STOCKin' Up!

I made my own chicken stock this weekend! We're forging ahead in The Professional Chef, to the Stocks, Soups and Sauces section of the book. There are plenty of recipes to try, and many lessons to be learned, but I decided to start simple, with chicken stock. Stock is referred to in French fonds de cuisine, or "the foundations of cooking." I use it every week, and I spend lots of money on cartons of it at the store...but this weekend proved one thing to me - I won't be buying pre-packaged stock anymore!

The recipe called for 8 lbs of chicken bones, but when I went to the store, and asked the meat department for said chicken bones, they said that all of their poultry is packaged already when it is delivered. That's what I get for going to a store without a proper butcher department (next time, I'll try this!). I opted for two packages of bony chicken wings, to substitute as an ingredient for my stock. In the end, I think this made the stock a bit more gelatinous when cooled, but all it needs is a little heat to loosen right back up.

This was going to be a 4-hour process, so I started as soon as my groceries were delivered on Sunday afternoon! (Yes, thank you Peapod!) I put a gallon of water into a nice, big stock pot, and added the chicken wings, which I rinsed before adding them. I salted the mixture and set it to simmer for the next 3 hours.

While the stock simmered, I did a few things around the house, started to make dinner, and then set to prepping my mirepoix (onion, carrot and celery). Because of the time that the veggies would be simmering, I cut them to a medium dice, and also pulled together a Sachet d'Epices, a little bouquet of parsley stems, thyme, peppercorns, a bay leaf and a clove of garlic. 

After the three hours had expired, I turned off my timer and checked out the stock, so far. It had evaporated quite a bit, so even though the recipe didn't call for it, I added some more water. I don't know if I was supposed to do that, but it tastes REALLY good, so we'll just go with it. I added the beautiful mixture you see above to the simmering liquid and chicken wings, and allowed it to cook for another hour.

Once the timer went off a second time, it was time to remove the stock from the heat, and give it a good strain in a fine, mesh sieve. All the impurities are left behind and what you have left is a big bowl of delicious, flavorful, homemade stock. 

I've already used a cup of it in one of my weekly meals, and it's so good. It adds so much authentic flavor to a dish, it's incredible! I will definitely be making stock on weekends for the coming week, according to my needs. 

While there are other recipes for stocks (Brown Veal Stock, Fish Fumet, Vegetable Stock, Court Bouillon, Dashi, and a Poultry and Meat Stock), I'm not going to use these recipes until recipes further on in the book call for them specifically. There's no point in filling my freezer with unneeded stocks. Because the lessons for stocks, soups and sauces come before the recipes, I think I'll do a bit of reading this weekend and try to move ahead to the recipes, where I can share what I've learned while making some delicious recipes at the same time! Now's the perfect time of year for some heartwarming soups, anyway. We're ready for spring, it's not quite here, and we all need something to warm our bellies!

Part Four : Chapter Fourteen : Mise en Place for Stocks, Sauces, and Soups

When I started reading tonight's chapter of The Professional Chef, I was hoping it would be a first read before stepping into the kitchen to take things step-by-step and show you lots of pictures. That was not the case since this chapter was more of an introduction to the different types of aromatics, flavorings and thickening agents for soups, stocks and sauces.

Bouquets and Sachets are preparations of aromatics used for flavoring purposes. They are added during the cooking process. A bouquet garni is a tied bundle of thyme, parsley stems, bay leaf, celery and leek. The leek leaves act as the wrapping for the rest of the ingredients. A sachet is usually a bundle of peppercorns, as well as other herbs and spices all tied up in a bag made of cheesecloth. A sachet is very similar to a tea bag in the way it infuses the liquid in which it is submerged.

I've spoken about Mirepoix in the past, the French word for a combination of carrots, celery and onions that acts as the base flavor profile for many stocks, soups and sauces. There are many variations on the basic mirepoix, which we will learn about as we delve into the recipe portion of this part of the textbook.

A roux is a thickening agent that consists of a flour and a fat. Usually, this means lots of butter, melted, and then mixed with the flour, cooking it until it becomes the correct color for the recipe at hand. The basic formula is three parts flour to two parts fat. The colors are divided into four basic groups: white, blond, brown and dark, depending on how long it is cooked. Once roux is created, it is added to another liquid to thicken it.

Clarified butter is made by heating whole butter until it separates and the fat can be skimmed off the top. Many recipes call for this, as opposed to plain melted butter, because it can then be used at a higher temperature. Many rouxs start off with clarified butter. Ghee, which is used in many Asian cuisines, is another type of clarified butter, and can usually be purchased in Asian markets, as well as the Global aisle at the grocery store.

