Skimming Off the Top

Some things in our soul food kitchen here in Tel Aviv seem nothing short of miraculous. In that category: How a muscular piece of beef such as brisket turns mouth-wateringly tender after a long, slow cook; Orwhat blanching does to the vibrant colorfulness of certain vegetables like broccoli; And my latest example of awe: Making consomme.

What is it about mixing egg whites into a sediment-filled broth that miraculously turns it crystal clear? The accompanying picture I know doesn’t do much for most of you. It’s not all that aesthetically compelling. But it’s beautiful nonetheless.

If you look carefully, you will a “so-called” raft of eff white collecting on top of a very rich homemade chicken broth a la Edna Lewis. You can barely make out the yellow color peeping through. But when you first skim off the raft into a muslin-lined sieve and then slowly pour the soup over this raft, the result is stunning.

I mean, I can spend fucking hours skimming off the detritus from one of our stocks or broths, but it never ever gets to this level of clarity. It’s like I have a microbial Roomba doing all the tedious vacuuming for me. How cool is that?

I really do feel I am somehow cheating a bit, getting away with a bit of culinary highway robbery. And it’s soul satisfying. Whoever came up with this bit of thievery is a fucking genius.