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Potage, Auvergnat
Thoroughly heat two tablespoons lard in a saucepan, add two finely sliced leeks, one sliced onion and two ounces salt pork cut in small pieces, set pan on fire and cook for ten minutes, frequently stirring meanwhile. Add one crushed bean garlic and two branches parsley, stir well, add three sliced, peeled raw potatoes, a pint fresh, crushed tomatoes and half pint lentils previously boiled in water for ten minutes, pour in a quart broth and one and a half quarts water, season with a teaspoon salt, half teaspoon pepper, add two bay leaves, mix well, cover pan and let simmer on corner of range for two hours, occasionally mixing meanwhile. Remove, pour soup through sieve into a basin, then through strainer into a saucepan, add half ounce good butter, one gill milk, and mix potage on range with wooden spoon while cooking for five minutes. Pour puree into a soup tureen, adding bread croutons and serve.
A thick lentil-and-vegetable puree in the French style, built on a pork-and-leek base and finished with butter and milk. The instructions are clear; mainly the units and vessels need translating.
- "One crushed bean garlic"Apparently a literal rendering of the French une gousse d'ail — one clove of garlic, not a whole head.
- A gillHalf a cup, so one gill of milk is 4 fl oz. The half ounce of butter is one tablespoon.
- "Corner of the range"On a coal range the corner was the coolest spot, used for long unattended simmering. On a gas or electric hob this means the lowest setting that keeps a bare tremble at the surface — a rolling boil for two hours will scorch the lentils and thicken the soup past pouring.
- LentilsAny brown or green lentil works; the small dark-green Le Puy type is grown in central France and holds its shape. The ten-minute pre-boil gives the lentils a head start before the long simmer; the recipe does not say whether the water is kept or thrown away.
- Salt porkTwo ounces of fatty cured pork, diced small and rendered with the leeks. Unsmoked pancetta or a piece of streaky bacon substitutes closely; if you use bacon, cut the added salt back until you taste at the end.
- Sieve, then strainerTwo passes were how a smooth puree was achieved before blenders: the sieve forced the solids through, the finer strainer caught skins and fibres. A stick blender followed by one pass through a fine strainer gives the same result with far less loss.
- TomatoesA pint of crushed fresh tomatoes is about 1 lb; a 14-oz tin of chopped tomatoes with its juice is a fair swap out of season.
- Order of the finishButter and milk go in after straining and get only five minutes over heat. Do not let the soup boil once the milk is in, and do not add them before straining — dairy scorches on the bottom of a heavy pot during a long cook.
- YieldAbout three quarts of liquid go into the pot (a quart of broth, a quart and a half of water and a pint of tomatoes), reducing over the two-hour simmer — enough for eight to ten servings as a first course. Croutons fried in a little of the pork fat suit it better than dry toast.
Auvergne, the volcanic upland of south-central France, is lentil and pork country, and its home cooking leans on both: cured pig, root vegetables, cabbage and the small green lentils grown on the plateau around Le Puy, which were long a peasant staple before they became a delicacy. The butter-and-milk finish here is the standard classical liaison that turns a rustic pot of vegetables into something suitable for a tureen and a first course.