Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Consommé
Consommé is a type of soup made from reduced meat stock. It is very flavorful and usually has an opaque, amber color.
To make consommé, meat, bones, and sometimes vegetables are boiled in an already thick meat broth. This double-stock is then strained and clarified with egg whites to make the soup very clear. Consommé naturally congeals into a jelly when cooled, so it is often the main ingredient in aspics.
These soups have been made since the Middle Ages. Consommés are usually expensive due to the quantity of meat materials that go into its creation; often as much as a pound of meat will be used to make a single serving. One particularly lavish recipe from the 18th century in France called for two pounds each of veal and beef, two partridges, a hen, and some ham, and all this was cooked in bouillon.
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