181 replies to this topic

[Batard]

I can't find veal bones at any of my local "real" butchers or premium markets. But I can always find $1.00 lb veal breast, necks, and (sometimes) split veal hooves at my local Shop Rite. Ten pounds of nice bone/cartridge/meat mix costs about $10.00. I'm very surprised, given that people seem to have a very hard time finding bones for veal stock in their areas. There's nothing special about my neighborhood. It's a pretty middle-class neighborhood, not particularly ethnic or filled with Foodie types. I can't figure out what such an oasis of veal bones is doing in the middle of this food desert I call home.

[JAZ]

It's interesting that four years after writing:

Taking this one item, veal stock, and adding it to your kitchen is like taking the four-cylinder engine of your Mitsubishi and turbo charging it; with the addition of a turbo, the engine becomes not only faster but more fuel efficient. Veal stock, same thing -- it not only makes your food taste better by miles, it makes you more efficient in your efforts at creating delicious food.

Ruhlman has apparently changed his mind. Stock --any kind of stock -- doesn't even make it into the top twenty things to know in his new book. And although he includes a recipe for chicken stock, there isn't one for veal stock.