Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Chicken Stock

At some point in my life I became moderately obsessed with stocks. No not like "Hi I'm Bernard Madoff and I love spooning with my cellmate because I sold bad" stocks. I'm talking chicken, beef, and veal stocks. Like the bowl cut I had in kindegarten (see Exhibit A), I am not entirely sure why this came to be, but it has. I am fairly certain that Nina Planck's Real Food had something to do with it. I am also relatively certain that it had something to do with my rather unattractive Type-A-I-Must-Control-Everything personality that my 11th therapist told me was irrational. I am positively sure, that it also had something to do with money, because my first 8 years in New York City were spent being broke, tired and hungry. In that order.

Exhibit A: Yeah... you want the knee socks don't you?


Now stocks and stockmaking techniques are essential for so many delicious things. All sauces. Soups. Stews. Remouillage. Broths. Fumes. And unlike my paycheck... a little goes a long way. Now if you are a stock virgin (which we all are at some point), there are a few principals that all good stocks obey. In no particular order, they are:

1. Impurities are bad. Bone stocks are delicious but there are a lot of impurities in bones. Blood. Cartilage. Fat. All of these things will leave a good stock looking (and tasting) like the East River (google it if you do not know what the glorious East River looks like). The "impurities" by the way, end up looking like a gross gray brown foam on the stop of your stock. And getting rid of these impurities is essential. There are a variety of ways to do this. Like most, Thomas Keller espouses skimming and a very slow simmer. But skimming every 5 minutes is only fun for approximately the first 5 minutes... after that it is the equivalent of watching wet furniture dry, Thoreau style. Tom Colicchio swears by a 2 minute impurity removing pre-boil. I was fairly resistant to this at first. All those yummy flavors literally down the drain. But this method (which is my current favorite) does not lose a lot of flavor though it does get rid of a lot of impurities. And then you can skim a little less frequently.

2. Low and Slow. I had a Home-Ec teacher in junior high school named Miss Bacon. Really I did. And whenever we cooked with milk, she would chant, "Low and Slow". Like the lyrics to "Islands in the Stream", those words play back in my head at rather inopportune moments (e.g. during college soccer games). But for stock-making, low and slow is key. Rapid boiling will recirculate impurities back into the stock. Always start with cold water. Warm slowly. And keep at a low simmer. Thomas Keller recommends one bubble per second.

3. Bones first. You can't skim once your veggies go in (because a lot of them are floaters). So simmer your bones first and once you are impurity free (and after about 2 hours... or whichever is longer) add your veggies.

4. Strain. Yeah, you think your skimming got all of the impurities out? You're WRONG like that MTV show "Jersey Shore". And that is where this final step is sort of important. When your stock is done it must be strained. Now Thomas Keller has all this fancy stuff, but a piece of doubled over cheese cloth in a sieve has worked perfectly fine for me. He recommends ladeling the stock into the sieve because pouring can force some of the chunks right on through. Ladel. Pour. Ultimately it is your decision, but I've already drank the Ladel Punch and that is where I stay.

4. Chicken Feet. Cow Feet. With those 4 words, I probably lost both of my readers as fast as I turn off a Cagney and Lacey re-run. And there is something weird about looking at unpedicured chicken toe nails (nee claws), that seems about as appealing as being one of Tiger Woods's girlfriends. But take my word, they do add a lot of flavor, they find a nice use for what is often considered waste, and nutritionally there is a lot of protein is those little feet.

5. Fat. I have no problem with chicken fat, but a fatty stock makes for a greasy soup/stew/sauce or whatever it is that you are making. So after my stock is done, I bring my stock to room temperature and stick it in the refrigerator overnight. Thomas Keller does this ice "shock" thing, but I don't have an ice maker and my little 12 cube tray doesn't fit the bill. The good thing about animal fat in cooking is that it solidifies and is easy to remove. The bad thing about animal fat in your body is that it solidifies and is NOT easy to remove. And not for nothing... (my English teacher just rolled over in her grave with that last piece of fine writing) there is a reason that the day after every Thanksgiving is like winning the lottery for most plumbers. Don't throw this stuff down your sink. Really. Unless you think your plumber is hot. If that's the case, throw it all down there... and find yourself a good therapist.

6. Garbage in... There is a difference between being resourceful and using disgusting. Stocks make good use of things that you might otherwise throw away (bones, etc.). Stocks are NOT, however, good hiding places for rotten vegetables. Garbage in = Garbage out.

7. The Great Celery Debate. Typical stocks use leeks, onions, and carrots. But celery... It depends which camp you join. Thomas Keller and the saucier's at Le Ferrandi do not add celery. They think it is too strong for a good stock or demi-glace. Tom Colicchio will use celery. Alice Waters uses it in her broths. Who is right? Well, I've never done a randomized, double blinded placebo controlled trial to be honest, but no celery means one less thing I have to buy (or one more thing for me to munch on while I skim). And thus, for no particular reason, I've joined the celery-free camp.

8. Brown stocks. You can make brown stocks brown by doing two things. First, you have to roast the bones. Second you add tomato paste. Lest you get romantic ideas of deep brown stocks arising from lovely roasted bones, the brown coloring of these stocks comes from the addition of tomato paste. (Sorry to disappoint you.) Tomato haters: don't worry. the tomato paste is not for flavor. And roaster beware: if you burn your bones you might as well just stop there. Burned bones make a ridiculously bitter stock. Don't bother. I found this out the hard way and expensive way while making demi-glace.

9. Herbs. To add bouquet garnis, or not add bouquet garnis. That is the question. Well sort of. It really depends what you are using your stock for. I tend to add it. Plus it is a great way to use the stalks (as opposed to the leaves) of your parsley. So I throw in some parsley stocks and a few sprigs of thyme.

10. A 10th rule would have been nice. Lots of good things come in 10's. But my rules for stocks do not. Sorry.