KD Soups’ Cook Book
The genius of French
Cooking
KD Soups were developed through the inspiration of French Culinarians. They
taught us the magic of Veloutes’, Béchamel, and Mirepoix and the secrets
of creating the best soups. This is what you crave in KD Soups.
French Soup Bases:
Roux (pronounced 'rü) is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally
clarified butter. It is the thickening agent of three of the mother sauces
of classical French cooking: sauce béchamel, sauce velouté and sauce espagnole.
Butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. It is used as a
thickener for gravy, other sauces, soups and stews. It is typically made
from equal parts of flour and fat by weight.
Veloute’ is a roux to which a stock broth is added. In preparing a velouté sauce, a light stock (one in which the bones used have not been previously roasted), such as chicken, veal or fish stock, is thickened with a blond roux. Thus the ingredients of a velouté are equal parts by mass butter and flour to form the roux, a light chicken, veal, or fish stock, and salt and pepper for seasoning. Commonly the sauce produced will be referred to by the type of stock used e.g. chicken velouté.
Béchamel is a roux made with cream of whole milk. Béchamel sauce (pronounced bā-sha-'mel), also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine. It is used as the base for other sauces (such as Mornay sauce, which is Béchamel with cheese). It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white flour-butter roux (equal parts clarified butter and flour). Another method, considered less traditional, is to whisk kneaded flour-butter (beurre manié) into scalded milk. The thickness of the final sauce depends on the proportions of milk and flour.
Mirepoix is created by sautéing fresh vegetables. Mirepoix (pronounced mir-'pwä) is the French name for a combination of onions, carrots, and celery (either common Pascal celery or celeriac). Mirepoix, either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter, is the flavor base for a wide number of dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces.
These three ingredients are commonly referred to as aromatics. Similar such combinations, both in and out of the French culinary repertoire, may include leeks, parsnips, garlic, tomatoes, shallots, mushrooms, bell peppers, chilies, and ginger. For the combination mirepoix au gras, or a Matignon, ham or pork belly are used as additional ingredients. In Cajun cuisine, a mirepoix or trinity is a combination of onions, celery and bell peppers.
They may be used in various combinations, as dictated by the cuisine and
the dish itself. Traditionally, the ratio for mirepoix is 2:1:1 of onions,
celery, and carrots. The ratio for bones to mirepoix for stock is 10:1.