Juuuussst Barley

I always thought I hated soup. At least, that's what I though. Turns out, I just hated canned soup. Because soup made with stock that I've created, and vegetables that I've cut, is delicious. Today we made soup and it was gooooood.

First we started a chicken consummé. Ever had chicken consummé? That crystal clear ultra chickeny flavor is not acquired prettily. Stock is combined with egg whites, ground raw chicken breast, mirepoix, salt, and some aromatics. It's a slurry of funky slimy stuff. That sits for 15 minutes and gets poured into a pot. As it comes to temperature, the egg whites and chicken begin to coagulate and, with everything but the stock, becomes a "raft". This raft eventually floats to the top bringing with it all the impurities in the stock. You cut a hole in the side and begin to skim stuff that gets pushed up to the top. As it simmers (about 45 minutes), it only gets clearer.

We also fired up a vegetable "stock" at the same time. I use the quotes because a stock is defined as having the bones of an animal in it. Vegetable stock has no bones, but we call it stock anyway. Why is the sky blue? Why are fat guys named "Tiny"? Moving on. After getting all these things going, we realized we had about 10 minutes to get our Clear Vegetable Soup and Mushroom Barley Soup up for our serving window. We had not started them. Ready? GO:

Get the barley in simmering water for Mushroom.
Mirepoix on the heat for Veggie.
Onions and carrot sweating for Mushroom.
Garlic to mirepoix for Veggie.
Mushrooms to onions and carrot for Mushroom.
Veggie stock to Veggie.
Chicken stock to Mushroom.
Season.
Into rocket hot bowls on doilies on plates.
Serve.

Confidence is shot. Didn't even taste. One minute before our service window closes. Breathe. Fingers crossed. The chef tastes the soups. (The bowls are stained from getting scorched in the oven previously. They're not dirty.)














He loved em. Other than our cuts not being 100% uniform in the Veggie, we nailed them. 19 for Veggie and 20 for Mushroom. What?! Really?! Ummm....thanks? Maybe we should rush at the last minute for everything.

As the consummé continues to simmer and clarify, we prep the Minestrone. Mirepoix sweats. Elbow mac is al dente. Add garlic. Add zucchini and chiffonade of cabbage. Add chicken stock. Add tomato, minced parsley, and cannellini beans. Put mac in the bowl. Ladle soup over the top. Sprinkle with parmesan. Serve:














And that's what a "20" Minestrone looks like. BOOM!

Back to the consummé. Ladle out the soup into a coffee filter in a strainer into a new pot. Add five pieces each of perfectly brunoised carrots and celery to the bowl. Ladle the soup over that. In the end, it should create an absolutely clear, fat free, ultra chickeny soup. Ours, however, had an ever so slight bit of fat on top (probably didn't strain the chicken stock through enough cheesecloth). It also had a few flecks of debris (we're talking smaller than a fine ground pepper here - most likely something was left in the strainer). But the flavor was "excellent" and it was "perfectly" seasoned. We got a 17 :(

All in all, a pretty great day. Chef Waggoner even mentioned that two 20s, a 19, and a 17 averaged out to an "A" day and that that was great.

Cream of everything tomorrow. Mushroom. Celery. Broccoli. And French Onion Gratinée. I'll let ya know how that works out.