Excellent Companions

You are not obliged to make a consommé. It’s a long affair: although not remotely tedious, it is not inexpensive and nor is it especially easy. Great care is needed to remove every drop of fat, to make sure it cooks but never boils, that it does not burn – it can, it can, only too easily – and it must then be strained with great care. Now that I have thoroughly put you off, I urge you to give it a go. Quite simply, the emergence of a crystal-clear consommé from the murky depths of a stock and its peculiar clarification mixture is among the greatest joys in cooking, a thing of beauty, and one that is extremely satisfying to accomplish.