No. 266

Cream of Vegetables a la Banville

Creme de Legumes a la Banville

Mince four ounces of leeks, six ounces of carrots, four ounces of turnip-cabbage, two ounces of celery, four ounces of turnips, and four ounces of onions. Place four ounces of butter into a saucepan on the fire, and when hot, add to it the finely minced vegetables and moisten with two quarts of white broth; boil, skim and cook slowly. As soon as the vegetables are well done, drain them, and pound them in a mortar, diluting the puree with some of its broth; strain through a sieve or tammy, heat it to a boiling point without letting it boil, then thicken with egg-yolks, cream and fine butter (No. 175).

Garnishing, Small Buttered Timbales (No. 6, Fig. 137) filled with one layer of finely cooked chestnuts and one layer of cooked rice, filling them up with royal cream (No. 241), and poach in a slack oven; unmold and serve these in a separate tureen with a little consomme poured over.

← No. 265 Cream of Sweet Potatoes a la Gerard Soups & Broths No. 267 Puree of Capon a la Jussienne →

For the Modern Kitchen

A classic French vegetable velouté finished with an egg-and-cream liaison, from Charles Ranhofer's Delmonico's kitchen. The vegetables are straightforward; the finish and the garnish are where it can go wrong.

The hinge: the liaisonRanhofer's "heat it to a boiling point without letting it boil" applies to the strained puree before the thickening goes in; once the yolks and cream are added, hold the soup below a simmer. A boil curdles the yolks and the whole tureen turns grainy. Temper the yolk-cream mixture with a ladle of hot soup before adding it back.
Turnip-cabbageThis is kohlrabi. If you cannot find it, an equal weight of peeled broccoli stem or an extra portion of turnip is closer in flavour than white cabbage.
White brothA pale unroasted veal or chicken stock, unsalted or lightly salted. Two quarts of a modern boxed stock will work but season only at the end, since the purée reduces and concentrates.
Mortar and tammyA blender or food processor replaces the mortar entirely. The tammy — a fine woollen straining cloth twisted between two people — is a chinois or fine sieve today; push the purée through with a ladle for the smooth texture the recipe is after.
Slack ovenAbout 275-300F for the timbale custards, ideally in a water bath so the royale sets without weeping or bubbling.
The garnish, plainlyButtered small molds are layered with cooked chestnuts and cooked rice, then filled with a savoury custard (royale: roughly egg, cream and stock), baked until just set, unmolded and served in a separate tureen with a little consommé. It is a substantial amount of separate work; the soup stands perfectly well without it.
Butter quantityFour ounces of butter to sweat the vegetables, plus more at the finish, is generous by current habit. Two ounces sweats 24 ounces of vegetables adequately if you want a lighter soup.
YieldTwo quarts of broth plus the purée gives about eight first-course servings. Reheat gently and never above a simmer once finished.

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 soup chapter is essentially a catalogue of the French repertoire as it was practised for American money. Dishes "a la Banville" in this period are generally taken as compliments to Theodore de Banville, the French poet whose name was current in the literary salons Ranhofer's clientele liked to be associated with; nineteenth-century kitchens attached such names freely, and the connection is conventional rather than documented. The construction itself is textbook nineteenth-century French practice: vegetables sweated in butter, moistened with a pale broth, cooked down, pounded, sieved, then bound with a liaison of yolks and cream - the creme as distinct from the puree, which is generally bound without eggs. The elaborate garnish served apart, in its own tureen, is the mark of restaurant rather than household cooking, where an extra course of molded custards was labour someone else supplied.