No. 290

Bragance Soup

Potage a la Bragance

Blanch half a pound of rice, drain, and put it into two quarts and half of boiling white broth, then set the saucepan on the side of the range. Roast a chicken, cut it up, break the carcass, and put the pieces into the soup, with the severed thighs, a few slices of raw celery root and some mushroom parings; cook the soup for one hour; skim off the fat, strain it without pressing, then return it to the saucepan to let boil on the side of the fire, and season with salt. Pound the white chicken meat with the addition of a piece of butter, press it through a tammy, and add to this preparation: one whole egg, eight yolks, two tablespoonfuls of veloute (No. 415), and as much raw cream, season and poach these in timbale molds (No. 5, Fig. 137), buttered; at the last minute, pour the soup into the tureen, adding to it a few spoonfuls of green peas, and serving the timbales cut crosswise in a separate vegetable dish.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A Delmonico's soup in two parts: a rice-thickened chicken broth, and a poached chicken custard (a royale) sliced and passed separately. The custard is the hinge — it must be set gently in a water bath and never allowed to boil, or it curdles and weeps.

White brothRanhofer's white broth is an unsalted, unbrowned stock, generally built on veal and fowl. A good unsalted chicken stock stands in; two and a half quarts is the working quantity, and the recipe specifies the broth should be boiling when the rice goes in.
"Blanch half a pound of rice"Parboil the rice 5 minutes in plain water and drain it, to wash off loose starch and stop the soup turning gluey. Half a pound is about 1 1/4 cups raw.
"On the side of the range"On a coal range the flank was the cool zone. It means a bare simmer — surface barely moving — for the full hour, so the broth stays clear.
Straining"Without pressing" is deliberate: ladle through a fine chinois or a sieve lined with damp muslin and let it drip. Pushing the rice and carcass through clouds the soup, which is meant to be pale and only lightly bodied.
Veloute (No. 415)A white roux moistened with the same white stock and simmered until it coats. Two tablespoons is all the recipe needs; any thick, well-reduced white sauce will do the job of steadying the custard.
Through a tammyA tammy was a worsted straining cloth. Use a food processor for the cooked white meat and butter, then push the puree through a fine sieve — the smoothness of the finished timbale depends on it. Reckon on the breast meat of one roast chicken, roughly 8 oz.
Poaching the timbalesButter small molds or ramekins, fill three-quarters, cover with buttered paper, and set in a water bath. The recipe gives no oven or temperature; a moderate oven works, roughly 20-25 minutes, until just set, with the water never allowed to simmer. One whole egg plus eight yolks gives a firm custard that will slice cleanly when cut crosswise, as directed.
Peas and finishingAdd the peas at the last moment so they stay green; if using frozen, they need only to heat through. Season the broth only after straining — reduction over an hour concentrates whatever salt is already there.
YieldTwo and a half quarts of soup serves eight to ten as a first course, with one small timbale each.

A Little History

The name points to the House of Braganza, the ruling dynasty of Portugal until 1910, and belongs to the nineteenth-century French habit of christening garnished soups after grand names, though the origins of individual names are often obscure.