STOCKS

STOCKS

DEFINITION: - Stock is a flavored liquid, which forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces. Stock is prepared by simmering particular vegetables or meats along with herbs in water, to extract flavor. 

CLASSIFICATION: -

Fond de Cuisine (Kitchen Stock); Fond means ‘bottom’ or ‘foundation’.
Fond de vegetal or Fond de Legumes (Vegetable Stock). Also known as Neutral stock or Fond maigre; simmered for 30-40 minutes. 
Fond Blanc (White Stock) made from chicken, beef or veal bones; simmered for 3 hours.
Fond Blanc de Mouton : - White Mutton Stock
Fond Blanc de Volaille: - White Chicken Stock
Fond Blanc de Veau: - White Veal Stock
Fond Brun or Estouffade(Brown Stock) made from chicken, beef or veal bones; simmered for 6 hours
Fond de Poisson or Fumet (Fish Stock) made from non oily fish bones ; simmered for 30-40 minutes
Fond de Champignon (Mushroom Stock) made from roughly chopped mushrooms ; simmered for 30-40 minutes
Fond de Gibier: - Game Stock

CULINARY TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH STOCK: -

1. Bouquet garni / Faggot: - A bundle of herbs and aromatics tied within sections of leek with cooking twine and simmered in stock to add flavor and aroma.
Can also add celery, fresh thyme, parsley stems and bay leaves.
2. Sachet de Epices: - A small cheesecloth sack containing herbs and spices used to flavor stocks, translates literally to “a bag of spices”.
3. Mirepoix: - Roughly cut vegetables like onions, carrots and celery in the ratio of 50:25:25 respectively.
4. Depouiller: - day – poo – yay; This term signifies the process of skimming a stock for the first time while it is simmering.
5. De-glazing: - A technique by which liquid is poured into the pan and heated, stirred with a wooden spoon to remove the caramelized residue after roasting the meats and vegetables, and then adding the floating residue to the simmering stock.
6. Broth / Bouillon: - When any meat, poultry, game or fish stock is simmered with a fresh round of nutritional and aromatic ingredients, the result is an ultra clear, highly flavored broth.
7. Consommé: - Clarified clear stock or broth is known as consommé. Clarification takes place by adding egg whites and minced meat to the simmering stock or broth.
8. Aspic: - When a consommé is reduced by 30%, this reduction effectively increases its gelatin content and flavor. Combined with a wine such as Madeira, Port or Sherry, consommé gets converted to Aspic. Aspic is used to coat individually served foods such as pate, poached eggs, cold cuts etc.
9. Glazes (Fr. Glaces): - When a consommé is reduced by 90% to such a consistency that it coats a wooden spoon evenly when dipped in the reduced consommé, the final product obtained is known as a Glaze.
10. Essences: - An essence is made by simmering a liquid with the addition of an aromatic ingredient. Typically essences are created using celery, garlic, mushrooms, tarragon and truffle. Liquid + aromat are reduced by 75% and the essence is used to impart finishing touches to the particular dish. 
E.g. Celery essence is used to finish cream of celery soup.
11. Remouillage: - ray – moo – yay; A second stock preparation, prepared using the same ingredients of the first stock. This results in a weak stock but is flavorful than water. It can be used to cook products which require a mild flavor.

PRINCIPLE STEPS DURING PREPARATION OF STOCK
Although the ingredients are simple and the method simplistic, you must use great care. This is a base from which you will create a wide variety of dishes, so the stock must be right. As with any other preparation, you must start with quality stock are:

The four principle steps in producing stock are:
1. Start with cold liquid.
2. Allow natural clarification to occur.
3. Skim carefully.
4. Simmer, do not boil.

COLD LIQUID TO START
Beginning with a cold liquid prevents the sealing of the items. This makes it possible to release the flavours of the food, enhancing the liquid. This is a form of cooking by interchange. The flavours of meat, bones, poultry, etc. are transferred to the liquid surrounding them.
This interchange occurs whether the bones and vegetables are browned or not. However, when they are browned an additional flavour is added. This is caused by the caramelization of the natural sugars, which occurs during browning. It adds a richness of flavour and colour, not achieved otherwise. 

