Name: Classic Consommé
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 110 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Classical French / Professional Italian Kitchen
Ingredients: 3785 ml chicken or beef broth; 200 g carrots; 150 g white onion; 180 g celery; 1 g bay leaves; 6 g garlic; 907 g ground chicken or beef; 20 g Italian parsley; 60 ml brandy; 10 ml Tabasco; 15 ml Worcestershire sauce; 120 g egg whites

Classic chicken consommé, crystal clear broth

Recipe Overview

Consommé is not simply stock served clear; it is stock refined through clarification. Lean protein, egg whites and aromatics form a coagulated raft that traps suspended particles while strengthening flavor. The result should be brilliantly clear, deeply aromatic and clean on the palate.

History of Consommé

The French word consommé comes from consommer, and Larousse defines the culinary term as a clarified beef or poultry broth. The idea belongs to the classical French repertoire in which a strong stock is refined until both flavor and appearance become exceptionally precise.

By the era of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century haute cuisine, clarification became part of the professional cook's technical vocabulary. The method survives in modern kitchens because it demonstrates several fundamental skills at once: stock quality, protein coagulation, temperature control, degreasing and fine filtration.

The classical raft works because egg white and lean meat proteins coagulate as the liquid warms. They rise with the aromatics, capturing fine particles. Once that raft forms, vigorous boiling or careless stirring can break it and cloud the broth, so the consommé is finished with a slow simmer, a small chimney and gentle ladling through cloth.

Culinary references: Larousse defines consommé as clarified beef or poultry broth; Escoffier culinary education references define consommé as clarified broth; Institute of Culinary Education demonstrates the traditional meat-and-egg-white raft and cheesecloth-lined chinois technique.

Ingredients

Servings Base recipe = 6 servings.

Chicken or Beef Broth — 3785 ml chicken_beef_broth · chicken/beef family visual
Carrots — 200 g — roughly chopped TC-VEG-CARROT-001
White Onion — 150 g — roughly chopped TC-VEG-ONION-WHITE
Celery — 180 g — roughly chopped VEG-CEL-001
Bay Leaves — 1 g HERB-BAY-LAUREL
Garlic — 6 g — lightly crushed TC-VEG-GARLIC-001
Ground Chicken or Beef — 907 g — lean; cold ground_chicken_beef · chicken/beef family visual
Italian Parsley — 20 g — roughly chopped HERB-PARSLEY-FLAT
Brandy — 60 ml BEVERAGE-BRANDY-001
Tabasco — 10 ml tabasco
Worcestershire Sauce — 15 ml worcestershire_sauce
Egg Whites — 120 g — cold DAIRY-EGG-COMPONENTS-001

Ingredient icon audit: all 12 ingredient rows now display published or controlled Tuscany Cuisine graphics. Ten use published ingredient graphics and reference pages, while chicken/beef broth and clarification meat intentionally use controlled chicken/beef dual-family visuals because the source recipe allows either protein. No fallback condiment graphics remain.

Preparation

Source timing: 20 min prep · 90 min cook. Operational profile: 20 active prep min · 30 active clarification/cooking min · about 60 passive monitored simmer min · 6 plating min · 12 cleanup min. Active/passive allocation is provisional until a kitchen time study.

Combine the cold lean ground meat, carrots, white onion, celery, bay leaves, garlic, parsley, egg whites, brandy, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce to form the clarification mixture.
Place the cold broth and clarification mixture in a clean pot. Begin heating gently, stirring only at the beginning so the proteins do not settle and scorch.
As the proteins coagulate and rise, stop stirring and allow the raft to form. Create a small chimney in the raft so the liquid can circulate.
Maintain a very gentle simmer for about 90 minutes. Do not let the consommé boil vigorously and do not break the raft.
Ladle the clear liquid carefully from beneath the raft and strain through damp cheesecloth or a fine chinois without pressing the solids.
Degrease carefully, correct the seasoning and serve hot in warmed bowls or consommé cups.

Chef's Note: The clarity of the final broth is a direct record of temperature control. Once the raft is established, patience is more important than speed.

HACCP – Consommé Control

Step	Control	Temperature	Action
Cooking / clarification	Protein safety	165°F / 74°C for poultry-based preparation	Verify safe cook before service or cooling
Cooling	Rapid	135→70°F / 57→21°C	Within 2 hours
Cold storage	Refrigerated	≤41°F / 5°C	Follow local food-code shelf-life controls
Reheat	Rapid reheating	165°F / 74°C	Before hot holding/service when applicable

Cost & Food Cost %

Total Recipe Cost ($):

Menu Price ($):

Cost per portion: $3.00
Food Cost %: 21.4%

Nutrition (per serving, estimate)

Calories	145 kcal
Fat	4 g
Carbohydrates	5 g
Protein	19 g
Sodium	Varies with base stock and seasoning