Dumas said: "There is no good cooking without good broth, and the glory of French cuisine should be attributed to the wonderful French broth." In French, the broth is called "fond." It extracts the special flavors and aromas of the ingredients and is used to infiltrate other ingredients, so that the flavor and all the ingredients are integrated and complement each other.
In French cooking, the broth can often be divided into Broth (broth stewed with meat) and Stock (broth stewed with bones or vegetables) depending on the ingredients used. Relatively speaking, broths generally have a more intense aroma, are rich in protein and other nutrients in meat, and are usually stewed with older meat. Bone broth focuses on the collagen (collagen) and gelatin (bone gelatin), which are rich in bones and connective tissue, and is generally stewed with the bones of young animals, such as calf bones. Good quality bone broth will thicken and freeze after cooling. The broth stewed with meat and bones should be the most perfect. However, the French stock will eventually filter out all the ingredients and discard them, leaving only the soup base. Due to cost considerations, the broth used in French meals today is rarely stewed with meat, and generally refers to stock and bone broth.
French broth is divided according to color
There are two main categories of white broth and brown broth.
White broth
The white broth is relatively light, and the broth stewed with chicken bones is the most common. It is suitable for making soups, or when cooking vegetables or stews to add flavor. It is not often used to boil concentrated gravy.
Brown broth
Brown broths are tan in color, and broth stewed with calf bones is most common. Whiter broths have a richer aroma and a thicker gelatinous texture, and are often used in stew soups as well as to boil concentrated gravies and pair them with grilled meats.
According to the ingredients, it can be divided into fish stock, chicken stock and beef bone soup, these three are the most basic, and then subdivide it can also have vegetable soup, shrimp stock, sheep stock, game stock and so on. The basic recipe for all broth preparations is:
Bones (bones) + Mirepoix (aromatic vegetables) + Sachet (spice packet) / Bouquet Garni (spice bundle) + Cold Water (cold water) + Acid Product = French broth
Generally speaking, there is generally no need to add any acidic ingredients when stewing white bone broth, except for some white wine when stewing fish bone broth. When stewing brown bone broth, some tomato sauce is usually added to help the broth boil and add some aroma and color.
Let's talk about the specific combination in detail:
Chicken stock
Traditional chicken broths are pale gold in color and are cooked using chicken bones, chicken racks or chicken bones and chicken stock.
【Ingredients】 750g chicken bones and chicken rack, 150g chopped (onion, celery, carrots, etc.) mixed vegetables, 1 clove, 1 bunch of vanilla, 2 cloves of garlic, 6 peppers, 1.5 liters of water
【Directions】
First blanch the chicken bones and chicken rack, control the water purification, rinse clean, put into the pot, add other raw materials and then over-open together, skim off the foam, simmer for 2-3 hours, and filter the chicken stock. After cooling, refrigerate and store for 3 days. About 1.5 liters of chicken stock can be made.
A famous sauce based on this: together with fish stock and a must for the veloute sauce that makes up the five mother juices of French cuisine. Famous sauces that have evolved from this include sauce supreme, sauce mornay, etc.
sauce supreme
sauce mornay
Famous dishes based on this sauce: creamy mushroom soup, Madame Dubali cauliflower soup, risotto risotto.
This broth, stewed with beef bones and calf bones, turns brown on the surface because the bones are roasted first. During the stewing process, the brown color will seep into the soup, and some of the fat is dissolved, so the color and taste of the soup are very rich.
【Ingredients】 1.5 kg beef or calf bone, 1 onion, cut into 4 cloves without peeling, 2 gourd waves, 1 leek, 1 celery, 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce, 1 bunch of herbs, 6 peppers, 3 liters of water
Roast the beef bones at a temperature of 230 ° for 40 minutes (the heat is very important, the baking paste will be bitter, the roasting is not in place, the flavor is not in place), bake until the general time, then add the chopped vegetables to roast together, and finally add a little water to dilute the gravy in the baking tray, pour into the pot, add the rest of the remaining ingredients. Simmer together over a slow heat for 3-4 hours, skim off the foam, filter and let cool, refrigerate for 3 days. Approximately 3 liters of chicken stock can be made.
Famous sauces based on this: sauce bordelaise, sauce charcutiere
Bordeaux sauce
sauce charcutiere
Famous dishes based on this sauce: red wine beef stew, onion soup, French beef broth, steak/lamb chop with gravy
Fish broth broth
To make a light fish soup, use the bones and scraps of white sea fish, such as flounder, turbot, flounder, cod, salmon, etc., do not use fishy and oily fish. Fish broth only needs to be simmered for 20 minutes, and when heated for a long time, the taste of fish soup will become bitter.
