No Soup for You!

Today was pretty cool. The soups weren't that delicious, but the responses we received from the chef were amazing. He told us that our Butternut Squash Soup with Caramelized Apple and Potage Cressonniére soups were "So good that they could be made and sold professionally right now." And aside from our portion size being a little small on our Purée of Green Pea with Minted Cream, it and our Caldo Verde were "Absolutely delicious." Three 20s and a 19. Great day. Also, for all my tailgate buddies, stay tuned for Roasted Kabocha and Butternut Squash Soup with Créme Fraîche - it's a beautiful Burnt Orange and White combo that will be amazingly delicious if we get a cold game. Tomorrow is Shrimp Bisque, Manhattan-Style Clam Chowder (with live clams) and Corn and Crab Chowder with Basil.

Chef Waggoner told a story today. He was working a buffet for some hoity toity party and Julia Louis-Dreyfus was there. He was serving the soup. When she arrived to his station, he said, "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" Hilarious right? She complained to his boss and he got written up. He claims that to this day, he hasn't seen another episode of Seinfeld.

(Yesterday's blog that for some reason didn't post)

We made Cream of Celery, Mushroom, and Broccoli soups today. Meh. They all tasted very celery-y, mushroom-y, and broccoli-y (resectively), but other than that, they were more an exercise in different methods than anything else.

The main event today was French Onion Soup. Wow. This is labor intensive and worth it! We started by getting some onions going in butter. While that worked, we fried some fresh baguette slices in clarified butter to make croutons. Yea. I know. Two and a half hours later, to beautifully brown, perfectly caramelized onions, we added chicken stock, veal glace, fresh thyme, and a little S & P. This went in a single-serve crock bowl. Then went in the croutons. Then we laid a few slices of gruyére over the top. Then it went under the salamander to get all GBD - golden brown and delicious.













As you can see, Chef Lange got into the soup before I could get a clean pic. But when he got through the cheese and crouton to see how deep and rich the brown color was on the soup, he said, "Now that's sexy," - referring to how far we were able to caramelize the onions without burning them. And I tell you what, this was delicious. It was also, according to Chef Lange, as close to a perfect French Onion Soup as a CA 101 team can get on their first try. 20 points. See ya tomorrow for Chilled Pea Soup, Butternut Squash, and something else.