The theme of this thread is forgetfulness. Kind of like Sesame Street, but more frustrating.
By way of introduction, let me say that I have a curious substance in my fridge, and I’d like to know if there’s any use for it.
Basically, I made a lovely roast chicken recently, Wednesday, I think. I managed to make it early enough in the evening that I decided to strip the rest of the meat from the carcass right then, and make stock that night. Long story short, I put in a lot of water, started the stock and then eventually forgot about it and went to bed. I got very lucky in that I didn’t burn down the apartment building, but I also got lucky in that there was still about a pint of liquid in the pan when I got up seven or so hours later, so even my stockpot was undamaged.
So I poured that liquid in to a measuring cup, and stuck it in the fridge to cool so I could skim the fat, and see if I still had usable stock. Wouldn’t want to get nothing out of almost burning down the building, you see. Then, of course, I forgot about it until today, when I needed the measuring cup.
I got it out of the fridge, started to skim the fat off the top, and discovered I had chicken-jello. I’ve never had chicken-jello before. I suspect their marketing surveys say that there’s no market for it. Still it smelled like yummy stock, only jiggly, rather than sloshy. So I stuck it in a tupperware and forgot to post about it for a couple of hours. However, now that I’m remembering, can someone tell me what I have and if it has any food use?
This stuff is magic! You’ve discovered the wobbly chicken elixir. Melt it slightly, freeze it in an ice tray, and use the cubes as a stock base for future gravies or sauces. You can also whip a bit of the jellified stuff up with mayo, and make a supercharged chicken mayo. Melt a bit more, and use it as a glaze on hams or any other roast meats.
You just made proper chicken stock; perhaps a little more concentrated than usual, and perhaps having extracted more of the various stock components that you would normally, but chicken stock should set to a reasonably firm jelly texture when refrigerated - if it doesn’t set, then all you really have is dirty water.
Use it to make risotto; about a pint of stock to a full cup of proper risotto rice - your tongue will think it has died and gone to heaven.
My chicken and more commonly, turkey, stock is the same: caramel coloured jelly when chilled. I figured it was due to the fat content along with something being boiled out of the bones. I’ve never worried about it, as when heated, it goes appropriately (and deliciously) into poultry stock.
Mmmm… risotto is good! Arborio rice cooked in stock with meat and vegetables added.
This is the recipe I use (forgive the metric measurements):
Chicken and Capsicum (Bell Pepper) Risotto
2 cups (400g) Arborio Rice
2 tablespoons olive oil
300g chicken breast fillet, sliced
1 capsicum (bell pepper)
1 large onion, diced
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
4-5 cups warm vegetable or chicken stock
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons cream or butter (optional).
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over a moderate-high heat and panfry chicken and capsicum (pepper) 3-4 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from heat.
Reduce heat to medium and fry onion in remaining oil, 2 minutes. Add rice and cook for 2 minutes stirring continuously. If using wine, add now and stir until absorbed.
Add one cup of stock at a time and stir until absorbed (about 5 minutes). Cook until tender (about 25-30 minutes). Stir in chicken and capsicum in the last 5 minutes.
Stir in parmesan, parsley and optional cream and serve immediately.
(Recipe based on a chicken, mushroom and asparagus risotto recipe from Sunrice).
It’s gelatin from the bones and connective tissue. The fat has nothing to do with it–it should rise to the top and you can scrape it off if you want your stock to have less fat in it.
What you have managed to nearly make is a demi-glace. A demi-glace is basically any liquid, such as a stock, that has been reduced significantly. In the case of a stock, it would probably be more properly called a glace de viand. Some well-known restaurants will reduce 50 gallons of stock down to two gallons, thus concentrating the stock to be stored and diluted for future soups. Your only problem is that you probably did not skim the fat as you went along, so the fat has become emulsified into the stock. This is not a good thing, as it can leave a greasy “mouth feel”. Stocks are made on a very low simmer to prevent that from happening, but without skimming off what collects on top, you end up with the same result.
You could even have used the fat that you skimmed off and threw out. It’s called “schmaltz” (or “schmalz”), and it’s used in a gazillion Jewish recipes.
Wow. So I have wonderful stuff in my fridge, and I threw out wonderful stuff? Dear me. I’ve never heard of these gazillion Jewish recipes that call for that skimmed fat.
Furthermore, I’ve always had a very hard time getting the fat off the top of the stock as it’s simmering. I figured I could make the stock, put it in the fridge and skim the fat off after it’s all floated to the top and solidified. Granted, in the past, there’s never been enough fat to solidify into more than little floaty disks (also a bit hard to remove entirely), but that was the theory. Also, my stock has always been liquid in the fridge.
So, if that’s not the right way to do it, maybe it’s time to take a step back. What’s the right way to make chicken stock?
You don’t get ALL the fat off while it’s simmering, but you can get quite a bit. BTW, a "simmer " is just a few teeny tiny bubbles breaking *below *the surface every few seconds, not a bunch of tiny bubbles breaking the surface all the time, as my mother (falsely) taught me. If you’ve got many bubbles at all, you’re above 210 degrees and into a boil. A real simmer is much lower than most people call a simmer, and it’s what you should make a stock at - 180 to 210. When the surface of the water is hardly being broken, it’s easy to skim. The rest of the fat, indeed, you pick of in the Fat Frisbee that forms on top of your chicken jello overnight in the fridge.
When you’re skimming, you’re getting off not only fat but coagulated proteins that, if left in the pot, will make your stock cloudy. A really good stock, besides being jelly in the fridge, will be bright and nearly clear.
You can use schmaltz in pretty much any chicken dish that calls for browning the chicken in vegetable oil or butter. It’s also used for frying other foods to keep them kosher when you can’t use butter. Honestly, I haven’t worked with it much, so I can’t tell you much more than that.
In most cases, the stock will stay liquid for long enough for the fat to float to the surface and separate out from the clear stock, even if it was somewhat emulsified.
But don’t throw the fat away; when you’re making risotto (and you must, you must!), use the fat (along with a little olive or other oil, if necessary) to fry the onions; once you have the rice in there, the fats will all get soaked up and you’ll end up with a dish that doesn’t seem greasy at all. OK, it’s a pretty calorie-intense meal, but there’s really no other way to do it - it just ain’t worth making risotto unless you’re going to pull out all the stops.
Alton Brown’s (of course) chicken stock method. He has a whole show on chicken stock, where he given even more tips and tricks, and, most importantly, shares the whys and hows for this magical process.
Some other Doper always links to transcripts of AB’s shows, but I don’t know where to find them and Google won’t give up the goods. Anyone? Anyone?
Verily, he is like unto a True Prophet of our Times!
He cannot be constraineth by Vessel or Media -
Read ye the Holy Books and do thusly learn from our Master.
