Vegetable Stock - The Best
Heres the first in my promised Taking Stock series. I'm starting off with The Best, followed by The Rest, and The Mirepoix.
Stocks ans Sauces (pg 220 - The French Laundry Cookbook)
You can't have a good sauce if you start with bad stock. Too many people take stocks for granted. In many restaurants the stock pot is like a garbage can; they throw in all kinds of trimmings...
Thomas Keller is on the short list of best chefs in the world, and although the culinary world has exploded in popularity and innovation in the past few years his awards speak for themselves. I don't want to focus on his potential jumping the shark, but rather focus on Keller's Magnum Opus; The French Laundry.
Keller (and Ruhlman) expounds for pages on the importance of veal stock in French cooking in The French Laundry Cookbook and the necessity of proper technique with all stocks. Ten years after its initial publication The French Laundry Cookbook continues to be celebrated for its focus on technique and perfection. Although far less complicated than meat stocks, Keller's vegetable stock reflects this focus on fundamentals and quality. The first thing that struck me about this stock is the inclusion of fennel and the exclusion of celery. Keller's omission of celery, citing its potential bitterness, is only complimented by the complex flavors of leeks and fennel.
I'm not going to give a detailed ingredient list, as its not available online and The French Laundry Cookbook and Bouchon are worth their price tags.
After it has simmered for 45 minutes strain through a chinois. If you don't have a chinois, strain through a colander covered with paper towel or cheesecloth. I often make a pass through a colander placed in a large Pyrex bowl first, followed by the colander covered with paper towel so I'm not lifting a hot and heavy stockpot twice. Keller recommends using the stock within 2 days (refrigerated) or freezing, but I'd say up to a week in the fridge is fine. I was surprised Keller suggested cooking the main ingredients 5-8 minutes in oil prior to simmering. Many chefs add oil to the vegetables and cook them in a baking dish in the oven until they caramelize. Although the 5-8 minutes of sweating produces a lighter stock; I prefer the richness of caramelized vegetables.
Although there are comparable vegetable stock recipes out there, I can easily say this is one of the best. The fennel, an amazing ingredient I'm just now appreciating, gave the stock a complexity and subtle spiciness I was not expecting. I made a pea soup with this stock that included less than a handful of ingredients and was blown away. I planned on taking photos to gage the clarity of each stock version, but if you close your eyes you can see the rich color and lack of cloudiness and impurities in this stock. I can't say that I'm not still going to make "the rest" version of stock, but for less money than pre-made stock, this stock will elevate your soup or sauce to a new echelon. This stock is testament to the acronym GIGO, Garbage In, Garbage Out, that many chefs follow. You'll never get the best product with subpar ingredients. That being said, I always do a second round with the vegetables after I strained it the first time to get the most bang for my buck. Just put all the ingredients back in the stock pot, add more fresh herbs, cover again with water and simmer for 45 minutes. I call this second stock and you can combine it with the first round if you want, but I reserve it for dishes that don't need as much flavor or even cooking rice if I'm swimming in stock at the time.
One caveat to this stock is that Keller does not state to add salt. This allows you to have greater control later when building a sauce or soup, especially if you're reducing the stock significantly, but in the future I plan to add salt prior to simmering. Although Keller is strict on what parts of the vegetables to include and which to exclude, the scraps nearly filled up my stock scraps container that I leave in the freezer.
Next time I utilize these scraps, plus a left over veggie tray from work, to produce "the rest" stock.
