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| Making stock for pho bo (Vietnamese rice noodle soup with beef). For more, see here: Blue Lotus (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
One of the most important components of French dishes is the sauce. Whether it be cream based, finished with butter, mixed with tomato paste or puree, or be it a simple reduction, sauces make the dish.
In cooking school, aside from knowing where and how ingredients are used, one of the most basic skills taught was making a good stock. Stocks serve as the base of almost every sauce in cookery. Beef and veal stock, chicken and lamb, fish and shellfish, all these stocks had to be mastered before moving on to real cooking.
Making stock can take several hours but the product is well worth it. Those ready-to-use stocks are little more than chunks of salt with some essence of either beef, pork, chicken or fish. While real stocks contains what MSG tries to give dishes.
Set aside some time this week and try to make stock. You'll be surprised at how much better your gravies and sauces will turn out.
BASIC BEEF STOCK
You will need:
2 kg beef bones
2 medium carrots
3 stalks celery
3 onions
Here's how:
1. Brown beef bones in a pan or in the oven. Once well browned, remove them from pan and discard oil.
2. Slice vegetables into chunks and saute' in the same pan.
3. Place bones back into the pan with the veggies. Pour water until it covers the bones.
4. Boil, skim surface to remove scum and simmer for 2-3 hours.
5. Strain stock through a colander or sieve and continue to reduce on full boil till liquid is about 1/4 of its original volume.
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