【Ingredients】 2 kg fish bones and scraps, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery, 12 peppers, 2 fragrant leaves, 1/2 lemon, 3 liters of water
Chop the fish bones and scraps of the fish into pieces, remove the fish eyes and gills, soak in salt water for 10 minutes and then rinse (the purpose is to remove the blood and fishy smell of the fish), control the water and put it in a pot.
Cut the vegetables into chunks and place them in a pot along with other ingredients. During stewing, skim off the foam floating on the surface of the fish soup. Strain the fish broth into a bowl with a thin eye strainer and refrigerate. Approximately 3 liters of fish stock can be made.
Famous sauces based on this: sauce bercy, sauce normande, sauce duglere
bercy sauce
Norman sauce
sauce duglere
Famous dishes based on this sauce: white wine sauce with flounder, French barracuda balls, paella.
Game broth
Flavored broth made from skeletons of wild fowl is better if the skeletons are first fried in butter until browned and then simmered.
【Ingredients】 1 kg minced skeleton, 450 g chopped vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, etc.) 2 liters of water
(1) Cut the skeleton of wild game in pieces with butter and color it to increase the flavor of the soup.
(2) Add vegetables and who, bring to a boil, simmer slowly for 1-2 hours over high heat, skim off the foam and filter.
A famous sauce based on this: sauce poivrade
A famous dish based on this sauce: roasted roe deer with peppered game sauce, stewed wild boar.
Vegetable stock
【Directions】 Use 450 grams of vegetables such as carrots, onions, leeks, celery, etc., add 1 bunch of vanilla and 2 liters of water, and simmer for 1 hour. It is possible to make 1.5 elevated soups.
Shrimp stock
【Directions】 Sauté the shrimp head and shrimp shell in oil until the water is dry, and use a spatula to shovel the shrimp shell with the brain marrow part and crush it. After the shrimp shell is fragrant, add the onion, carrot, celery and leek and sauté until fragrant, spray a little brandy, light (Flamed), add water, bring to a boil and simmer for an hour.
Famous dishes based on this include shrimp soup and paella
A few points in making broth
1. Cook the meat in cold water. This allows the soluble proteins in the meat and bones to slowly precipitate, leaving the soup clear and flavorful. If boiled in boiling water, the high temperature can quickly cause the protein to clump up in the meat before it is extracted, making it impossible to melt into the soup. At the same time, protein and fat particles on the surface of the meat and bone are released rapidly, making the soup cloudy.
2. Open lid and cook. Opening the lid can make the liquid surface cool, so that the soup is not so easy to boil, but also can make the soup easier to remain clear; the opening of the lid can also accelerate the evaporation of the broth, making its taste more intense; opening the lid will dehydrate the foam on the liquid surface, reduce the water dissolvability, and facilitate skimming.
3. Remember to add salt. Remember to add salt during and after boiling. Broth is used to add flavor to dishes that have been seasoned, and the broth with salt will affect the flavoring of the dish. In addition, the flesh and blood of animals are actually salty, and the salt will melt into the broth, because the salt content is small and it is not easy to taste. However, French meals often use thick gravy concentrated from the evaporation of the broth, which is very salty without salt, because the proportion of salt becomes larger with evaporation and concentration. Therefore, do not add salt to the broth, otherwise the concentrated gravy will be too salty.
4. Cook over low heat. The Broth is clear, and boiling over high heat stirs up protein and fat particles to make the broth cloudy.
Since the broth is very clear,
So is there another trick?
Of course, you can add an acidic mixture of egg whites, mixed vegetables and lemon juice to the soup. The protein they contain themselves can absorb some of the gravy and coagulate the protein by heating it. Some will rise to the surface of the soup to form scum, and the rest will settle to the bottom.
(1) Whisk 3-4 egg whites until frothy, add a tablespoon of lemon juice and 350 grams of mixed vegetables.
(2) Add the mixed egg white mixture to 2 liters of warm broth, bring to a boil and stir until the egg whites solidify and float for 4-6 minutes.
(3) Leave a hole in the surface float and simmer for 1 hour, do not stir during this process.
(4) Place a wet filter cloth on the filter cloth and filter the soup through the filter cloth.
In addition, master the method of quickly absorbing grease
While the soup is hot, sweep over the surface of the soup with a double-layered paper towel, and the paper towel will absorb the grease on the surface of the soup. This is much faster than waiting for the stock to cool and then removing the solidified grease.
Make soup pieces and use them as you go
You can prepare the broth in large quantities and freeze it for later use (frozen can be stored for 3 months). Frozen broths can be added directly to soups and stews.
(1) After concentrating and cooling, pour the soup into the ice cubes, do not cover, and freeze for 4 hours.
(2) After freezing into pieces, take out the frozen soup cubes from the ice grid and put them in a plastic freezer bag to use directly, or store them for later use.