No. 318

Julienne Soup Faubonne and Mogul

Potage a la Julienne Faubonne et Mogol

To Cut the Vegetables.-Cutting vegetables Julienne, is the act of dividing them into slices either long or short, thick or thin. There is fine, medium and large Julienne.

In order to accomplish this, cut first the roots or meats into thin slices, then divide them into bands of an equal width, so as to cut them transversely into fillets as wide as they are thick, or in other words square; the fine Julienne is five-eighths of an inch long by little over one-sixteenth of an inch square; the medium is seven eights of an inch long by one-eighth of an inch square, and the large Julienne is cut one and three-quarters to two inches long by three-sixteenth of an inch square. The vegetables cut in Julienne are usually intended for soups, while chicken, game, foies-gras, truffles, tongue and mushrooms are used for garnishings.

For Julienne.-Put into a saucepan containing six quarts four ounces of butter, add a vegetable Julienne cut one and three-quarter inches by three-sixteenths of an inch square, six ounces of the red part of carrots, four ounces of turnips, two ounces of leeks, two ounces of celery root and two ounces of minced onion. Blanch the carrots, turnips and celery separately, should they be hard; place the saucepan on a slow fire to simmer the roots without browning them, then moisten with two gills of broth, let fall slowly to a glaze and begin again, until the vegetables are nearly cooked, being careful to stir them occasionally. Moisten with three quarts more of boiling broth, let boil, skim, remove the fat, and add four ounces of cabbage leaves, suppressing the hard part and cutting them up fine and blanching them, boil all together till the vegetables are cooked, then add a chiffonnade composed of a handful of sorrel, the leaves of a lettuce head and a little chervil, all well cleaned, washed, pressed and cut up fine. Boil again for fifteen minutes, then skim and season with salt and sugar. Serve the Julienne with green peas cooked in salted water; slices of bread croutons may also be served separately, with the Julienne or else poached eggs or quenelles.

For Julienne Faubonne.-Have two quarts of Julienne and one quart of puree of peas mixed.

For Julienne Mogul.-One quart of Julienne, one quart of puree of peas and one quart of puree of tomatoes.

← No. 317 Jerome Soup with Sweet Potato Quenelles Soups & Broths No. 319 Knuckle of Veal a la Briand →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer gives one base and two derivatives, and the whole thing hinges on the glazing step rather than on any ingredient. Read the cutting notes as specifications, not suggestions: julienne here is a measured product, and the soup depends on every piece cooking at the same rate.

The hinge: glaze, then repeatMoistening with a small amount of broth and letting it fall to a glaze, repeated until the roots are nearly cooked, concentrates the vegetable sugars onto the surface of the cut roots. Skipping straight to the three quarts of broth gives you a thin vegetable water; much of the sweetness and depth of a proper julienne comes from this stage, and it must happen without browning.
Gills and quartsTwo gills is one cup. The "saucepan containing six quarts" is the capacity of the pan, not a quantity of liquid — you need a 6-quart pot for a soup that finishes at roughly 3 quarts, or eight to ten servings.
The red part of carrotsThe outer orange flesh, cut away from the paler core, which is tougher and more fibrous. Modern carrots have far less distinct a core, so trim only what looks woody.
Celery rootCeleriac. Peel deeply, since the outer layer is fibrous, and cut it last or hold it in acidulated water — it discolours quickly.
Blanching the hard rootsTwo to three minutes in boiling water for carrots and turnips, less for celeriac, then drain well before they go into the butter. Wet vegetables will not glaze.
Sorrel and the chiffonnadeSorrel is the point of the finish and has no real substitute; its acid lifts the sweetness of the glazed roots. It collapses to a puree within a minute or two, so the fifteen minutes Ranhofer specifies is really for the lettuce and to marry the flavours. If you want the greens fresher, five minutes is enough.
Sugar in the seasoningNot a sweetener but a corrective — a pinch balances the acidity of the sorrel and the cabbage. Add it after the salt and taste between additions.
The two variationsFaubonne is two parts finished julienne to one of pea puree; Mogul is equal parts julienne, pea puree and tomato puree. Both dilute the clarity of the base, so season them again after mixing.
GarnishesThe recipe serves the julienne with green peas; the croutons, poached eggs and quenelles are alternatives to one another, not a list to be served together.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's summary of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows why the book was useful to professionals: before he gives a soup he gives a specification, three grades of julienne measured to the sixteenth of an inch. The cut is generally traced to eighteenth-century French kitchens, and the standard story attributing it to a cook named Julien is traditional rather than documented; by Ranhofer's day potage julienne was simply the benchmark clear vegetable soup, the thing a young cook was tested on. The two derivatives follow the period habit of building a repertoire out of one base by addition: Faubonne is a julienne let down with a legume puree — in classic French usage a bean puree, most often white or haricot, garnished with julienne — and Mogul adds tomato on top of that. The naming is characteristic of the nineteenth-century carte, where an exotic-sounding title distinguished what was, in the kitchen, one more quart of puree stirred into a soup already made.