[Modernist Cuisine] Caramelized Carrot Soup (3•301 and 6•150)

[Judy Wilson]

Some people have had awesome results with this, and some people...not so much. On eGullet, Maxime Bilet gave some tips, such as making sure that the carrots are cored and the butter is melted first.

[Anonymous Modernist 733]

First let me state that I had to try this one twice to get it right.

The first time I was lazy (didn't want to go to the supermarket) and used baby carrots that where previously frozen, not only that, I substituted (GASP!) the carrot juice with some chicken stock (hey, it had always worked before for my soups!). To further compound my errors I counted the 20 minutes from the moment I sealed the pressure cookerinsteadof doing it from the moment it reached pressure, when i opened it it was under cooked so i went ahead for 20 more minutes = burnt carrots. Heed the warning, on the first page about pressure cooking there is a footnote stating the correct form to measure time when pressure cooking.

Suffice to say it was a disaster! Since I didn't like the smell of defeat on his one I went ahead and tried it again the next day. this time I followed the recipe as best I could (no centrifuge here, YET!) and I am glad to report it came out really really nice.

Me and a friend tasted it and we decided to store some overnight. Try it, it only made it taste waaaaay better

I've even attached a pic here for some of you to see.

Hope my experience works as a pseudo cautionary tale to the people who read this.

-

(Thanks to checking the CM I noticed the discrepancy in times and looked up the errata, indeed its 20 minutes, not 50 as stated in Vol.3)

[Anonymous Modernist 310]

Melting the butter before and mixing butter,carrots, salt and soda before puting the lid I never got burnt carrots even if I cooked them 50 minutes... (Could it be the Kuhn Rikon pressure letting less steam out?)

Still very good but I'm now currious to try the correct time. Last time I din't even peel or core the carrots, it's becoming a weekday recipe!!!

[Anonymous Modernist 733]

Yes, I would like to know just how important is it to peel em' and core. I certainly dont mind peeling, but the coring I could do without.

Beside that, this is a simple enough recipe. Made a triple sized portion last night, put it up for sale at the salad bar at my family's restaurant (keep in mind that the staff has instructions to not let me near the kitchen in any way and it sold out SUPER quick!

[Anonymous Modernist 733]

OH, one more note, I noticed that shaking the pressure cooker every 3-4 minutes yielded a morethoroughcaramelization. (this was a triple sized batch).

[Judy Wilson]

Yes, I would like to know just how important is it to peel em' and core. I certainly dont mind peeling, but the coring I could do without.

Beside that, this is a simple enough recipe. Made a triple sized portion last night, put it up for sale at the salad bar at my family's restaurant (keep in mind that the staff has instructions to not let me near the kitchen in any way and it sold out SUPER quick!

According to Anjana, who usually makes this at the lab dinners, coring the carrots is very necessary as the core is drier than the outer part of the carrots. We found that some readers who had trouble with the recipe might not have cored the carrots. She also advises that you make sure to melt the butter in the beginning.

[Anonymous Modernist 773]

Interesting discussion. I made the carrot soup several months ago so I am a bit hazy on the details, but I know I didn't core the carrots. I'm also pretty sure that I ended up cooking them for about 40 minutes. It still worked out well!

[Anonymous Modernist 218]

I've made this 3 times now, and each time it's turned out very well. I've never cored the carrots and used WF carrot juice instead of the centrifuged variety suggested in the book. One batch actually ended up too thin for my taste, so I added some xanthan gum to thicken it up, which worked well...until I kept adding to see what would happen and it got a borderline slimy, but that's a story for a different topic.

[Anonymous Modernist 733]

I've had good success with the bathhouse farms (costco) carrot juice. I thickened one batch using a bit of heavy cream. Turned out nice, but took away a bit of the vibrant color.

[Anonymous Modernist 947]

I made this soup to great result - it was, quite honestly, the best soup I'd eaten to that point. I know for a fact I did not core the carrots, but I did use smaller ones, which may have had a similar effect. I didn't put as butter in, either, simply because I wasn't in the mood for something quite so rich that night.

I did notice that the carrots cooked very well indeed - I was afraid some had burnt, but when I added the juice and a blended it, it wasn't anything to worry about.

One thing I have noticed, Frank, is that you really do need to be careful when it comes to substitutions and such in recipes like this. It may seem like you aren't changing much, but as you quickly discover, changing one small thing can have a great effect.

[Anonymous Modernist 210]

I've had good luck with this recipe following it as written (although I don't core the carrots) in the first edition. I have found that the carrots at the bottom of the pot in the butter and baking soda do caramelize better. I have also worked the technique into a recipe for caramelized onion puree. 

[Anonymous Modernist 2141]

To what extent is it important to melt the butter without evaporating off all the water it contains? Since butter is, what, 15% water, could this have an impact on whether the carrots burn? (I'm thinking that normally, for sautéeing, you want to get rid of that water, which is why you wait until the foam subsides.)

Also, has anyone tried this with anything other than plain orange carrots? I'm thinking that red carrots could make a strikingly coloured soup.

