Mr. Hawthorne decided to try his hand at making supper last night.He first asked me where the cans of chicken stock were. Of course he didn't know, since HE DIDN'T HELP ME AT ALL last week when I was emptying out the cabinets and moving the boxes to my daughter's bedroom.
I told him to use the chicken consommé that I'd made several months ago and had frozen. Halfway through melting the block of consommé, he decides he needs more and where were the ... get this ... CHICKEN BOUILLON CUBES!!!!!
He was actually going to add CHICKEN BOUILLON CUBES to the consommé which I had stood over for literally hours (and yes, I was literally vertical), lovingly attending to it, skimming the foamy debris off the top as it gently simmered, squeezing the flavors out of the veggies and removing them, chilling in the refrigerator, then skimming the fat off the top, then reheating to a bare simmer, adding the aig whites, letting the nasty bits adhere to them while I barely simmered 1/4 of the pan at a time, turning every 5-7 minutes 1/4 turn until each 1/4 was done, then gently ladling the stock with the coagulated aig whites INto a cheesecloth-lined sieve and ending up with a miraculously clear, jewel-like liquid.
May I just tell you that homemade consommé is absolutely divine? The depth of flavor and the subtle nuances in taste are amazing.
And he was going to add CHICKEN BOUILLON CUBES TO IT???? I think NOT. Let's just say no chicken bouillon cubes were added. Don't worry. No blood was shed either.
When the consommé came to a boil, Mr. Hawthorne added a handful of rice. Later, he put in pork and leek dumplings.
And, WALLAH! The finished dish.
And yes, it was delicious.
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