Making a good beef consomme is a tradition that stems back to the Middle Ages, and these days, it’s not difficult to find fans of the stock-heavy soup that goes great with snow days and an open fire then partner it with a delicious homemade pork stew.
It can be served with minimal ingredients or filled to the point of becoming a stew, but today we’ll be going over a traditional beef consomme recipe and talking a little bit about ways to bring out different flavors for different tastes and occasions.
Beef Consommé
Consommé, commonly referred to as the “king of broths,” is a clarified broth that may be cooked from any meat and dairy. It is rich, clear, and aromatic. This ancient recipe, which is typically served as a whole course, dates back to the Middle Ages and was typically consumed by the wealthy because they could purchase the ingredients. Contrary to popular belief, beef consommé is not simply beef stock or beef broth that has been clarified. Consommé is a French word that means “finished” or “concentrated.” Accordingly, a consommé is a robust, concentrated broth or stock. In reality, in classical French cooking, all a stock needed to be for it to be called a consommé was concentrated. The two types of consommé were then further separated into regular and clarified.
The only part of the dish that is consumed is the liquid, not any of the solids. This recipe yields a delicious and silky bowl of juicy, clarified beef broth that is perfect for a quick meal or a modest serving on a chilly winter afternoon. This beef consommé is incredibly tasty and rich! On a chilly weeknight, enjoy a cup of this decadent clarified beef broth as a light supper or delectable snack. All you need for this opulent recipe is ground beef, beef stock, egg whites, and a selection of fresh herbs and veggies.
Beef Consomme Recipe
What You Need to Make it
- Eggs
- Lean Ground Beef
- Onions
- Celery
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Beef stock
- Cooking Oil
- Seasonings
- Garlic
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
Video Recipe
As you can see from our exhaustive list of ingredients, making beef consommé is going to be a bit more involved than some of our other recipes like Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup. However, we’ll be sure to go step-by-step and make sure that none of your food purchases goes to waste.
Step-By-Step Recipe
To start, we’re going to begin separating our egg whites from our yolks. The number of eggs you’re going to need will depend on the amount you’d like to end up with, but a couple of eggs per serving should work best.
Whisk or vigorously stir your egg whites and get a nice froth going. As for the egg yolks? Perhaps you could save these for another dish tonight.
After you’ve gotten your froth going, pour the egg whites into a pot and move next to your vegetables. Cut and dice the onions, celery, carrots, tomatoes, and a little bit of garlic to add on top of your egg whites.
Your ground beef is next to go in. There’s no need to brown or cook your beef—simply add it to the top of your small pile. Eventually, these ingredients are going to form a layer at the top of your consommé called a raft. We’ll get to this in a moment.
Pour in the beef stock and stir the ingredients well.
You’ll notice that several of your vegetables will begin to float to the surface. Soon, the meat will rise to complete our raft. Turn on the stove and bring your concoction to a simmer.
You have an option of making an additional ingredient called a bouquet garni—which is essentially herbs wrapped in cheesecloth to help bring out the flavor in your beef consommé. This is a lovely option, but not particularly necessary. If you’re looking to make your mixture more herbal, try stirring in seasonings like oregano or leaves directly into the mix.
Once your meat has risen, you should be looking at a solid surface at the top of your beef broth. This raft is what helps to flavor your beef consommé over time, and won’t be utilized in the final product. You don’t need to stir anymore once your raft has fully risen.
You’re going to need to cut a hole in the raft to allow the simmering broth to bubble and breathe during the cooking process.
The easiest way to do this is to dig what’s called a chimney into the side of the pot. Make sure you see bubbling to ensure you’ve given enough room for the stock to air out.
This mixture needs to simmer softly for about an hour to fully develop the flavors and allow the rafting time to release what it can into your consommé. Once you’ve waited long enough, it is time to strain the mixture.
Using cheesecloth will be the best way to strain your consommé, but whatever gets the job done—such as a traditional colander—will work. Make sure you’ve saved the liquid but none of the ingredients in the raft, or the bouquet garni if you’ve used one.
Finally, discard the contents of the raft and pour the consommé into bowls or cups. You can either serve it as is or add in a few extra ingredients. If you have extra seasonings and carrots, we recommend adding a little bit of each into the finished consommé to enhance the taste.
Salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!
Beef Consomme Recipe
Variations and Meal Ideas
Since consommé is essentially a warm and flavorful broth, there are quite a few ways to put a spin on the ingredients and come out with many different flavors. We recommend trying out a few suggestions below if you’re looking to create a beef consommé that’s far from normal and sure to be remembered:
1. Half and Double Consommé
Much like with coffee or perhaps some form of distilled alcohol, you can begin to alter the strength of your consommé by changing how much ground beef enters the pot in relation to the amount of beef stock.
For your standard consommé, you’re going to want to keep your mixture at about a pound of ground beef for every three quarts of beef broth. If you find that your mixture turns out too watery or doesn’t bring out the beef enough, keep your vegetable portions the same and double your meat-to-stock ratio. If it’s too strong, move in the opposite direction.
These portions and ratios are incredibly handy when changing up the amount for a larger quantity of people. A night indoors may require a lighter broth, but winter meals are going to warrant a double-strength consommé. Make sure to plan accordingly.
2. Experimenting With Garnishes
Contrary to popular belief, a garnish is more than the leafy bits that come on top of a hamburger or on the side of a pasta plate at many restaurants.
