Beef Consomme Soup

5 from 1 vote

Here is a classic French soup called consomme, perfect for the fall and winter months! This can also be called bouillon, which is basically a rich stock that has been clarified. The process for this soup starts off by making flavorful broth or stock.

Roasting the bones is normally the first step. The difference in consomme to all other stock or soup is creating a "raft". You create the "raft" which clarifies the soup by using vegetables, ground meat, and egg whites. The egg whites do two things, first they help bind together the raft, secondly and more importantly they help clarify the soup by bringing all of the sediment and fat to the top of the raft and soup.

It can be a process that takes a day or two depending how long and how big a batch you are making. The end result though is something that is worth the time and effort. Once you have your consomme, you can garnish or use it in many different ways.

You can garnish the soup any number of ways hot or cold, or add to the soup to just about anything you think of. Any vegetable or meat would go great with it. A lot of classic recipes actually serve it cold and gelatinous. I used this for the soup and later I braised osso bucco with it and the sauce was absolutely amazing!

So rich and deep in flavor! Part of the this recipe uses roasted bones from meals I've made in the past and just froze. Feel free to make this just one flavor either all beef/veal, all chicken, lamb, duck, etc.... Just use the same amount of weight for the bones that you have on hand. Here is the recipe for consomme I hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients

10 people

Consomme

12 oz lamb bone roasted
1 1/2 lb marrow bones (beef or veal) roasted
2 whole chicken carcasses roasted
1 lb chicken feet (optional)
1 whole duck carcasse roasted
2 whole onions chopped
4 whole shallots chopped
4 whole carrots chopped
4 stalks celery chopped
2 whole leeks chopped
10 cloves garlic
4 sprigs thyme
1 sprig sage
2 whole bay leaves
1 1/2 gal water or whatever your biggest pot can hold

Raft

1 lb beef ground
1 lb chicken ground
2 whole carrots small diced
2 stalks celery small diced
1 whole onion small diced
4 egg whites

Garnish

4 whole okra sliced thin
1/2 cup carrot (red, orange, yellow)cut in different shapes and blanched
4 baby corn roasted and sliced
2 tbsp chive flowers

Nutritional information

Calories: 380kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 23gFat: 30gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 87mgSodium: 149mgPotassium: 303mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 1427IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 88mgIron: 2mg

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 4

Total Time 5

Servings 10 people

For the consomme

Preheat oven 400 degrees. First roast your bones for 30 minutes stirring them after 15 min (if your using raw bones. Then caramelize all your vegetables in a large 3-5 gallon stock pot (or the biggest pot you have ) with a 3 tbsp. of olive oil.
Cook for 15 minutes or until nicely browned but not burned. Then place all the roasted bones, chicken feet, and herbs in a stock pot and fill it up with cold water.
Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Let it cook reduce by half. You want to skim off the fat periodically as it rises to the top with a ladle. Once it has reduce by half or strain off and set into a ice bath to cool.
At this point you can chill overnight and finish the next day or you can let it cool slightly (mine was still a bit warm because I did mine in the same day) and then finish.

For the raft

Place your vegetables in a food processor and roughly chop them to a small to medium dice (if doesn't have to be uniform because you will not be eating or presenting these vegetables).
In a bowl, mix egg whites, vegetables, and ground meat. Place the stock back into a pot and turn on medium heat. Pour all the ingredients of the raft that you mixed together into the pot with the stock.
At this point depending on how cold or warm your stock is, your raft might sink to the bottom. If it does the stock will slowly heat up and the raft will slowly start to rise to the top of the pot.
The key to clarification process is doing it slowly and not letting the pot boil and boil. A very light simmer is what you want. Once it comes to simmer the raft should have risen to the top.
You can make a little hole in raft with the end of a spoon and this allows you to see the consomme', and sediment rises to the top of the raft.
Let it cook for another two-three hours or until the consomme' has a very deep flavor to it. Then with a chinois lined with a coffee filter, ladle out the consomme' out of the hole you made in the raft.
Continue until the consomme' is all strained. Season with salt and either chill in an ice bath or serve.