Rich and Delicious Chicken Stock

I did promise, didn’t I? Now that you’ve been breaking down chickens all week, you should have some chicken carcasses lying around, right? Well, hopefully they’re not just lying around. That’s gross. Refrigerate them, for goodness’ sake.

Wherever those chicken carcasses may be, I ask you now to pull them out and get ready to make some incredible chicken stock. I will warn you, though, you’re never going to be able to taste store-bought chicken stock the same way again. Even the best one will still have this slightly off background taste that tells you it isn’t quite the real deal. What is the real deal? The chicken stock I am about to tell you how to make, a staple every kitchen should have.

So I had two chicken carcasses lying around—I mean, in my fridge—so I put them into a big roasting pan.
I’m making a dark chicken stock, by the way. If you want a light one, skip the roasting step. The dark one will be much richer; the light one is good if you want a subtler flavor.

Roast the chicken bones at 375 F for about fifteen minutes so they get a head start on the vegetables you’re going to add.

Meanwhile, roughly chop your veggies. The basic essentials are onions, carrots, and celery, but you could also add leeks, parsnips, turnips, broccoli stems, mushrooms, or garlic—nearly any vegetable. Consider how it tastes and decide whether or not you want that flavor in your stock. I kept it simple this time, and used the basics:
Yes, keep all those skins, stems, and ends on. There is flavor to be extracted from every part of most vegetables, so use as much of them as you can. They go into the roasting pan with the now semi-roasted chicken, tossed with a couple tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil.
Now it all goes back into the oven for another forty minutes or so, stirring occasionally. You want caramelization—some browning—on both the bones and the vegetables.
Next, get your biggest stockpot and put the roasted bones and vegetables into it. Add some herbs; fresh is best, but dry works well too.
I used a small bunch of fresh parsley, about four whole peppercorns, a couple teaspoons each of dried rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and savory, and two bay leaves.

Now, cover it all with the coldest water you can. I add ice cubes and get my tap water as cold as possible. If you think of it ahead of time, put some water in the fridge and get it good and icy.
So, why cold? Starting food in cold water extracts flavor from the food and leeches it into the water once it begins to simmer. If you’re poaching or simmering food in liquid and you’re going to be eating the food itself, not the cooking liquid, start it in warm or hot water so that the flavors will all be concentrated in the food item. Good tip, eh?

Now, crank up the heat on that stockpot and bring the liquid to a simmer. Meanwhile, what about all that browned goodness stuck on the bottom of your roasting pan?
You definitely don’t want that to go to waste, so place your roasting pan over medium-high heat on the stovetop. Once it’s good and hot, add about ½ cup red wine and deglaze, scraping up all the browned bits on the pan. After two minutes, add the liquid to your stockpot.

From here on, it’s pretty straightforward. Once your stock gets up to a simmer, keep it there and let it cook uncovered for four to six hours. Occasionally skim the foam from the surface of the stock, and don’t let it boil—that will cause the impurities that have risen to the top of the liquid to be mixed back into it. Keep the bones and vegetables covered in liquid at all times, adding more water when necessary. Try not to add too much, though. If the stock seems to be evaporating too much, decrease the heat.

Here’s mine, early in the simmering process:
Here it is about two hours later. See how dark and delicious it’s getting?
When adequate time has passed, you’ll be ready to strain your stock. Having done this a few times, I’ve perfected my own method of doing this: first, I strain it through a colander, just to get out all the big pieces of bone and vegetable. Then, I strain it through a fine mesh strainer, and then again through the same strainer, this time lined with cheesecloth. That does the trick and gets all the bits and pieces out of my stock. Now, this might seem obvious, but I’m going to mention it anyways: strain your stock into another container, not into the sink and down the drain! I say this because every time I strain stock I’ve made, I always instinctually move to strain it into the sink—bad idea!

Anyways, so after straining, hopefully not down the drain of your sink, check out this incredible, lovely product you end up with:
Yes, it’s very dark, and in this case, that’s what we were aiming for. Again, if you want light chicken stock, skip the roasting process. That golden layer on top is fat, so I skimmed that off. When this product gets cold, it becomes completely gelatinous. This is a good thing. That gelatin is from collagen, extracted from the bones you used to make the stock, and equals rich, delicious FLAVOR!

