flipTourin blanchi à l'ail
Tourin blanchi à l'ail
Why this dish? A soup-base of bourgeois houses in Languedoc, tourin warmed Toulouse mornings and finished stale wheat bread. For a magistrate working late on his letters and his Diophantus by candlelight, this simple, fortifying potage was the everyday meal.
A white velouté of garlic gently blanched in goose fat, thickened with egg yolk and sharpened with a dash of vinegar, poured hot over slices of wheat bread.
Here, Sir, is the soup they serve me when I return from the Parliament, my mind still full of figures. First you blanch the garlic in good goose fat, gently, without letting it take color, for burnt garlic turns bitter like a poorly set calculation. You add boiling water, let it simmer, then bind it with a beaten egg yolk and a drop of vinegar to awaken the palate. Pour it over your stale bread: there you have something to restore the stomach without burdening the purse.
- •Goose fat — a good spoonful (cooking fat)
- •Garlic — one head (main aromatic)
- •Boiling water — a large pot (soup base)
- •Stale wheat bread — a few slices (base, in the bowl)
- •Eggs (yolks) — two (thickening)
- •Wine vinegar — a dash (acidity)
- •Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Tourin blanchi à l'ail
A white velouté of garlic gently blanched in goose fat, thickened with egg yolk and sharpened with a dash of vinegar, poured hot over slices of wheat bread.
Why this dish? A soup-base of bourgeois houses in Languedoc, tourin warmed Toulouse mornings and finished stale wheat bread. For a magistrate working late on his letters and his Diophantus by candlelight, this simple, fortifying potage was the everyday meal.
Here, Sir, is the soup they serve me when I return from the Parliament, my mind still full of figures. First you blanch the garlic in good goose fat, gently, without letting it take color, for burnt garlic turns bitter like a poorly set calculation. You add boiling water, let it simmer, then bind it with a beaten egg yolk and a drop of vinegar to awaken the palate. Pour it over your stale bread: there you have something to restore the stomach without burdening the purse.
Ingredients (period version)
- Goose fat — a good spoonful (cooking fat)
- Garlic — one head (main aromatic)
- Boiling water — a large pot (soup base)
- Stale wheat bread — a few slices (base, in the bowl)
- Eggs (yolks) — two (thickening)
- Wine vinegar — a dash (acidity)
- Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Goose fat — 2 tbsp (cooking fat)
- Garlic — 1 head (8-10 cloves) sliced (main aromatic)
- Water or chicken broth — 1 liter (soup base)
- Stale country bread — 4 slices (base, in the bowl)
- Eggs — 2 (yolks separated) (thickening)
- Wine vinegar — 1 tbsp (acidity)
- Salt and pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Melt the goose fat in a pot and sauté the sliced garlic over low heat, without browning, about 5 minutes.
- Add the water or broth, salt, and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Beat the egg yolks with the vinegar in a bowl. Temper them with a ladle of hot broth, then pour the mixture back into the pot off the heat, whisking (do not boil again).
- Place the stale bread slices in the bottom of shallow bowls and pour the hot tourin over them.
- For the greedy, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and poach them in the soup for a few seconds before serving.
How it was made : Tourin (or 'oulia') is the archetype of peasant and bourgeois soup of the Southwest: garlic, fat, bread, and an egg. The egg-vinegar thickening, called 'blanchie', and the practice of soaking bread in the soup (the word 'soupe' first meant the bread slice) are attested in 17th-century French cuisine.
The contemporary twist : Serve it in small cups as an aperitif, with a shaving of Languedoc cheese melted on grilled bread — a 'garlic cappuccino' Toulouse-style.
Sources : François Pierre de La Varenne, Le Cuisinier françois, 1651 · Tradition culinaire du Languedoc (tourin / ouliat)
Pierre de Fermat · Charactorium
