Culinary Discussion, We could call it our House of Earthly Delights... Options

[Thomas Kaira]

...but that would be naughty, now, wouldn't it?

This is a thread for any food-related discussion. Found a nice recipe? Please share it! Is there any particular cultural cuisine you wish to discuss? Perhaps you need some help with us pesky Yanks still not adopting the metric system?

I thought our forums were missing something in the way of real down-to-earth discussion and sharing of our culinary experiences. Sure, we see them a lot in Fan-fics, but we never really get to dig into them (bad pun intended) in the same way as actually discussing this world-within-our-world can. I am seeing more and more food segments in the fan-fics that I read, so I think the time has come for us to have an honest-to-goodness culinary discussion thread.

To kick things off, I would like to share a recipe of my own concoction... Veal Osso Bucco, a Northern Italian classic.

Veal Osso Bucco & Sauce Accompaniment

Yield: 4 Portions

Ingredients
Veal Shank w/ marrow bone: 1lb
AP Flour: As Needed
Olive Oil: 2Tbsp
Butter, Clarified: 2Tbsp
Mirepoix, Standard Ratio: 1Lb
Garlic Clove: 2Ea
Red Wine: 1/2Cup
Tomatoes: 12oz
Veal Stock: 1qt
Lemon Zest: 1Tbsp
S&P: TT
Marjoram: 1tsp
*Gremolata: 1oz
-Gremolata
-Parsley: 3tsp
-Lemon Zest: 1tsp
-Garlic Clove: 1Ea

Mise en Place
-Clean, Sanitize workspace
-Gather utensils, pots, pans
-Gather ingredients
-Small Dice Mirepoix, Tomatoes
-Zest Lemons
-Mince Garlic
-Fine-Chop Parsley

Method
1. Preheat Oven 350*, add Oil, Butter to heated pot.
2. Season, brown Veal.
3. Remove Veal, add Mirepoix, Garlic, sweat.
4. Deglaze pot, Red Wine.
5. Add Tomatoes, Veal Stock, bring to simmer.
6. Return Beef to pot, add Lemon Zest, place in oven.
7. Braise, 3 to 4 hours, or until tender.
8. Remove Veal, degrease sauce
9. Reduce Sauce; thicken as needed, strain.
10. Rub Veal w/ Gremolata, return to sauce to reheat.
11. Finish w/ fresh Marjoram.
12. Garnish with Gremolata on the marrow bone.

Believe me, don't skip the marrow bone, it's really that important to this dish.

This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Feb 13 2011, 07:43 PM

[Thomas Kaira]

What are the fundamental principles of stock-making?

There are 7 basic principles:

1. Start with cold water
2. Simmer Gently
3. Skim frequently
4. Strain carefully
5. Cool quickly
6. Store properly
7. Degrease before use

If done right, a proper, homemade stock can be the difference between a good soup and a "holy mother-of-pearl, that was awesome!" soup.

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First I will go over the basic ingredients:

-Bones: be it Beef, Veal, Chicken, or Fish... or any other kind of bone you can think if if you want to make a specialty stock.

-Mirepoix: 25% Carrots, 25% Celery, and 25% Onion. Rough chopped, you don't need to get fancy with stock.

-Water: Because no one sane would make a stock out of lemon juice, right?

-Sachet: This is a neat little seasoning blend consisting of whole peppercorns, thyme, bay leaf, and parsley stems (not leaves). This is all tied together in a cheesecloth before adding it to the stock so it is easy to remove. If you do not have cheesecloth, don't worry, just toss it in freehand because you'll be straining the stock anyways.

-Tomato paste: This is only used for brown stock, but is essential for its purpose.

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So, to start off with, we need to prepare our ingredients for use. In order to do that, you need to figure out what kind of stock you wish to make: White or Brown?

For white: Rough chop your veg and build your sachet. Use chicken or other mild-flavored bones. End result is light color and neutral umami flavor.

For brown: Your bones and veg need to be roasted beforehand. This process will take about 2 hours on a 400*F oven (200*C for you European folks). Add the mirepoix after 1 hour, and top the bones with a nice generous helping of tomato paste for the last 15 minutes to half hour of roasting. This process caramelizes the natural sugars in the bones and veg and will lend the stock a bolder, more pungent flaver. Use beef or veal bones.

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Now for the principles explained:

1. ALWAYS start your stock in cold water. If you start in hot water, you will begin the cooking process too early and disturbs the crud that comes off the bones as they simmer away. This results in cloudy stock.

2. You must maintain a gentle simmer. If you boil your stock too hard, the crud that comes off the bones will get mixed into the stock rather than rise gently to the surface. This results in cloudy stock.

3. As the stock simmers, you will see a layer of foam building up on the top. This is garbage that we don't want in the stock. Make sure to check it every hour and remove any foam that has built up on the surface.

4. I cannot stress this enough, BE CAREFUL! This is a perfect opportunity to get the stock cloudy, so be gentle and delicate as you remove the liquid once your stock is done.

5. This is standard good practice. Be out of 135* to 70* in 2 hours and down to 41* in four hours. This keeps bacterial contamination to a minimum.

6. Make sure you store your stock refridgerated, that's all.

7. When your stock cools, all the oil and grease that's in it will rise to the surface and harden. Get rid of this stuff, it's unneeded and gross.

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That's all there is to it. Now you know the necessities of making stocks.

On a side note for mALX: the egg trick for the potatoes did a good job. Count on me to continue that. By the way, have you tried asparagus sauteed in butter and garlic? It's to die for.