate before the broth is poured over.

The hinge: poach, never bakeThe timbale mixture is an egg custard bound with pur"u00e9e and sauce. "A slow oven" means gentle heat (on modern dials, somewhere around 300F), and the molds are best set in a water bath, since "poach" is the word Ranhofer uses; pushed much past about 180F internal the eggs curdle and weep, and the unmolded timbale will collapse into the broth.
Egg proportionsFive whole eggs or twelve yolks set half a pint of pur"u00e9e plus half a pint of sauce "u2014 a pint of mixture in all, so a firm custard by design, since it has to be unmolded and cut. Yolks alone give the smoother, richer set; whole eggs give a firmer one that holds its shape better.
Artichoke bottomsFresh globe artichokes trimmed to the base, two inches across, boiled in acidulated water until tender. Good-quality jarred or frozen bottoms are an honest substitute; canned hearts are too soft to be cored with a half-inch tube and cut into sixteen neat pieces.
Royal garnishingNo. 241 is a *royale* "u2014 a seasoned savory custard, set firm and then cut into dice. "Consistent" here means firm enough to cut cleanly. Easiest made ahead and cut cold.
Game and leveretA leveret is a young hare. Any dark game will do: rabbit, hare, venison, pheasant or duck legs, cooked and pounded or processed to a fine purée and sieved. The purée must be smooth or the custard will be grainy.
Espagnole with tomatoesNo. 414 is a brown sauce reduced with tomato — a demi-glace with tomato purée reduced into it gives the same effect. It is there for body and depth, not for tomato flavor.
Thickening with arrowrootSlake the arrowroot in cold consommé, whisk it in off the boil, and use it sparingly — about a teaspoon per pint. Arrowroot was chosen because it keeps the consommé clear; boiling it hard thins it out again.
XeresXeres is sherry (Jerez). A dry amontillado or a Sercial madeira, added off the heat at the last moment so the alcohol does not cook away — roughly a tablespoon per serving.
Yield and serviceNo yield is given; a pint of timbale mixture suggests roughly eight small molds, so enough garnish for eight servings. Ranhofer sends the garnish out in a vegetable dish, very hot, with a tureen of the thickened game consomm"u00e9 alongside, so that broth and garnish are brought together only at service.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows the logic of the book: dozens of numbered consommés that differ only in garnish, each named for a patron, a place or a figure of the French court and aristocracy — Noailles was one of the great ducal houses of the old regime, and the name attaches to several classical garnishes rather than to any single documented dish. The construction is pure high-nineteenth-century French service: the clear broth arrives in a tureen while the solid garnish waits in the plate, so the consommé is never clouded and the timbale is never overcooked. The reliance on cross-references — No. 241 for the royale, No. 414 for the sauce — is also characteristic; the book was written for a brigade that already had those preparations standing ready, not for a cook starting from nothing.