Draft of Caesars Palace International cookbook, Soups (including Matzh Balls for Soup recipe)

SOUPS Page 22 "Soup's enough, if there's enough soup." Old proverb SOUPS: AN INTRODUCTION Some months ago comedienne Carol Burnett and. JjL?~??toors were starring in the famed Circus Maximus theatre-restaurant at Caesars Palace. Jim fcaft for another engagement and Carol was headlining the show alone. At 5 o'clock one afternoon, Carol, who is one of my favorite people, ohoned me in the Bacchanal Room where I was deep in ja series of small crises, overseeing our many dining facilities. "Nat," Carol whispered in a raspy-little girl voice. "You gotta help me. I lost my voice?.Laringitis or a touch of the desert crud," she croaked. "What am I gonna do?" -carol, I'm terribly sorry.-ft told her. "Did you see the doctor?" "Yes," she barely whispered. "He told me to get some rest." "Don't worry," I tried to soothe her. "I'll personally fix something light for you to eat. And then, try to get a little nap before the show." "All right, Nat," she whimpered like a child. "If you say so." Just before the dinner show, first of two for the night, she phoned again. "Nat," she screamed in her natural voice, "What did you put into that soup? I'm well. I slept. My throat feels fine. You ought to bottle it and sell it for medicine." "Carol, dear. It was just what my mother used to make for me as a child when I was under the weather ? just rich, nourishing Soups page 23 Jewish chicken soup." This soup, the basis for a thousand jokes on Jewish mothers, has been famed for its restorative powers for decades. Some Jewish mothers use fat old chickens or roosters; I don't. My revivifying chicken soup recipe, which I am happy to share wit$t you (see recipe, page ?)calls for the freshest of chickens and vegetablest we use no canned or frozen vegetables. Abd though we and our Caesars Palace guests think it is an excellent soup, it would scarcely have satisfied the late great MGM tycoon, L. B, Mayer. As a poor, hungry boy, he had once been invited to dinner at the home of a well-fio-do Jewish family and there had tasted rich chicken soup for the first time. He resolved that someday he'd have the best chicken soup in town every day. And when he became a power at MGM, he created a personal recipe* nine fat 2-year-old hens to each three gallons of liquid. Each noon at the studio commissary, Mayer had his bow&l of soup with succulent bits of chicken and matzo balls afloat in the aromatic broth. One day, a newly-hired chef, unaware of Mayer's passionate belief in the healing power of his magic elixir, decided Mayer's millionaire recipe was madness, and decreed that three young and veteran skinny chickens were ample. Warned by a/kitchen helper that the old man would KKXsxxkKBKx&hHxg&gfKXKKKK hit the ceiling, the chef insisted that Mayer would never know the difference. At noon, the portly movie magnate lifted his spoon expectantly to his lips. He took one sip. Soups page 24 threw the spoon down and forthwith fired the chefi Many housewives, planning a party dinner, neglect the soup. Yet great French chefs feel that soup is to a dinner what the en- * trance is to a house; the first indication of style and atmosphere. This, I think, applies equally well to the most formal and to the sim-plest of dinners. Soup should complement or contrast with what Is to follow:a piping hot consomme before a cold main course, a tangy hot watercress soup to recondition the palate after drinks and hBucxx&ftasuncxK a variety of appetizers. A misconception, Biong held by Americans, is that every French kitchen contains an enormous black pot sitting on the stove. Into it, day after day and week after week,are tossed bones, left-over bits of vegetables, carcasses of poultry, odds and ends of beef, pork and lamb scraps. And from this witch's cauldron comes the most delectable soup year after year after year. Don't you believe it. A beautiful soup of the evening or the luncheon is not a muddle of indiscriminate old leftovers. True, the thrifty French housewife does not discard a flavorful chicken carcass. She simmers it with care, add fresh chopped vegetables and herbs, a handful of rice or noodles and serves it forth to her family, with an appropriate garnish floating on each bowl. Sometimes the difference between just a bowl of soup and one fit for a dinner party is the garnish. For soups that are imaginatively garnished actually seem to taste better than those served unadorned. Soups page 25 Besides the more commohly used chopped parsley, chives and Parmesan cheese, consider a dollop of whipped cream with a sprinkle of paprika on it, paper thin slices of lime, lemon or orange, toasted, slivered