[Sca-cooks] Soupe Crottee (Vivendier) - any experience?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Sep 24, 2009, at 6:40 PM, Antonia Calvo wrote:

> Volker Bach wrote:
>
>> I was booked to cook a feast in December and I am looking again at  
>> the French tradition. One piece that looked interesting is the  
>> Vivendier's recipe #26 for soupe crottee.  Basically, it's cheese  
>> and white bread boiled in water and wine. I can think of several  
>> interpretations here, from a cheese-flavoured (but otherwise fairly  
>> insipid) bread porridge to a mass of goo with soggy bread lumps in  
>> it. Has anyone here tried this recipe or a similar one, and if so,  
>> with what results? I was thinking along the lines of trying a  
>> relatively small amount of water and a long cooking period to cause  
>> the bread to fall apart, giving me a rich porridgelike dish that  
>> could be glooped over sops.
>>
>
>
> First of all, I'd like to say yum, yum!
>
> I'm not sure why you expect this to be gloopy, lumpy or porridgy.  I  
> expect it to be about the consistancy of, well, thickish soup.

Did you see English bread sauce in your mind for just a moment here,  
too?

>  I'm not sure a long cooking time, thickness, and cheese are  
> mutually compatible.

I think I'm inclined to agree. I think the instruction to boil  
everything together may be  part of an overall desire to keep the dish  
from breaking, but the bread will still give it a curdled appearance  
(which Scully seems to claim is the probable source for the name).  
Maybe try thinking of it as a sort of emulsified broth made rather  
quickly: boil water and wine in a wide pan, throw in your bread and  
cheese and stir the living bejeebus out of it until the cheese is  
melted and the bread completely moistened and semi-disintegrated,  
serve hot quickly...

A lot will depend on the cheese and the bread.

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter