James Beard's Garlic Soup

A few months ago I received an email which began "My name is Renee and I am  Baltimore foodie. About a year ago I started a cook book club with some friends of mine. We are currently looking for a few new people to join our group."

My first inclination was to decline the invitation. I am in a whole different age bracket from Renee and beyond cooking I might have nothing in common with the group. I pictured awkward social interaction.

But I'd read about cooking clubs and always thought they sounded fun, and had thought vaguely about starting one but the logistics of finding a group stopped me. What would I do, advertise on Craig's List?But this was an already functioning group.

And we'd be cooking from cookbooks!

I'm a cookbook aficionado. I'm fascinated and intrigued by them and read them on many levels -- to learn, for inspiration, as a window into another time or place. I'm always hungry for the next one and  tend to acquire them so fast that I don't take the time to immerse myself in one before the next one is in my hands. I have plently of cookbooks from which I'd never cooked a single thing. One of the reasons I began blogging was to encourage myself to use the cookbooks I had more frequently.

I put aside my hesitation and emailed back to say I'd love to join.

I'm glad I decided to do it. The get-togethers are fun, boisterous, we make fabulous food, and when you have five people cooking from a book, you really get a feel for the book.

Last night, the third meeting I've been to, Renee, Joanne, Elizabeth, Coralie, and I cooked from James Beard's books. We had a wonderful meal of clams casino, garlic soup, beef stroganoff, stuffed peppers, and chocolate souffle.

Whoever hosts the dinner chooses the book and assigns a course to each person. We then choose what we'll make. When I checked the soups in the James Beard book that I had, garlic soup was my immediate choice, inspired by the fact that I love garlic, and that James Beard said of this soup, "It is simple but superb."  He was right.

I made this using lard. I would have preferred goose fat but I was unable to locate it in Baltimore. I later learned that Joanne has a freezer full of it. You have to love a woman with a goose fat stash. If you don't have access to goose or other fats, olive oil would also work for poaching the garlic.

Garlic Soup

Adapted from Beard on Food, serves 6 to 8

3 tablespoons chicken, goose, or pork fat
30 peeled garlic cloves (or more or fewer)
6 to 8 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Nutmeg
4 or 5 egg yolks
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
slices of bread, toasted until crisp

1. Melt the fat over low heat, then add the garlic. Cook, without browning, until the garlic has become very soft. This will take half an hour or more.

2.  Add the chicken stock, salt and pepper, and a little freshly grated nutmeg. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Blend the soup either with a stick blender or by allowing the soup to cool slightly and pouring it into a blender. Blend so the soup is completely smooth.

4. Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl then stir in the olive oil. Begin tempering the eggs by adding hot but not boiling soup to the eggs a small amount of the time while beating the eggs. When you've added a half cup of broth or so to the eggs, pour the egg mixture into the broth beating while you do. Heat the mixture being careful not to let the soup come to a boil. You want to make sure you don't curdle the eggs.

5. Place a bread slice in the bottom of each bowl and pour the soup over top. Serve.

Comments

[Bettina Stern]

I noticed that you've started your own cookbook club! I'm so glad to hear it as we've had one for 10 years. You can read more about how we got started and perhaps be inspired to join in with our Cook the Book Club online.

http://loulies.com

all the best, Bettina Stern

[Chocolate Shavings]

That looks delicious.

[Lydia]

Looks like a classic James Beard menu, and your group sounds like a lot of fun. What's next?

[adele]

This sounds incredible. I'm going to roast a goose sometime this winter, and this is something I'll probably try with the fat.

[We Are Never Full]

fabulous! i take it your breath isn't that bad after eating this, right? considering the garlic has been cooked till it's soft?

[joanne]

what fun! We are immortalized. The soup was divine.

[kerewin]

I've never heard of a cookbook group. How do you find/start one?

That soup looks simply fantastic.

[heather]

what a great idea! i love a cookbook club! i want to start one of my own :) this soup looks aaaaammaaaazing!

[Mimi]

Good for you, Julie! That soup looks like pure comfort food!

[Anne]

I want to join! But I guess coming in from Brooklyn is a tad unrealistic.

That soup sounds perfect for winter. And it looks pretty too!

[Lore]

I love garlic so very much but my husband doesn't share my point of view so I end up having garlic only when I catch a cold (works like magic and gets me on my feet). This soup sounds like a great way to make up for the garlicless days ;)

[jbeach]

The soup sounds and looks divine! I wonder if it would be good adapated as a vegetarian version -- what do you think?

