Week 11 -- Stocks and Broths

A good stock is the basis for great sauces, soups or braising liquids, cooking rice and other grains, a flavorful liquid. Preparing stocks can seem like a complicated matter, but they are quite simple to prepare and, when done properly, contribute great flavor and texture to your prepared dishes. Use instead of water for just about anything, for nothing is less flavorful than water. The French term for stock is "fond" which means foundation for all soups and sauces

  • Difference Between Broth and Stock
    • A broth is liquid that pours, like clear thin soup
    • A stock is more gelatinous, jiggly, made from bones and marrow and cartilage
  • Ingredients for Stock Making
    • Bones: The most important ingredient, bones with high cartilage and other connective tissues are the best for stock making
    • Mirepoix: A mixture of celery, carrots, and onions, also garlic, bell peppers, or other vegetables that add flavor and aroma to a stock
    • Seasonings and herbs: Peppercorns, bayleaf, garlic can be left whole because of long cooking time, use little or no salt which can be added later, most herbs are usually best added later to a dish
    • Liquid: Usually begins with water

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  • Types of Stock
    • White Stock: Can be made with chicken, beef or veal bones, but white stock is relatively colorless, simmer in cold water, all the flavors macerate into the liquid, discard the solids, and the liquid takes on the flavors of the solids
    • Brown Stock: All ingredients are first caramelized in saute or oven to get the brown caramelized color and flavor
    • Fish Stock (Fish Fumet): Simmered fish bones or crustacean shells (shrimp broth, lobster broth), macerate the flavors into the liquid
    • Court Bouillon: (not really a stock) Vegetables (mire poix), seasonings, acid -- water, garlic, parsley, peppercorns, onions, bay leaves, white vinegar or lemon -- a cooking liquid for poaching shrimp or fish or vegetables

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  • Quality of Stock
    • Body: Richness, gelatinous (from the bones/collagen/cartilage)
    • Flavor: Comes from bones but also the mire poix (vegetables)
    • Clarity: Comes from procedure, try not to agitate, but use a soft simmer
    • Color: Comes from caramelization for a brown stock
  • Bones -- use good bones for flavor, richness, and color
  • Collagen -- a protein that dissolves under moist heat and turns into gelatin (the giggly stock), providing richness and body
    • Beef and Veal Bones: The best bones for stock come from the youngest animals whose bones contain a higher percentage of cartilage and connective tissue (high in collagen). Back, shank, neck, joint bones are best. Can take up to 8 hours of simmer time to produce best stock
    • Chicken Bones: The best bones for chicken stock are the neck, back, wing tips, leg and thigh bones, but because they have less collagen than beef or veal usually take up to 5 hours simmering to produce best stock
    • Fish Bones: Use lean white fish like sole, flounder, tilapia, turbo because bones from fatty fish like tuna, salmon, shark, and swordfish create a greasy, cloudy fish fume that is very distinctive and strong. Use crustacean shells (eg., shrimp shells and tails and heads or lobster shells) for flavorful broth/stock. Require about 2 hours of simmering (all flavors extracted by that time)
    • Other Bones: Game, venison, lamb, turkey, ham can all be used for stock

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  • Mire Poix for Stock
  • 50% Onion, 25% Carrot, 25% Celery (White mire poix)
  • Brown stock, use onion skins as well (give color), still 50% Onion, 15% Carrot, 15% Celery, 20% mushrooms
  • Seasonings: dried spices rather than fresh herbs, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme stems (whole spices go in stock, not ground), and do not add salt (that can be done later)

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  • Basic Principles for Stock Making
    • Always start with cold water. Cover the items with water. Everything must be immersed in liquid. Blood and impurities dissolve, coagulate and rise to the top as the water heats and can be skimmed off easily, but starting with hot water will make cloudy stock, because the impurities remain suspended in the stock
    • Simmer gently, don't boil. Soft simmering allows the ingredients to release their flavors (165F-185F). A violent boil makes cloudy stock
    • Skim the stock often. Fat and impurities rise to the surface during cooking. Remove them often as they appear, or they may make the stock cloudy
    • Strain the stock. After skimming as much from the surface as possible, the stock should be strained through cheese cloth via ladle to further remove fat and impurities
    • Cool the stock quickly. Use ice water bath, then into the refrigerator. The more quickly you cool the stock, the less cloudy it will be
    • Store properly and degrease the stock. Store in a covered metal or plastic container and remove any hardened fat floating on top when ready to use (the fat coating will help preserve the quality of the stock until it is ready to be used)

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  • Beef Stock
    • Roast beef or veal marrow bones, along with meat scraps (stew meat), carrots, and onion, until nicely browned in 400F oven for 30-45 minutes, turn over half-way through, Dutch oven works great for this, give everything a light coating of olive oil first
    • Remove bones, meat, and vegetables from Dutch oven, and deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of water, scraping up the fond and stirring
    • Add the bones, meat, and vegetables back to the Dutch oven, and add celery, garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns
    • Add water until the bones are covered by an inch or two, bring to low simmer for 3-6 hours
    • Skim the scum and fat from top of the liquid frequently, put in jar to save or discard
    • At end of cooking time, remove bones, beef, and vegetables with slotted spoon and discard (eat any beef or marrow chunks)
    • Strain liquid through cheese cloth to remove remaining solids
    • Cool quickly in ice bath, then refrigerate
    • When the stock has chilled, remove the fat layer on top before using

