21.1 Light stocks

Four kinds of light liquid

• White stock is chicken, veal or beef bones simmered in water with vegetables and seasonings. It stays almost colorless.
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• Fish stock is fish bones or crustacean shells cooked gently with vegetables, without browning, then simmered a short time in water with seasonings.
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• Fumet is made the same way as fish stock, with wine and lemon juice added. It tastes stronger and smells more aromatic.
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• Court bouillon (French for "short broth") is vegetables and seasonings simmered in water with an acid such as wine or vinegar. It is used to poach fish and vegetables, and is not truly a stock.
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A vegetable stock is a fifth kind: no meat or fish at all. Its uses are set out below.

How a stock is judged

A cook judges any stock on four things.

• Body is the feel of the stock in the mouth. It comes from collagen, a protein in bones and connective tissue, which turns to gelatin as it cooks. A vegetable stock has little body, because it has no animal protein.
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• Flavor comes from the aromatic vegetables, the herbs, and the right amount of solids for the amount of liquid.
• Clarity comes from taking impurities out while the stock cooks.
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• Color comes from every ingredient. Leeks and carrots tint a white stock lightly. Too much of a coloring ingredient can drown both the color and the taste.

Bones

Bones matter more than any other ingredient. They give a stock its flavor, its richness and its color. Kitchens once made stock from the bones left over from the day's butchering. Now that so much meat arrives already cut into portions, many kitchens buy bones just for stock.

• Beef and veal. Bones from young animals are best. They carry more cartilage and connective tissue, so more collagen goes into the pot as gelatin. Back, neck and shank bones are the richest. Cut them with a meat saw.
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• Chicken. Neck and back bones are best. A whole carcass can be chopped up so it is easier to handle.
• Fish. Use lean fish: sole, flounder, turbot or whiting. Oily fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel and swordfish are too fatty and too strong. Chop the frame with a cleaver or heavy knife, then rinse the pieces in cold water to wash off blood and loose scales.
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• Other bones. Stock can also be made from the bones of lamb, turkey, game or ham. Take care mixing strong bones such as lamb or game with milder ones: their taste can take over.

Mirepoix and seasonings

Mirepoix is the mix of onion, carrot and celery that flavors a stock. Chefs vary the balance, but a common mix by weight is half onion, a quarter carrot and a quarter celery. There is no need to peel the carrots or celery; only the flavor counts. For a brown stock, onion skins can go in for color.

Cut the mirepoix to suit the cooking time. A long-cooked beef or veal stock takes coarse pieces of 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm). A chicken or fish stock cooks for less time, so its vegetables are cut smaller, about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm), to give up all their flavor in time. A white mirepoix swaps the carrot for parsnip and adds mushrooms and leeks, for a paler stock. see chapter 9: Poaching liquids

The usual seasonings are:

• peppercorns
• bay leaves
• thyme
• parsley stems
• sometimes garlic

They go in whole, because a stock simmers long enough to draw out all their flavor. Most chefs add them at the start; for a beef or veal stock, some wait until halfway. They go in tied up as a sachet d'épices (a small bag of herbs and spices) or a bouquet garni (a bundle of herbs). see chapter 20: Herbs that go in whole and come out again

Never salt a stock. A cook cannot know where the stock will end up. Salt does not boil away, so a salted stock that is later reduced turns far too salty. It also leaves no room for salty ingredients added when the dish is finished. Salt can go in at any point in the final dish and work just as well.

The seven rules

The same rules apply to every stock.

• Start in cold water. In cold water, blood and impurities dissolve. As the water warms, they clump together and float, ready to skim. In hot water they set at once into fine specks that stay suspended and cloud the stock. Any liquid added later to make up for evaporation should also be cold.
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• Simmer, never boil. Bring the stock to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer of about 185°F (85°C). A few minutes of hard boiling churns fat and scum back into the liquid. The stock turns cloudy and greasy, and the fault gets worse if it is reduced later.
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• Skim often. Skim every 5 to 10 minutes during the first hour, then every 30 to 60 minutes. Keep the ladle standing in cold water beside the pot, so it is always at hand and stays free of fat.
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• Strain gently. Do not stir the pot as it cooks or as it is emptied; solids settle on the bottom and sides, and stirring breaks them up. Skim the surface one last time, take the pot off the heat, and ladle the stock out without stirring. Pour it through a china cap (a cone-shaped strainer) lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Let it drip through; never press the solids. A steam kettle or stockpot with a tap at the bottom makes this easy.
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• Cool it fast. See the safety section below.
• Store it properly, in a clean, covered container in the refrigerator.
• Degrease it. In the refrigerator the fat rises and sets hard on top. Lift or scrape it off before the stock is heated again. Until then, the layer of fat helps protect the stock.
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How much water to use? The more solids there are for the liquid, the better the stock tastes. Beginners often drown the bones at the start, and as the solids settle the stock comes out thin. Bring the liquid to about three-quarters of the height of the solids, except for very long-cooked stocks, where extra water boils off anyway. Bones left above the water give no flavor and darken a white stock, so top up with water if the level falls below them.

