Stocks

Appears in

Published 1987

About

While the thought of making stocks may seem to be a gigantic bore to many people, their preparation can give great joy to a cook — rather like a potter preparing clay. Stocks should be intrinsically beautiful, clear, unctuous with a clean flavour of the base material.

The deceptive simplicity of stocks expresses the goals of great dishes: truth on the palate, respect for the ingredients and for the consumer, as well as a display of craft.

The great Swiss chef Fredy Giradet fondly calls his stocks ‘my little jellies’, expressing his love for their simplicity and beauty. I remember as a child at my parents’ hotel asking our Chinese chef what was the big pot of hot water with egg shells and chickens floating in it at the corner of the stove. ‘That is why our restaurant is busy and the others are not’, he replied. He knew that one of the secrets of good cooking is good stocks.