[Anonymous Modernist 2174]

I've made this soup three times, 2 times successfully, the first time burned carrots. I added about 10% water to the carrots and both times it turned out fantastic. Rich, silky full butter smooth texture. It is so dense that you really have to dilute it. I added about 20% carrot juice from Whole Foods and served it still fairly thick, but I didn't want to take away from the incredible flavor and taste. My guest swore that I added cream to it. It is problem the heathiest soup you can make.

[Anonymous Modernist 1681]

Hi there,

Wanting to make this tomorrow night (my Pressure cooker arrived today), i have a question before I start. The instruction on my Pressure cooker state to use 2 cups of water if cooking for greater than 10 minutes and never cook without water.

Yet the recipe put's no water in when pressure cooking. Is it because of the water content in the butter that sustains the pressure. Did everyone just use the butter, soda & carrots under pressure or am i missing something.

Regards,

Vol.

[Anonymous Modernist 210]

I am pretty sure it is the water content of the carrots more than the butter that makes extra liquid unnecessary during the pressure cooking process. Either way, no extra liquid is needed.

The caramelized onion puree can be found here: http://www.consumedgourmet.com/2011/06/caramelized-onion-puree.html

[Anonymous Modernist 2174]

That is exactly what I thought after reading what my Pressure Cooker said about having at least 2 cups of water. I tried it the way the recipe suggested the first time, cored the carrots used the butter mixed well, etc.. . after about 15 minutes I could hear and smell the carrots burning. I stopped the cooking decompressed and opened the cooker. The carrots were burned. So I tried again and added about 3/4 Cup of water. The carrots caramelized perfect and the soup was great. Have now made it again the exact same way and turned out perfect again. It seem that quite a few people here have had different experiences, maybe the moisture content of the carrots, or the type of butter or the type of heat cooking the carrots. Try it with some water and see what happens.

[Anonymous Modernist 1681]

Success. Absolutely beautiful.Wow

Took Bthomsons advice added 3/4 cup of water to PC turned out wonderfully.

Amazing Toffee Flavours. Did not core Carrots. Still wonderful, can't see a massive difference by coring them though if i didn't add water i would core them, Got a hunch not as much water content in the core.

Great recipe. And the garnish is perfect.

[Anonymous Modernist 2174]

Glad it worked out with the water, I agree a whole new way to look at Carrot Soup.

[Judy Wilson]

We've just added the full recipe to our recipe library along with photos, tips, and a video.

[Anonymous Modernist 2821]

I just finished making this soup, and it turned out really amazing (despite the fact that I omitted the carotene butter, and was working with crummy carrots). I followed the recipe (including coring the carrots), and added a bit of water to my pressure cooker as Maxime suggested. The carrots turned out great, with no burning whatsoever.

I'm going to try and make the coconut chutney foam tomorrow, but I'm living in Ghana and it can be tough to find all the ingredients that are called for. Does anyone know if I can substitute Xanthan Gum for the Gellan that the recipe calls for? I have some on order, but it won't be here by tomorrow.

[Scott Heimendinger]

I've made this recipe a handful of times and it's one of my all-time favorite soups. I take shortcuts when I'm hungry, but still get great results, even with:

• "Adult" carrots
  
• Store-bought carrot juice
  
• Skipping the carotene butter
  
• Not coring my carrots
  
• Skipping garnishes
  

Here's a photo version I made of the steps, in case anyone finds this helpful.

[Anonymous Modernist 310]

Really nice presentation! I would probably just ty to include the salt and the baking soda container in the pictures since I'm not really good for identifying white powders by look alone... ;-)

I've done most of these shortcuts myself and always got good results. I'm just suprised how much more orange your final result is! Mine is much more brownish but I supposed that's probably the 50min vs 20 min...

[Anonymous Modernist 10]

I just finished making this soup, and it turned out really amazing (despite the fact that I omitted the carotene butter, and was working with crummy carrots). I followed the recipe (including coring the carrots), and added a bit of water to my pressure cooker as Maxime suggested. The carrots turned out great, with no burning whatsoever.

I'm going to try and make the coconut chutney foam tomorrow, but I'm living in Ghana and it can be tough to find all the ingredients that are called for. Does anyone know if I can substitute Xanthan Gum for the Gellan that the recipe calls for? I have some on order, but it won't be here by tomorrow.

No, use agar (same amount as you would the gellan). This is the only appropriate substitute for gellan to achieve the desired texture. If you wanted to do a cold version of the foam, you could also use gelatin (160 Bloom).

[paulpegg]

I think there is something missing in the recipe for Coconut Foam. The herbs total 14 grams and we are to save 10 grams of the puree but the recipe says to use 20 grams of it after straining. I tried this recipe as written but it was a green failure. I guess it should have us puree the herbs with maybe 30-50 grams of water and use the resulting filtrate. The foam I did get was much too firm to put in the very silky soup. I will try it with 160 bloom. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Paul

[Scott Heimendinger]

If you want a cheap and easy version of the coconut foam, go buy a can of "Light" Coconut Milk. Add sugar to sweeten, if you want, and pour the can in a whipping siphon. Charge with 1 cartridge and you'll end up with the coconut equivalent of whipped cream. Stable for hours, no additional ingredients necessary. Makes a great pie topper, too :-)