One of the key differences between home cooked food and good quality restaurant food is the use of stocks. A good stock makes a huge difference in the flavour of a dish or sauce adding great depth, yet most home cooks steer away from making the stock themselves preferring inferior shop bought or "cube" stock.
Making a stock is easy, patience is sometimes required, but believe me the end results are worth it and will be much appreciated by your guests or family.
Almost all butchers and fishmongers will be happy to give you bones, it helps reduce their waste disposal costs!
I'll start with two contrasting stocks - a brown stock made with beef and veal bones, and a delightfully light, quick and easy fish stock.
Brown Stock:
Ingredients:
2 large carrots, chopped
1 large onion, quartered but unpeeled
1 celery stalk
1 leek, chopped
2kg mixed beef and veal bones
1 large tomato, halved
2 bay leaves
6 garlic cloves
3 thyme sprigs
4 parsley stems
a few black peppercorns
sea salt
Brown stock is created by roasting the bones before cooking them in water. In this stock try to use veal bones as well as beef. Veal bones have a higher collagen level and therefore produce a richer more gelatinous stock.
This recipe will produce about 1.5 litres of stock. It can of course be reduced further, concentrated and frozen. This being the case do not add salt until thawing and re-hydrating.
Pre-heat the oven to 220 C. Use a large roasting dish and scatter the carrots, onion, celery and leek over the dish. Wash the beef and veal bones well in cold water, pat dry and place on top of the vegetables. Roast in the oven for 1 hour, turning the bones at least once during the cooking process,
Transfer the bones and vegetables to a large stock pot. Pour off any fat in the roasting dish and de-glaze with 300 ml of water over a high heat. Add this liquid to the stock pot along with the tomato, garlic and herbs. Pour in another 2.5 litres of cold water. Bring slowly to the boil, and then immediately reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Add the peppercorns, and skim off the surface from time to time.
Simmer, uncovered for 5 hours.
Strain through a sieve, discard the debris, and cool the resulting bowl of stock quickly in iced water. When cool taste the stock and add salt to taste. If reducing further, do not add salt.
Refrigerate overnight, allowing the fat to rise to the top and any debris to sink to the bottom. The resulting stock will last in the fridge for 3 days, or 6 months if frozen.
Fish stock
Ingredients for fish stock
1 kg fish bones
1 glass white wine
1 large carrot
1 onion
2 celery sticks
a handful black peppercorns
thyme
parsley
bay leaves
Of all stocks, fish stock is the easiest and quickest to make. Indeed it should never take more than 30 minutes, as any longer runs the risk of it turning bitter.
In an ideal world, turbot and dover sole bones will make the best stock, but the bones, skin and head of any non-oily fish will make good stock.
Place the bones etc, in a large pan and add the other ingredients and seasonings. Place over a moderate to high heat for 3 minutes to burn off the alcohol in the wine, and then add enough cold water to cover generously. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes, skimming off the scum throughout the cooking time. Bring off the heat and strain through a fine sieve and allow to cool.
Store in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for a maximum of 6 months.
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