SC - Marmite

[CBlackwill at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/30/00 9:49:36 PM Pacific Daylight Time, stefan at texas.net 
writes:

> Sigh. You cooks are as bad as us computer geeks. :-) What is "consomme"?
>  Since you said "very good quality" stock, I have to assume this isn't
>  grease. How does consomme differ from broth? Sounds like another of
>  those fancy marketing words, like the 'kiwi' in kiwi fruit we talked
>  about recently.

Marketing word?  My dear Lord Stefan....say it is not so!  You have never had 
consomme?  Why, when i was an apprentice, I used to make consomme every day, 
and can now produce one of absolute crystal clarity, I am quite proud to say!

Essentially, consomme is, in its simplest form, a very well made stock (beef, 
chicken, fish, veal, what-have-you), clarified using a variety of means (but 
most commonly with the "clearmeat" discussed earlier) until it is absolutely 
clear, and then seasoned and reduced (reverse that) until it is completely 
nummy.  Further reduction of the consomme will result in a "glace", which is 
very much like a thick, meat flavored jello, highly concentrated and 
extremely flavorful.  Imagine a boullion cube, and you have the flavoring 
power of "glace" (also called "glace de cuisine" or "stock glaze").  The 1769 
"Secrets de la nature et de l'art concernant les aliments" has, from what I 
can gather, a very good recipe for making glace de viande (beef glaze), but 
the time and resources required would probably put it out of reach of most of 
us...

Balthazar of Blackmoor

Mr. Wizard, what happens when you combine pasta and antipasta?