No. 263

Cream of Squash, Turnips or Carrots with Compiegne Croutons

Creme de Courges, de Navets ou de Carottes aux Croutons de Compiegne

Peel the squash and mince two pounds of the inside, with four ounces of onions, or else select young, tender turnips, peel and mince two pounds of these, or, cut some carrots so as to have two pounds of the reddest part; the turnips and carrots should be parboiled. Put six ounces of butter into a saucepan, and when hot, add one of the above vegetables chopped very fine, and after it is lightly fried without coloring, then moisten with two quarts of white broth, skim and continue to boil until thoroughly cooked, then drain, mash the vegetable to reduce it to a paste, and dilute with the stock it was boiled in; season with salt, sugar and nutmeg, and if too thick use more broth; thicken with egg-yolks, cream and fine butter. Compiegne croutons (No. 51), cut in quarter of inch squares, and dried in the oven, should be served as a garnishing.

Garnishing for Turnips.—Three ounces of butter worked with a small whip until perfectly white, then incorporate slowly into it two egg-yolks, two spoonfuls of sifted flour, salt, sugar and nutmeg; mix in with this three whites of eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, and poach in a slow oven, in some buttered dome-shaped molds; unmold and serve separately the same time as the soup.

Garnishing for Carrots.—Small chicken forcemeat and cream quenelles, laid through a cornet on a buttered pan and poached in boiling water, then drained and served with the soup.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A classic French velouté-style purée soup, given as one template with three vegetable options and three different garnishes. The essentials translate directly; the quantities are generous and the finish needs care.

Quantities and yieldTwo pounds of vegetable to two quarts of broth makes about eight servings of soup. Six ounces of butter for the sweating is very rich by current taste; three to four ounces will do much the same job without a slick on the surface.
White brothBouillon blanc here means an unbrowned veal or chicken stock, lightly seasoned and not reduced. A good unsalted chicken stock is the closest supermarket equivalent; avoid dark or roasted stock, which muddies both the colour and the sweetness.
"Without coloring"The hinge of the recipe. The vegetables must be cooked gently in the butter until soft but still pale; any browning turns a cream soup into a different dish.
The egg-yolk liaisonAfter the yolks and cream go in, the soup must not boil. Temper the yolks with a ladle of hot soup, return them off the heat, and hold below about 180F or the eggs will curdle into threads. This is also the point at which the soup will no longer keep well; finish it just before serving.
Parboiling turnips and carrotsThe recipe calls for both to be parboiled before they go into the butter; a few minutes in water, drained, takes the sharpness off turnips. Squash is not parboiled here.
Squash"Courge" in this period generally means a firm winter squash rather than summer marrow. A butternut or kabocha gives the sweetness and body the seasoning of sugar and nutmeg assumes; a watery summer squash will need much less broth.
Straining, not just mashingWhere the original says mash to a paste and dilute, a blender plus a pass through a fine sieve or chinois gives the smooth texture the name crème promises, particularly with fibrous carrot.
The turnip garnishThis is a small souffle-like quenelle mixture. A "slow oven" in this period is generally taken as somewhere around 250-300F, and the buttered dariole or dome moulds are best stood in a water bath, since the recipe says to poach them. Cook until just firm to the touch, then unmould.
The carrot garnishChicken and cream quenelles piped through a cornet. The original says boiling water; in practice water held just below a simmer keeps them from breaking up. The croutons are cross-referenced to No. 51, and are cut in quarter-inch dice and dried, not fried, in the oven.

A Little History

Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the kitchen of Delmonico's in New York, and this entry gives one method, three cheap root or gourd vegetables, and a different garnish for each. The name points to Compiègne, the town north of Paris associated with a rich yeast-raised cake or bread of that name, the crumb of which was cut and dried for croutons. The egg-yolk-and-cream liaison places the soup in the older French tradition of purées finished as crèmes, as against simply blending the vegetable with cream, which is more stable but less silky.