Duck Consommé with Tortelloni at Pico
Winter’s Don’t-Miss Dish
For most of us, winter means time for soup! And the ultimate soup is consommé: a super clear, concentrated broth usually served with a few hearty ingredients like meat, pasta or vegetable garnishes. A soup so clear and simple can taste so bold with amazing concentration of flavor. Of course, there are many steps to make this perfectly clear, traditional French soup, so we’re lucky Chef Drew Terp of Pico at the Los Alamos General Store can show us how to make it.
Chef Drew has cooked in and helmed at Michelin starred kitchens in Napa, New York City, Spain, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. Now he is spreading the love in Los Alamos, with monthly cooking classes at Pico.
“I want to help cultivate passion in people who want to learn to cook better. It’s such an opportunity to be able to go into a professional kitchen to learn, instead of online or with video,” says Chef Drew. He remembers folks calling in with cooking questions to the butcher shop where he worked in Alabama, and he loved helping each one.
To make duck broth consommé, Chef Drew roasts or grills duck bones (or beef knee or leg bones) until brown. He browns onions, carrots, fennel and garlic in grapeseed oil in a large stockpot, then deglazes with dry white wine, scraping bottom of pan and reducing the mixture by half. He adds the roasted bones, covers with cold water, toasted peppercorns and bay leaf, then simmers on low for 4–6 hours. He then strains it through cheesecloth and refrigerates it overnight.
In the morning, he grinds carrots and onions with two egg whites, puts the mixture in the bottom of a stockpot and gently covers with the cold broth. He cooks it all over very low heat until the mixture at the bottom creates a raft and begins to float to the top, clarifying the broth on the way. He lets it rest at room temperature until the raft sinks a little. Then he pours it through cheesecloth and seasons it with salt, pepper and soy sauce. To serve, he pours the heated consommé over cooked pasta, grilled meat, blanched squash and green onion in a warm bowl.
