Veal Stock (now in use!)

It's finally cooled off enough on a weekend I'm not up to my elbows in alligators (figuratively) for me to make veal stock from Ruhlman's recipe in Elements of Cooking.

10lbs roasted bones, 10 quarts water, 10 hours (plus a few other ingredients)... and the recipe says "makes 2 quarts."
There's a math problem here. I'm coming up on that ten hours, and if my level is under eight quarts, I'm a monkey's uncle. Maybe when I strain out, the tissue on the bones and the veggies will soak up another pint, and being generous, cooling it might remove another quart of fat. But I'd still be over 6 quarts left.

Am I supposed to return this thing to the stove, without the bones, for an extended simmering?
Need help quick, or at least by morning when I'll pull the fat off the top.

my copy of the book has a 4 everywhere you wrote a 10, except for the number of hours.

Urk! I guess I'm going to have a lot of stock. I wonder if everything else is scaled down too? Still 4 carrots, 4 ribs celery and so on? 2 Tbs peppercorns would seem excessive in a 4-quart pot.

JoelF wrote:Urk! I guess I'm going to have a lot of stock. I wonder if everything else is scaled down too? Still 4 carrots, 4 ribs celery and so on? 2 Tbs peppercorns would seem excessive in a 4-quart pot.

yes, the recipe in the book calls for 1TSP of peppercorns. Lucky for you, veal stock freezes beautifully. I'd be happy to take some off your hands

JoelF wrote:Am I supposed to return this thing to the stove, without the bones, for an extended simmering?
Need help quick, or at least by morning when I'll pull the fat off the top.

After 8-10 hours, any further simmering of the bones is unnecessary.

But what you might want to do after straining, is to transfer your finished stock to a clean, heavy bottom pot and reduce over medium heat, skimming all the while, until you reach sauce consistency, making your own glace de veau. Strain once again. Keeps for two weeks plus refrigerated and takes up much less space than stock. You can always dilute it out with water to revert back to veal stock for a recipe.

Don't forget your remoulage, or second stock. Some cooks like to combine the first and second stocks and then reduce back to a glaze for extra richness of texture. Others prefer to save the first stock for sauces and use the second for braises and soups.

8 quarts of veal stock? Joy! Glace de veau? Even more joy! Don't worry; if you can use up 2 quarts of stock, you can use up 8.

And a thought on that old debate regarding stocks and simmering. I've had formal culinary training and every chef has a different opinion on how long to simmer and whether to use the bones for a remoulage. You see, it seems blatantly contradictory in a purely logical sense to say that simmering bones for longer than 8-10 hours is useless if you use the same water throughout and to also state that if you change the water once they are able to impart enough flavor and body to justify a second stock, albeit understandably weaker. If it's worth it to make a second stock, one could deduce that 16+ hours simmering would make a richer stock. Unless you're saying that going so long without skimming (for sleep, for example) is a recipe for disaster - not to mention the fire hazard implications... in which case I agree. Anyway, that's MincyBits's tired musings.

No, I'm not going through the remoullage steps. I've got work to do today. More on the bones below.
I probably will reduce by half this afternoon, for freezer space if nothing else.

The science behind the second simmer is sensible: If your concentration of yummy bits (protein, etc.) in the bones is lower than in the stock, you're not going to get any more out of it, but fresh water may be able to extract almost as much as the first go-around.

The bones coming out of the stock looked solid as rocks, seemed safe for Annie (our Biggle). In about two minutes, the bone we gave her had disappeared, no sign of it being hidden. Turns out these things are really pretty porous, and you can slice it with a knife like you would a frozen bagel. I figure she chomped it to bits... but she's still going to be passing gravel for a couple of days.

MincyBits

Cooking the first veal stock longer than eight or ten hours greatly increases the chances of ending up with a mess of unusable bitter liquid.

Also, if you were to simmer those bones for sixteen hours, half of your end result would be so reduced you would lose as much as half of the yield. So thick that it would be sticking to the bones.