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  • Consomme
    • A very clear, very flavorful broth, clarified stock to remove all impurities
    • Highly flavorful and rich
    • Start with cold stock, grease free,
    • Make "clear meat", with egg whites, ground meat, mire poix, seasonings and acid product
    • Low, soft simmer, egg whites and meat coagulates, mire poix becomes suspended in the solution
    • A raft forms on top of pot, do not agitate it, because this is the filter, filtering out impurities
    • Carefully ladle out the broth under the raft and strain through cheese cloth -- voila

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  • Lamb Stock
    • Roast lamb marrow bones, along with meat scraps, carrots, and onion, until nicely browned in 400F oven for 30-45 minutes, turn over half-way through, Dutch oven works great for this, give everything a light coating of olive oil first
    • Remove bones, meat, and vegetables from Dutch oven, and deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of water, scraping up the fond and stirring
    • Add the bones, meat, and vegetables back to the Dutch oven, and add celery, garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns
    • Add water until the bones are covered by an inch or two, bring to low simmer for 3-6 hours
    • Skim the scum and fat from top of the liquid frequently, put in jar to save or discard
    • At end of cooking time, remove bones, meat, and vegetables with slotted spoon and discard (eat any lamb or marrow chunks)
    • Strain liquid through cheese cloth to remove remaining solids
    • Cool quickly in ice bath, then refrigerate
    • When the stock has chilled, remove the fat layer on top before using

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  • Chicken Stock
    • Add breast bones/ribs, wings, legs, thighs, neck, giblets, back, and rinse everything well in cold water, removing impurities like blood that might impart bad flavor
    • Add some mirepoix, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and a bay leaf
    • Add enough cold water to cover everything entirely
    • Turn burner on, bring to soft simmer for clear stock, don't boil
    • Skim the scum from the top frequently, over next 4 hours
    • Then strain the stock, removing solids, retaining the legs, thighs, wings for making chicken soup or salad
    • Now we have nice broth, but fat floating on top, so strain through cheese cloth to get rid of as much fat and remaining sediment as possible
    • Cool as quickly as possible, ice bath chilling helps ensure clear stock, refrigerate
    • When the stock has chilled, remove the fat layer on top before using

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  • Vegetable Broth
    • Onion, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, consider also mushrooms, leeks, bell peppers basil, oregano, marjoram, sage, rosemary, thyme, whatever you like
    • Chop vegetables into 1/2 inch chunks to release flavor quickly
    • Heat olive oil in Dutch oven, saute the vegetables for 5-10 minutes
    • Add water and bring to simmer for at least an hour
    • Strain and discard vegetables
    • Use for soups, sauces, poaching, steaming, preparing rice, lentils, quinoa, grits, etc

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  • Shrimp Broth (always utilize or save/freeze shells, tails, heads)
    • Cleaning shrimp: remove head and put in broth pot, hold tail between thumb and index finger, shrimp leg-side-up in palm, then use paring knife to scrap legs off with downward motion (put legs in broth pot), then peel the shrimp at the tail, and pull it off and put in stock pot, remove tail and put in stock pot
    • De-vein the shrimp: Draw paring knife lightly along the vein line, remove vein
    • Add some mirepoix to broth pot along with shells, heads, tails, legs
    • Add enough water to pot to just cover the ingredients, then onto the burner and bring up to a soft simmer, no visible bubbles in the pot, but water convecting in currents
    • Simmer for at least 2 hours or so, when you see the water taking on nice shrimp color
    • Strain the solids out--Shrimp broth ready to go
    • Use it for soup (like shrimp bisque), poaching fish or shrimp, or add roux to make a thicker sauce or gravy

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  • Fish Fumet (Fish broth)
    • Ingredients (for about 3 cups)
      • 2 lbs heads, bones, tails from sea bass, red snapper, halibut, turbot, sole, flounder, any white fish, but no oily fish
      • 2 tbs olive/canola oil
      • 2 onions, thinly sliced
      • 1 tsp salt
      • 1 bay leaf
      • 1 cup white wine
      • 3 cups water for soaking bones, heads, etc
      • 3 cups water for simmering the fumet
    • Procedure
      • Remove gills and eyes, cut heads and bones into 4 inch pieces
      • In pan filled with cold water, soak the heads, bones and tails for 1/2 hour, drain off water, refill pan with water and soak fish parts another 1/2 hour
      • In stock pot, add oil, onions, salt, bay leaf, saute onions until soft but not browned, about 4 minutes
      • Transfer fish part from soaking pan to stockpot, discard soaking water
      • Saute fish parts until bones and flesh around bones turn from tanslucent to white, about 10 minutes, stir and flip to prevent browning
      • Add 1 cup wine and 3 cups water, bring to hard simmer for 15 minutes, skimming foam off the top periodically, then remove from heat, let rest 10 minutes
      • Strain the fumet through sieve to remove large fish parts (discard), then strain through cheese cloth, pressing to extract as much fumet as possible
      • Use hard simmer to reduce and concentrate the fumet to about 3 cups
      • Use it for fish soup, poaching fish, or add roux or cornstarch slurry to make a thicker sauce for fish or vegetables

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