Consommé à l'Orléanaise

History

Consommé à l'Orléanaise is one of the many clear-soup (consommé) garnish variations codified by Auguste Escoffier in Le Guide Culinaire (Paris, 1903), his professional French kitchen reference. Escoffier's entry specifies the whole formula: a base of clear ordinary consommé, garnished with a royale (savory custard) of chicory cream cut into large dice, green beans cut into lozenges, very small flageolet beans, and chervil leaves. The name follows Escoffier's practice of attaching a regional French adjective to a garnish — here the feminine form for Orléans — but his text records only the composition, not an origin story.

Beyond the recipe itself, the historical record is silent. The sources do not document who created or ate this particular consommé, that it was served in or associated with the city of Orléans, or that it carried any social status. No such claim can be supported, so none is made here.

Ingredients

• Consommé ordinaire (ordinary consommé)
• Royale de crème de chicorée (chicory cream royale / savory custard)
• Haricots verts (green beans)
• Flageolets (small pale green beans)
• Pluches de cerfeuil (chervil leaves / herb sprigs)

Instructions

1. Prepare a consommé ordinaire (ordinary consommé / clear soup stock) as the base.
2. Prepare a royale de crème de chicorée (savory custard made from chicory cream) and cut it into large dice. Cut green beans into diamond shapes. Blanch or cook the small flageolets until tender.
3. Garnish the hot consommé with the diced chicory royale, the green bean diamonds, the whole flageolets, and finish with fresh chervil leaves.