Consommé with Shredded crêpes

To follow a traditional recipe for consommé célestine, you must first make a rich beef broth with a couple of hens added; then clarify the broth with lean ground beef, chopped aromatic vegetables, and egg whites; and then carefully strain the soup and serve it with little strips of crêpes. To reproduce Escoffier’s version, you must stuff the crêpes with a chicken forcemeat flavored with truffles—all of this to produce something that, frankly, isn’t as good as a well-made concentrated broth.