Le Fond

The new quarter has started. I’m 2 weeks in but still don’t feel like I’m in it full swing. For some reason I’ve been dealing with a lack of motivation. I’ll blame it on the depression I’m feeling from the holidays. (Bahumbug). I’m taking Soup and Sauce Cookery, Oral and Written Reports, Culinary Math, and Food Styling. 14 credits, 18 classroom hours. I’m sure I can narrow my two favorite classes down to Soup/Sauce and Food Styling. To me, doing any form of Math is equivalent to gauging my eyes out with a ball point pen. Oral and Written Reports is all research and presentation, but at least it’s geared toward something I have an interest in.

My first night of Soup and Sauce didn’t contain near the amount of excitement that my first foundation’s class did. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because everything was so new and there was a lot of nervousness. The first lesson in foundations was on egg cookery. I already wrote about it once, but how excited can one be about an egg? I ask this because I know all of you are thinking it. Really, though, an egg is very exciting. In fact, in the culinary world, it is thought about with almost a religious-like devotion. From the beauty of its design, to its many functions from binding to leavening to coloring, to its ability to be delicious solely on its own (poached, shirred, over easy, sunny-side up, boiled, scrambled) to be paired with other things and become even more heavenly. The egg even sauces itself. And makes other sauces when combined with cream and butter and whisked into oblivion (hollandaise). I assume you’ve gotten my point by now. Onto Soup and Sauces.
We learned THE, if not one of THE, most important elements to the foundation of a great culinary education.

Making a great stock.

Why must a stock be great, you ask? Because it is the base to everything else in a kitchen. Great stock gives the potential for a great end result. If you start with something less than great, as with anything in life, generally its potential decreases from there on. There is reason for the French’s reference to stock as “le fond” meaning “the foundation.
The steps to creating a great stock are fairly simple: low heat and great, fresh ingredients. There are 5 types of stocks: chicken, beef, fish, vegetable, and the most versatile of all: veal. From Michael Ruhlman’s The Elements of Cooking: “ Stocks are a distillation of flavor, an extraction by water of the ingredients. If those ingredients are old, or if they are pale and weak, those qualities will be reflected in the quality of your stock. Ask yourself: Do these ingredients look good, would they be tasty if I were to cook and eat them as they are? If so, they are suitable for stock."

Onto heat. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of low heat. The stock must NEVER boil. In fact, it should almost not even simmer. Let’s say just barely simmering. The temperature should range from 170-180 degrees, but never more than that. When a stock boils, the bubbles stir up the impurities and fat resulting in a cloudy looking and tasting liquid. Cooking too high will also overcook the vegetable causing them to soak up your precious liquid.
You should begin by cooking the bones first to enrich the flavor. You would blanche them for a white sauce or roast them for a brown. Follow up by pouring cold water over the bones and allow the temperature to rise gradually. Once reaching ideal temperature, strain for impurities.
Cooking times for stock will vary. 1-4 hours for chicken, 4-6 for beef, an hour for vegetable, less than an hour for fish, and 8-12 for veal. Once reaching doneness, the liquid should be passed through a strainer or chinois, then through cheesecloth to remove as many particles as possible. After the stock has cooled, the fat should rise to the top to be removed easily. Once reaching room temperature, you can transfer it to the fridge. The stock can be used for up to 4 days in the fridge and frozen for later uses.

I don’t know if anyone reading this was hoping to get a lesson in making stock, but it couldn’t hurt. In my opinion, it makes the world a better place.

Classic Veal Stock

7 pounds veal or beef bones, cut into 2 or 3-inch pieces
1 can best quality tomato paste
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup red wine or water, for deglazing
Small handful peppercorn
4 bay leaves
3 sprigs thyme
Cold water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, F.

Spread bones in a roasting pan and roast for about 30 minutes, turning once. Remove from the oven, and paint a thin layer of tomato paste over the bones. Put the vegetables on top of the bones, and roast an additional 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables begin to caramelize.

Remove the bones and vegetables to a stock pot. Deglaze the roasting pan with wine or water, and pour this into the stock pot. Add peppercorns, bay leaves and thyme. Cover the bones with cold water.

Over medium heat, slowly bring the bones up to a very gentle simmer. Don’t let the stock boil. Adjust the temperature to maintain a gentle bubbling. Every thirty minutes or so, skim off any foam that rises to the top of the pot.

Let the stock simmer gently for at least four hours. If you have the time, it can simmer for up to 12 hours. Add a little more water and lower the heat if you are getting too much evaporation.

When the stock is done, remove the bones and discard. Strain through a very fine mesh strainer or through a colander lined with three or four layers of cheesecloth. Chill quickly, then refrigerate. Skim off the fat from that has solidified on top, and discard.