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Puree of Tomato, Parmentier
Have in a saucepan two tablespoons melted butter. Slice finely half a peeled carrot, half each an onion, leek, branch of celery and green pepper, one branch chopped parsley and half ounce raw, lean ham; add all these to the pan, lightly brown for ten minutes, frequently stirring meanwhile. Mix in three tablespoons flour, pour in a quart fresh, crushed or canned tomatoes and two quarts of white broth. Season with a level tablespoon salt, one tablespoon sugar and half teaspoon white pepper. Mix well and let gently simmer for one hour. Cut two medium, raw, peeled potatoes into small dice pieces, cook in a saucepan with a pint water and a half teaspoon salt for twenty minutes, then drain. Strain the soup into a tureen, add the potatoes and serve.
A straightforward roux-thickened tomato soup, strained smooth and finished with diced potato. The vocabulary is French-hotel shorthand more than anything difficult.
- White brothThis means a pale, unroasted stock — veal or chicken simmered without browning the bones. A good low-sodium chicken stock stands in. Three quarts of liquid total (1 quart tomato, 2 quarts stock) reduce over the hour of simmering.
- "Branch"A literal translation of the French branche: here half a stalk of celery, and one sprig of parsley. The green pepper, leek and celery are used in the same half-portions as the carrot and onion.
- The hamHalf an ounce of raw lean ham means uncooked cured ham — prosciutto crudo, speck, or a scrap of unsmoked bacon. It is a seasoning, not an ingredient; a single thin slice is the whole quantity.
- SaltA level tablespoon of salt plus another half teaspoon for the potatoes is heavy by modern standards, especially with commercial stock and canned tomatoes, both of which are already salted. Season lightly at the start and correct at the end.
- Browning the vegetablesTen minutes over moderate heat with frequent stirring, as the recipe directs: the vegetables should take colour without scorching. The flour then goes in before the liquid.
- Straining"Strain into a tureen" means push the soup through a fine sieve or chinois, forcing the softened vegetables through with a ladle. A blender first, then the sieve, gets a smoother result with less work.
- The potatoesThey are cooked separately in plain salted water and added at the last moment so they stay distinct and do not cloud the strained purée. Cut them small — about quarter-inch dice — and check at 12 to 15 minutes rather than the full 20, by which time small dice may already be falling apart.
- YieldRoughly three quarts before reduction; eight to ten servings as a first course.
Anything labelled Parmentier in a French kitchen contains potato, after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the eighteenth-century pharmacist and agronomist who campaigned to persuade the French that the potato was fit for people rather than only livestock. His name became a permanent menu code: potage Parmentier, hachis Parmentier, and here a tomato purée given body and garnish by a separate dice of potato. The construction of the soup — a browned mirepoix, a scrap of raw ham for savour, flour, then tomato and white stock, simmered and passed through a sieve — is standard cuisine classique of the period. The International Cook Book collected such formulas for American households at a moment when French restaurant technique carried considerable prestige, which is why the instructions assume you know what white broth is and never bother to explain.