View source for Consommé

{{short description|Type of clear soup}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = Consommé
| image            = Consomme de volaille.jpg
| image_size       = 250px
| caption          = Poultry consommé
| alternate_name   = 
| country          = France
| region           = 
| creator          = 
| course           = 
| type             = Soup
| served           = 
| main_ingredient  = [[Stock (food)|Stock]] or [[Bouillon (broth)|bouillon]], ground meat,  [[Mirepoix (cuisine)|mirepoix]] (carrots, celery, leek), tomatoes, egg whites
| variations       = 
| calories         = 
| other            = 
}}'''Consommé''' ({{IPA|fr|kɔ̃sɔme|lang}} ({{pronunciation|consommé.ogg}}) is a type of clear [[soup]] made from richly flavoured [[Stock (food)|stock]] or [[broth]] that has been clarified, a process that traditionally uses [[egg white]]s to remove fat and sediment. A later technique for clarification employs [[gelatin]] filtration. Consommés are most commonly made from beef or veal, but chicken, fish and [[Game (hunting)|game]] variants are recognised in French cuisine. They may be served on their own – hot or chilled – or be used as the basis of many soups, sauces and stews.

==Etymology and history==

In French usage the word dates back to the fourteenth century as the [[participle|past participle]] of {{lang|fr|consommer}}, meaning consumed, accomplished or finished.<ref name=dic>[https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9C3723 "Consommé"], {{lang|fr|Dictionnaire de l'Académie française}}. Retrieved 19 June 2025</ref> By the sixteenth century the word was used as a noun meaning a "finished" soup – a concentrated and clarified meat broth as opposed to a simple stock or broth.<ref name=ocf>Davidson, p. 211</ref> The first edition of the {{lang|fr|Dictionnaire de l'Académie française}} (1694) defines it as "{{lang|fr| boüillon fort succulent d'une viande extremement cuite}}" – strong succulent broth of very well-cooked meat.<ref name=dic/> The word is first recorded in English usage in 1815,<ref name=oed>{{cite OED|consommé}}</ref> and in ''[[Don Juan (poem)|Don Juan]]'' (Canto XV, 1824), [[Lord Byron]] writes of "The [[Salmagundi|salmi]], the consommé, the [[purée]]".<ref name=oed/> In French usage each of the three syllables is given approximately equal stress. In Anglophone usage the main stress may be on the first syllable (Canadian and modern British pronunciation), the second (earlier British pronunciation) or the third (American pronunciation); in Australian usage either the first or second syllable may be stressed.<ref name=oed/><ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/consomme "English pronunciation of consommé"], ''Cambridge Dictionary'', Cambridge University Press, 2025; [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195418163.001.0001/m_en_ca0014995 "consommé"], ''The Canadian Oxford Dictionary'',  
Oxford University Press, 2004 {{subscription}}; and [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195517965.001.0001/m-en_au-msdict-00001-0011657 "consommé"], ''Australian Oxford Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, 2004 {{subscription}}</ref>

[[Alexis Soyer]] published his recipe for consommé in his ''Gastronomic Regenerator'' (1846):
{{blockindent|Cut up two knuckles of veal and a leg of beef with the bones ... rub a quarter of a pound of butter over the bottom of a large stewpan, into which put the meat, with one pound of lean ham, four onions, four turnips, two middling-sized carrots, six [[cloves]], one blade of [[mace (spice)|mace]], and a pint of water. ... let it simmer three hours, skim off all the fat, then pass it through a cloth into a basin. ... Should it require clarifying, ... have the whites of eight eggs with their shells in another stewpan, whisk them half a minute, then whisk the boiling consommé and pour in the whites of eggs, whisking it over a clear fire until it simmers and the eggs separate from the consommé, which will be then quite clear.<ref>Soyer, recipe no. 134</ref>}}

Both Soyer and a later French chef, [[Auguste Escoffier]], use consommé for the basis of many soups, sauces and stews as well as for serving on its own. Soyer includes it in more than a hundred of his recipes, from {{lang|fr|[[demi-glace]]}} to {{lang|fr|[[Macaroni]] à la Napolitaine}}.<ref>Soyer, recipes 9 to 1359 {{lang|la|et passim}}</ref> Escoffier gives recipes for consommés of chicken, fish and [[Game (hunting)|
game]] ("the necks, breasts, and shoulders of [[venison]] and of [[hare]], old wild rabbits, old pheasants, and old [[partridge]]s may be used").<ref>Escoffier, pp. 6–7</ref> He distinguishes between consommés served at dinners, garnished, in soup plates and those served at suppers: "These, being only served in cups, either hot or cold, do not allow of any garnishing, since they are to be drunk at table. They must therefore be perfect in themselves, delicate, and quite clear".<ref>Escoffier, p. 8</ref>

In {{lang|fr|[[Le Répertoire de la cuisine]]}} (1914) [[Louis Saulnier (writer)|Louis Saulnier]] gives recipes for more than a hundred variants of consommé, including {{lang|fr|bergère}} (oxtail consommé with [[asparagus]] tips, diced mushrooms with [[tarragon]] and [[chervil]]); Cyrano (beef consommé with duck and [[Parmesan]]); {{lang|fr|ecossaise}} (mutton consommé with [[pearl barley]]); George Sand (fish consommé with [[crayfish]] and [[morels]]); Mikado (chicken consommé with tomato); {{lang|fr|parisienne}} (beef consommé with [[leek]]s); Rossini (chicken consommé with [[truffle]]s and [[foie gras]]); and Rothschild (game consommé with [[Sauternes (wine)|Sauternes]]).<ref>Saulnier, pp. 33–39</ref>

