How to use our stocks
To make stock, simply stir a heaped teaspoon (6-8gs) of stock mix into 500ml of boiling water. Just add more stock according to your taste. You can even add as required to your own home made stock, or soups or any recipe where stock is used.
Our stock range is made into a powder for convenience and ease, so you are able to add to ` our stocks at any time during the cooking process.
Think of a risotto that is nearly cooked or paella, when you may need flavour and taste but no more liquor or liquid. No problem; simply sprinkle our stock powder over the rice and watch it dissolve instantly.
When making a cream based sauce for fish add a teaspoon of our fish stock for an immense, rich flavour. See Over the Top for our Sauce Recipes.
If you want to make our stocks with hot water, go ahead, but remember, if you want a reduction, just mix with less water. The only thing our stocks will not do is thicken as they reduce, (unless they are used to give body within your own stock pot).
When cooking for many make your sauces in advance. We always do when we’re in the kitchen, sweating shallots, reducing wine, reducing the chicken stock and then adding the cream.
Whenever we make a chicken cream sauce we will still go though the process but now we do not have to reduce the stock as it is already there. So sweat off the shallots, thyme and peppercorns, add the wine and reduce, but then just add the cream and enough Essential Cuisine Chicken Stock Powder to taste. Within minutes you will have the perfect sauce, which, of course, you will strain and leave for serving later.
Seasoning, seasoning, seasoning
Often the downfall of a great dish, but rarely the maker of a poor one, seasoning is such an important component of cooking that we all too often overlook.
Stocks may be the bedrock of any dish but salt and pepper are the building blocks of any kitchen. Seasoning is one of the most important skills that you can learn but it’s also one of the hardest and to be able to season with confidence will do everything to raise your cooking game to another level.
Seasoning enhances the flavours of your main ingredients and balances the dish. Too many home chefs wait until the end to season their food and mostly when it’s on the table. There are two things wrong with that. Firstly, you’ll probably use more salt that way and secondly there will be no subtlety.
- When to Add. – Add at the beginning so that the raw taste can be cooked out and becomes more of a background flavour.
- Season early and keep tasting all the way through cooking to see how the flavours evolve and come together. And it’s not just salt and pepper – they’re just the beginning of the story.
- And time your salting well. If you add salt to vegetables as soon as they hit the pan, the sodium will draw out moisture. (They’ll steam, not brown.) For deep, flavourful caramelisation, add salt at the end.
- Season fish with a squeeze of lemon juice or lime at the end or even use whole bunches of herbs to infuse a soup or cream sauce. Add cloves, vanilla or cinnamon to our fish stock. Experiment, and before too long you’ll season like a knowing pro.
How to stew anything
Nothing hits the spot on a really cold, snowy night like a rich, warming stew.
Stewing is a cooking method as well as the name of the dish but loosely termed a stew is a moist heat cooking method whereby meat and vegetables are slowly simmered in a flavour filled liquid.
Stews v. Braises
Is there a difference? Well, in a stew, the meat is cut into cubes or chunks while in a braise the meat is mostly left whole. In a stew the liquid covers the meat whilst in a braise the liquid may only reach halfway up the sides of the meat.
Best meats for stewing
The best cuts of meat for stewing are the toughest cuts – the ones found nearest the “hoof and the horn”.
Prime stewing candidates include shank, brisket, chuck, cheeks and oxtail but don’t just limit your stews to beef as Irish stew shines because of lamb or mutton, and carnitas is a fantastic crispy pork stew. And don’t forget the chicken, after all, dark meat chicken is the star of Coq au Vin.
Best fish for stewing
The best fish to stew are thick, meaty steaks. Since all seafood is relatively lean, you certainly don’t want to cook a fish stew for as long as you would a beef or pork stew. Consider cod, halibut, snapper, grouper, shark and sea bass as appropriate candidates for stew. Stewing time may be as short as ten minutes, so be prepared, and make sure you read your recipe carefully.
Stewing vegetables
You can also stew vegetables. French Ratatouille is just stewed vegetables, and good individual candidates for stewing include eggplant, tomatoes, celery, celery root, leeks, cabbage, fennel and almost any tough greens, such as chard or kale.
