Evan!
01-30-2009, 12:06 AM
This stuff, along with truffle salt, will change your cooking in such radical ways that you cannot even fathom. I can't remember (or don't want to remember) a time before it.
Ok, so I'm a big fan of making your own stocks. Chicken, beef, veal, etc. If you have the time to boil them down to glaces or demi-glaces, all the better. I am also a big fan of using the smoker to cook all sorts of stuff---pork shoulder, poultry, duck, tomatoes, etc. So awhile back we had a bunch of people over and opened some awesome wines and I smoked a chicken and a duck. The meat was just awesome! After it was done, though, we had this epiphany...stock! It's very simple, really---toss the carcass in a big pot with a bunch of water, salt and pepper it, add some veggies (onions, celery, carrots, coarsely chopped) and herbs (I like rosemary and thyme). Boil that shit for awhile, then bring it down to a low simmer and simmer for as long as you like. The longer you do, the more concentrated it'll be (and the longer your house will smell awesome). When it's done, strain out all the bones, meat, herbs, etc. Put it into tupperware or some such container, refrigerate it, and when the fat has congealed, skim that off and discard. Bam, done. Now you can either refrigerate it for awhile and use it soon, or you can can it (which is what we do) and have a bunch around all the time. We use it, like Truffle salt, in almost everything. It will change your life. The fact that nobody's done this on a commercial scale is a sin!
Oh, also, if you want awesome tomato sauce, smoke a bunch of tomatoes. Hell yeah.
Ok, so I'm a big fan of making your own stocks. Chicken, beef, veal, etc. If you have the time to boil them down to glaces or demi-glaces, all the better. I am also a big fan of using the smoker to cook all sorts of stuff---pork shoulder, poultry, duck, tomatoes, etc. So awhile back we had a bunch of people over and opened some awesome wines and I smoked a chicken and a duck. The meat was just awesome! After it was done, though, we had this epiphany...stock! It's very simple, really---toss the carcass in a big pot with a bunch of water, salt and pepper it, add some veggies (onions, celery, carrots, coarsely chopped) and herbs (I like rosemary and thyme). Boil that shit for awhile, then bring it down to a low simmer and simmer for as long as you like. The longer you do, the more concentrated it'll be (and the longer your house will smell awesome). When it's done, strain out all the bones, meat, herbs, etc. Put it into tupperware or some such container, refrigerate it, and when the fat has congealed, skim that off and discard. Bam, done. Now you can either refrigerate it for awhile and use it soon, or you can can it (which is what we do) and have a bunch around all the time. We use it, like Truffle salt, in almost everything. It will change your life. The fact that nobody's done this on a commercial scale is a sin!
Oh, also, if you want awesome tomato sauce, smoke a bunch of tomatoes. Hell yeah.