21.2 Brown stocks and demi-glace

What makes a stock brown

Chicken, veal, beef or game bones can all make a brown stock. It should taste rich, be deep brown, and carry good body and plenty of gelatin. Two steps set it apart from a white stock. The bones and mirepoix are browned before they go into the water, and a tomato product is added. Both give darker color and stronger flavor.

The browning is caramelization: the sugars on the surface of the food turn brown, and that gives the stock its typical color and taste. see chapter 8: What roasting is

Browning the bones

Do not wash or blanch bones for a brown stock. Wet bones brown slowly.

• Spread the cut bones in a single layer in a roasting pan. Two or three pans are better than one crowded pan.
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• Roast them at 375°F (190°C) for about an hour, stirring now and then, until they are well browned but not burnt.
• Lift the bones into the stockpot. Pour the fat out of the pan and keep it.
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Deglazing the pan

The browned, set juices stuck to the roasting pan hold a great deal of flavor. To deglaze, set the pan over medium heat and add water to about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm) deep. Stir and scrape the bottom while the water heats until everything has dissolved. Pour this liquid, called the deglazing liquor, over the bones.

Browning the mirepoix and adding tomato

Put a little of the saved fat back in the roasting pan, or use a pan big enough to hold all the vegetables. Sauté the mirepoix until it is evenly and well browned, without burning, and add it to the pot.

Almost any tomato product works: fresh, canned whole, crushed, purée or paste. A concentrated product such as paste or purée needs about half the weight of fresh or canned tomatoes. Add it at the same time as the mirepoix.

The brown stock recipe

The amounts match the white stock: 16 lb (7 kg) of veal, chicken or beef bones, 3 gallons (11 L) of cold water and 2 lb (1 kg) of mirepoix, with a sachet that adds crushed garlic. The method:

• Brown the bones at 375°F (190°C), turning them now and then.
• Deglaze the pan with some of the cold water.
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• Put the liquor and the rest of the water over the bones to cover them, bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer.
• Brown the mirepoix in some of the saved fat and add it.
• Add the tomato paste and sachet and let it simmer 6 to 8 hours, and skim when needed.
• Strain, cool and refrigerate.
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For a brown veal stock, roast all the white-stock ingredients except the bouquet garni and water at 400°F (200°C), turning them until evenly browned and never letting the juices burn in the pan. Put the bouquet garni into the pot with them, deglaze the pan with water, and then cook the stock like a white veal stock.

Brown chicken stock

Brown chicken stock is the useful choice for a kitchen that cannot make beef stock and meat glaze every day. Most wholesale butchers will sell chicken carcasses cheaply; adding a stewing hen gives more flavor at more cost. It is good for deglazing sauté and roasting pans, as a base for stronger stocks such as game or pigeon, and for thinning a sauce that has reduced too far.

Glace: stock cooked down

A glace, or glaze, is a stock reduced slowly until it is thick and syrupy. From a gallon (4 L) of stock, as little as 1 cup is left, or at most 2 (2.5 to 5 dL). It keeps well, so kitchens hold it ready to stir into soups and sauces at the last moment for richer flavor, deeper color and a smoother texture.

• Glace de viande (meat glaze) is brown stock reduced until it is dark and syrupy. It works best with a stock already rich in gelatin, so it is usually made from beef knuckle bones. A stock with little gelatin has to cook down so far that its flavor suffers.
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• Glace de volaille is chicken stock reduced the same way.
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• Glace de poisson (fish glaze) is made from fish stock in the same way. It tastes strongly of fish and can spoil a sauce if more than a very little is used. Reduced mussel or clam liquid, reduced court bouillon or a double fish stock is often a better choice.

Meat glace takes 8 to 12 hours from finished stock. The work can be split: reduce it for two hours or so, cool it, and finish it the next day.

• Start in a wide pot so the water escapes quickly.
• Simmer over very low heat, skim often, and never let it catch.
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• As it shrinks, strain it into smaller and smaller clean pans; 10 quarts of stock usually needs three.
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• Strain it a last time, cool and refrigerate.

A well-made glaze keeps for several months in the refrigerator.

A modern large-batch glace de viande starts from:

• roasted veal neck bones
• roasted poultry bones
• split pigs' feet
• tomato paste and red wine reduced by two-thirds
• well-caramelized vegetables, garlic and herbs

The pans are loosened with water and the scrapings, called fonds, go into the kettle. It cooks at a set 180 degrees for 48 hours, is strained through a china cap with a filter, and is then reduced by about two-thirds.

Demi-glace

Classic demi-glace is stock reduced and lightly thickened with starch until it is like a thin syrup. Classic brown sauces are built on it. Natural demi-glace, which is also known as a coulis, uses no starch; it is thickened only by reduction, or by covering fresh meat again and again with the liquid.

One classic demi-glace combines equal amounts of brown stock and espagnole (a brown sauce), 1 quart of each, simmered over medium heat until reduced by half, strained, and cooled in a water bath.

To make the espagnole:

• Make a brown roux, butter or oil cooked with flour, and cool it completely.
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• Cook caramelized mirepoix and a little tomato paste together briefly.
• Add brown stock, bring it to a boil, and whisk in the roux.
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• Once it thickens, add a sachet and simmer the sauce for about 45 minutes, skimming as needed.
• Strain it through a chinois (a fine conical strainer).
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Essences

Modern chefs serve essences, sometimes bound with butter or oil, as light sauces in their own right.

• Mushroom essence. Cook mushrooms in a covered pot for 15 minutes with their own weight of water, then reduce that liquid to a quarter. Wild mushrooms such as morels, cèpes or chanterelles give a far better result than cultivated ones.
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• Truffle essence. Sliced truffles are steeped in a little brown stock in a covered pan. Truffles are now so scarce that a kitchen is more likely to steep them straight in the sauce, or finish the sauce with truffle butter or bought truffle juice.
• Vegetable essences. Chop almost any vegetable and cook it in a little stock, water or wine, as for a court bouillon, but with one vegetable's flavor in front. Serve it with delicate foods such as fish, or build it into a more complex sauce.

When a stock goes wrong