Making a white stock

A good white stock is clear, tastes good, holds plenty of gelatin and has almost no color. Veal bones are the most common choice, but beef, veal and chicken can be mixed.

Chefs argue about blanching the bones first, that is, bringing them to the boil in cold water, skimming, and pouring that water away. One side says it keeps the stock clearer and paler. The other says it throws away flavor and nutrients.

The bones weigh eight times the mirepoix, which is why the recipe is called an 8:1 stock. The method:

• Cut the washed bones into pieces of 3 to 4 inches, about 8 to 10 cm, and cover them with the cold water. Blanch them first if you choose to.
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• Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and skim.
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• Add the mirepoix and sachet, then simmer and skim for 6 to 8 hours, or 3 to 4 hours if only chicken bones are used.
• Strain, cool and refrigerate.
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Fish stock and fumet

Fish stock and fumet can stand in for each other in most recipes. Both are clear, light in body and plainly fishy; the fumet is stronger and has acid in it. Use just the heads and bones of lean fish, or crustacean shells. Wash them, but never blanch them, because blanching strips out too much flavor. They may be sweated first, cooked gently in a little fat until soft without browning.

Small, thin fish bones and shells give up their flavor fast, so 30 to 45 minutes is enough. Cut the vegetables small to match. For a gallon of stock, sweat a pound of small-diced mirepoix and half a pound of mushroom trimmings in butter, add 8 lb of bones or shells and 5 quarts of water, and simmer it uncovered with a sachet for 30 to 45 minutes.

To make a fumet:

• Melt butter, add onion, parsley stems and the fish bones, cover, and sweat over low heat.
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• Sprinkle on white wine and lemon juice.
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• Add cold water or fish stock, then the mushroom trimmings, lemon slices and thyme.
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• Bring it to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes, skimming often.
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• Strain, cool and refrigerate.
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Vegetable stock

A vegetable stock should be clear and pale. It has no gelatin, so it has little body. It can replace a meat stock in most recipes, for vegetarian dishes or for lighter sauces and soups. It can also replace water for steaming, and it often stands in for fish stock when good fish bones cannot be had. Older kitchens used it mainly to poach fish.

More vegetables do not make a better stock. One or two that suit the finished dish can work better than a crowd. Potatoes and other starchy vegetables cloud the liquid. For an all-purpose stock, leave out strong vegetables, such as:

• asparagus
• broccoli and its cabbage-family relatives
• spinach
• bitter greens

The method is short:

• Sweat the vegetables in oil for 10 minutes.
• Add wine, water and a sachet.
• Bring to a boil, and simmer for 45 minutes.

A vegetable stock is best used on the day it is made. Salt it only if it will be used just as it is, never if it is to be reduced.

Court bouillon and nage

How a court bouillon is made depends on what the vegetables are for. To pull out all their flavor, sweat them in a little butter, then give them 15 minutes or more in plain water before adding the wine or vinegar; acid stops vegetables from cooking through. When the vegetables will be served, heat the water and wine to a simmer first, then slide the vegetables in.

Plenty of onion, leek greens or fennel is hard to overdo, but too much carrot makes the liquid sweet, more so if it is reduced. Strong herbs such as oregano, marjoram or lavender are kept for special cases. A court bouillon of leeks alone, or fennel alone, gives a sauce a delicate but clear character. It keeps in the refrigerator, but it is so simple that most cooks make it fresh when they need it. Its usual job is poaching fish and shellfish. see chapter 9: Poaching liquids

A nage (from the French for "swimming") is a court bouillon served as a light broth around fish or shellfish, with the vegetables cut into neat shapes and left in. Dishes served this way are called à la nage. Once the fish is cooked, more herbs and aromatic vegetables go into the liquid, which is reduced a little and strained. Butter or cream may be added at the end for richness.

