Consommé and Clarification with Egg Whites One of the most remarkable soups is consommé, an intensely flavored, ambercolored, clear liquid with a distinct but delicate body (The name comes from the French for “to consume,” “to use up,” and referred to the medieval practice of cooking the meat broth down until it reached the right consistency.) It is made by preparing a basic stock mainly from meat, not flavor-poor bones or skin, and then clarifying it while simultaneously extracting a second batch of meat and vegetables It’s a kind of double stock made expressly for soup; as much as a pound/0.5 kg of meat may go into producing one serving The clarification of consommé is accomplished by stirring finely chopped meat and vegetables into the cold stock along with several lightly whisked egg whites The mixture is then brought slowly to the simmer, and kept there for around an hour As the stock heats up, the abundant egg white proteins begin to coagulate into a fine cheesecloth-like network, and essentially strain the liquid from within Soluble proteins from the fresh batch of meat help produce large protein particles that are easily trapped by the egg-white network Gradually the protein mesh rises to the top of the pot to form a “raft,” which continues to collect particles brought to the surface by convection in the liquid When the cooking is done, the raft is skimmed off and any remaining particles are removed by a final straining The resulting liquid is very clear Clarification with egg whites does remove both flavor molecules and some gelatin from the stock, which is why the cook supplies fresh meat and vegetables during the clarification Commercial Meat Extracts and Sauce Bases ... by the egg-white network Gradually the protein mesh rises to the top of the pot to form a “raft,” which continues to collect particles brought to the surface by convection in the liquid When the cooking is done, the. .. When the cooking is done, the raft is skimmed off and any remaining particles are removed by a final straining The resulting liquid is very clear Clarification with egg whites does remove both flavor molecules and some gelatin from the stock,... with egg whites does remove both flavor molecules and some gelatin from the stock, which is why the cook supplies fresh meat and vegetables during the clarification Commercial Meat Extracts and Sauce Bases