NATURAL CLARIFICATION
A high quality stock has a clear clean appearance. This requires that it be clarified. Pouring the cooked stock through a fine sieve is not the kind of clarification that we mean here. It is the removal of the many minute particles, which form, in the cooking process. Albumin is a protein complex found in muscles, blood, milk, egg white, and many vegetable tissues, such as leeks. It is soluble only in cold water. Albumin is valued for its property of clarification by coagulation (forming a mass) when exposed to heat. The slower the application of heat, the better the removal of cloudiness from liquid. Bringing stock slowly to a boil gives the albumin time to pass into the solution. As its proteins coagulate, they attract particles in the liquid. The action is similar to that of a magnet. However, as with the magnet, when disturbed they will drop the particles. Cloudiness normally is the result of stock being boiled for too long and fast over high heat. This extended boiling breaks down the texture of the bone fibers. When this happens, the particles become blended and suspended in the liquid. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to clarify. A slight amount of cloudiness is normal in stock. The lack of blood in the bones used in stock creates a lack of albumin. There is not sufficient protein to all the particles.

SKIMMING
As the stock cooks and the albumin coagulates, fat and scum will rise to the top of the pot. It is important to remove all of it. This removal is called skimming, carefully lifting fat and scum from the surface. The mirepoix of vegetables is finely cut for the best flavour extraction. This and the aromatics float on the top of the pot. This can make it difficult to skim properly. To make it easier to skim, add the mirepoix and the aromatics after about ¼ of the cooking time has lapsed. The largest accumulation of fat and scum will occur in the early cooking of the stock. Once the mirepoix and aromatics are added, do not skim unless necessary. Let the stock cook undisturbed.

SIMMERING 
This very simple operation is often misunderstood. Improper application of it generates most of the burned stocks and sauces. Simmering is when liquid is hot enough to form small bubbles that rise from bottom of the pan. The bubbles break, just below the top surface of the liquid. As they rise and break a slight turbulence occurs. When the temperature is too high, this turbulence is too great. If the temperature is too low, there is little or no movement in the liquid. Simmering, when correct, creates a slight roll in the liquid. Simmering is important in the cooking of sauces, when the slight roll of the simmer is not present, the coarser particles and sediments will settle on the bottom of the pan. This creates an insulating layer between the heat and the stock, which will burn. When it burns, it imparts an unwanted burnt flavour to the stock. Too much action in the liquid can harm stock. The heavy rolling action of a high boil will break up the scum and fat. This makes it difficult to skim the stock. The fast rolling action also does not allow the albumin to gather the fine particles. Improper placement of the pot on the fire can limit the simmering action and make it difficult to skim the stock.

GLAZE USES: -
Glazes serve four basic purposes in cooking. In most cases, there are advantages to be gained from using a glaze instead of an essence. 
1. Glazes give a brilliant shine and moist coating to a finished dish.
2. They reinforce the quality and tone of sauces.
3. Glazes strengthen the flavour and body of preparation made from weak stock.
4. Glazes can act as sauces when used properly buttered or creamed to match the dish they are to be used with.

COURT BOUILLON
Court bouillon is not actually a stock preparation. However, it is used in a similar manner. It is a flavorful poaching liquid used for fish and shellfish and some other items, such as sweetbreads. A court bouillon is made up of these elements: Aromatics and spices; salt, and liquid. The mixture is not complete in nutritional elements. The flavor of the bouillon is created when fish are poached in it, it is then reduced and added to the sauce or possibly kept for future poaching. 

The 7 principles of stock making:

1. Cold water: Cover the ingredients with clean, cold water. Starting in this manner allows the blood and proteins to dissolve. As the temperature rises, the proteins coagulate (solidify) and float to the surface where they can be skimmed off. If they were started in hot water, the proteins would solidify, stick to the bones and then disperse into the stock making it cloudy and "muddy tasting".

