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Consomme, Farina
Strain a consomme into another saucepan and set on a hot range. Wash well in cold water four ounces farina, thoroughly drain on a cheesecloth, and when dry drop the farina into the boiling consomme and continually mix with a whisk for ten minutes. Pour into a hot soup tureen and serve.
A garnished consommé of the Delmonico's era, written in the shorthand a professional kitchen used: the stock is assumed to be already made and the quantity of it left unstated. Read it as a finishing method rather than a full recipe.
- How much consomméHow much consomme -- The original names no volume. Four ounces of farina would suit roughly 2 quarts (2 litres) of clear stock, serving six to eight, but that is an inference; the recipe itself is silent. Much more farina than that and you have porridge rather than soup.
- What farina meantIn this period 'farina' generally meant a coarsely milled wheat meal, milled coarser than the instant Cream of Wheat sold in boxes today; the recipe does not specify further. Semolina, or semolina di grano duro, is the closest modern equivalent; fine or instant farina will thicken in seconds and cannot be rinsed as directed.
- Why it is washedRinsing removes loose surface starch so the grains stay separate and the consommé stays clear rather than clouding. This only works with coarse semolina, and the grain must be genuinely dry before it goes in or it will clump on contact.
- The hingeRain the dry grain into the liquid in a thin stream with the whisk already moving. Dumping it in at once produces lumps that will not break up afterwards, and a lumpy consommé cannot be rescued by straining.
- The ten minutesCoarse semolina needs roughly eight to twelve minutes to lose its raw chalkiness. Note that the original calls for dropping it into boiling consomme; a gentler simmer is safer for the clarity you took the trouble to achieve, since a hard boil will cloud the broth.
- Constant whiskingTen minutes of unbroken whisking is what the original asks and it is not an exaggeration — semolina settles and scorches on the pan bottom the moment you stop.
- ServingServe at once in warmed cups or a heated tureen. It thickens noticeably as it stands and will set almost solid if refrigerated, so hold it hot rather than reheating.
This is one of the many consommé variations catalogued in Alexander Filippini's The International Cook Book (1906); Filippini had been a chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book reflects the grand-restaurant habit of treating a single clarified stock as a base on which dozens of named soups could be built by adding one garnish — royale, vermicelli, tapioca, farina. The entries are correspondingly terse, since the consommé itself is given its own recipe elsewhere and the cook was expected to know it. Farina, or semolina, was the everyday thickener of the period for soups meant to be nourishing without being heavy, and clear soups garnished with a starch grain are often said to have served as invalid and children's fare as well as restaurant service. The care taken to keep the broth clear — rinsing the grain, drying it on cheesecloth — tells you how much prestige a transparent consommé carried on a turn-of-the-century menu.