[[File:Bruehe-1.jpg|thumb|Beef consommé]]

In their 1961 book ''[[Mastering the Art of French Cooking]]'', [[Simone Beck]], [[Louisette Bertholle]] and [[Julia Child]] say this about clarifying consommé:
{{blockindent|This is accomplished by beating egg whites into cold stock, then heating it to just below the simmer for 15 minutes. The egg-white globules dispersed into the stock act as a magnet for all its minute cloudy particles. These gradually rise to the surface, leaving a crystal-clear liquid below them.<ref>Beck ''et al'', p. 116</ref>}}

==Varieties==

Double consommé is made to double strength.<ref name=ocf/> One method is to double the quantity of meat used in the recipe; another is producing one of normal strength and [[Reduction (cooking)|reducing]] it to half its volume.<ref>{{cite web |last=Christensen |first=Tricia |date=16 May 2024 |title=What is Consomme? |url=http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-consomme.htm |access-date=2 December 2014 |work=DelightedCooking |language=en |archive-date=5 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405221057/http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-consomme.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In a 2007 ''New York Times'' article<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/dining/05curi.html|title=The Curious Cook; The Essence of Nearly Anything, Drop by Limpid Drop|newspaper=The New York Times|date=5 September 2007|access-date=2 December 2014|last1=McGee|first1=Harold|archive-date=12 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141212190355/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/dining/05curi.html?|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Harold McGee]] set out an alternative method for clarifying broths, originating among chefs of the [[molecular gastronomy]] movement: [[gelatin]] filtration, relying on some of the properties of a super-[[wiktionary:saturated|saturated]] solution of gelatin, created by freezing, to remove macroscopic particles that cause cloudiness from a water-based stock. This method is distinct from traditional consommé both in technique and in final product, as gelatin filtration results in a gelatin-free broth, while traditional consommé gives a final product rich in gelatin, with a correspondingly rich [[mouthfeel]]. A traditional consommé gels when chilled; a gelatin-filtered consommé does not.<ref name=nyt/> Because gelatin-filtered consommés do not require egg-whites they are less wasteful.<ref>[http://news.curiouscook.com/2007/10/curious-cook-in-new-york-times.html Curious Cook in the New York Times: Clarifying liquids with gelatin]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303060751/http://news.curiouscook.com/2007/10/curious-cook-in-new-york-times.html |date=2009-03-03 }}</ref>

What is advertised as beef consommé is available in cans. A proprietary brand on sale in Britain in 2025 contained water, sherry (3%), beef gelatin, yeast extract, salt, sugar, beef extract (0.2%), onion extract, black pepper extract, parsley extract, sunflower oil, mixed peppers, spice extracts (celery, nutmeg, pimento, cinnamon, capsicum) and niacin.<ref>[https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/baxters-luxury--beef-consomme-soup-400g "Baxters Chef Selections, Beef Consomme Soup 400g"], Sainsburys. Retrieved 19 June 2025</ref> In the US a proprietary brand contained "beef stock (water, dried beef stock), gelatin, yeast extract, salt, sugar, natural flavoring, monosodium glutamate, tamari soy sauce (water, soybeans, salt), caramel color, citric acid, carrots, beef stock, soy sauce (water, soybeans, salt, wheat), onions, celery, beef tallow, dried beef, dried carrots, wheat and soy".<ref>[https://www.walmart.com/ip/Campbell-s-Condensed-Beef-Consomme-Soup-10-5-oz-Can/10321653?classType=VARIANT&athbdg=L1200&from=/search "Campbell's Condensed Beef Consommé Soup, 10.5 oz Can"], Walmart. Retrieved 19 June 2025</ref> Beck, Bertholle and Child state that they do not recommend tinned consommé.<ref>Beck ''et al'', p. 111</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{cite book | last = Beck | first =Simone|authorlink=Simone Beck |author2 = [[Louisette Bertholle]] |author3 =[[Julia Child]] | title = Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One | date = 2012 | orig-date = 1961 | location = London | publisher = Particular | isbn = 978-0-241-95339-6 }} 
* {{cite book | last= Davidson|first=Alan |authorlink=Alan Davidson (food writer)| title=The Oxford Companion to Food | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-19-211579-9  }}
*{{cite book | last=Escoffier | first=Auguste| authorlink = Auguste Escoffier |title=A Guide to Modern Cookery|location=London|publisher=William Heinemann Ltd|date=1907|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924000610117/page/n13/mode/2up|oclc=314467749}}
*{{cite book | last = Saulnier | first = Louis|authorlink=Louis Saulnier (writer) | title = Le répertoire de la cuisine | edition = fourteenth | date = 1978 | orig-date = 1914 | location = London | publisher = Jaeggi | oclc = 1086737491}}
* {{cite book | last= Soyer | first= Alexis|authorlink=Alexis Soyer | title =The Gastronomic Regenerator: A Simplified and Entirely New System of Cookery  | year= 1846| location= London | publisher= Simpkin, Marshall & Co| url= https://archive.org/details/gastronomicregen00soye_0/page/n43/mode/2up| oclc= 1156372451}}

==See also==
* [[List of French soups and stews]]
* [[List of soups]]
* [[Broth]]

{{Commons category|Consommé}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Consomme}}
[[Category:French soups]]