2. Simmer, never boil: A stock should be brought to a boil and then immediately reduced to a simmer. (approximately 185 f) at a simmer, the ingredients release the maximum flavor without breaking down into particulate matter. If a stock boils for even a few minutes, the fat will emulsify into the stock and the stock will become cloudy, making for a poor performance, a "muddy taste" and a "greasy" finish. This type of texture will spoil soups and sauces.

3. Skim frequently: Skimming the coagulated masses off the surface of the stock throughout the cooking process, decreases the likelihood of "clouding" the stock.

4. Strain carefully: This involves a china cap set inside of a chinois. In order to use the stock, you must separate the solids from the liquid. While doing so it is important not to disturb the solids in the bottom of the pot. 

Use the following procedure:

A. Skim the fat from the surface

B. Remove the stock from the heat and carefully ladle the stock out of the pot without stirring the stock.

C. Pour the stock through a china cap set inside of a chinois, into a sanitized metal container.


5. Cool quickly: It is of the utmost importance that stocks are cooled quickly and with a minimum amount of agitation. 

6. Store properly: 
6.1. Store in a plastic storage container and label the container indicating the contents, date and the session that started the stock. (Ex: 1 dec. /intro am /vegetable barley soup)

6.2. Store in the container in the refrigerator. (As the stock chills the remaining fat will rise and solidify, forming the fat cap. The fat cap provides an extra barrier against contamination and aerobic bacterial growth.)

7. Degrease: Before using the stock, carefully lift the fat cap off of the surface of the stock, scraping off all the small bits of fat. It is always easier to degrease your stock when it is chilled. All preparations depend on the use of fat-free stocks!

Type of stocks
• White beef stock white stocks should have no color and sometimes use a white mirepoix where carrots are replaced by parsnips and leeks replace half the onions. Blanching the bones is also common. Blanch by bringing bones and water just to the boil then skim the surface and discard the water.

• Brown beef stockbrown stocks rely on good color. To achieve this color the bones and mirepoix are caramelized (caramelization is the browning of surface sugars and occurs around 310° ) if the color is not right a onion burlee, (burnt onion), is used to darken the stock.

• Vegetable stock

• Chicken stock

• Fish stock

STORAGE OF STOCKS.

When cooked stocks must be strained and cooled within 90 minutes and stored in a fridge, stocks can be frozen.

All stocks must be re-boiled after storage prior to being used.


Tips on stocks

• Never season a stock.

• Never boil a stock.

• Never add potatoes, swede, turnip etc.

• Always re-boil stocks.

Faults in stock production
 Stock cloudy.Ø

• Incorrect ingredients, poorly prepared.

• Incorrect cooking.

• Stock not skimmed.

• Old stock.

 Stock lacks flavour.Ø

• Incorrect ratio of ingredients to liquid.
• Cooking time too short.

FOOD TEXTURES, CONSISTENCIES AND TECHNIQUES

As explained above, raw foods get exposed to some form of heat and then are called ‘cooked’ for consumption. The term TEXTURE is used to describe the characteristics of a finished (ready-to-eat) food product. The final product will have a certain texture depending on
• the order in which ingredients are added
• the way of mixing
• the method of cooking
A correct texture has to be brought about in the food. The chef should not only know the correct texture, but should be able to produce the same in the food. The various textures which are listed down, are difficult to explain in words, they should be felt and understood better. There are very thin differences between some of these, which one should learn better during practical.

1. Firm and close – biscuits and plain short pastries can explain this texture. Raising agents are used while preparing these, but they do not make the product very light or brittle. In fact they are hard as a result of many tiny air bubbles created by raising agents. But the biscuits are not too hard either, because of the fat included.

2. Short and crumbly – nankhatai and tarts are good examples of this texture. Fat included is more than that in biscuits, so it breaks more easily into smaller particles. 