Once again, let me just say, you will never be able to taste store-bought chicken stock the same way again.

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Chicken Break-Down

Knowing how to break down a chicken is a very useful culinary skill. It's helpful for all kinds of recipes, and it will also save you money. How? Well, pull out your weekly circular for your local grocery store. Got it? Find the price for chicken breasts, thighs, wings and drumsticks. Now, find the price for whole chickens. Which one is the cheapest? The whole chicken, right? By buying whole chickens and cutting them into parts yourself, you will save yourself major bucks compared to buying the parts separately. Also, and I think that this is the best reason for always buying whole birds, is that you’re left with a chicken carcass, which you can use to make chicken stock that will be a hundred times more flavorful than anything you can buy in the store. I’ll be posting about that soon, so stay tuned.

There are downsides to this. Of course, every chicken only has two breasts, two legs, and two wings, so what are you supposed to do when you need more than that? It doesn’t seem very economical to be buying three chickens just to get six chicken breasts, does it? Well, yes and no. What I do is I try to buy a chicken whenever they go on sale. I take it home and cut it into parts and freeze all the parts separately. Eventually, I have a collection of parts ready when I need them.*

Are you convinced? Hopefully so, because I’m going to launch into the how-to of this anyways. First, you’ll want to get yourself a boning knife. It looks like this:
Other knives of about the same size will probably be OK, but the boning knife is shaped in such a way to make the job easiest for you, so it’s ideal. It’s also known as a boner. Don’t laugh, I’m serious.

Next, you will need a chicken. This whole procedure is pretty pointless if you don’t have a chicken. Say hello to Miss Chicken:
Now, you’re ready to make your first cut. The cuts you’re going to be making will mostly be on joints. It is essential that you cut at the correct spot. Otherwise, you’ll be trying to cut through bone and not only will this be very difficult, it will also kill the edge on your knife. So what is that correct spot, you ask? Well, take our first cut, for example: the wings. You will be cutting on the second joint in from the tip of the wing. Take that joint between your fingers and give it a feel. You should be able to feel a distinct spot where the joint actually is (where the two bones connect). You want to cut right on that spot, right between the bones. Right about here:

If it seems like you’re sawing through bone, it’s because you are, so try again. You should only have to cut through the tendons and ligaments holding the joint together. You should end up with one of these:
Now, you’re going to separate the breast from the carcass. Find the chicken’s sternum. It’s the bone that goes down the front of the bird and separates the two breasts. Place your knife on one side of the sternum, as close to the bone as possible, just below the neck. Now, cut into the flesh, keeping as close as possible to the sternum and going as deep as you can.
To completely remove the breast, continue to cut along the carcass of the chicken, right until just above the leg. The breast should just be attached to the rest of the chicken by the skin, so simply cut through that to cut the breast completely away. You can leave the breast as is, or you can also remove the tender from it. The tender is the thin piece of flesh on the underside of the breast. You can remove it simply by peeling it away with your hand, no knife required.
Next, you’re going to separate the leg and thigh from the bird. This picture shows the general area you’re going to be cutting:
You’re going to be cutting at a joint again, so find the joint where the thigh attaches to the body of the bird. It’s pretty deep in there, but it’s there, I promise. Hopefully, this will help (sorry, this picture is a little gross):
Just like with the wing, you want to cut through the joint, not the bone. It should give easily. Once you’ve cut through the joint, you can simply slice the thigh the rest of the way off. Then, you’ve got yourself a chicken leg:
The next step is to separate the thigh from the drumstick. Actually, this part is optional, depending on how you intend to use the legs. Sometimes you want the thigh and drumstick attached. If not, here’s what you do: turn the leg skin side down. Find the joint that attaches the thigh to the drumstick, and cut through that.
You should be getting pretty good at this cutting through joints thing now. Once you’re through the joint, you should have something like this:
Now, just cut through the remaining flesh and skin to separate the thigh and drumstick completely.