When we say that we’re garnishing beef consommé, we mean that we’re adding anything after straining the raft from the pot. Be very careful when choosing what remains on the plate of your guests so as to not distract from your creation.
We recommend sticking with some chopped carrots and maybe a little bit of celery. You can also try out some of the following options to gently push possibilities with your meal.
Seasoning with vegetables and light greens like bay leaves, thyme, celery, and maybe just a little bit of peppercorn adds to your consommé without distracting from the stock’s flavor.
For the daring, cook up some crepes during the simmering process and slice them into the finished product. Your meal may end up far more involved than you intended at the start. However, the flavor of crepes can bring out a tangy undertone to a beef consommé.
A word of caution, however—the more you add to your consommé, the less it becomes what it was meant to be. Too many vegetables and other garnishes will leave you with a bowl of soup or stew. If that was your original intent, then perhaps going through all of that trouble with the raft and chimney wasn’t really worth it.
3. Bull Shots and Vodka
Beef consomme has a history of being a warm winter meal or a fine dining entree. However, it also has a dark and nebulous history as a mixed drink.
Back in the 1960s, bartenders began to experiment with beef consomme as a base for a variety of drinks and spirits. Eventually, the Bull Shot was born.
A Bull Shot is made by mixing in two parts of beef consomme with vodka. Then add a dash of Tabasco sauce, and serve on the rocks with a lemon garnish.
If that all sounds less than appealing for an evening drink, that’s because it was. The Bull Shot faded into obscurity over time and was at one point condemned by Marilyn Monroe as “a terrible thing to do to vodka.”
The Bull Shot and the idea of a beef consomme-flavored beverage isn’t completely lost to the ages, however.
If you’re hosting a special party or have fairly open-minded friends, try making a Bull Shot or similar beverage.
You’ll have either uncovered a taste that’s highly underrated or discovered another drink that’s better left in the past. Either way, we recommend making enough beef consomme to serve sans alcohol if you go this route.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe?
- It is amazingly easy to cook. There is very little effort and no expensive ingredients needed for this recipe.
- Prepare the consommé first, then let everything boil while filtering and enjoying.
- It is light but tastes rich.
- By letting the liquid simmer for such a long time, we enable additional flavor to develop. The finished product is a clarified broth with a deep, rich flavor that won’t make you feel sleepy.
- There are many different ways to enjoy it because it is so flexible!
- This beef consommé can be consumed as a snack or used as a broth in your preferred soups.
Health Benefits
There is no denying that beef consommé and beef broth have particular advantages for your health, including maintaining a healthy digestive system, enhancing the condition of your hair, skin, and nails thanks to the gelatin found in the bones, and curing colds and the flu when you consume the spicy beef broth. However, with time, the high sodium content and chemicals in beef consommé and beef broth might be detrimental to your health. You ought to exercise caution and get enough of either. They might cause health problems like hypertension if they don’t. Because it contains egg whites, it may have higher protein content than broth. Additionally, it has more potassium, iron, and calcium than beef broth. The beef consommé contains at least traces of several nutrients. Vegetables can considerably improve their nutritional value of it.
Protects bones and joints
The collagen in bone broth also prevents joints from damage caused by aging. As a result, bone broth might be helpful for those who suffer from bone and joint diseases like osteoarthritis.
Low-calorie and low-carb food:
One cup of chicken bone broth has 120 calories and 8grams of carbohydrates, making bone broth low in both calories and carbs. As a result, it functions as a nutritious snack or side dish. Your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease increases when you consume foods high in refined carbs or calories.
Helps with digestive issues
The amino acid glutamine, which helps digestion and intestinal health, is abundant in bone broth. it may findto be especially helpful for those Individuals who sufferdigestive disorders like leaky gut illness or inflammatory bowel disorder.
Weight Management
Despite having few calories, broth and broth-based soups can make you feel full, making them a great option for those trying to lose weight.
Better Hydration
Beef consommé’s high water content improves hydration. Water affects almost every physical function and comprises up to 70% of the human body.
Improved Sleep
Glycine, an amino acid found in modest levels in beef consommé, may help people unwind and fall asleep more deeply and restfully.
Nutrition
The flavorful component of many intricate, delectable recipes, beef consommé is simple to prepare. It’s also a fantastic method to utilize animal tissue & bone that is flavorless otherwise.
Storing Tips
Store: For 2-3 days, the Consommé can be kept in the refrigerator.
Freeze: The finest tool for storing beef consommé and beef broth in the refrigerator and freezer is an airtight, reusable freezer storage container. By using this technique, you may preserve your liquid for three to four days, as opposed to four to six months if you freeze it.
Last but not least, be sure to date and label your beef consommé on the exterior of the container.
Nutrition Information
Per serving:
| Calories | 120 kcal | Carbohydrates | 8 g |
| Protein | 16 g | Fat | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g | Cholesterol | 24 mg |
| Sugar | 2 g | Sodium | 1216 mg |
| Potassium | 951 mg | Fiber | 1 g |
| Iron | 2 mg | Calcium | 45 mg |
| Vitamin A | 1019IU | Vitamin C | 2 mg |
Wrapping Things Up
Making a beef consomme is involved and will take much of your patience. First-time chefs may find themselves dismayed at the amount of work and the amount of waste in the form of the discarded raft.
Still, for those who want a warm broth on a cold winter day, it is hard to go wrong with beef consommé garnished with carrots and salt. Try serving with toasted bread and enjoying good wine and better company.
Chef
