Day eight: You’ll roux the day

Posted on | February 23, 2009

Rain today, rain tomorrow, rain all this week. So perfect timing that we are learning how to make wonderful soups this week.

And learn I am doing, from how to make roux to how to make a truly spectacular stock to how to make an amazing veloute that, it turns out, is stupid simple and makes your soup taste, well, as the husband put it after sipping the soup I brought home from school for him to enjoy:

“This is amazing! How come people don’t make soup like this at home, honey? Is it just too hard?”

“Nope. It’s just ’cause we don’t know how. But that’s about to change.”

Stock it to me
Today, motorcycle chef made it through the lecture without any discussion about her menopause. I missed the commentary. Instead, she introduced us to stocks.

She says there are only four basic components to a good stock:

1. Bones. They must be raw (You know those chicken carcasses from all those roast chickens you are hording in your freezer? Forget ‘em.) You will use bones from a young chicken because, while they won’t give you richness, all that collagen will give you gelatin which, in turn, will give you an incredible mouthfeel. That mouthfeel translates into body. Now, if you can find an old chicken (and that is difficult to do) feel free to add their bones to the stock. They might be short on collagen, but they will give you some wonderful flavor.
2. Cold liquid. You need to know two things about the liquid. First, it has to be cold to keep your stock clear. Of course, chef says she has used warm liquid with no problems, but the powers that be (and I assume this is the French) say cold, so cold it is. And, second, the liquid is almost always water. As in 99% of the time. But if you want to use old stock in your new stock, you’d have a double stock stock. Unless stock was used for that one, too. In which case you’d have a triple stock stock. Erm, is this getting confusing for you, too?
3. Mirepoix. There are a bunch of different types of mirepoix, but if all you remember is 2 parts onions to one part each carrots and celery, you’ve got the main type down pat.
4. Bouquet garni. Bouquet garni is a selection of herbs – such as thyme, parsley, peppercorns, and a bay leaf – put into a cheesecloth sachet (or, herbs permitting, tied together) and added to your stock. This is removed later on and discarded.

Now, here’s the trick with stock. You have to cook it long (think overnight) and slow (think just under a simmer) to keep it clear and not cloudy.

When is a stock, not?
Okay, so this begs the question, what is difference between stock and broth and consumme? Well, stock is a base. You would not, for example, sit down to a nice bowl of stock. In fact, in French, “stock” is fond which means foundation. Because of this, then, you do not season a stock with pepper or salt or anything much other than your mirepoix and bouquet garni (okay, you have a bit of wiggle room in your sachet, but not much). This way, you can alter your stock, as needed, in any food you use it in.

You can also reduce your stock (this means you simmer it some more to evaporate more water which intensifies the flavor), if you like, to make a demi glace which you use to add taste to whatever you like.

Broth, on the other hand, is seasond stock. Seasoned with what, you ask? Well, salt, for starters.

Now, while you would sit down to a nice bowl of broth, you would not reduce broth because, as chef said, you would end up with a salt lick!

And as for consomme, that is a perfectly clarified broth. How perfectly clarified? Well, according to chef: “You should be able to read the date on a dime at the bottom of the bowl.”

Something she tells us she cannot do because her youth has fled. But she did not mention menopause.

Rock and roux
In demo today, our Nepal chef did not smile as much as usual. Apparently he had a tough weekend; his 5-year-old was ill. However, not smiling as much as usual meant he only grinned at us, oh, once a minute instead of twice.

He really is a lovely person.

And, today, he made four soups, from scratch, in two hours and demonstrated three key techniques.

I am in awe of how fast this little man can cook.

Technique #1: Roux
Roux is a mix of equal parts (equal parts, as chef put it, “By weight, my friends, by weight.”) of fat (typically butter) and flour (usually all purpose) cooked in a saucepan. There are four types of roux: White, blond, brown, and dark. White is cooked for 2 – 3 minutes, until it turns a creamy beige. Cook 4 – 5 minutes instead and you will have a blonde roux which, most interstingly, smells like popcorn. Brown roux takes a bit more time. And dark roux as much as 15 minutes or more.

Okay. So I bet you are wondering why you are making a roux. Well, this stuff is used to thicken your sauce or soup. And, most interesting, the lighter the roux, the better it is at doing this.

Now, you have to cook your liquid for some time after you add your roux to get rid of the flour taste. Blonde rouxs have to be cooked for at least a half hour after adding your roux. A dark roux, on the other hand, needs a cooking time of at least an hour. And remember to add roux sparingly to your liquid. See, this stuff does not start to thicken until your liquid is brought to the boil, so if you add too much too soon, you might add too much.

Remember, it is easier to add than to take away.

Technique #2: Veloute sauce
Veloute means velvet in French. And this is what gives those professional soups their velvet taste.

And now that you have your stock and your roux, this is so easy to do: You simply whisk, bit by bit, some roux into your stock, making sure to whisk away any lumps. Then you leave your stock on very low heat for, say, 45 minutes or so to thicken.

Technique #3: Sweating vegetables
The tough part about seating vegetables is finding a sauna that will accept them. Naw. Only kidding!

Okay, there are two things you can do to vegetables: Sweat them or caramelize them. Caramelizing is where they turn sweet and brown. We didn’t talk about this today, so let me focus on the decidedly less glamorous act of sweating them. Let me take you through the steps for a classic mirepoix so you can see how this works:

• Heat your pan.
• Add your fat and melt it (fat can be butter or oil, but if you are going to use an oil, use one with a high smoke point such as canola oil instead of olive oil, so it doesn’t break down on you).
• Add your densest vegetable, first, because it takes longest to cook. In this case, add your carrots.
• Lower your heat; remember, you are not caramelizing here.
• Once you smell your carrots, add your celery.
• Smell the celery? Then add your onions.
• And don’t forget to stir.

You now have everything you need to make professional-quality soup. Just like what I brought for the husband.

And now you know how to make it at home.

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