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Consomme, Infante
Prepare and strain into another saucepan a consomme and keep simmering until required. Reduce in a saucepan on the fire two gills tomato sauce to one-third of the quantity, then remove to the table, pour in one gill cream, one whole egg and the yolk of two. Sharply mix with a whisk one minute, then strain this preparation through a cloth into four lightly buttered individual pudding moulds; place moulds in a tin with hot water up to half their height and set in oven ten minutes with the door open, remove and let cool off, then cut in slices quarter of an inch thick and place in a soup tureen. Cut from four thin slices of sandwich bread round pieces one-half inch in diameter, dip in a little cream, then in beaten egg, fry in a little melted butter to a nice golden colour, drain on a cloth and add to the soup tureen. Cut in quarter inch square pieces two sweet Spanish red peppers, add them to the consomme with three tablespoons cooked green peas, boil five minutes, pour the consomme into the soup tureen and serve.
This is a garnished consommé in the classic French manner: a clear broth finished at the last moment with a set custard (a royale), fried bread rounds and vegetables. The custard is the whole exercise, and everything depends on cooking it gently enough that it stays smooth.
- GillsA gill is half a cup. Two gills of tomato sauce is one cup, reduced to about a third of a cup; one gill of cream is half a cup.
- The custard is the hingeThe tomato-cream-egg mixture is a royale. Straining it through a cloth removes any thread of coagulated egg and is not optional if you want clean slices. Let the reduced sauce cool before the eggs go in, or you will scramble them at the whisking stage.
- Oven heat and the open door"Set in oven ten minutes with the door open" is a way of holding a low heat; the book gives no temperature. A royale wants to set, not puff or bubble. Test with the point of a knife; the centre should be just firm.
- The water bath"A tin with hot water up to half their height" is a bain-marie. Water hotter than a bare simmer will curdle the custard around the edges; keep it below boiling for the whole ten minutes.
- Cooling before slicingRoyale cannot be sliced warm. Cool the moulds completely, unmould, then cut the quarter-inch slices. Chilling them briefly makes the cut cleaner still.
- Consommé quantityConsomme quantity -- None is given. Judge it by the tureen and the weight of the garnish: enough strong, well-seasoned clear broth for four servings.
- Sweet Spanish red peppersFresh sweet red peppers, or the jarred pimiento the phrase may well have meant; jarred piquillo or pimiento needs only warming rather than five minutes of boiling.
- AssemblySlices, croutons and consommé all go into the tureen at the last moment. The fried bread softens within a minute or two, so serve immediately. Yield is four.
Named consommés were the signature of the grand hotel and restaurant kitchens of the late nineteenth century, where a single clear broth could be turned out under dozens of different titles depending on what floated in it — a system Escoffier later codified into pages of numbered garnishes. Infante is the Spanish royal title given to a king's child who is not the heir, and as with most of these names the Spanish reference is carried by the garnish rather than by any documented origin: sweet Spanish peppers stand in for the nationality. In kitchens of this kind the royale — a savoury custard baked in small moulds and cut into shapes — was the standard way of giving a clear soup body and colour without clouding it. The pairing of tomato with cream and egg here produces a pale coral custard, chosen as much for how it looks against the amber broth as for how it tastes.