Consommé à la Moscovite

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •7 to 8-quart heavy nonreactive stockpot
• •Food processor or sharp chef's knife
• •Flat wooden spoon
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Tightly woven lint-free linen or nut-milk bag
• •Box grater or mortar and pestle
• •2 1/2-quart soup tureen

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the vesiga

   Cover the dried vesiga generously with cold water and refrigerate it for four hours, changing the water twice. It should swell, soften, and bend without a hard core. If the centre still resists the knife, give it another hour in fresh cold water rather than forcing it; vesiga that isn't fully soaked stays leathery after cooking.

   One ounce of dry vesiga yields roughly four tablespoonfuls after soaking and cooking, the proportion given by the classical formula for this two-quart batch.
2. 2

   Build the clarification

   Reserve 1 1/2 cups (360 ml / 360 g) of the fish stock for cooking the vesiga and adjusting the finished consommé. In a tall stockpot, combine the remaining cold stock with the chopped sturgeon, five egg whites, onion, carrot, leek, celery, parsley stems, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Stir thoroughly while everything is cold so the proteins are dispersed through the stock; clumps now leave cloudy pockets later.

3. 3

   Raise the raft

   Set the pot over medium-low heat and scrape the floor gently and continuously with a flat wooden spoon as the stock warms. After 15 to 25 minutes, the egg whites and sturgeon will gather into a pale raft and rise to the surface. Stop stirring as soon as that raft seals, cut a small chimney through its centre, and hold the liquid at the barest tremble for 35 minutes, ladling a little broth through the chimney now and then. Never let it roll. If the raft fractures and the broth clouds, remove the pot from the heat, let the curds settle for 10 minutes, strain without pressing, and cool until no longer hot. Whisk in the two optional egg whites and repeat a gentle 20-minute clarification. Ça se rattrape.

4. 4

   Strain without pressing

   Wet a piece of tightly woven clean linen with cold water, wring it out, and lay it inside a fine sieve over a clean pot. Ladle the consommé through the chimney and then through the linen, disturbing the raft as little as possible. Let gravity work. Pressing the raft forces its captured particles back into the broth. Measure 8 cups (1.9 liters / 1.9 kilograms) of clear consommé; if slightly short, add enough reserved hot stock to reach the measure, and if slightly over, hold the excess for another soup.

5. 5

   Cook the vesiga

   Drain the softened vesiga and cut it into neat 1/4-inch dice. Simmer it gently in 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) of the reserved fish stock for 25 to 40 minutes, until tender and faintly gelatinous but still distinct under the teeth. Drain well. Save the cooking broth for another fish soup, but don't return it to this pot because the released gelatin can dull the consommé's clarity. Taste a salted mushroom; if fiercely salty, rinse it briefly and pat it dry, then cut it julienne-fashion into fine match-shaped rods.

6. 6

   Press cucumber essence

   Grate the peeled and cored cucumber finely, then pound or crush the pulp until wet and loose. Place it in a fresh piece of damp linen and let the clear essence drip into a bowl, pressing only gently at the end. A hard squeeze pushes fine pulp through and clouds the consommé. Aim for about 1/3 cup (80 ml / 80 g); if a little pulp escapes, pass the essence through clean linen once more.

7. 7

   Fill the tureen

   Warm a 2 1/2-quart soup tureen and the serving bowls with hot water, then dry them. Put the salted-mushroom julienne and cooked vesiga in the tureen. Stir the cucumber essence into the consommé, taste, and season lightly, remembering that the mushrooms will bring more salt. Bring the consommé just to a boil and pour it immediately over the garnish. Ladle at the table while the broth remains brilliantly clear and the cucumber still tastes fresh. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Buy farmed sturgeon trim if the fishmonger has it; clarification asks for flavor and protein, not handsome portions. Sterlet is rarely practical for a home cook, while farmed sturgeon keeps the dish's intent without pretending another fish is invisible.
• •Vesiga is dried sturgeon notochord, usually sold by specialist Eastern European or Caspian food merchants. There is no equal substitute for its yielding, gelatinous bite. If it can't be found, omit it and describe the soup as sturgeon consommé with cucumber and salted mushrooms.
• •Salted mushrooms means salt-preserved or lacto-fermented mushrooms, not mushrooms pickled in vinegar. Milk caps, porcini, or mixed forest mushrooms are suitable. Rinse only when necessary, because their woodland savor is part of the garnish.
• •Use a clean, unsalted white fish stock without tomato, saffron, or assertive herbs. A concentrated bouillon overwhelms the cucumber and makes final seasoning nearly impossible.
• •Pour a very dry Champagne or a restrained Chablis. Heavy oak presses too hard against the cucumber and the marine sweetness of the sturgeon.

Advance Preparation

• •The sturgeon consommé can be clarified one day ahead. Cool it promptly, refrigerate it covered, and lift away any set surface fat before reheating it gently.
• •The vesiga can soak overnight in the refrigerator and be cooked up to two days ahead. Keep it covered with a spoonful of its cooking broth, then drain before serving.
• •Cut the salted mushrooms earlier in the day, but make the cucumber essence no more than one hour before serving. Its green fragrance fades quickly.
• •Store consommé, vesiga, mushrooms, and cucumber essence separately. Combine them only for the final heating so the broth stays clear and each garnish keeps its character.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)