An Exaltation of Soups (6 page)
Read An Exaltation of Soups Online
Authors: Patricia Solley
C
HICKEN
S
TOCK
S
WIMS THE
E
NGLISH
C
HANNEL
Ask Gertrude Ederle about the restorative powers of chicken stock. It was she, an American who in 1926 became the first woman to swim across the English Channel, who endured the fourteen-hour-and-thirty-one-minute swim by being fed chicken stock, seven separate times, while she floated on her back.
Makes 8 cups
4 to 5 pounds chicken parts—backs, wings, necks, feet (with the nails clipped off)
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, trimmed and scrubbed
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white peppercorns
12 cups (3 quarts) cold water
O
P
REPARE
Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. Place all the ingredients in a large soup pot and pour in the water—the water should cover them by a minimum of 2 inches. Bring to a boil slowly over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 2 hours.
2. Remove the cover and simmer for at least another hour.
3. Strain the stock, discarding the solids. If you’re not going to use the stock immediately, cool it down quickly, uncovered, and then either refrigerate it or freeze it for later use, leaving the chicken fat on top to seal for freshness.
N
OTE
: For an entirely different “essence” of chicken, see the recipe for Chicken Soup with Ginger or Sesame Oil.
Makes 8 cups
4 pounds veal knuckles, or 3 pounds veal knuckles and 1 pound boneless beef
16 cups (4 quarts) cold water
8 white peppercorns 1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
6 whole cloves
6 stems fresh parsley
1 medium onion, chopped
3 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
1 carrot, trimmed, scrubbed, and chopped
O
P
REPARE
Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. In a large soup pot, bring all the ingredients to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 2½ to 3 hours, or until the stock is reduced by half.
2. Strain the stock, discarding the solids. If you’re not going to use the stock immediately, cool it down quickly, uncovered, and then either refrigerate it or freeze it for later use.
Makes 8 cups
4 pounds beef bones, cracked by a butcher so the goodness of the marrow can be easily extracted
2 pounds beef soup bones
Any leftover beef or beef fat
12 cups (3 quarts) cold water
2 carrots, trimmed and scrubbed
4 medium onions, quartered
Handful of fresh parsley sprigs
1 parsnip, scrubbed and trimmed
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 bay leaves
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
O
P
REPARE
Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. In a 450°F. oven, roast the bones and any meat in a large roasting pan for 1 hour. Put all the bones in a large soup pot, then pour 1 cup water into the roasting pan and scrape up any browned bits, then pour that liquid into the pot.
2. Add the remaining ingredients, then fill the pot with the remaining water, so it is at least 2 inches over the ingredients. Bring to a simmer slowly over medium heat, skimming as needed. Don’t let the stock come to a hard boil or it will cloud.
3. Cover and let simmer for 2 hours, then remove the cover and simmer for at least 2 more hours, skimming and adding water as needed.
4. Strain the stock, discarding the solids and rescuing any meat bits for another use. If you’re not going to use the stock immediately, cool it down quickly, uncovered, and then either refrigerate it or freeze it for later use, leaving the fat on top to seal the stock for freshness.
Makes 8 cups
T
HIS STOCK
is a classic base for traditional Hungarian and other central European soups, and it is marvelous to use as a smoky, aromatic addition to any recipe for plain bean or pea soups.
10 ounces smoked ham shank or smoked ribs
8 cups (2 quarts) cold water
O
P
REPARE
In advance of cooking: soak the smoked meat in cold water for at least 2 hours, changing the water several times to remove impurities.
O
C
OOK
1. Place the meat in a soup pot and cover with the cold water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the meat cool in the stock.
2. Strain the stock, discarding the solids. If you’re not going to use the stock immediately, cool it down quickly, uncovered, and then either refrigerate it or freeze it for later use. Cut the meat off the bones for soup or another use, discarding the bones.
W
HAT ON
E
ARTH
I
S
D
ASHI
?
Like nothing else in the world, that’s what. It’s a heady combination of bonito
(katsuobushi)
fish and dried kelp, but not just fresh bonito and kelp, mind you. Oh, no: the bonito is caught, filleted, simmered, dry-smoked for some two weeks in fragrant wooden chambers, dried in the sun, and cured with mold for six weeks—at which point it looks just like chunks of wood and is ready to go.
Likewise, the kelp (or
konbu
, chock full of natural, non-headachy monosodium glutamate) is harvested from
konbu
boats with long forked poles, then spread out on shore to dry—first in the sun, then in drying chambers, at which point they are folded, bundled, and sent to market.
All the soup maker needs to do is shave pieces of the bonito block with a carpenter’s plane (honest! that, or buy it already shaved), wipe down the
konbu
, briefly simmer one after the other in the same water, voilá: perfect
dashi
, truly the
fond de cuisine
of Japanese kitchens.
DASHI
Makes 8 cups
8-inch square of
konbu
(dried kelp), sponged clean and cut into a ½-inch fringe
10½ cups (2½ quarts) cold water
1 cup
katsuobushi
(dried bonito), flaked