Finally, repeat all of the above steps on the other side of the chicken, and ta-da!
You have successfully broken your chicken down into parts. Congratulations. Now, use those parts however you’d like, but DO NOT throw away that carcass! Next, I’m going to show you how to make fabulous chicken stock. Trust me, you’re going to want to get in on that. Really, trust me.

*Just a quick note to say that freezing and thawing fresh meat is not ideal. It is always better to buy meat fresh and cook it as soon as you can. However, this will cost you more and it isn’t always economical time-wise either. Thawing frozen meat for everyday use is fine, just don’t let that meat hang around in your freezer for too long. For special occasions, be sure you get your meat fresh.

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Goodbye to Gourmet

So have you heard? After nearly seventy years of publishing, Gourmet magazine is shutting down for good. You can read about it here.

I have been a subscriber to Gourmet for the past year, and though I have enjoyed some of the articles and recipes from the magazine, I can’t say I am very surprised about this news. When my subscription first started, I eagerly looked forward to that one day a month when I would receive a nice, fat parcel rolled up in my mailbox containing the newest issue of Gourmet. All other plans would be forgotten as I would tear open the plastic covering and immediately begin to flip through the glossy new pages. Sometimes, my eye would catch on a recipe I knew I had to try at the earliest opportunity, and even less often, I would find an article that I looked forward to reading. However, as the year went on, I found myself feeling far less excited about the prospect of a new Gourmet coming my way. In more recent months, when I have opened my mailbox to find the latest magazine, I found myself thinking, “Oh yeah, I guess I was due for a new one.” The magazine would then go to my coffee table, where it would sit, unopened, until probably some night later in the week, when I got bored during a commercial break while I was watching TV, I would browse through it. Needless to say, Gourmet has not been very inspirational to me.

Now, I don’t want to sound like a hater. Like I said, I do use recipes from Gourmet, and I do sometimes read its articles. I really liked the fun concept of their latest September issue: recipes from A to Z, including letter-themed menus, with every dish starting with the same letter. Not exactly useful, but definitely fun. Being from Montreal, it was exciting to see the November issue had an article about fishing in northern Quebec. These points that catch my interest, though, are few and far between. My point here is that Gourmet just isn’t keeping my attention, and, so it seems, I am not the only one who feels this way.

The NY Times article I have linked to above talks about the colorful history of Gourmet, and some of the foodie greats, like James Beard and M. F. K. Fisher, who have contributed to its pages over the years. As wonderful as this all is, the article kind of proves the point: in its heyday, this magazine was great, it was interesting, it was current, and it was an influence on many home cooks, but this is all in the past. Lately, it has been stuck in a rut and losing readers. Before I even heard about the imminent closure of Gourmet, I decided not to re-subscribe to the magazine, switching it instead for a year of Food and Wine.

The article also mentions how some readers are miffed that Gourmet is being shut down, while Bon Appétit, also owned by Condé Nast Publications, is not. Just as I understand why Gourmet cannot continue, I understand why Bon Appétit can. I have been subscribing to Bon Appétit for the past year as well, and unlike with Gourmet, my excitement over receiving each month’s issue has not faded, and I still read through the magazine as soon as I receive it. Perhaps this is a matter of personal opinion, but I prefer Bon Appétit’s articles, recipes, and even pictures to Gourmet’s. Every month, I look forward to seeing what the At the Market item will be, a feature that highlights a product that is in season, and gives several recipes to make use of it. I love Molly Wizenberg’s Cooking Life article, the Health Wise section, and The Baker, a new monthly article by Dorie Greenspan. These features are all from Bon Appétit. Gourmet’s monthly features are comparable in theme, but I find they are not as well written, and the topics are often of less interest to me. The bottom line: I chose to keep my Bon Appétit subscription going, while ending my Gourmet one.

Should the magazine carry on just because it is an American cultural icon? I don’t think so. It certainly is a shame that the magazine could not continue to be the inspiration it used to be. This is the end of an era, and that is sad, but inevitable. If I was wearing a hat, I would take it off in respect to the important role Gourmet magazine has played in the history of food literature. For the future, I look forward to being inspired by the quality food magazines that continue to be published today.

