No. 241

Consomme a la Royal

Consomme a la Royale

Butter some timbale molds (No. 5, Fig. 137), then fill them with the following preparation, mix well one pint of cream, eight egg-yolks, two whole eggs, salt and nutmeg; strain it through a sieve, and fill up the timbales, put them into a stewpan with boiling water reaching to half their height, and poach them in a slack oven, until firm to the touch. Remove them from the oven, let get partially cold, then unmold, and cut them crosswise through the center; put them into a separate vegetable dish with some white of chicken, mushrooms and truffles cut into small pieces an eighth of an inch square by five-eighths long. Serve at the same time a soup tureen of chicken consomme.

← No. 240 Consomme a la Remusat Soups & Broths No. 242 Consomme a la Sevigne →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a garnish recipe more than a soup: a savory baked custard (a royale) cut into dice and dropped into clear chicken consomme at the table. The custard is the whole job, and it is a matter of gentle heat.

Slack ovenA "slack" oven is the coolest working range of a coal range; the book gives no figure, but later cooks put it somewhere around 250-300F. Anything hotter and the custard curdles and weeps instead of setting smooth.
The hinge: the water must not boilThe water bath -- The stewpan of water reaching halfway up the molds is a bain-marie. Ranhofer says boiling water; if your oven runs hot, keeping the bath below a simmer helps, since too much heat through the metal makes the royale porous and ruins the clean cut.
Timbale moldsSmall straight-sided metal molds; the recipe simply refers to its own mold No. 5, Fig. 137, without giving a size. Buttered ramekins or a buttered shallow pan will serve; a single flat sheet of custard is easier to unmold and dice than individual timbales.
The custard ratioOne pint cream, eight yolks and two whole eggs gives a firm, rich set that will hold a sharp edge. Strain after mixing, as directed, and skim the foam; bubbles show as holes in the cut face.
DonenessFirm to the touch means no liquid wobble at the center; an instant-read thermometer should show roughly 175-180F. Timing will vary considerably with mold size and oven.
Cooling before cuttingRanhofer says to let the timbales get "partially cold" before unmolding. Warm royale tears, so let them firm up; cut with a thin knife dipped in hot water.
The diceThe chicken, mushroom and truffle are cut to matchsticks an eighth of an inch square by five-eighths long, a julienne. The royale itself is only cut crosswise through the center. Truffle can be left out; a little dried black truffle or a few extra mushrooms will do.
Yield and serviceThe recipe gives no yield. Ranhofer keeps garnish and broth apart until serving, so the consomme stays clear; pass the hot tureen and let each guest spoon the garnish in.

A Little History

A royale is one of the classic French consomme garnishes, a set custard cut into cubes, diamonds or rounds and used to give a clear broth body without clouding it "," the name is generally traced to nothing more romantic than the courtly habit of calling an especially fine preparation "royal." Charles Ranhofer, chef of Delmonico's in New York and author of The Epicurean (1894), devotes dozens of consecutive numbered entries to consommes distinguished only by their garnish, each named for a person, a place or a court figure; the sequence here runs from Remusat to Royale to Sevigne. That structure suggests what a nineteenth-century luxury kitchen may have done, the individuality of each service lying not in the broth but in the small, laborious cut vegetables, custards and forcemeats added to it.