White Veal Stock, and Poultry Stock

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8-quart heavy stockpot
• •6- to 8-quart second pot
• •Fine-mesh skimmer or shallow ladle
• •Large colander and fine-mesh sieve
• •Cheesecloth
• •Kitchen twine
• •Large basin for an ice-water bath

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare bones and bundles

   Ask the butcher to remove the veal meat from the shin and saw the bones into 1- to 2-inch pieces. A kitchen knife is not a bone saw, and this is no place for heroics. Tie the meat into a compact bundle with kitchen twine and keep it refrigerated while the bones complete their first simmer. Tie the leek and celery together, push the clove into the onion, and prepare the bouquet garni.

2. 2

   Draw the first stock

   Put the broken veal bones and the raw chicken carcass, if using, into an eight-quart stockpot. Add the 11 cups of cold water and bring it slowly toward the boil over medium heat. Starting cold allows the soluble proteins to rise gradually as foam rather than being churned back into the liquid. As the first boil approaches, skim the gray froth carefully without stirring the pot.

   If the pot reaches a galloping boil before you catch it, lower the heat at once and stop stirring. Skim what rises and continue gently. The fond may be less clear, but it will still make excellent sauces. Ça se rattrape.
3. 3

   Hold five hours

   Move the pot to the smallest burner and hold the liquid at a bare tremble for five hours, roughly 185 to 195°F (85 to 90°C). A bubble should break the surface only now and then. Skim during the first hour whenever fresh foam or fat gathers, then check the pot every thirty to forty-five minutes. Do not stir, cover tightly, or let the bones rattle in a boil; agitation turns a pale fond turbid.

4. 4

   Transfer and replenish

   Strain the first stock through a colander into a clean second pot, leaving the spent bones and carcass behind. Do not press them. Measure the liquid and add only enough boiling water to bring it to 2½ quarts (10 cups / 2.4 L); this restores the proportion the long first simmer was meant to reach.

5. 5

   Add meat and aromatics

   Lower the tied raw veal meat into the strained stock with the carrots, clove-studded onion, leek and celery bundle, and bouquet garni. For fond de volaille, add the quartered stewing hen at the same moment. Bring the liquid just to the boil, skim the fresh foam carefully, then lower the heat immediately. The old preparation separated bones from meat because each gives its best at a different pace; that sequence is technique, not ceremony.

6. 6

   Finish three hours

   Cook for three more hours at the same bare tremble. Keep the ingredients just submerged, adding a small amount of boiling water only if the pot is evaporating unusually fast. Do not salt the fond. It is a foundation meant to be reduced and seasoned inside another preparation, and salt added now can become harsh later.

7. 7

   Degrease strain and cool

   Lift out the meat, hen, and vegetables, then skim every visible pool of fat from the surface. Pass the fond through a fine sieve lined with rinsed, damp cheesecloth into a clean container, pouring gently and never squeezing the solids. Cool it promptly in an ice-water bath, divide it into shallow containers, and refrigerate within two hours. Once cold, lift away the firm cap of remaining fat. The fond should tremble like a loose jelly; if it remains watery, return it to a clean pot and reduce it gently until it gains body, then cool it again. Ça se rattrape.

Chef Tips

• •Small bones are not a decorative instruction. Ask the butcher to saw across the shin and through the joints so water can reach more collagen and marrow; whole heavy bones give you a pale liquid with far less body.
• •White stock is not made by bleaching flavor out of the pot. It stays white because nothing is roasted or browned, while the long extraction still supplies depth. Pale and full-bodied is the target.
• •A stewing hen is a mature bird with firm meat and well-worked joints. Ask a butcher or poultry seller, and buy one frozen if that is what the market offers. A young roasting chicken will make a lighter fond and cannot supply quite the same poultry depth.
• •Do not salt the pot. Freeze the finished fond plain, then season the velouté, braise, or reduction in which it finally works. C'est la même grammaire.
• •The cooked meat will have surrendered much of its character to the liquid, but it needn't be wasted. Pick it while warm and use it promptly in a well-seasoned hachis, croquettes, or a mustard-dressed salad.

Advance Preparation

• •Arrange the veal shin with the butcher in advance, asking for the meat and bones to be packed separately so the bones can begin their five-hour extraction first.
• •Make the fond a day before you need it. An overnight chill firms the remaining fat into a clean cap and reveals whether the stock has enough gelatin.
• •Refrigerate the cooled fond for up to four days, or freeze it for up to three months. Half-cup and one-cup portions are useful for sauces, while larger containers suit soups and braises.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)