almonds, popcorn, golden brown croutons, watercress leaves, a carrot curl, one or more asparagus tips, diced fresh tomato, sour cream with a sprinkle of nutmeg, sliced stuffed olives, crumbled blue cheese, radish slices ? the list is endless. Soups page 26 POTAGE GERMINY For over 3 years we served this delicate cream soup in the Bacchanal Room. Then I thought our patrons must be bored with it, excellent though it is. So my chefs and I experimented and came up with a new soup to replace th4 Germiny. And yet, from time to time, people say: "Whatever happened to that great cream soup you used to serve?" The great Escoffier made Potage Germiny and it has since become a culinary classic. Chefs have added their own touches. This is the wild, version I like to serve. Its main ingredient is a/spinach-like leaf, called sorrel, also called sour grass. You must ask your vegetable man to order this for you unless you shop in a foreign market. Or you can substitute watercress, though you will get a bitter instead of a sour, taste to the soup. In France, sorrel is called oseille, and is a great favorite. European Jews use it to make their beloved Schav, a cold soup. For 6 servings 1/2 pound sorrel Salt and white pepper to taste 1 ounce butter 1 quart of white consomml (see recipe, page ? ) 4 yolks of eggs 1 ounce sherry (optional) 1 cup whipping cream 1. Wash sorrel well, discard tough stems and cut the leaves in the thinnest of ribbons. Melt butter in soup pot. Toss sorrel into pot A/-" with the better, cover, and simmer gently for five minutes. Add the consomme and bring to a boil. Soups page 27 2. In a stainless steel bowl combine egg yolks, the whipping cream, the salt and pepper. 3. Remove soup pot from heat. Blend in the yolk and cream mixture quickly. Return to fire to reheat? do not allow to boil. 3. PRBSENTATHDN;XAfUjXgHBCBBTMKKXMJCX&lfl^ Add the ounce of sherry if you like and serve iwkth cheese straws as accompaniment. It's really a marvelous soup. Soups page 28 CHICKEN SOUP Back in 1732 Thomas Fuller wrotej "Of soup and love, the first is best." Even confirmed chicken soup fanciers might not quite agree. Even if you add feather-light matzo balls. For 8 servings 1 chicken, 3 pounds or more 4 sprigs of parsley 4 stalks of celery, cut in half 1 sprig of fresh dill 3 me?Sium-siz4 carrots, whole Salt toa ndt asgtreo und black pepper 1 large white onion, cut in half 2 and 1/2 quarts of water 1 small parsnip, cut in half 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley for garnish 1.Cut chicken in quarters. Wash the giblets well. Salt both giblets and chicken just enough for seasoning. Allow salt to absorb for 15 or 20 minutes before cookiwnigt.h cover 2. In a large soup pot/place all ingredients except chopped parlley garnish. Bring to a boil, remove scum carefully, reduce flame, and let soup simmer, covered,for 1 hour and 15 minutes. 3. Remove chicken. Let vegetables cook in broth for another 30 minutes on lower flame. 4. Remove from fire. Strain the soup through double thickness of cheesecloth placed in collander. Some cooks like the carrots, cut in small pieces^returned to the soup for color; others prefer a clear broth. Refrigerate and removed hardened fat from top of soup. Heat. PRESENTATIONt Ladle hot soup unti-l bowls or soup cups; sprinkle fresh parsley on top. If you are going to use matzo balls (see recipe, page ? ) serve a few in each bowl. Soups page 29 MATZO BALLS FOR SOUP For 6 servings 2 eggs Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 3 ounces of matzo meal Strained and degreased chicken 1 teaspoon of chicken fat soup 1. Beat eggs well. Add salt and pepper and the teaspoon of chicken fat. Beat mixture thoroughly and add the 3 ounces of matzo meal and beat again. 2. Bring strained and degreased chicken soup to a simmer over gentle heat. Using a teaspoon,drop matzo ball mixture very gently into the soup, a teaspoon at a time. After all balls are in soup for 1 minute, increase the heat until the soup is just bubbling. 3. Cover soup pot and cook for 5 more minutes. (Covering the pot caused the matzo balls to puff up and makes them feather light.) When the matzo balls drop from the spoon they are not completely round but shaped to the spoon. VARIATION: Instead of using a whole teaspoon for the matzo balls, you may make tiny ones, using 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture. These are good in the heafcty split pea soup (see recipe, page ? ) in place of the usual garnish of croutons. NOTEt To render the chicken fat, place fresh fat in top of double boiler and heat over boiling water until the fat is liquified. Strain. Or place in small frying pan unfler low heat until fat is melted. Strain.