Luxurious soups start with a velvety velouté base

Just in case the point of my last column wasn’t clear, I’ll say it again: Homemade chicken stock is akin to liquid gold. This doesn’t mean you should keep your reserves under lock and key, only doling them out on special occasions or when good company happens to be in town. In fact, now is the perfect time to share your wealth. With the days routinely nippy and the nights downright cold, there’s ample reason to turn stock into warm and satisfying soups and stews. While you may be most familiar with tomato and chicken noodle, there is a plethora of soups from which to choose. Generally speaking, soups are categorized by their type of thickener. A bisque, strictly defined, gets its body from the addition of heavy cream or puréed shellfish; a panade from bread crumbs or cubes; and a velouté – the subject of this month’s column – from roux, a 1-to-1 mixture of flour and butter. When nouvelle cuisine entered the culinary scene in the late ’70s boasting “light” and “delicate” fare, classic French sauces and soups, like velouté, suffered a big hit in popularity. Velouté has hardly redeemed itself among the general public given recent trends favoring Mediterranean and other ethnic cuisines. But I don’t care – I’ve remained a steadfast loyalist over the years. My fidelity is partly explained by the fact that velouté is composed of nothing more than roux and white stock (a pale stock made from un-roasted chicken or veal or fish bones). As such, it requires only a few inexpensive ingredients that I’m fairly certain to find in my pantry. The bigger draw, though, is its texture. Literally “velvet sauce” in French, velouté has a thick, creamy consistency that is beyond compare – and directly attributable to roux. Most French cookbooks recommend 1 tablespoon of flour and an equal amount of butter for every cup of stock; however, I prefer a ”creamier” soup base and often increase the roux to 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour and butter for the same amount of stock. Granted, neither formulation is a low-fat proposition, but both are worth the splurge if enjoyed in moderation. Along with the roux-to-stock ratio, there are a few other things to remember when making this flour-based soup. A classic velouté calls not only for white stock, but also for white roux – a roux that has been cooked a few minutes until it is the color of straw. Even though the cooking time is brief, it shouldn’t be shortchanged, or the flour will impart a starchy, bitter taste to the soup. Preparing roux is also a task where slow and steady wins the race. Always cook roux over medium heat while stirring regularly. If you apply too much heat, the cellulose surrounding the flour can harden and form a seal that prevents the flour from absorbing stock. When this occurs, the soup may thicken very little or not at all, regardless of the amount of stock you add. After the stock has been incorporated into the roux, the mixture must boil to reach its full thickness; then you should immediately turn the heat to low. Excessive heat at this stage can also cause problems, although of a slightly different sort. Instead of forming a seal, the flour can hydrolyze, or break apart into simpler starches and sugars while releasing any moisture it had absorbed. While the effect on the flour is different, the result is the same: thin, runny soup. A final reason for my enthusiasm: Velouté is infinitely and easily adaptable. One way to alter its flavor profile – and to some extent its texture – is to replace a portion of the stock with another liquid. For instance, wine can lend acidity to heighten soup flavor or balance sweetness from other ingredients; milk or heavy cream will further enrich and thicken the blend; and some juices, such as the cider in my Tarragon-Chicken Stew With Apples, Onions and Mushrooms, can be used to complement another key ingredient. The true texture and flavor gems, however, are the mix-ins that add layers of interest to the sumptuous base. To be on the safe side, separately cook any vegetables, meat or fish before adding them, fully drained, to the soup. Precooking mix-ins, as opposed to cooking them directly in the base, gives you more control over the texture of each component. It also prevents any additional moisture – exuded by these items as they cook – from upsetting the velvety consistency perfected in earlier steps.