Caramelized Carrot Soup (Transcription)
yield
six servings (1.3 kg / 6 cups)
time estimate
40 minutes overall, including 20 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes unattended
storage notes
keeps for 3 days when refrigerated or up to 2 months when frozen
level of difficulty
moderate
special requirements
pressure cooker, Stove-Top Carotene Butter (optional, see page 39)
source
Modernist Cuisine at Home
The quality of this soup depends entirely on the quality of the carrots that go into it, so use the highest-quality carrots you can find. Carrot cores, rich in calcium, can add a bitter taste and unpleasant texture to this delicate soup, so we always remove them. It's an optional step, however; you can try the soup both ways and compare.
Add a swirl of coconut cream and a few sprigs of tarragon in the final step to enhance the inherent sweetness of the carrots. Shredded young coconut and ajowan seeds are other favorite garnishes of ours.
Carrots, peeled
500 g (5 cups / 5 medium)
100%
Core the carrots by quartering them lengthwise and slicing away any tough or fiborous cores. Cut the cored carrots into pieces 5 cm / 2 in long.
Unsalted butter
113 g (½ cup)
22.6%
Melt in the base of a pressure cooker over medium heat.
Water
30 g (30 mL / ⅛ cup)
6%
Salt
5 g (1 ¼ tsp)
1%
Baking Soda
2.5 g (⅜ tsp)
0.5%
Stir to combine, and then add with the carrots to the melted butter.
Pressure-cook at a gauge pressure of 1 bar / 15 psi for 20 minutes.
Depressurize the cooker quickly by running tepid water over the rim.
Blend the mixture to a smooth puree.
Pass the puree through a fine sieve into a pot.
Fresh carrot juice
635 g (690 mL / 2 ½ cups)
127%
Bring to a boil in a separate pot, and then strain through a fine sieve.
Stir into the carrot puree. Add water, if necessary, to thin the soup to the desired consistency.
Stove-Top Carotene Butter (or unsalted butter) see page 39
113 g (½ cup)
22.6%
Blend into the soup by using an immersion blender until the butter has just melted.
- Slice the carrots lengthwise into quarters, and cut out and discard the tough and fibrous core from each quarter. Then cut the cored carrots into pieces 5 cm / 2 in long. Removing the cores improves the texture and sweetness of the soup.
- Melt the butter in the base of a pressure cooker. The coating of butter helps to prevent the carrots from sticking.
- Stir the water, salt, and baking soda until combined. Add this mixture and the carrot pieces to the melted butter, and stir well.
- Pressure-cook the carrot mixture at a gauge pressure of 1 bar / 15 psi for 20 minutes. Start timing as soon as full pressure has been reached. Gas and electric burners tend to cause solids to catch on the bottom of the pressure cooker, so carefully give the pot a few shakes as it heats to prevent sticking. After 20 minutes, the carrots should be fully caramelized.
- Depressurize the cooker quickly by running tepid water over the rim.
- Blend the carrot mixture into a smooth puree.
- Pass the puree through a fine sieve into a pot.
- Bring the carrot juice to a boil in a separate pot. Then strain the juice through a fine sieve to remove any solids.
- Stir the strained juice into the carrot puree, and return it to a simmer. Add water as needed to thin the soup to the desired consistency.
- Blend the butter into the soup until it has just melted. Use an immersion blender; the blending is crucial to achieve a velvety texture.
- Season the soup with salt to taste, and serve it warm.
This recipe was one of the most popular in Modernist Cuisine. We do not use stock or cream in this recipe because we want to avoid diluting the carrot flavors. The juice from some kinds of carrots is so strongly flavored, however, that it overpowers the more delicate, caramelized carrot flavor. If that happens, substitute water, chicken stock, or vegetable stock for some or all of the carrot juice in step 8.
VARIATION: Caramelized Carrot Puree
To make a delicious carrot puree that pairs well with Sous Vide Lobster Tail (see variation on page 130), skip steps 8-10. See the next page for additional variations.