Taking stock

How come your stews taste so creamy and rich? Did you use a lot of butter? (Sound the alarm, quick!!) Just a couple of questions I get a lot. More often than not the answer is:No, don't worry. Those extra pounds you'll gain will not be from my stuff.

The trick is the stock. I am not talking about those evil little cubes with compressed powder. A little disclaimer: I sometimes use the cubes as a cop out, when I'm lazy boned and for that I deserve to administer myself 40 lashes right here and now.

Now, what is stock, you might ask. The easy answer is bones from an animal or fish cooked for so long that all the inherent flavor is in the water. It's also cheap. Bones are the unwanted parts of the animal. We "civilized" people eat the breast from the chicken, maybe the wings (if we have a party) and more often than not we pass on the thights and drum sticks. The stock comes from the carcass and the drum stick bones, if you decide to.

It is also very easy to do. Yes, it takes hours to make, so make a lot on a rainy Sunday and freeze it in little cubes. When you need it, just stir it in... I use chicken bones for stock. Chicken bones make for a nice sweet stock, it is cheap and when you buy a chicken whole, you get the bones for free.

Also very important is a pressure cooker. Otherwise, you'll still be cooking stock when the sun comes out again on your rainy Sunday and you rather be out again. Oh, I'll just turn off the flame and start up again when I'm back. Wrong! The bones will start to harden, the stock will start to taste bitter and become cloudy. Just invest in a pressure cooker, or beg your mum for the one she has. She never cooks with it anyway and it's taking up too much room in her kitchen anyway.

Bones in the pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil uncovered. This will take a while, but it is an important step. When the bones slowly come to a boil, it releases more alumbin. You want to take out all the albumin, because that's what makes the stock cloudy. You want clear stock. You eat with your eyes, no?

When the stock boils, skim off the white stuff and the fat with a ladle or a spoon until the water is clear. Add an onion (quartered with skin), a couple cloves of crushed garlic (with skin), a tomato (quartered), a carrot, a couple sprigs of thyme, parsley and two bay leaves. Clamp the lid on and pressurize the cooker. Cook for 3 or 4 hours and your stock is done. Discard all solids and strain the broth. Congratulations, you just elevated your cooking. Use at will and with reckless abandonment.

To intensify the flavor, I usually reduce the stock until it becomes demi-glace, which is a fancy cooking word for reduced stock. Put your strained stock back in a pot and on high flame cook it down. When the color starts to change to darker brown, your demi is done. This something I usually divide in portions and freeze separately.

Here are some possible applications for the stock:

When you sear meat in a skillet what to do with brown bits on the bottom of the pan? Do not throw away; make a pan sauce. Your meat needs to rest anyway, so you can use the time to make a sauce. Remove the fat, cook in the skillet some mushrooms, garlic and onions, deglaze the pan with a little white wine, add some of your stock and reduce until it thickens. You can add some butter to monter au beurre, but that is not necessary.

When you make a stew, substitute water for your stock. You'll never go back to plain water again.

Adding a little of your stock to stir-fried vegetables make converts from carnivores. First in hot oil stir-fry the aromatics (ginger, scallions, garlic etc). Add the vegetables and stir fry a little bit. Add some of your stock and reduce until it's all evaporated. Plate and watch picky eaters chow!