Brandy-Spiked Carrot Soup with Ginger & Orange

Getting to Know the French Brandies: Cognac and Armagnac

Apr 18, 2009 Larry Ervin

Brandy is most often consumed as a digestif after a meal, but it can also be used to enhance the flavor of dishes like this French carrot soup recipe.

Here is a creamy soup without the cream. A mere tablespoon of Brandy beautifully accents the combination of carrot, ginger and orange. Since it’s only a tablespoon, use the good stuff.

About Brandy

Brandy is a distilled wine. The process involves boiling the wine and condensing the alcohol and flavor agents that boil at different temperatures than the water. The French are famous for their brandies, but the process goes back to ancient Greece, Rome and possibly Babylon, who used distilled wine as an antiseptic and as a primitive anesthetic.

Perhaps ironically, the spread of Islam by the Moors when they conquered Spain brought to Western Europe the skills to distill spirits.

Fast forward to the 16th century Dutch who were trading salt and wine with Spain as well as the Charentes region of France. The wine was expensive to ship and often would go bad before it arrived at its destination.

One Dutch trader figured that, by distilling most of the water out of the wine, he could ship it more reliably and cheaply to their other trading partners. The trick was to talk his customers into reconstituting the wine by adding water to it. The trick worked and the Dutch called the product “burnt wine” brandewijn in their language, eventually shortened to just “brandy.” At first the Dutch were buying barrels of cheap Charentes wine and distilling it in Holland for export. Soon they cut their costs even more by opening their own distilling facilities in Cognac.

The Fortunes of War

They weren’t aging brandy at this point, though they had noticed that the distilled wine took on some color and lost some of its harshness when it was shipped in oak barrels. In the early 1700s, the War of Spanish Succession brought the brandewijn trade to a virtual standstill, and oak casks of the burnt wine sat in warehouses for the duration of the war, some as long as 12 years. When the war ended and trade resumed, they discovered that the aged brandewijn had developed a deep amber color and an exceptional aroma and flavor.

Modern brandy was the result, inspiring Samuel Johnson to say, "Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy."

France’s two principal brandies are Cognac and Armagnac, named for the regions of southwestern France where they are made. Each has its own distinctive character, based on the terroir of the hillsides growing the grapes as well as different distilling methods and aging practices.

This recipe makes a wonderful starter or soup course to an elegant dinner, after which you can glow in the warmth of a snifter of fine Cognac or Armagnac.

Brandy-Spiked Carrot Soup with Ginger & Orange

Serves: 4

You Will Need: Either a blender, food processor or hand-held immersion blender

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp butter
1 pound bag of peeled baby carrots
¾ cup chopped onion
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
½ cup orange juice
1 Tbsp brandy (preferably cognac or Armagnac)
2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon plus sprigs for garnish
4 Tbsp sour cream for garnish (optional)
4 tarragon sprigs for garnish

Method:

In a large heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add carrots, onion and fresh ginger. Sauté until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes.
Add the broth and garlic and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the carrots are just tender, about 10 minutes.
Take the pot off the stove. Using a hand-held immersion blender, purée the soup until very smooth. Alternately, you can work in batches to purée the soup in a blender or food processor.
Return the soup pot to the stove over low flame. Stir in the orange juice, brandy and chopped tarragon. Bring the soup to a simmer for five minutes to let the flavors get friendly.
Taste and adjust the seasoning with freshly ground black (or white) pepper and salt, if necessary.
Ladle into individual bowls and serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream (if using) and the tarragon sprigs.

Variations

Peeled baby carrots make the prep work easier, but you can certainly use regular carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped. If you’re not a tarragon fan, try the recipe with cilantro (fresh coriander). This creamy soup can be entirely dairy-free if you substitute olive oil for the butter and omit the sour cream garnish. If you don’t have Brandy on hand, you can substitute Sherry, Cointreau, Triple Sec or even white wine.

You may also enjoy liver paté flavored with Cognac.

For more on Armagnac, see Kerry Swash's article on the King of French Brandies.

The copyright of the article Brandy-Spiked Carrot Soup with Ginger & Orange in French Cuisine is owned by Larry Ervin. Permission to republish Brandy-Spiked Carrot Soup with Ginger & Orange in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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