White Soup

Ingredients

• 115 g sweet almonds
• 115 g cold veal or poultry
• 1 thick slice stale bread
• 1 piece fresh lemon peel
• 1 blade mace, pounded
• 180 ml cream
• 2 egg yolks, hard-boiled
• 950 ml white stock

Method

Blanch the almonds in boiling water for two minutes, then slip off the skins — they'll slide away easily. Dry them thoroughly and pound them in a mortar with a splash of water until you have a smooth paste. This almond base is the soup's thickening agent and its character; the grinding ruptures cell walls and releases oils that will emulsify into the stock, creating a silken body without flour or beurre manié.

Pound the cold veal or poultry with the stale bread until the mixture is fine and uniform — the bread absorbs meat juices and swells into a binding mass that helps suspend the almond paste. Combine this forcemeat with your almond paste, then work in the finely chopped lemon peel and mace. The citrus cuts the richness that cream and dairy will bring; the mace, warming and slightly sweet, anchors the medieval spice profile. Beat everything together vigorously to create a homogenous mixture.

Bring your stock to the boil and pour it over the mixture in a heavy-based pot. Stir well to break up any lumps. Simmer for one hour — the extended time allows the almond paste to fully hydrate and thicken, and the bread and meat to soften completely. The soup should smell fragrant and taste clean, not grainy. If the consistency feels loose, simmer uncovered for a further 15 minutes to reduce slightly.

Press the hard-boiled egg yolks through a fine sieve into the cold cream, then whisk until smooth. This enrichment, added off heat, prevents the yolks curdling. Stir the yolk-cream liaison into the hot soup in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Return to a bare simmer for 30 seconds — just enough to marry the flavours — then serve at once in warmed bowls. The colour should be pale ivory, the texture velvety, with no grainy notes or separation. This is a soup for fine china and immediate eating.