Post fridging: Surprisingly, very little fat on top of the pot. It's possible that's due to too much agitation during straining and the fat is tied up in the gelatin.

And the gelatin: now I see why people make veal stock. This stuff is currently the consistency of a jellyfish moving through the water when cold, and the slightest application of heat turns it liquid again. A reduction by half will give me quite a nice glace.

No ill effects on the dog overnight. Nice thing about strays: by the time they get to the shelter, the ones that can't eat just about anything have already been weeded out of the gene pool (my sis-in-law's dog couldn't keep down a slice of french toast, would never survive in the wild).

Last note until I actually use the stuff.

A few hours of simmering (including occasional skimming of this very tough skin that forms -- tough to get off the spoon, not tough to get through), and I had about four quarts left: 8 x 1/2C Glad containers, 1 x 1Qt deli container, 2 ice cube trays, and 4 and 1/2 x 1C deli containers. I've got about a cup and a half in the fridge, I figure that's good for two or three meals. Considering it's demi at this point (it is, isn't it?), I've probably got enough there for a good-sized batch of risotto, or a braise of something, or three sauces.

I think I'm going to go for a basic brown sauce tonight. Not sure what protein though, the anti-chicken forces may make me go out to get something for dinner.

OK, first dish made with the stock:

Pan-Roasted Chicken

MrsF bought a cut-up fryer (never seen a 5-lb fryer, but that's Jewel for you). Couldn't find a recipe for roasting a cut-up chicken, but I did for chicken breasts, so I averaged between that and the Keller method, with a sauce based on what was in the fridge, going for something lighter in flavor

1 Chicken, 4-5 lbs, cut up
2Tbs olive oil
1/2C reduced veal stock
4 large white button mushrooms, sliced
2-3 canned artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
3 sprigs thyme, minced
2 sprigs parsley, minuced
2 shallots, minced (about 1/4 cup)
About 1/3 C white wine
2 Tbs butter
salt and pepper
lemon juice

Brine:
2 qt water
3/8C salt
1/4C sugar
teaspoon each dry thyme, oregano, rosemary, peppercorns

Mix brine ingredients together in a 1-gallon container, and stir to dissolve sugar and salt.
Add chicken pieces, cover and refrigerate for a few hours (I only got about 1.5 before I had to start dinner, but I still think it was worth it)

Preheat oven to 400 (I might go higher next time, only some of the skin was crispy). Heat a large cast-iron pan (mine was a Le Creuset) on the stovetop, add 2tbs olive oil until just about smoking. Place all the pieces of chicken in the pan, skin side down. When the skin is browned a bit, flip them over, sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt (the Keller part of this recipe), and put in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer says 160. Remove chicken pieces to a platter to rest, and pour off most of the pan juices (yes, horrors, but I'm after the veal stock), leaving enough fat to sautee.

Add the shallots and mushrooms and sautee over medium heat until the mushrooms have reduced a bit. Add the artichoke hearts and white wine, and stir and scrape to release the fond from the pan. Add the veal stock and herbs and simmer for a bit. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the vegetables to the serving platter, add butter until incorporated, then strain the sauce into a gravy boat. Serve and go mmmmm.

On the rare occasion I make veal stock, the first thing I think to make for myself is risotto ai funghi. With porcini, of course, if you can find them fresh, but otherwise chanterelles are very good, too.

Choey wrote:On the rare occasion I make veal stock, the first thing I think to make for myself is risotto ai funghi. With porcini, of course, if you can find them fresh, but otherwise chanterelles are very good, too.

Risotto is high on my list of things to try with the stock, for sure. I plan to hit the Mt Prospect Farmer's Market this week to see what they have. The shroom stand wasn't there last time I was there, and they said their porcinis and morels were done for the season. I do very much like chanterelles, though.

The only other thing I've used it for so far is when I needed some stock for Ma Po Tofu -- a relative waste of its body and umami, but it came out great.