Jeni Wright, Eric Treuille, Le Cordon Bleu

Croutons and Croutes

Appears in
top 1000Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques
Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques

By Jeni Wright, Eric Treuille and Le Cordon Bleu

Published 1996

  • About

Croûtons are the small dice of bread that add texture to soups and salads. Croûtes are larger, used to accompany soups, absorb cooking juices from game or meat, or float on top of soups like French onion. For the crispest croûtons and croûtes, French chefs use day-old bread. Here croûtons are fried and croûtes toasted.

Frying
Heat 1 cm olive oil with a knob of butter until foaming. Add bread cubes and toss over a high heat until crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain.
Toasting
Toast medium-thick slices of baguette under a hot grill until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn over and toast on the other side.