3. Spongy – Swiss rolls, sponge cakes, idli and dhokla are spongy. A soft, elastic texture due to incorporation of more air results in this texture.

4. Light – Madeira cake has plenty large holes in it, making it ‘light’. It is firm, but not hard and tough. It is neither as short as a tart nor as spongy as a Swiss roll.

5. Flaky – chiroti, lacchha paratha, chicken or veg puffs and khara biscuits are flaky. Thin, crisp layers are formed by spreading fat in between two layers of dough which get separated during baking / frying and remain separated due to air pockets. The flakes by themselves should not be tough / hard. Ideally the layers break easily and melt in the mouth.

6. Coarse – large and uneven holes are a result of too much of the raising agent or too little liquid. This is not a good texture to have in food; in fact, it is something to be avoided. Such cakes and other products are sunken at the centre. 

7. Tough – too much liquid, over mixing, incorrect mixing, too little fat and long cooking time could result in toughness in food. Mostly, like the coarse texture, this also is to be avoided.

8. Hard – another texture which should be avoided as far as possible. In fact, it is considered to be a fault in the product. Too much pressure while mixing, excessive liquid in the product and incorrect quantity of fat result in this texture. Air that is incorporated gets removed out of the mixture, making the final product hard.

Various consistencies:
Like different textures found in solid foods (which are mentioned above), different ‘consistencies’ are found in liquid foods.
Some substances flow readily, others resist flow and some require force or weight application to start flow. The concept of consistency is closely related to viscosity.

Factors affecting consistency of liquid are – 
• Concentration (of thickening agent)
• Temperature
• Degree of dispersion
• Mechanical treatment
• Time (how long is it after preparing)

Generally speaking, the following consistencies could be found in liquid foods –

A. Pouring – like water and milk. These do not show any resistance and flow easily / readily. Stocks and some thin soups like consommé are examples of ‘cooked’ liquids having pouring consistency.

B. Coating – when a starchy thickening agent is mixed with a liquid, and the mixture is heated, the starch gelatinizes. In case of a protein as a thickening agent, it coagulates when exposed to heat. In both these cases, the liquid starts to thicken. If a spoon is dipped in this mixture, it starts coating the spoon. A thin film of the mixture could be seen in the beginning. Later on it goes on becoming visibly thicker. Depending upon one / more factors listed before, the thickening will take place up to a certain point. While making basic custard, this will be understood better. Here, liquid is milk and thickening is egg yolk. Similar coating consistency could be observed in kadhi where liquid is buttermilk and thickening is gram flour (besan)
The liquid is proportionately more than the flour or thickening agent.

C. Dropping – when a liquid is added to dry flour, it forms lumps as only some flour (granules) gets combined with liquid. Later, when added more liquid, it converts into dough and with some more liquid, it turns into ‘batter’. Here, the amount of solid (flour) is more than the liquid. For example, a cake mixture of fat, sugar, egg and flour is moistened with water or milk. Only that much liquid is required which will make the mixture fall out in a big moist smooth lump. The liquid should be dispersed well to get a smooth mixture. When you make cake batter in the bakery class, you will understand it better. Also, next time when you are waiting for your (batata)vada-pav, don’t forget to observe the vender making and using the batter.


Techniques used in pre-preparation:
Raw materials used in food production are mostly natural products. They are available in various shapes and weights. For example, no two potatoes or onions will be same in size, shape and weight. No two red pumpkins will be of the same size, shape and weight. Preparing a finished product calls for basic uniformity in size, shape and weight. This is the base for uniformity in cooking and also the appearance of the food. Breaking down the raw materials into required form is called ‘prepreparation’. Following are a few prepreparation techniques –

• Washing – superficial dirt is removed during washing. Vegetables, fish, meat and sometimes even eggs are washed with cold water before any other process. These days this is done at the very entrance of the store to prevent any dirt and mud entering in the store / kitchen / workplace. Water soluble vitamins and minerals are lost if they are soaked for a long period of time or washed after cutting.
• Peeling and scraping – spoilt, soiled and inedible portions are removed. Skins of potatoes, carrots, radish or fruits can be removed by peeling. Smaller ingredients like ginger, galangal are scraped. Peel off as little of the fleshy part as possible. If vegetables like carrots are washed well, their peels could be used for making stocks.
• Paring – remove surface layers by using a circular motion as in paring an apple.
• Cutting – reducing to smaller parts with a knife or a pair of scissors. When a chopping knife or a food chopper is used, it is termed as chopping. 

