Vegetable Soup (Three Versions)

Ingredients

• 200 g carrot
• 280 g parsnip
• 280 g potato
• 35 g butter
• 5 tsp flour
• 1 tsp made mustard
• salt
• pepper
• 2 egg yolks
• 1200 ml water
• onions
• turnips
• 115 g butter
• 1 toasted bread crust
• 1 celery head
• 1 faggot herbs
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 1200 ml stock or boiling water
• 1 tbsp Harvey's sauce or ketchup
• 6 potatoes
• 4 turnips
• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• 2 mushrooms
• 1 celery head
• 1 large slice bread
• 1 saltspoon salt
• 0.25 saltspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tsp Harvey's sauce
• 2800 ml water

Method

This soup lives on long, patient boiling to extract sweetness and body from root vegetables. The three versions differ in their approach to flavour development, but all rely on the same principle: time breaks down cell walls and dissolves sugars, thickening the liquid without cream or stock.

Version I: Root vegetable purée with butter roux

Slice carrot, parsnip, and potato thin — aim for 3 mm — so they soften evenly. Boil hard in 1200 ml water for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally. The vigorous boil is deliberate; it keeps the vegetables moving and prevents them catching on the pan base. Top up with water as needed to maintain roughly 1200 ml of liquid at the end — you're aiming for a sauce-like consistency, not a thin broth. While the vegetables finish their final 20 minutes, make a beurre manié: work 35 g butter and 5 tsp flour together with 1 tsp mustard and seasoning, slackening it with cold water until you have a smooth paste. This thickened roux flavour-building prevents lumps. Stir the paste into the simmering soup and hold at a rolling boil for exactly 10 minutes so the flour loses its raw taste. Meanwhile, crack two egg yolks into your serving tureen. Pour the hot soup over them in a steady stream, stirring hard — the heat cooks the yolks into a silken liaison without scrambling them. Serve at once.

Version II: Caramelised vegetable stock with refined finish

Cut onion, carrot, and turnip into chunks. Melt 115 g butter in a heavy pan over moderate heat, scatter the vegetables in, dust with powdered sugar, and toss for 10 minutes. You want them pale gold and glossy, not brown — this is gentle caramelisation, building sweetness without bitterness. Pour on 1200 ml stock or boiling water, add a toasted bread crust, celery head, and a bundle of herbs (faggot). Stew gently for 3 hours, skimming foam regularly. Strain through cloth. Just before serving, freshen the broth with newly cut carrot, celery, and turnip slivers (2–3 minutes in simmering liquid), season with salt and pepper, and finish with Harvey's sauce or ketchup for acid and depth.

Version III: Simplified long simmer

Wash and cut potatoes, turnips, carrots, onions, mushrooms, and celery into chunks. Drop them into a pot with a thick slice of bread and 2800 ml water. Bring to a boil, then simmering gently for 2–2.5 hours until the vegetables collapse and thicken the liquid. Season with salt, pepper, and Harvey's sauce to taste. This is the most economical version — vegetables do all the work.