[Stock Question]

Sydney, Eastern Suburbs

[Q&A: SOY]

This is really worth making for yourself, I paid only 100 yen ($1) for all the soy milk needed to make that and the same amount if bought from a tofu store here would cost about 700 yen ($7)! You can get it a little cheaper in the supermarket at $4-$5 but it doesn't taste nearly as good!

Yes, but for over an hours worth of work, your making just above minimum wage making these skins.

[Stock Question]

I wouldn't add salt to any stock, seasoning should be done when making the final product. What might seem like a little bit of salt in that big pot of water could very well turn out to be one hell of a lot in the finished reduced glaze. As for it aiding in the leeching of gelatin, that's partly what the long cooking process is for.

I'm going primarily by the eGullet Culinary Institute lesson on stockmaking here for background info, I usually just boil my chicken for 3 - 4 hours but the bones are still firm which indicates they still have gelatin. My next goal is to either try letting it sit overnight or letting it sit in the oven. To know when a stock is finished, all the bones should crumble easily between your fingers. in one of the Q&A's someone mentioned that a stock with a tiny bit of salt tasted markedly different that a stock with salt added later in a blind taste test. I've never added it to mine but something like 2tbsp in a pot of stock is enough to draw out the flavour.

Not sure why you could cook bigger batches if they are seperate. It seems like it would be more convenient to only have to make 1 stock than 2 assuming you want some combo of meat and veg.

Assuming you don't have an absurdly large stockpot, I always find that the amount of stock I make is limited by the pot. Instead of making two batches of chicken+veggie, why not make 1 batch of all chicken and 1 batch of all veggie. This way, I can use just vegtable stock if I only want vegtable or I can use it with beef if I want beef. Also, I would only use 4hrs + 1hrs worth of cooking time instead of 4hrs + 4hrs worth of cooking time.

3. You can adjust the level of "meatiness" in your stock

I think you lost me on this one.

To adjust the level of meatiness, simply change the ratio of vegtable stock to meat gelatin thing so you could get a stock that is predominantly meat or just has a hint of meat in it. Eg: I would imagine a big roast would benifit from a stronger pan juice gravy while a delicate chicken soup would work better with more vegtables.

I don't think this would be that practical or really make that much difference. It's much easier to have 1 type of stock to make/store and then just adjust the flavor when it's used if necessary. Stock is just a flavor base, not the final flavor.

I often find that my stocks are either too sweet and light for some dishes and too heavy for others. Since stocks last practically forever, you might as well go on a big stockmaking binge when a certain vegtable is in season or especially cheap. Thats another thing, I generally only make stock when I've accumulated enough bones to fill a pot or when meat happens to be especially cheap. This often does not correspond to when good vegtables are in season so it gives me a lot more flexibility to make them at seperate times.

Wouldn't that be the same as just starting off with less water? Not sure what you mean by this.

Well, no. You need at least enough water to completely cover all the solids. If you halve the solids by removing all the veggies, you halve the liquid while still having the same amount of gelatin extracted. This means that you get twice the amount of gelatin so it's already twice as reduced as a normal stock.

Anyway, I'm going to give this a go. It's verging on winter here in Aus so some nice root vegtables should be in season. I'll go the farmers market on Wednesday and pick up some fresh veggies and give you an update on how it goes.

[Stock Question]

Hi,

I'm an amatuer stock-maker. I've made stock about 4 or 5 times now and I've read the eGullet stock course which has helped me a lot.

One thing I couldn't help wondering about is would it be possible to make the vegtable and meat parts of the stock seperately and combine later on to get the same results as a normal stock. I mean, unless there is some chemical interplay going on in the pot that I'm not aware of, I don't see why this would be a big deal.

So, instead of:

1. Chuck Mirepoix, herbs and bones in a pot

2. Boil for 12 hours

3. Strain and reduce to demi-glace

It would be:

1. Chuck finely diced Mirepoix and herbs in a pot

2. Boil for about an hour or when the vegtables have lost their flavour

3. Strain and reduce to a vegtable demi-glace

4. Chuck bones in a seperate pot with a bit of salt to aid the leeching of gelatin

5. Boil for 12 hours

6. Strain and reduce to a meat demi-glace

This would seem to have many advantages to me over the traditional stock making method.

1. You can cook up bigger batches at once

2. You can have beef, chicken, vegtable, beef & chicken etc. stocks just by combining different glaces together

3. You can adjust the level of "meatiness" in your stock

4. You can make a variaty of vegtable stocks to give different base charecteristics to your meal, eg: a white mirepoix for earthier stocks, more carrots for a sweeter stock.

5. You don't lose some of those delicate flavours in the vegtables that get broken down by prolonged heat.

6. You have a greater water/bone ratio so you don't need to reduce as much to reach demi-glace as you would a normal stock.

7. You can puree the vegtables for a tasteless but fibrous filler which can provide body to some dishes

It seems to me that this would be an awesome way to make stock so I'm a bit puzzled as to why it's not standard practise.