Cutting into even size cubes --- --- --- dicing. 
Cutting into very fine pieces --- --- --- mincing. 
Cutting (especially green leafy vegetables & . cabbage) into fine, long pieces --- shredding
Cutting into slightly thicker, flat pieces --- slicing.
• Grating – reducing to fine particles by rubbing over a rough, sharp surface.
• Grinding – reducing to fine fragments by crushing in a mill, a grinding stone or an ostirizer. 
• Mashing – breaking up soft foods like cooked potatoes. {SMASHes are in boxing, NOT is food production}
• Sieving – passing through a mesh to remove impurities or to break down into even parts or to enclose air.
• Milling – used for cereals, to remove husk.
• Steeping – extracting colouring or / and flavouring by allowing ingredients to stand in water at a simmering temperature.
• Centrifuging – Separate two parts of a substance by application of whirling force like separation of cream from milk.
• Emulsification – Blending or mixing to non-mixable (insoluble) liquids by application of force.
• Evaporation / Reduction – removal of moisture by heating.
• Homogenization – subdivision of large drops into smaller ones by forcing them through a small opening under great pressure.

Techniques used in preparation:
When raw materials are ready to be cooked, they are sent to the preparation area or hot section of the kitchen where it gets exposed to heat. Following are some of the techniques in preparation. List may be enriched as and when you start actual cooking.
• Stirring – this mixes two or more ingredients as they get cooked. Wooden / stainless steel flat spoons, round spoons, perforated spoons etc. of various sizes could be used. Liquids as well as solid and semi-solid ingredients need stirring. Generally it helps in even dispersion of heat leading to even cooking.
• Masking – to prevent food from getting burnt in case of baking / roasting, it needs to be masked with some other food material. It can also be done to get a desired colour and appearance.
• Coating or dipping in batter – as mentioned earlier, batter is a mixture of flour and liquid (mostly equal quantities). Certain foods are dipped in batter and deep fried. The most apt example would be potato vadas. The batter should coat the stuffing fully and not expose any stuffing. This needs skill, because food should be dropped in hot oil immediately after dipping in batter. So, in a split of a second, the process has to be completed. Thus, the consistency of the batter plays a very important role.
• Basting – this is a technique which goes hand in hand with roasting. This means to apply fat / butter on the food while being roasted. It helps by protecting the surface from going dry and also by giving a pleasant brown colour to the roasted food.
• Tadka / baghar – these terms and technique are used in Indian cuisine. Oil is heated to the required temperature and certain spice ingredients are added to it (which should crackle,) then the food (like cooked dal or chopped vegetables) are combined with this. It develops additional taste and flavour to the dish. A peculiar flavour which is the characteristic of the dish can be added through the ingredients in the tempering. 
Sometimes, continental dishes, especially rich soups and sauces are also ‘tempered’; but the technique is applied for a different purpose and using different ingredients. A mixture of egg yolk and cream (liaison) is added to a dish to enrich it, to give it a glaze and to make it smooth. A little of the hot soup / sauce is first mixed with the liaison, and then it is slowly stirred into the larger quantity of soup / sauce.
• Seasoning – seasonings bring about the natural taste and flavours of the ingredients. No dish can be complete without seasonings.
• Flavouring – these are those ingredients which impart additional flavours in the dishes. Nutmeg powder in creamed potatoes, cardamom powder in Indian sweets like kheers, vanilla essence in vanilla buns are some of the examples. Flavourings could be added in various forms – powders, drops or whole spices (which are removed before serving the dish to guest).