Getting more flavor

The aim is the most flavor for the least money. A stock with plenty of meat, carefully reduced, tastes wonderful but costs too much for most restaurants, so bones have largely replaced meat. Bones bring gelatin and only a little taste; a stock from bones alone never matches one made with meat. The cooked meat need not be wasted. Boiled beef, for example, can go into salads, ravioli filling, or hachis parmentier, where the meat is minced, topped with mashed potato and baked.

• Double and triple stocks. Use a finished stock, instead of water, to cover a fresh batch of meat and bones: that makes a double stock. Do it again and it is a triple stock. It costs more, but sauces made from it have a depth nothing else gives. At the same cost per quart, it is a better route than reducing a stock hard.
• Caramelize the juices. Before the last of the liquid is added, let the meat juices brown and stick on the pan. The stock gains color and flavor and comes out clearer.
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• Add gelatin. A split, blanched veal foot or strips of pork rind make a stock smoother and richer.
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• Balance the vegetables. Too many vegetables, or fresh ones added at each round of a double stock, make a stock too sweet. If one herb or vegetable stands out, use less of it next time. A flat finished stock can be lifted with some newly sweated mirepoix and a new bouquet garni.
• Don't over-reduce. Reducing concentrates a stock, but cooked too long it loses its aromas, tastes flat, and turns sticky with gelatin.

A jus is the light, natural juice from the drippings of a roast, and many cooks think it the finest sauce of all. To get close to it with a stock, brown meat trimmings and cook them briefly in a strong stock that is already made.

An essence does for a vegetable what a jus does for meat. It is a concentrated flavoring, added to a sauce at the last minute. Often a cook can skip it and simply steep the ingredient in the sauce, then strain it out. Kinds of essence are described with brown stocks below.

If a stock is to be thickened, skim every bit of fat and scum first. Once a starch such as roux, cornstarch or arrowroot is in the liquid, it holds any fat in suspension and the fat becomes hard to skim away.

Commercial bases

Many kitchens use bases: pastes or powders, including bouillon cubes and granules, that turn water into a stock or strengthen a sauce or soup. They save labor and give the same result every time. They are never as good as a well-made stock. They hold no gelatin, so reducing them does not help, and many are mostly salt. The better ones are made mainly from meat, poultry or fish extracts.

Cooling and storing stock safely

A stock made from bones comes from meat, fish or poultry, and any food of animal origin counts as a potentially hazardous food, one that lets harmful bacteria grow. Stock deserves that care: beef broth was once used to grow bacteria in laboratory dishes.

A large pot of soup or gravy, 4 L (1 gal) or more, may need a day or longer in a cooler to get cold. So the heat has to be drawn out on purpose, in one of several ways:

• Pour the stock into shallow pans no more than 5 cm (2 in) deep, and do not stack them.
• Leave it loosely covered while it cools; a tight lid traps the heat.
• Use stainless steel or aluminum, not plastic, which holds heat in.
• Stand the container in ice water and stir it.
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• Stir with a cooling wand, also called an ice paddle: a hollow plastic paddle filled with water or ice and sealed. Clean and sanitize it after each use.
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A full stockpot can be cooled in a sink:

• Stand the pot on blocks or a rack in an empty sink, so water can reach its sides and base.
• Fit an overflow pipe in the drain, fill the sink with cold water or ice water, and let cold water keep running in and out.
• Stir the stock often, and check that the pot is heavy enough not to tip.

A well-scrubbed container of ice floated in the stock also helps; for a big pot, add more ice in batches.

A quart or two can be left to cool at room temperature before it goes in the refrigerator. The cooling times above apply whatever method is used.

Once cool, cover the stock tightly and keep it at 4°C (39°F) or colder, on a shelf above any raw food, never below it. Never put hot food in the refrigerator unless you must. Food held in the cooler more than 24 hours is marked with the date it was made and a serve-by date; potentially hazardous foods should generally be thrown out after three days. Frozen, stock keeps for several months. Frozen food is kept at -18°C (0°F) or lower.

To use stock again, bring it to at least 74°C (165°F) for 15 seconds within two hours, and only then put it in a hot-holding unit, which keeps food at 60°C (140°F) or above. Never use a hot-holding unit to reheat. Stock that missed its cooling times also needs 165°F (74°C), held for 15 seconds.