Why is Asian(Westernized) broth so dang difficult to get right?

[heidih]

I think she just means a short dip in the pond  whenever- I lean to the end

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Oh definitely at the end of cooking. The only further cooking to that egg drop soup is a quick swirl in of the egg mixture. Long cooking will destroy the flavor of both the garlic and ginger. And you can decide whether you want to leave the garlic and ginger or remove, but in my recipe it called for smashed cloves and slices of ginger. The 15 minute simmer is plenty to extract good flavor into the broth, and at least to this Westerner, garlic and ginger flavor says Asian to me. 

[emmeyekayeee]

So, this process seems to be the "mother sauce" of Asian soups. Is this a fair analogy? If I want to adapt this broth for various recipes, I would use this as a starting off point and then adjust as needed?

[btbyrd]

I mean... it's basically just chicken stock with ginger in it. You can take it in a lot of different directions, but calling it a mother sauce isn't really a fair analogy (if we're comparing it to the 5 classical mother sauces). But you should definitely use it as a starting point and experiment with different variations.

[emmeyekayeee]

I was hoping the quotation marks would be rhetoric enough, but you get the point. I know there's such a thing as SUPERIOR BROTH in Asian cuisine, but I am aware that this isn't it. I'm now going to try a phö broth with beef bones (ox tail and marrow, as well).

[btbyrd]

If you want some superior broth, make a double stock and then clarify it. The OG way is to use a mixture of pureed chicken breast and egg whites to form a raft. The fancy modernist version uses Methocel F50 instead of egg whites. Either way, the broth won't be the weak link in your wonton soup anymore. 

 

 

You can do the same thing with beef stock if you substitute very lean ground beef for the chicken breast.

[emmeyekayeee]

I've had some real success with freezing then thawing stock on a strainer. It's comes out perfectly clear. Sure, it may take longer, but it doesn't involve any fancy or expensive techniques. 

The broth's gelatin acts as the chicken breast and egg white does.....a filter.

[emmeyekayeee]

Sure, it takes a day or so, but it comes out nice and clear. In all fairness, I accidentally dropped some of the gelatin into this end product, so it's a tiny bit cloudier than normal. But in the interests of getting a picture out to you guys, I had to accept it rather than starting over.

[emmeyekayeee]

Oh yeah, that's the broth from my first (roasting) batch.

[adey73]

On 2/23/2018 at 1:33 PM, btbyrd said:

If you want some superior broth, make a double stock and then clarify it. The OG way is to use a mixture of pureed chicken breast and egg whites to form a raft. The fancy modernist version uses Methocel F50 instead of egg whites. Either way, the broth won't be the weak link in your wonton soup anymore. 

 

 

 

ahh back when chefsteps used to be interesting.