Beef Broth
This first entry is a bit of a conundrum. The point of this
blog is to help you make things quickly, but there is no way (that I have
found) make broth faster. But it is easy to do and a necessary part of cooking.
So set aside some time on the weekend to do this, and you will be set.
…it takes a good six hours…
Beef broth is an essential ingredient in many recipes,
especially stews and soups, so its a good first recipe to learn. Canned broth
doesn’t quite contribute the flavor that you find in the sumptuous sauces we will
be making in the future. You can make a very large batch of broth and it will
last your for a couple months if you freeze it correctly.
I recommend using marrowbones that have had the marrow
removed. Do this yourself, and you can save the marrow to use it in making
roasts, or flavoring a sauce. Use a small knife and cut along the edges and
work out the marrow (do this after you have defrosted the bones). Its okay if
you can’t quite get all of the marrow out; it will add to the taste of the
broth.
Aromatics (root vegetables and herbs) are a wonderful
addition to broth and give it robustness. I prefer to use very light tasting
root vegetables, especially carrots and celery (warning – don’t use celery
root!). Onions, shallots, parsnips, and turnips are also good choices. These
provide a nice body without overpowering the meatiness of the broth. I also add
parsley and thyme, which I feel compliment the beef flavor incredibly well.
Sage, rosemary or dry Herb Provence are also acceptable herbs.
I very much recommend AGAINST using garlic. Garlic is far
too pungent and will take over the flavor of the broth. Even with just a
little, the flavor over-powers the beef. The same is true for ginger, tarragon,
and caraway.
Be sure you taste your broth each hour. This is very important
the first time you make your broth so that you learn the development of the
broth over the cooking time and how it should taste at each stage. This will
help you gauge for the future, especially if you modify the time when you add
aromatics.
DO NOT STIR THE POT. EVER. Just let the process happen. It
doesn’t need your help.
For storing the broth, a large plastic container is fine. I
buy mine at the local Dollar store and they work perfectly. Mason jars are also
a good choice. Be sure you allow the beef broth to cool in the refrigerator
BEFORE you put in the freezer. If you skip this step, the broth will get cloudy
and the broth will be uneven as you use it.
Many people are so used to beef broth being brown, and the
yellow broth you end up with in this recipes makes some feel like they didn’t
do it correctly. The yellowing is the result of the aromatics and marrow and is
not a bad thing. If you prefer a clearer broth, be sure you use a very fine
sieve on that second filtering, or simply do not use aromatics. I added liquid
smoke once to see if that brought about the desired color, which it did, but it
changed the flavor far too much, so I don’t recommend it.
Poultry broths are made the same way as noted above, but
typically take about an hour less. For bones, I just use the carcass of a bird
I have used in a meal. For vegetable broth, cut the time down to four hours and
just use aromatics. If you are doing a vegetable broth, you can add some of the
stronger flavors like celery root (don’t use too much!), ginger, caraway or
tarragon. But I still wouldn’t use garlic…
Properly Cooking Mushrooms
For me, nothing kills a meal more than rubbery, tasteless
mushrooms; it ruins otherwise perfect meals. For years, I wouldn’t eat
mushrooms because that was the only way they were cooked. Mushrooms provide a
lovely mix of buttery-ness and nuttiness that is both unique and wonderful, but
they must be cooked correctly.
For everyday cooking, I very much recommend only using the
brown crimini mushrooms. White mushrooms don’t take in the fat as well and its
hard not to have a rubbery taste to them. More fancy varieties of mushroom are
acceptable, but can be hard to find and expensive.
I’m not a huge fan of slicing mushrooms. It doesn’t ruin
anything, but I think a quartered mushroom tastes and looks better. Plus, there
is more mushroom to take in the fat and flavor of the rest of the meal.
Never add more than a single layer of mushrooms to your skillet.
Overcrowded mushrooms sweat and the moisture sticks to them instead of
evaporating away. And if there is water on the mushrooms, the fat can’t get in
or escape.
Move the mushrooms around regularly as you cook them. I
usually just shake the pot over the heat a few times, or simply move them with
a wood spoon.
The fat should be absorbed very quickly and a large amount
of steam will come off of the mushrooms right after that. Then, the mushrooms
will begin to shrink as they release the remaining moisture. As that happens,
the fat that has been absorbed slowly starts to ooze out of the mushrooms and
the mushrooms take on that lovely golden/light brown look.
Look for these three signs to indicate that its time to
remove the mushrooms from the skillet: there should be little or no moisture
evaporating away; the mushrooms are a lovely gold/light brown color; the smell
of the mushrooms becomes very intense.
Remove the mushrooms to a bowl or plate to use in your meal,
or store in a bit of plasticware and use in a day or two. I almost always cook
my mushrooms first in preparing any meal so that they aren’t taking in any
other flavors and I can add them at the appropriate time.
No comments:
Post a Comment