Croutons got me an A+ in my first culinary class.
I promised James Beard award-winning Chef Cory Schreiber that I wouldn’t cut myself when he signed off to let me take his class. I had never been in a professional kitchen before, I had just switched majors, and luck had it that I’d land in his class.
When I made croutons my way for the salad course of my class final, they landed me an A+ and that felt like I was gifted with a crouton talent for life.
Croutons should be attention-grabbing. Especially the kind of croutons I like, the kind that steals the spotlight with its tender-crisp, mostly chewy but crunchy texture. These are a far cry from the hard crunch of premade croutons, or the kind that are baked just a little too hard for your pearly whites.
I love dressing croutons in sea salt and vinegar: the world’s best potato chip flavor as declared by me on 2-22-2024. I use apple cider vinegar to bring a subtle fruitiness to the crouton that plays nicely with the creamy cauliflower soup. If you’re a vinegar fiend, you can use distilled white vinegar for higher acidity and shock factor. There are no onions, but there are shallots and garlic to bring a delicate allium element to this soup party, and the cruciferous tendencies of cauliflower get tempered by adding just the right amount of buttermilk. It gives it an overall nutty and bright flavor.
The flaky salt on the croutons as they hit the creamy soup? One hundred percent key to making you think you’re eating chips in your soup. Don’t skip it!