How to Stew
The general method of preparing a stew is:
- Coat chunks of meat in seasoned flour (this will help thicken the stew later)
- Sear meat on all sides in a little oil in a large sized pan (or whatever pan you’ll be stewing in) until deep brown. Set the meat aside. Make sure the pan is really hot and don’t overcrowd the pan with meat. Sear the meat in batches otherwise you won’t really seal or brown the meat.
- In the same pan, cook chopped mirepoix (equal quantity mix of onions, carrots, leek and celery) until golden brown. Add any dried herbs and spices at this point. Dried herbs are more intense and should be added earlier whereas fresh herbs are best added towards the end.
- Deglaze with liquid - beef stock, veal stock chicken stock, water, wine, beer – whatever the recipe, or your taste, requires.
- Add the meat back to the pan. Pour in enough liquid to just cover the meat, and bring it to a simmer.
- Cover tightly, and finish stewing in the oven at a low temperature – around 150 degrees is a good target. This could take anywhere from just 10 minutes for some vegetables and fish to upwards of two hours for tougher cuts of beef or mutton. Again, check your recipe.
- Remove the pot from the oven, and skim off any unwanted fat. If the liquid is thinner than you want it to be, you may thicken it with some cornflour dissolved in cold liquid or some buerre mani – this is just a French term for equal parts of butter and flour kneaded together to make a dough. Whichever method you use, make sure you bring the cooking liquid up to a boil so the starch can thicken the cooking liquid.
Note – One of the best ways to develop deep, rich and wonderful flavours in a stew is to sear the meat and the vegetables before stewing. Since a stew is a moist heat cooking method and never rises above the boiling temperature of water, the meat will never get hot enough to brown. The boiling point of water is 110 deg F, at sea level, and the browning reactions don’t start at temperatures below 175 deg F, so it’s essential to use a dry heat cooking method to encourage the browning that will result in a deeply flavourful and satisfying dish.
Vegetables
The vegetables in a long-cooking stew are pretty much useless at the end of the process. You can either discard them or add fresh vegetables during the last 30 minutes of the stewing process.
Personally, we often remove the finished vegetables in the stew, puree them with a stick blender to blend them back into the sauce which will help thicken it.
Crock Pots and Slow Cookers
Don’t knock the Crock! – these long, slow, moist cooking methods were what they were made for, and they are very good at it. Really convenient and easy to use, the end result is fantastic.
You will note that we said you want to brown your meat and your vegetables in the same pot you’ll be stewing in.
Remember that when using a crock pot, this isn’t an option. In this case, do all of the browning in a sauté pan, deglaze with the liquid specified in the recipe, making sure to scrape up all the fond (browned bits). This is where all the flavour is. Now, you can pour the vegetables and the deglazing liquid into the crock pot.
There are some “blond” stews – fricassee, for one – that do not call for browning. If you want to remain faithful to the recipe, don’t brown the meat or the vegetables for these types of dishes. Just know that the final product will have a more delicate and less complex flavour than stews that start with browning the meat and vegetables.
- Casseroles and stews always taste better if made a day or two in advance and reheated just before serving. This may well be something you do already but apart from intensifying flavour this reduces the fat content. After keeping in the fridge for a day or two, scrape off the fat that rises to the top. If you don’t have time to do this then use an unprinted paper towel to soak up oil from the surface.
- Herbs will have a more intense flavour if added at the end of the long cooking process.
How to make a great Risotto
We’ll show you how to make it like a pro…
- Choose a wide, heavy bottomed saucepan that will be large enough to accommodate the rice, and all the other ingredients.
- Only ever, ever use risotto rice. The medium short, stubby grains absorb liquid and swell up whilst keeping their shape.
- Always use a good stock (good job too!) Chicken, fish or vegetable depending on the type of risotto.
- Keep the stock at a gentle simmer, and the rice at a lively simmer.
- Stir constantly throughout the cooking process to release the starch in the rice and gives the risotto that creamy texture.
If you can’t stand the heat!
Pro Kitchens are HOT places, hot ovens and stoves, the food has to cook quickly and there’s no time (or money in a pro kitchen!!) to lose.
When you fry – keep the pan hot, as hot as it can get. When you’re cooking fish or steak get the pan hot, hot, hot. When you sear meat to roast, braise or stew – then SEAR it! Not just slightly colour it a deathly grey colour.
