SOUPS
A
soup is a liquid food consisting of meat, seafood, vegetables, cereals or poultry
or a combination of them .Served generally at the beginning of the meal. The
French word is “soupe” or “potage”. As per the French classical dictionary
soupe denotes a slice of bread onto which the contents of the pot called
“potage” are poured, but now a days the terms ”soupe” and “potage” are
interchangeably used.
Classification of Soups
Soups
are broadly classified into:
1.
Thin soups: They are further
classified into:
·
Passed
·
Unpassed.
2.
Thick soups : Further classified into
·
Cream
·
Veloute
·
Puree
·
Bisque
·
Chowder
3. Cold soups
4. Speciality /Traditional Soups (International soups )
1. Thin soups –Passed (clarified)
Eg:
Consommés
Consommé
Consommé is a rich, flavorful stock or
broth that has been clarified to make it perfectly clear
and transparent. Far from being a plain cup of soup,
a well-made consommé is considered the greatest of all soups. Its sparkling
clarity is a delight to the eye, and its rich, full flavor, strength, and body
make it a perfect starter for an elegant dinner.
The word consommé
means, literally, “completed” or “concentrated.” It is
named after the Garnish used in the soup.
How
does Clarification work?
The process of coagulation enables
us to clarify stocks to perfect transparency. Remember that some proteins,
especially those called albumins,
dissolve in cold water. When the water is heated, they gradually solidify or
coagulate and rise to the surface. If we control this process carefully, these
proteins collect all the tiny particles that cloud a stock and carry them to
the surface. The stock is then left perfectly clear.
If,
on the other hand, we are not careful, these proteins break up as they
coagulate and cloud the liquid even more, just as they can do when we make
stock.
Basic Ingredients for a Consommé
The mixture of ingredients
we use to clarify a stock is called the CLEARMEAT.
1.
Lean ground meat is one of the major
sources of protein that enables the clearmeat to do its job, also contributes
flavor to the consommé. The meat must be lean because fat is undesirable in a
consommé. Beef shank, also called shin beef, is the
most desirable meat because it is high in albumin proteins as well as in flavor
and gelatin, and it is very lean.
Beef mince used to clarify
beef consommé .Chicken mince are used to clarify chicken consommé. To make fish
consommé. Ground lean fish may be used, but it is normal to omit flesh
altogether and use only egg whites.
2.
Egg whites are included in the
clearmeat because, being mostly albumin, they greatly strengthen its clarifying
power.
3.
Mirepoix and other seasoning and
flavoring ingredients are usually included because they add flavor to the
finished consommé. They do not actually help in the clarification, except
possibly to give solidity to the raft.
The RAFT is the coagulated
clearmeat, floating in a solid mass on top of the consommé.
The Mirepoix must be cut
into fine pieces so it will float with the raft.
A large amount of a
particular vegetable may be added if a special flavor is desired, as in, for
example, essence of celery consommé.
4. Acid ingredients
(tomato products for beef or chicken Consommé, lemon juice
or white wine for fish consommé) are often added because the acidity helps
coagulate the protein.
DOUBLE CONSOMME
It
is made with a richer stock and additional clarifying so that the soup acquires
a richer flavour.
Also
Consommé that has been simmered to make it concentrated can be called as a
Double Consommé.
COLD JELLIED CONSOMME
—
Unflavored
gelatin must often be added to consommé to make jellied consommé.
—
Amount
needed depends on the strength of the stock and amount of jelling desired.
—
Classically,
a chilled consommé is only half jelled, more like a thick syrup.
Some Consommés Varieties
with their description:
Consommé Bruniose: garnished with bruniose of
onion or leek, carrot, celery, turnip (optional).
Consommé Julienne: Garnished with juliennes
of onion or leek, carrots, celery.
Consommé Royale: Chicken consommé garnished
with savoury egg custard cut into any shape.
Consommé Celestine: Beef Consommé Garnished
with thin strips of savoury pancake made by adding fine herbs (Mixture of Chervil,
chives, tarragon and parsley)
Consommé Carmen: Beef consommé made with
flavouring of pimentos and tomatoes and garnished with dices of tomato
juliennes of pimentos, rice and sprig of chervil.
Consommé Mercedes: Beef Consommé Flavored
with Dry Sherry (A fortified wine from Spain) are garnished with roundels of
red pimento and cockscomb (this is the red coloured fleshly outgrowth seen at
the head of a cock).
Consommé Ambassadorice: Chicken consommé
garnished with 3 different types of royals Peas, Tomatoes and truffles. Also
added are dices of chicken and mushroom.
Consommé Montecarlo: Chicken Consommé
garnished with paysannes of carrots, truffles and turnips and thin strips of
savoury pancakes made by adding fine herbs to the mixture.
Consommé Nesselrode: Chicken Consommé
garnished with profiteroles (pastry made from choux paste) half filled with
chestnut puree and onion puree and other half with duxelle (fried mixture of
parsley, shallots and mushrooms).
Consommé Portugaise: Consommé flavored with
tomato, garnished with rice and tomato dices.
THIN SOUPS –UNPASSED
Broths /Bouillons: A broth is a stock based
soup, which is not thickened. It is served unpassed and garnished with chopped
herbs, vegetables or meats. They are thin like liquid they never coat the back
of the wooden spoon. It is important to have a full bodied thin soup; otherwise
it would taste like water.
EG: Scotch broth: Scottish soup made with
mutton, vegetables and Barley.
Minestrone: An Italian soup containing
pasta, vegetables.
THICK SOUPS
CREAM SOUPS: These are Soups of creamy consistency which is
made with vegetable puree, fish or poultry puree mixed with Béchamel Sauce and
finished with addition of cream to give a creamy consistency.
