No. 356

Velvet Soup

Potage Velours

Mince up fine the red part of a few good carrots; stew them with butter, salt, sugar and a little broth, and when done strain through a sieve and afterward through a tammy (Fig. 88). Put two quarts of good clear broth on to boil, mix in with it four tablespoonfuls of tapioca, let it despumate for twenty-five minutes on the side of the fire, skimming it off well. At the last moment add the carrot puree, season boil up once or twice more, and serve in a soup tureen.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A clear carrot-and-tapioca soup from Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894). The whole point is transparency and a smooth, faintly gelatinous body, so the work goes into straining and skimming rather than into any complicated cooking.

The hinge: keep it clearTapioca clouds and turns gluey if boiled hard. Hold the pot at the side of the fire, meaning a bare simmer with the surface barely trembling, and skim repeatedly. "Despumate" is simply this skimming of scum and starch foam from the surface.
TammyA tammy was a fine worsted cloth through which purees were twisted or forced. A fine chinois or a doubled layer of muslin does the same job; press the puree through with a ladle rather than letting it drip.
Only the red partRanhofer means the outer orange flesh, discarding the paler woody core, which is fibrous and dull in color. Modern carrots have a far less pronounced core, but trimming the center of large ones still gives a brighter puree.
TapiocaFour tablespoonfuls to two quarts of broth. Ranhofer specifies only "tapioca"; pearl tapioca is the likely intent. Avoid instant or minute tapioca, which dissolves into paste, and avoid large boba pearls, which need longer than 25 minutes.
Broth"Good clear broth" means a well-clarified, degreased and lightly seasoned stock. Canned broth works but should be strained and skimmed of fat, since any grease will show on the surface of a soup this thin.
The carrot stewButter, salt, a pinch of sugar and just enough broth to keep the carrots from browning; cook covered over low heat until fully tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Any residual crunch will not pass the sieve.
Seasoning at the endThe puree goes in at the last moment; season after it is added, taste, and give it only a brief return to the boil.
YieldTwo quarts serves eight as a first course. Serve hot in a warmed tureen; the tapioca stiffens noticeably as it cools.

A Little History

Potage velours, "velvet soup," is often said to take its name from mouthfeel rather than from any ingredient: the tapioca gives a slippery, faintly viscous body without the flour or cream that would muddy the color. Charles Ranhofer, long the chef at Delmonico's in New York across two separate stints, grouped it among his thickened clear soups, a category that leaned on tapioca, sago, arrowroot and vermicelli to add substance while keeping a broth translucent. Tapioca, made from cassava starch, reached European and American kitchens in quantity through the nineteenth-century colonial trade and was prized precisely because it was tasteless and nearly invisible when cooked. The insistence on using only the red outer flesh of the carrot suggests a kitchen where a soup was judged first on its color in the tureen.