Crust and Croutons

Traditionally, crusts refer to a whole slice of sandwich bread where the corners have been trimmed. The slice is toasted with duck fat, pork fat and dried in the oven until golden brown. Then it is placed on the top of the soup. This is not really used anymore.

Today soup in a crust is a bowl of cold soup covered with a piece of puff pastry and baked in the oven. It is very appealing and the soup cooks while being heated while the dough cooks in the oven.

This technique is associated with a famous dish created by Master Chef Paul Bocuse in 1975, for the French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

Croutons are ¼ inch or half-centimeter square cut into sandwich bread slices. There are fried in clarified butter and sautéed for uniform color until golden brown. They are then seasoned with salt and pepper off the heat when done but still hot. Usually, we count 4 to 6 tablespoons of croutons per liter or a quart of soup.