I love surprises. And I love the unexpected. I love when you think something is going to be horrible and then its wonderful. I love when you meet someone who think you're not going to like and then you end up being their best friend. I love when soup looks like the equivalent of a big, thick, gloopy, eggy, raw ground chicken, floating vegetable mess, and then it turns out to be the clearest soup you've ever seen. Hello, consomme.
It might be one of the coolest things I've ever done in a kitchen and I can't even take all the credit for it because its just too cool, too beyond me. Consomme is an extremely clear soup that has a really rich flavor. Chefs say you should be able to read the date on a dime that is sitting on the bottom of a pot of consomme. We're not talking clear here, we're talking exquisitely clear. Like nothing you've ever seen before. It's similar to the first time you see a diamond, but you can eat this and it tastes awesome. So basically what you do is mix egg whites, raw ground meat (corresponding to whatever kind of stock you are going to use), tomato (acid), mirepoix (finely chopped mixture 50% onion, 25% carrot, 25% celery), salt, and stock together. You gently heat everything up and the egg/meat/vegetable mixture cooks and slowly forms a raft, which is just a mass of the above mixture and any impurities in the liquid, and then you are left with a brilliantly clear liquid that is so full of flavor you wouldn't believe it. It also happens to be beautiful.
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