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Stock Secrets Taking Stock
Hi, my name is…well, let’s just call me ‘E.’ And
I’m a stockaholic.”
(Chorus from support group: “Hi, E.”) I spend weekends making and reducing stock. I have been known to scrounge through our compost bucket for leftover hunks of carrot and parsnip. In my early days, I begged carcasses from relatives. I have berated my family for throwing away perfectly good shrimp shells and the water we boiled a lobster in the day before. Just recently, I discovered that a nearby farm sells veal bones and made my first score. My addiction is complete and irreversible. Consequently, I have created some kick-ass stocks. But I follow in the footsteps of greater addicts than myself. Read on…
How to add flavor.
It almost goes without saying — a good stock is fundamental to any good soup or sauce. And in the cold days of winter, a good soup nourishes the soul. So the more flavor in the stock…more soul to the food. More ‘mmm “ to the mouth. Mark Bittman of the New York Times writes in “How to Cook Everything” that a simple stock takes very little effort — and it can be made with scraps of almost anything. He then goes on to talk about more things you can do up the flavor. Common sense, but worth looking over:
Don’t want to load up on a lot of extra vegetables in the fridge? Well, I suppose I can see that. Fortunately, your local grocery store has made your life easier. Right on the shelves of the produce section is a one-pound assemblage of “vegetables for soup.” It has a piece of celery, onion, turnip, carrot, even a bit of parsley and dill tucked in.
Other cooks are not so cavalier about stock.
The discovery of stock, the loss of the perfect stock…these are turning points in some cooks’ lives. Jacques Pepin fondly recalls his early days in an American kitchen, reducing stocks to a demi-glace and selling them to other places for side money (is that legal?). Julia Child in My Life in Paris recounts with horror how her husband mistook her pot of perfect veal stock for the garbage bin, and dumped the dinner scraps into it. “I never said a word about it,” she confessed in her memoir. But after 40 years, it still sticks. In A Cook’s Tour, Anthony Bourdain, sick from drinking snake wine the night before (or the anti-malarials), describes stumbling from his hotel room in Saigon to an open air food market, where he took his place at a pho stand. The super-clear broth brought him back to life. “Is there anything better to eat on this planet than a properly made bowl of pho? I don’t know.” Pho, and there are many varieties, is a spicy noodle soup with clear flavorful broth, shreds of meat, bean sprouts and condiments which you can add at will. Pronounced 'fuh', pho might have been named from pot-au-feu, from the days when the French ruled Indonesia. “The pho is fantastic,” Bourdain continues. “Spicy, hot, complex, refined, yet unbelievably simple.” A perfect stock. Mark Ruhlman expounds at length in The Elements of Cooking about the importance of stock. In fact, the very first sentence of the chapter begins, “In the creation of good food, no preparation comes close to matching the power of fresh stock.” The book also has a simple recipe for veal stock, which Ruhlman is admittedly fanatic about. “Honest to God,” he says, “it's like magic, like getting your wings.” Craig Sewell, who teaches a course on stocks in Annapolis, quotes the demi-god Escoffier. “Indeed, stock is everything in cooking…without it nothing can be done.”
So what’s the secret?
What equipment do you
need? IMPORTANT! Word is that you can get veal bones at The Butcher’s
Block in Annapolis, if you’re ready for the real deal. Try it. Just try it.
Quick Chicken Stock
1 T Vegetable Oil 1 Onion, Medium Dice 4 lbs Chicken Legs/backs/or wing tips cut into 2” pieces 2 q. boiling water 2 t. Salt 2 Bay leaves Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté until colored and slightly soft. Remove from pot. Add chicken pieces to pot and saute until lightly browned (4 to 5 min.). It may help to do this in two batches to achieve even brown-ness. Return onion to pot with chicken and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook about 20 minutes until chicken releases juices. Increase heat to high and add boiling water, salt and bay leaves. Return to a simmer and simmer until stock is rich and flavorful, about 20 minutes. Strain stock and discard solids. Stock should be defatted before use. |
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