William Penn Life, 2013 (48. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2013-11-01 / 11. szám
with Főszakács Béla % Let’s talk stock FARADJON BE A MAGYAR KONYHÁBA! I am slowly adjusting to life in Pennsylvania. While I do miss New Hampshire, I enjoy all that Philadelphia has to offer. I live far enough away from the center of the city, yet close enough to commute on public transportation. One benefit of living in northeast Philly is you're dose to Montgomery and Bucks counties where there are Amish farmers who provide some of the best produce and meats not available in local food stores. Keeping that in mind, this month we will learn more about making the best soups using fresh ingredients right off the farm. 1 have yet to visit Reading Terminal, a haven for specialty items the fall season has to offer. So, let's go into the kitchen and learn more about making the best soups. Chef Vilmos and I have done a lot of research on this subject and will share many tips to help you make better soups. To make the best soups, sauces and gravies, you need to have a good base. A good base comes from stock. While you can make soup using just water, it makes more sense to use stock, which has more flavor than water and will only get more intense taste-wise as your soup simmers. Everyone has boiled vegetables in water, but have you ever tasted the water after the vegetables are cooked? The flavor of carrots, for example, will be evident in the water used to boil them. In this same manner, you can intensify flavor by using a stock which already has many flavors, such as carrots, celery and onions. Add a few aromatics in the form of parsley stems, a sprig of fresh thyme, black peppercorns and a bay leaf wrapped in cheesecloth, known as a "sachet," and your final product will taste better and take less time to prepare. Another way to add flavor to your soup stock is to caramelize the bones and vegetables used in making the stock. When you cook, the natural sugars in the food will slowly turn darker, giving that particular food darker color and more flavors. To further enhance the flavor of the stock, a Maillard reaction takes place in which sugars in the food, in the presence of protein, break down further, giving additional browning to the products being cooked. This in turn makes our stock more savory. There are three types of stocks that make great bases for soup: • White Stocks are made from poultry, veal or beef bones that have not been roasted or caramelized. Added to the bones are water, mirepoix (traditionally, a combination of onions, carrots and celery) and a sachet. • Brown Stocks are made from poultry, veal or beef bones that have been roasted for darker color and flavor. They also contain a sachet, mirepoix and water. • Vegetable Stocks are made from all types of vegetables with no mirepoix. You may choose to roast the veggies, which will give you a darker stock, or leave them raw in the water for a lighter stock. There are two types of mirepoix you may use in your stock: • Classical Mirepoix consists of onions, celery and carrots. The standard amount by weight is 50% onions, 25% celery and 25% carrots. • White Mirepoix replaces the carrots with parsnips for added flavor, along with 10% mushrooms and 5% leeks by weight. The standard ratio of bones to water to mirepoix is usually 5 pounds bones to 5 quarts water to 1 pound mirepoix. You can adjust this ratio depending on the amount of bones you have available for stock. Here are some tips that Chef Vilmos and I use when we make stock in The Hungarian Kitchen: • When starting a stock, always use cold water. Hot water will tend to seal the bones and vegetables, not allowing the entire flavor to amplify within the stock. • Once your stock pot is loaded, bring the heat up and get the stock to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer and keep it that way. Boiling is a violent reaction that will let any residual fats not congeal where they may be skimmed from the stock. • While the stock is simmering, you should skim off any foam and fats, giving you a heartier finished product. [ÖKfcNovernber 2013 ° William Penn Life The Hungarian Kitchen is a trademark of William S. Vasvary.
