Fish Stock

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy-bottomed saucepan or stockpot
• •Fine mesh sieve
• •Muslin or clean tea towel for lining the sieve (optional)
• •Ladle or spoon for skimming
• •Large bowl or clean pan for straining into

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the bones

   Rinse the fish bones and heads well under cold running water. If any gills are still attached, cut them out and throw them away. They hold blood and will make the stock cloudy and bitter. Chop the larger frames into a few pieces so they fit the pot. The bones should smell clean and briny, like a morning by the sea. If they smell of anything sharper or sourer than that, take them back.

   Ask the fishmonger for bones from flat fish if you can. Sole, plaice, turbot, brill. They make the cleanest, sweetest stock of all. Avoid anything oily: no salmon, no mackerel, no sardine. They will turn the whole pot rancid.
2. 2

   Sweat the vegetables

   Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pan over a gentle heat. Add the leek, onion, celery, and fennel. A pinch of salt. Stir to coat, then put the lid on and let them sweat for five minutes or so. You want them soft and translucent, not coloured. Colour means heat, and heat means bitterness in a fish stock. Keep it gentle.

3. 3

   Add bones and liquid

   Add the fish bones to the pan and stir them through the softened vegetables. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble away for a minute to lose its edge. Add the cold water, the bay leaf, the parsley stalks, the peppercorns, and the lemon slice. The water should just cover the bones. If it doesn't quite, top up with a splash more.

   Always start a stock in cold water, not hot. Cold water draws the flavour out slowly as the pot heats. Hot water seals the bones and leaves the flavour trapped inside.
4. 4

   Simmer and skim

   Bring the pot slowly to a bare simmer. As it comes up to temperature, a pale grey foam will gather on the surface. Skim it off with a spoon and discard. Keep the heat low enough that the stock only just trembles: a few lazy bubbles breaking the surface, nothing more. A hard boil will turn it cloudy and bitter. Let it simmer for twenty-five minutes. Not longer. Fish stock turns sullen if you push it past half an hour, and there is no coming back from that.

5. 5

   Strain and cool

   Set a fine sieve over a large bowl or a clean pan. If you want the clearest possible stock, line the sieve with a piece of damp muslin or a clean tea towel. Ladle the stock through, leaving the last half-inch in the pot because that's where the grit settles. The finished stock should be pale gold, almost clear, and smell sweetly of the sea. Taste it. It shouldn't be salty yet, you'll season whatever you cook with it later, but the flavour should be clean and present. Cool quickly, uncovered, then refrigerate or freeze.

Chef Tips

• •Make friends with a fishmonger. This is the whole game. A proper fishmonger will set aside bones for you at no cost or for pennies, especially if you tell him you're making stock on a Saturday afternoon. Supermarket fish counters will sometimes oblige too. Ask. The worst they can say is no.
• •Twenty-five to thirty minutes is the limit. I know other recipes will tell you forty, even an hour. They are wrong. Fish stock simmered past the half-hour mark turns bitter and metallic, and nothing you do afterwards will rescue it. Set a timer if you have to.
• •The gills must go. They hold blood and will muddy everything, both the colour and the taste. A quick look, a snip with kitchen scissors, out they come. Rinse the bones well under cold water until the water runs clear.
• •Freeze in useful portions. I pour cooled stock into a muffin tin or small containers, freeze until solid, then turn the portions into a freezer bag. A hundred millilitres here, two hundred there. Enough for a quick sauce, a risotto, the start of a soup. It keeps for three months without losing much.

Advance Preparation

• •The stock keeps in the fridge for up to two days in a sealed container. Fish stock doesn't hold as long as meat stocks, so use it promptly or freeze it.
• •Freezes well for up to three months. Freeze in small portions (muffin tins, ice cube trays, or small tubs) so you can pull out exactly what you need without defrosting the lot.
• •Cool the stock quickly before refrigerating by setting the bowl in a sink of cold water and stirring occasionally. Hot stock left to cool slowly on the counter can spoil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)