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Back and Better Than Ever

My dear friends, my fellow food-lovers,

It has been a long time. I won’t try to deny it. It’s been about six months. Now, I could ramble on about a busy schedule, a lot of changes, and no time at all, but you probably aren’t interested in that. What you might be interested to hear is that the real reason I haven’t been around lately is because for a while, it seemed like I had lost my food-blogging footing.

I still was, and still am, doing a lot of cooking, but chronicling it in pictures and words and posting it for all to see was starting to feel a little pointless. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore because I had no real goal in mind, nothing really of worth to share, other than “Hey, this recipe is really good!” I needed more of a purpose. I needed a point of view. Of course, I’ve had a point of view on food and cooking all along, but I haven’t really been sharing it.

In the six months that I haven’t been blogging about food, I have had two major food-related experiences: I have been through two quarters of culinary school, and I have had my first job in a restaurant kitchen. These experiences have certainly broadened my knowledge and improved my abilities. They have also helped me to develop and strengthen that culinary point of view that I am hoping to talk about more here on Bring Your Appetite. I feel like I have more to share now than I did before, and I am eager to do so.

So, to help me to keep on track and to help you to get an idea of what this blog is all about (from now on), I would like to put forth some goals I have in mind for Bring Your Appetite, a mission statement of sorts:

I will write each post with the intention of sharing something specific: an idea, a bit of information, a theory, or an opinion. I might share something concrete, like things you should know about making your own stock, or something more contemplative, like why we so often associate food with important memories. It might be something controversial, like my thoughts on veganism, or something more black-and-white, like the traditional cuisine of a particular culture. Whatever the subject, I will approach writing each post with the intention of sharing something that I think will be of interest to whomever might be reading this, something that I believe is truly worth sharing.

I hope that isn’t too vague. I’m still figuring this out myself. All I know is that I want to continue this blog, and I want it to be a better reflection not only of what I know about food, but also what I think about food, and what I am interested in talking about on the subject of food. I would love for this food-centric monologue to become more of a dialogue, so readers, if you have something to say, please jump in and say it. I want to hear if you agree; I want to hear if you disagree.

There is one thing that certainly has not changed since I started this blog a little less than a year ago: you mustn’t forget to Bring Your Appetite.

Love,

Jessica

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Making Ribs for the First Time

You may have figured out by now that I am generally an adventurous cook. I like a challenge and I like trying new things, so in many cases, the trickier and more bizarre a recipe is, the more excited I am to give it a try. But there are a few fairly typical things that I have actually never attempted to cook myself. One of those things is ribs. And why not? Rib is a pretty uncomplicated cut of meat, isn’t it? They’re generally seasoned simply and cooked slowly, so there’s little concern about tricky techniques and perfect timing to get a rack of ribs that is cooked to perfection and tastes delicious.

A recipe for ribs in the March issue of Gourmet caught my eye as I was flipping through it. Black Pepper Beef Ribs. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Isn’t your mouth watering? I skimmed through it and found that it was, indeed, a very simple recipe, although it did mention that beef back ribs are usually not found sold separately in grocery stores, so it would probably be necessary to order them for a butcher. That meant two things to me: time and money. Ordering from a butcher probably meant that I would have to wait awhile for them, and there was a good chance they wouldn’t be cheap either. I filed the recipe away in the back of my mind, figuring it was doubtful that I would ever draw it out. It seemed that yet again, an opportunity to finally make ribs myself had slipped away.

About a week later, while I was at the grocery store, guess what caught my eye in the meat section? A lovely shrink-wrapped package of beef back ribs, all long and marbled and just waiting for me to purchase them and gobble them up. It was fate! Or maybe it was just that this particular store sold these ribs separately all the time. They weren’t expensive either, so I really had no excuse not to buy them.

