soup and french scientists
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier convinced the French that potatoes were edible. many french dishes made with potatoes bear his name.

Potage Parmentier (Potato Leek soup):

i am making some changes to the joy of cooking recipe. it is satisfying and light at the same time.

you will gently fry the firmer parts of as many leeks as you can afford (no less than two, no more than eight) in half a stick of butter (70g) until they are quite soft.

have some potatoes peeled, about three large ones. those of the type "gold" do well here. slice them in centimeter thick disks.

you then add about five cups of liquid. my preference is that the soup be light, so i would not advise making it entirely stock. also be wary that your stock may have some gelatin in it that can stiffen the soup. therefore i advise one cup of stock (fish, chicken, or shrimp) and four cups of water. simmer covered until the potatoes are well cooked.

now the place where i differ most sharply with joy of cooking. they say to purée the mixture, but i advise using a simple potato masher (one of which i bought in the aftermath of the recent scandal, and the recent scandal is probably the reason why i had this change of heart about puréeing, because i am now so cautious about making things too stiff, or horresco referens, "gluey", by wounding the potato starches.) until you have a thick of porridge with small but palpable lumps of potato in it.

now add salt, white pepper, and a touch of milk or creme.

dip crusty bread in it. good with ale.


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Louis Camille Maillard has a reaction named after him. quoth wikipedia:

The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat. Like caramelization, it is a form of non-enzymatic browning. The reactive carbonyl group of the sugar reacts with the nucleophilic amino group of the amino acid, and forms a variety of interesting but poorly characterized molecules responsible for a range of odors and flavors. This process is accelerated in an alkaline environment as the amino groups are deprotonated and hence have an increased nucleophilicity.

I am proposing a standard chicken soup that uses all of the same ingredients as your standard recipe, but makes use of the Maillard reaction to improve the sapidity.

do so:

prepare a hot oven, 425-450F, and roast on your broiler pan:

1 celery heart
1 large carrot
1-2 lbs chicken necks or other unappreciated
1 onion
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled

turn everything over with tongs every 10 minutes or so. when something becomes very well browned, put it in your stockpot and wait for everything else to finish browning. when everything is finished browning, add water to just cover everything, then a bouquet garni. simmer your stock, skimming, leaving uncovered, adding water as necessary, 1-4 hours.

meanwhile, put three or four chicken thighs, their skin on, on the broiler pan and roast them, turning every 10 minutes, until they are done (about 30 minutes). it the skin should be crispy, dry and browned. remove the skin, salt it, and eat it or give it out as a snack. the reason i advocate the broiler pan is because moist conditions (viz. steam in equillibrium with wtaer) slow down the glorious maillard reaction. let the meat cool, then remove the bone and slice it across the grain. crumble the slices and reserve them. the reason we roasted the meat separately and have delayed adding it to the soup is so that it doesn't lose any flavor to the boiling stock.

once the stock is done, remove the solids, return it to the pot, then add

salt to taste
chopped carrots
diced potatoes

the potatoes will absorb some of the salt you added as they cook. when they are done, turn off the heat and stir in the chicken meat. add black pepper to taste.
- posted by Jesse @ 9:09 PM