A wide white soup plate of smooth pale green soup with small dice of carrot and turnip, green peas, shreds of sorrel and a few chervil leaves. — Sorrel soup with spring carrots, turnips and peas.

Sorrel Soup, Printanière (1907)

Name: Sorrel Soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 4 cups clear chicken consommé or strong chicken stock; 1 small carrot, cut in small dice; 1 small turnip, cut in small dice; 1/3 cup shelled peas, fresh or frozen; 3 oz sorrel leaves, stems removed; 1 tbsp butter, for the sorrel; 6 large egg yolks; 2/3 cup heavy cream; 3 tbsp cold butter, to finish; 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste; 1 tbsp chervil leaves

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Sorrel soup printanière after Escoffier’s Germiny (1907): sorrel melted in butter in consommé, thickened with egg yolks and cream and garnished with spring carrots, turnips and peas.

By The Forgotten MenuPublished Oct 27, 2026

Recipe makes: 4 servings
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 30 min
Total: 50 min

The vegetables cook in the consommé first and are lifted out; the sorrel takes two minutes in butter. The egg and cream go in only a few minutes before serving, and the soup must not boil after that.

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Sorrel soup with spring carrots, turnips and peas.

The story behind the recipe

A sharp green soup opened the 1912 Pan American Society dinner at the Waldorf Astoria, right after the grapefruit. The society’s booklet lists it as “Sorrel Soup, Printanière,” with no recipe, so this one is put together from Escoffier’s London Guide of 1907.

Sorrel, eggs and a spring garnish

Sorrel is a sour leaf, and Escoffier has several soups built on it; the plainest is Potage Germiny, sorrel melted in butter in white consommé and thickened with egg yolks and cream, stirred “after the manner of an English custard” until it is about to boil.

Printanière means a garnish of early vegetables; the Guide glosses the word as “Vernal.” Escoffier’s own remarks under the Germiny show how to add one. In place of plain consommé, he says, use a consommé “in which such vegetables as carrots, turnips, peas, &c., are cooked,” keep the vegetables for the garnish, and thicken the liquid with yolks and cream as before. That is the soup here, the Germiny with its own spring garnish. Escoffier names no soup “sorrel soup printanière,” so joining the two is our reading of the menu.

Making it today

We keep Escoffier’s six yolks, which he calls the essential point of these soups, and finish with three tablespoons of butter where he uses five. Sorrel turns olive green the moment it meets heat, so expect a soft green soup. Cook the soup to 170°F (77°C), when it lightly coats a spoon, and take it off the heat: the yolks are then safely cooked, and the soup stays smooth.

The fish course that followed, Sea Bass Meunière (1907), is fried the Escoffier way, and the whole menu is in What Was Served at the Pan American Society’s Dinner in 1912?.

Cisel and melt in butter three oz. of shredded sorrel, and add thereto one and one-half pints of white consommé. ...

A. EscoffierA Guide to Modern Cookery (London: William Heinemann, 1907), no. 724, Potage Germiny, pp. 251 to 252

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Ingredients

For 4 servings. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for 4 servings.

Clear chicken consommé or strong chicken stock4 cups
Small carrot, cut in small dice1
Small turnip, cut in small dice1
Shelled peas, fresh or frozen1/3 cup
Sorrel leaves, stems removed3 oz
Butter, for the sorrel1 tbsp
Large egg yolks6
Heavy cream2/3 cup
Cold butter, to finish3 tbsp
Salt, or to taste1/2 tsp
Chervil leaves1 tbsp

Ingredients as written here

4 cups clear chicken consommé or strong chicken stock
1 small carrot, cut in small dice
1 small turnip, cut in small dice
1/3 cup shelled peas, fresh or frozen
3 oz sorrel leaves, stems removed
1 tbsp butter, for the sorrel
6 large egg yolks
2/3 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp cold butter, to finish
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tbsp chervil leaves

Equipment

2 saucepans
Slotted spoon
Whisk
Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

Bring the chicken consommé to a simmer in a saucepan. Add the carrot and turnip and simmer for 8 minutes, then add the peas and simmer 2 to 3 minutes more, until all the vegetables are just tender. Lift them out with the slotted spoon and keep them warm.
Roll the sorrel leaves into a tight bundle and slice them into thin shreds.
Melt the butter for the sorrel in the second saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the sorrel and stir for about 2 minutes, until it melts down and turns olive green. Pour in the hot consommé and bring it back to a bare simmer.
Whisk the egg yolks and cream together in a bowl. Whisk a ladle of the hot soup into them, then pour the mixture into the pan.
Stir over low heat, without letting the soup boil, until it reads 170°F (77°C) and lightly coats a spoon, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the cold butter a piece at a time. Season with the salt.
Divide the reserved vegetables among warm soup plates, ladle in the soup, and scatter over the chervil. Serve at once.

Nutrition

330calories per serving

Recipe makes: 4 servings
Servings: 4

Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central values for chicken stock, egg yolk, heavy cream, butter, sorrel, carrot, turnip and peas.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

Keep the egg yolks and cream in proportion to the consommé; a larger batch takes longer to thicken, so go by the thermometer.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.

If you can’t find sorrel, a handful of spinach with a squeeze of lemon gives a similar green soup, but without sorrel’s sourness. The soup doesn’t reheat well once the yolks are in; make the consommé and vegetables ahead and finish it just before serving. Cook sorrel in a stainless or enameled pan; it discolors in aluminum or bare iron.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.