Tastes of Asia

• Of the region’s heavyweight cuisines -- Indian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese -- Chinese cookery provides perhaps the closest parallel to Western European techniques for consommes. The cookbook “Cool Cooking: Pret a Diner” provides a ginseng consomme built on a stock of water simmered with chicken legs and feet, along with celery, spring onions and ginger. While spring onions and ginger are classic Chinese and Vietnamese flavorings for main dishes, they aren’t generally found in Asian stocks. Classic French stocks, such as Julia Child’s in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” also include meat bones, of course. The vegetable additions Childs lists include carrots, onion, fresh parsley, a bay leaf and thyme.

For Purists

• You can clarify Chinese consommes via either the modern colander method or a traditional version, described both by McGee and author John Smith in “Cool Cooking.” For this Chinese stock, mince one of the cooked and cooled chicken legs with egg whites, and stir it into the cold consomme. As you slowly heat the liquid, a solid mass will form over the consomme and then sink to the bottom of the pan. You then ladle off the clear liquid. This technique results in a clear stock that meets the Western definition of a consomme.

‘Prime’ Stock

• Master teacher Yan-Kit So describes Middle Kingdom concepts about stock in her “Classic Chinese Cookbook.” Ideally, the best stock derives from a long simmering of chicken thighs, drumsticks and necks, as well as pork and ham. That’s it. No spices, seasonings or other frou-frou. The result after three hours is called prime stock. To create “clear” stock, you take your leftover ingredients from prime stock and reboil them for two hours. Thus you end up with a light broth without formally creating a consomme. Thai cuisine stays largely true to this formula for chicken stock.

Regional Variations

• If you want to make a delicate light soup with an Asian flavor, rather than a true consomme, you have many options. Vietnamese cuisine offers canh, clear soups with a lighter touch than the more familiar pho. Canh rely on slow simmering beef, chicken, pork, fish or seafood stocks, with aromatic spices including star anise, cinnamon sticks, ginger and lemongrass. Similarly, Japanese clear soups may rely on clam or konbu -- giant seaweed -- for distinctive flavor. In India, unsurprisingly, cilantro flavors clear soups.