The cookbook club also sounds like the greatest idea ever. I, too, have shelves of awesome cookbooks that don't receive enough attention from me. I get so excited by cookbooks that I keep buying new ones! I'm obsessed. Please keep us posted on the cookbook club!

[Julie]

Bettina, 10 years is a lot of time to have had a cooking club. That’s impressive.

Chocolate Shavings, it’s very delicious.

Lydia, it seemed very much like a menu of another era but it was delicious. I have not yet heard what the next book will be and am anxiously awaiting word.

Adele, as soon as I get my hands on some goose fat, I’m going to try it that way too.

We Are Never Full, the garlic is very mild after the long cooking. Plus, as long as you make your beloved eat garlic soup too, I don’t think it will be a problem.

Joanne, yes! Immortalized!

Kerewin, it is delicious and simple. I say this all the time, but delicious and simple is one of my favorite combinations.

Heather, yes, you should start your own cookbook club! It’s good to find people who you can hang out with while drinking wine and cooking and talking about food.

Mimi, it is comfort food. There’s something very soothing about soup.

Anne, yes, I want you to join! Although you’re right, that commute from Brooklyn would be a killer.

Lore, that’s so sad that your husband doesn’t like garlic! Long cooking transforms the garlic here to something very mild and flavorful.

Jbeach, yes, you could definitely make a vegetarian version of this. Use olive oil rather than goose or pork fat for the initial cooking of the garlic (bonus, much healthier for you!) and replace the chicken broth with a vegetable broth. Joanne, who’s one of the cookbook club members and a fabulous cook, told me that she makes garlic soup using water rather than broth from a recipe on Epicurious. I’m guessing it’s this one: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Garlic-Broth-15610

[Erik]

I recall a similar recipe from Emeril, but it had no eggs in it. Rather than browning the garlic he roasted it, along with some red onion.
I expect Beard's recipe would be more elegant, though.

[We Are Never Full]

i absolutely love the addition of goose fat. that has to be what sets emeril's recipe from beard's... right? god bless james beard!

[Julie]

Erik, that soup sounds good too although very different in spirit than James Beard's version. Here's the Emeril recipe if anyone else is looking for it: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/roasted-garlic-and-onion-soup-recipe/index.html

We Are Never Full, the James Beard version definitely belongs to an earlier era. I would bet (although I didn't have time to investigate) that his recipe is based on a traditional French recipe. Goose fat was (is?) a traditional cooking fat in part of France. And using egg yolks to thicken a broth seems to have completely fallen by the wayside. I never see contemporary soup recipes that used egg yolks but in the era of James Beard and Julia Child it seems to have been a common practice. Emeril's garlic soup, has a much bigger flavor punch (balsamic vinegar, tons of herbs) which strikes me as much more of a contemporary touch. However the James Beard version is delicious and as Erik put it so well, elegant. I'm sure the Emeril version is delicious also.

[Andrea]

You're so lucky to have a cookbook club! I tried to start one with a few friends, but then they just wanted to order take-out instead, not what I had in mind! I love that James Beard, too, by the way!

[Julie]

Andrea, heh! An Order Take-Out Club doesn't have quite the same ring, does it?

[claudia (cook eat FRET)]

so funny to read this after i just posted about my cookbooks. i am in the same situation. i buy them, i may even flip through them - but i rarely cook from them. lately i am trying to do better.

i recently went through my collection and got rid of a fair few that meant nothing to me. the ones i have are meaningful in a variety of odd ways for all different reasons.

like if i came to my house and looked at my cookbooks i'd think, damn - that woman surely knows her food...

[claudia (cook eat FRET)]

which reminds me - i have GOT to get another immersion blender. i gave mone to my mom. why did i do that? no earthly idea.

soup looks excellent.

[Louise]

Hi Julie,
First, I must say, I'm loving your blog! I think I have been here before but somehow, I lost you. Not this time:)

Second, As a addicted cookbook collector, I can't say I've ever considered a cookbook cooking club. It sounds quite intriguing. I'm so glad you took the plunge as I am a wee bit anti-social when it comes to these kinds of things. However, I find your experience quite encouraging.

Three, I hope you don't mind if I borrow this link for Marseille Garlic Soup. I'm doing a post for Garlic Day (19th) and was just about to record the recipe for the post from James Beard's biography by Evan Jones when I happened upon your James Beard Garlic Soup recipe. It's in the book as Marseille Garlic Soup so a link would be perfect.

Thank you so much for posting this recipe, I'm off to see what other goodies you have!