Stocks and more!

Stocks

Good Sunday morning friends! This past week I completed my first college class!  If you read my last post "My First Weeks at Johnson and Wales" you would know that I made plenty of stocks, soups and sauces.  Since that post last week, I've had a couple of requests for a few different things; I still have a post in the making about the five mother sauces, so get ready for that later this week!

What is stock?  
Stock is a flavorful liquid that is used as a base for soups and sauces.  It is made by simmering bones and or meat, vegetables and aromatics in water. 
Is stock the same as broth?  
Broth is made more out of meat, while stock is typically made from bones, this gives stock a fuller flavor and texture.  During the simmering process gelatin is released from the bones, this is what gives it a fuller texture.  When you simmer meat, for broth, it has some flavor but it remains watery.  Yes, canned chicken broth can be a savior in the kitchen, but you can get so much flavor from stock, rather than broth and you can really taste the difference in your completed dish.  
If you only have canned broth you can always enhance it by bringing it to a simmer and adding mirepoix and bouquet garni.  This will add flavor and aromatics but you will never get that fuller texture and flavor you get from simmering bones in your stock.  
How do you make your own stock?
Stock has four main components; nourishing element, mirepoix, bouquet garni, and cold liquid.  Mirepoix is a mixture of 50% onion, 25% celery and 25% carrots.  Although that is the traditional mirepoix you can also add leeks and mushrooms for added flavor.  Mirepoix does not need to be cut very finely because they're going to get strained out at the end of the simmering process anyway, so big chunks or leftover scraps are okay for this.   Bouquet garni is a set of spices usually wrapped and tied in cheesecloth also sometimes known as sachet de spices.  These spices include; thyme, parsley stems, whole black peppercorns, and bay leaves.  If you don't have cheesecloth to wrap these aromatics, in it's not imperative that you run put and buy some, it just helps when it comes to straining the stock.  Nourishing element is the bones that go in the stock, to make beef stock-your beef bones, chicken stock- chicken bones, ect.  You can make so many types of stock like; fish, veal, vegetable, pretty much anything, and they all have different uses.  The most common and versatile is chicken stock.  You can often times use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock, but chicken stock has so much more flavor and fullness.  
Now making stock is this easy, put your four elements; nourishing element, mirepoix, bouquet grani, and cold liquid in a pot and simmer (185-200F).  DO NOT STIR A STOCK.  The bones and vegetables separate themselves because the have different volumes and you want the gelatin coming out of the bones to thicken the stock for a fuller texture, stirring the stock during this process can alter the fullness of the stock. In addition, never let a stock boil, your stock should be at a light simmer, the vegetables and bones are very delicate and boiling stock can rush the cooking.  For the most flavor in a stock, you need all the flavors in the vegetables to come out slowly, boiling it will cause the vegetables to cook before all the flavors have simmered out.  
There are various cooking times based on what the nourishing element in the stock is:

Vegetable Stock	30-45 Minutes
Fish Stock	30-45 Minutes
Chicken Stock	3-4 Hours
Beef or Veal	6-8 Hours

Think like a chef:
 Here is some fascinating facts you might like to know about stocks:

The french word for stock is found, and in the french language they say things backwards, so it would be stock of chicken, rather than chicken stock.  The french word for poultry is volaille, so Found de Volaille.  The translations for the most common stocks are below:

Fond de Boeuf	Beef Stock
Fond de Veau	Veal Stock
Fond de Volaille	Chicken Stock
Fond de Poisson	Fish Stock
Found de Legume	Vegetable Stock

There are some other technical terms you might like to know in regards to stock making, but these aren't vital to make your own stock but if you want to be able to speak intelligently about stock making you might want to know them!

Depouillage- This is a french word for the processes of skimming impurities off of the surface.  This can be done throughout the stock making process, it's imperative not to stir a stock while it's simmering, but it's common that impurities will float to the top of your stock while simmering, use a slotted spoon or ladle to remove these impurities.

Demi-Glace-  This a stock reduced by 85%-90%.  This creates an incredibly strong flavor in just one teaspoon.  Demi-glace can be used for; a pan sauce, adding flavor to a weak soup or sauce and many other things.  Demi-glace is made by simmering down stock for several hours, when it's done it will leave you with a very small gel like substance.  This is nice to have on hand for quick and easy flavor.

Below is the recipe for chicken stock, but please note that this can be used for any type of stock by changing the nourishing element used 
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Chicken Stock

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