Chicken soup. Traditional recipe

How to prepare a consommé . When I was little, the consommé that my mother prepared was the remedy for all ills, there was no lack of discomfort or child discomfort that was not accompanied by a tasty and warm consommé.

The truth is that over the years this dish has been a bit out of my home gastronomic repertoire, and not because I do not think that a good chicken soup   is something delicious, but because I had simply forgotten about it. But that is over, on my last trip to Galicia and thanks to my mother, this concentrated broth has conquered me again, that yes the consomme of all life , the one she always prepared for me and in which she put so much time and love .

Today’s recipe is that, a consommé in its traditional form , although in each house they will surely prepare it with small variations, in essence they are all more or less the same, a reduced broth with vegetables and some type of meat or fish. Consomme, despite being considered a dish of French cuisine, is said to be actually of Spanish origin.

The recipe is supposed to have been stolen by the French from the Alcántara Monastery library during the War of Independence in 1807. I can’t say that this is true or not, but the fact is that this dish is Spanish or French, it is one of the simplest and no less tasty of our gastronomy.

Although what tradition dictates is to serve this broth in its own consomme cup, the one with a double handle, and always ahead of a good meal, the truth is that I love it in a deep dish, like Galician broth or any other spoon dish, and both as a first and within a light dinner, to the taste of the consumer.

Preparation of the consommé

1. We remove the skin and possible remains of fat from the chicken stilt.
2. In a large pot, heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil. When it is hot, brown the chicken stilt and the calf meat.
3. While we brown the meat, peel the onion and cut it in two.
4. We wash the carrots and leeks and cut them into 3 pieces.
5. When the meat is browned, add the rest of the ingredients. Leeks, carrots and onion, bay leaf, whole parsley bunch, beef knee bone. Add the water and salt.
6. We cook the pot over medium heat covered for 2 hours.
7. Occasionally, with a spoon we will remove the foam that will be created. If we want to considerably reduce the cooking time we can use an express pot instead of a traditional pot. In this case, half an hour of cooking will suffice.
8. After the cooking time we remove the meats, the bone and the vegetables.

Final presentation of the consommé

1. Strain the broth, then degrease it, allowing it to cool. This way we remove the fat layer that will solidify on the surface.
2. If we want a greater flavor we can reduce the broth in the casserole until it loses a little volume.
3. This is the moment where we test and rectify it with salt. Since if we put it at the beginning, when reducing the broth it would be salty.
4. We can accompany the consommé with part of the meat that we have cooked and with noodles. Although in this way we would have a soup, and not a consomm itself.
5. This broth recipe is usually served at Christmas with one more ingredient. As if it were a special broth, some chopped quality ham or fried bread croûtons that are served to the taste of each diner.
6. It is also traditional to flavor it with a stream of sherry or add a raw egg yolk. But I recommend you as I explain it in the recipe, as it is full of flavor, great.