Eg:
Cream of Chicken
Cream of tomato
Cream of vegetables
Cream of spinach
Cream of Mushroom
VELOUTE: These soups are made
with a white stock and blond roux finished off with a liaison. The texture of
the Veloute is smooth and velvety. They can be vegetable or chicken stock
based.
Eg:
Celery veloute, Chicken veloute, Veloute dame Blanche (veloute with flavored
with almond milk, finished with a liaison and garnished with quenelles and
dices of chicken).
PUREE: Purée soups are made by
simmering dried or fresh vegetables, especially high-starch vegetables, in
stock or water, then puréeing the soup. They are generally thickened by the
starch content in the vegetable itself .If the vegetable does not have enough
of starch then the soup may be thickened with an addition of potatoes.
Potage
Crecy (carrots)
Potage
du Barry (cauliflower)
Potage
St.Germaine (green pea soup)
Puree
of celery
BISQUE: It is a shellfish based
soup, traditionally thickened with rice and finished with cream. A small amount
of wine or brandy is added to enhance the flavor. It garnished with dices of
shellfish that it used.
Eg:
Prawn /Shrimp Bisque –Bisque de Crevettes
Lobster bisque –Bisque
d’Homard
Crab bisque-Bisque
de Crabe
Crayfish
bisque- Bisque de langoustines
Crawfish
bisque- Bisque de langouste
CHOWDERS: American soups that are
chunky and hearty based on fish, seafood and/or vegetables usually thickened
with potatoes and finished with cream or milk.
Processed pork products like ham, bacon or dried sausages are also added. There
is also a version based on tomatoes. Cheese also features prominently in
chowders.
Eg:
Clam Chowder
Seafood Chowder
Cabbage Chowder
New England clam chowder and Manhattan
clam chowder
COLD SOUPS
These
soups are served chilled .They can be Thin or Thick, Passed or Unpassed.
Eg:
jellied consommé like Consommé madrilène (consommé Flavored with celery,
pimentos and tomatoes set with little gelatin)
Gazpacho (Spanish cold Soup)
Vichyssoise (Potato and leek Soup)
Chilled melon soup
SPECIALITY AND TRADITIONAL
SOUPS (International)
These
soups are native to a particular region or country.
Minestrone:
Italy
Gazpacho:
Spain (Cold Soup)
Oxtail
soup: England
Turtle
soup: England
Cock-e-leekie:
Scotland (Chicken and leek)
Scotch
Broth: Scotland (Mutton, Vegetables and Barley)
Avgolemono:
Greece (Mutton stock blended with egg yolk and lemon juice)
Waterzoi:
Belgium (Fresh water fish and eel cooked with herbs and vegetables, the
preparation is finished off with butter and cream)
Borscht:
Russia (soup made from stewed meat and vegetables mainly Beetroots)
French
Onion Soup: France
Pot-au-feu:
France (stew made from meat and vegetables)
Linsensuppe-Germany
(lentil soup with salted port fat)
Mulligatawny:
India and Sri-Lanka (Literally meaning “peppered Water”
Gumbo-USA (Louisiana)
Caldo Verde: Portugal
Bouillabaisse-France (Fish Stew )
SPECIAL POINTS
·
Good
quality stock should be used
·
If
there is a heavy entrée or main course the soup should be thin
·
If
an heavy soup is served , the portion should be small
·
Garnishes
should be small and dainty ,so that it can be picked up easily by a soup spoon
·
Serve
hot soups piping hot and cold soups very cold.
·
Accompaniments
of the soup should be of a crisp texture eg: Various crackers, breadsticks, cheese
straws, croutons (bread cut into small dices and fried)
·
Check
the seasoning in the cold soup before serving, as the seasoning goes down once
the soup is chilled .The coldness numbs the taste buds and hence we cannot get
the right seasoning.
·
Broth
–based soups are robust and full bodied, so use potatoes, dried pastas and
chunks of meat to create them. While preparing broths always add vegetables in
order of their cooking. Overcooking of vegetables can make the soup bitter.
Pastas and rice may cloud the clear soups, so cook them separately and add to
the soup.
·
Add
creams and liaisons only in the end and do not boil the soup therefore,
otherwise curdling might take place.
·
General
rule for portion sizes:
Thick soups: 180 ml
Thin soups: 200 ml
GARNISHES
·
It
should look attractive, be edible, complement the flavor of the soup add the
final finishing touches to the soup.
·
Herbs: Adding a handful of chopped
fresh herbs to a bowl of soup just before serving can make a good soup look
great, also sprinkling of herbs on the soup.
·
Fried Croutons: Bread cut into small
cubes and fried.
·
Grilled croutes: toasted slices of bread
cut lengthwise topped with cheese and grilled.
·
Crisps: Tortilla chips or
vegetable crisps (chips) like beetroot, parsnips, and potatoes.
·
Vegetable juliennes and Dices: An effective way of
preparing ingredients for adding a splash of colour to the soup is to cut them
into julienne strips or dices.
Questions from previous years:
·
List
the various types of soups with the recipe for 4 portions of minestrone soup.
(5 marks )
·
Explain
the following culinary terms (1 mark each)
Croutons
Consommé
·
Classification
of soups with one example each (4 marks) (10 marks) popular soups from each
country (8 marks).
·
Write
short notes on International soups.
·
Give
the recipe for a basic consommé(6 marks )
REFERENCE
BOOK: PROFESSIONAL CHEF –WAYNE GISSLEN
FOOD PRODUCTION OPERATIONS-PARVINDER BALI
THE NEW CATERING REPERTOIRE-H.L.CRACKNELL