Pure starch slurries have a greater thickening power than other methods we've discussed. Ingredients such as cornstarch and arrowroot have these properties, and they don't require the extended simmering time that a roux would require. The slurry is created by submersing the ingredient of choice into cold water, before adding it to the soup or sauce. This is the quickest way to thicken.

The final page of this chapter discusses Liaisons. A liaison is a mixture of egg yolks and cream that is used to thicken sauces and soups. This mixture does not thicken in the same way that a roux or a slurry would, but adds sheen, body and flavor to the dish, as well as light golden-ivory color. To add a liaison to your dish, you'll want to use a process known as tempering, to avoid curdling the eggs. Tempering involves adding a small amount of the hot liquid to the egg mixture, in order to even the temperature out before pouring it into the main pot. Once the temperate is slowly regulated, it can be incorporated into the dish without risk of curdling. 

In the next chapter, we start to learn about making stocks and I will be applying these lessons to some of the recipes provided for practice. If all goes according to plan, I'll have seen my last carton of store-bought stock, because why buy it, when you can make it yourself!

Part Three : Chapter Thirteen : Dry Goods Identification

It's been another hectic week at work, and we've also had after work plans, so I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and write in a few days. I've been using the few meals we've had at home to use up ingredients from the fridge and pantry. It's another one of those "get creative" phases to clean stuff up a bit. I even cleaned the kitchen this weekend! The stove needed a good scrubbing, that's for sure. I decided to take this slow night as an opportunity to read a chapter of my textbook, and get one step closer to the real cooking!

Speaking of cleaning out the pantry, this chapter comes at the perfect time. I've collected quite the assortment of oils, vinegars, spices and rubs and some of them really make me wonder if I'll ever need them for another recipe. That's when it's time to start making stuff up...and concoting! Just like produce and meats though, these dry goods lose quality over time, so on a somewhat regular basis, I go through my stock, and throw anything with a passed expiration date in the trash. Sometimes, it's just better to start with something fresh.

I tend to store my grains and flours in screwtop containers. I rip off a piece of the label and place it at the top of the container so that I know what is in each one, but it's more organized this way because everything is a bit more uniform. It's hard to reseal those bags anyway!

I have quite the collection of spices, and I'm still coming up with ideas on the best way to store them. I have too many to fit in any one spice rack, and I always end up taking all of them off the shelf, just to find the one I'm looking for at the moment. When I come up with a system that works, I promise I'll share it with you!

After 35 pages about flours, wheats, spices, grains and legumes, I'm finally at the end of Part Three. In my next lesson, we'll start in on Part Four : Stocks, Sauces and Soups! I couldn't have come sooner and I will begin to gather the ingredients I will need for the first lesson...and get down to it! Look forward to many more pictures with this next part of the book, because what I learn, I will then share with all of you! Can't wait!!

New Toys!

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful meal somewhere terrific this evening!

Yesterday, I got a special delivery! I had some Williams Sonoma gift cards that I used last weekend to buy myself a new toy for the kitchen, and I'm VERY excited to use it! What did I buy, you ask!? Well, I think I've mentioned that I much prefer fresh pasta to dried, and that on most occasions, I make my own. I do this with attachments for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Currently, I own a pasta roller, as well as a cutter for both fettuccine, as well as spaghetti. In addition to the rollers, I also have an attachment that works with the meat grinder to make some of the shaped pasta, but it's not ideal for my needs. So I purchased....drum roll please...


A PASTA PRESS!

This attachment, for the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, presses the pasta dough through specially shaped discs to make Spaghetti, Bucatini, Rigatoni, Fusilli, and both large and small Macaroni. Who's excited!?!? I AM!! I've been waiting to buy this accessory for a long time now, so I'm ecstatic that's it's here! I plan on making some of these shaped pastas now, instead of purchasing them. The more things I make from scratch, the fresher we keep our diet, and that's something I stand 100% behind. I also have plans for a bread maker in the near future, which is a very exciting prospect for me!

Fresh pasta is a process for sure, I won't deny it, but it is worth every second. Once the dough is made, rolled out and cut, it takes about 3 minutes in the boiling water, and it is just so soft and succulent. It absorbs sauces and flavors much better than dried pasta, since it's more of a doughy consistency, and really accentuates those flavors. You can even take a weekend and make a bunch of pasta, and refrigerate it or freeze it for the future. I challenge each and every one of you to a taste test between fresh pasta and dried pasta. If you try it, and prefer the boxed variety, I'll eat my socks! :)

Stay tuned for some delicious fresh pasta recipes!