And man, was I ever glad I did. They were incredibly simple to make (actually, maybe a little boringly simple—not exactly a challenge), and they came out beautifully. They were so simple to make, I can explain the process to you in a few simple lines:

1. Mix together two tablespoons of cracked black pepper, one tablespoon of brown sugar, one tablespoon of kosher salt, and one teaspoon of paprika.
2. To make enough for four (I made half that), take two racks (5-6 lbs.) of beef back ribs and pat them dry.
3. Rub the spice mixture all over the ribs, getting it good and worked into the meat. Arrange in a single layer in a large roasting pan.
4. Bake uncovered at 200 F for about six hours.
That’s it! Well, that’s it, other than cutting them up and serving them. They were tender, flavorful, and absolutely fantastic. One suggestion for serving: put them on a platter and have people serve themselves. These ribs are HUGE, so a serving of four or so ribs takes up a whole plate and looks a little ridiculous.

Have fun!

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Book Review: Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser

New York Times food writer, Amanda Hesser’s tale of meeting and marrying a man she calls Mr. Latte is a cross between a novel, an autobiography, a cookbook, and some of the most tantalizing food writing I’ve ever read. Though each chapter can be looked at as a self-contained story, describing an event in the author’s life, always involving food, they collectively chronicle the progression of Hesser’s relationship with her husband, from their meeting to their marriage. At the end of each chapter are a few recipes of the foods described in it.

The reading is light, but the characters are vivid and lovable, and the food is maddeningly tempting to read about. It’s kind of a food-lover’s Sex and the City, only instead of Mr. Big, we have Mr. Latte, and instead of a lot of sex, there is a whole lot of food. As I read, I gorged myself on the descriptions of various dishes and meals, going back to reread passages about salt-crusted shrimp that you eat whole, shell and all, slow-cooked ginger duck, appetizers of foie gras and jam on bread, roasted beet and Vidalia onion salad, braised oxtails, chicken liver pâté, and oh, I could go on. I read a lot of food-writing these days, in the form of blogs, books, and magazines, and I have to say, though I love it, I do get a little sick of it sometimes, and a little desensitized to even some of the most well-written descriptions of food. Not with Hesser’s writing, though. I devoured this book in two days, and could have gone back for seconds.

That said, I did not love every aspect of this book. I found Hesser to be elitist at times, and couldn’t help but be annoyed at certain points in the book. In the fifth chapter, she describes how tiresome it can be to eat at a new restaurant with a group of foodies, yet her own pretentiousness (turning her nose up at Mr. Latte’s suggestion of Merchant’s, an apparently mediocre New York steakhouse, for their first date, for example) would suggest that she is no better. I was a bit put off by how she breezed over her experience of 9/11, focusing more on the food she ate than the impact the tragedy had on her life. If you aren’t going to speak about an event this monumental with any depth, why mention it at all? And I don’t see why in a book about food and love, she devoted nearly an entire chapter to her great drama over buying a Valentino wedding gown on impulse, but then eventually trading it in for a Prada. Who cares?

These really are minor quibbles, though. One has to keep in mind, this is light reading, and it won’t change your life or provoke any heated debates. Hesser never talks about whether or not you should buy organic, or if you should boycott any meat that did not come from a free-range animal. She doesn’t discuss her beliefs on vegetarianism, or foie gras (though she does eat plenty of it). These are all important issues in the world of food, and though I am certain that Hesser has her opinions about them, they simply don’t have a place in this book. Cooking for Mr. Latte is about Hesser’s love for food, about the people she loves, and how the two constantly interact. She reminds us how food can be a comfort and a joy, and how it can be the most vivid part of some of our best memories.

By including recipes, Hesser also allows her readers to literally get a taste of some of the more memorable moments of this part of her life. Though Hesser’s rich knowledge of the culinary world, and occasional pretentiousness about food might seem intimidating, her recipes are completely approachable. Hesser’s stories show how food brings people together, and so these recipes also bring us closer to Hesser and help us to better understand, and perhaps be inspired by, her lifelong passion for food.

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(A New) Mac and Cheese

There are a number of North American comfort food classics that I think nearly everyone has a favorite version of that they believe is the only “real” version of the meal. Trust me, I’ve seen it: arguments beginning over whether meatballs should be made with beef or pork, fistfights breaking out over whether or not there should be peas in shepherd’s pie, and friendships nearly destroyed over whether or not cream cheese should be added to mashed potatoes.

All right, I may be exaggerating slightly, but I know that even as someone who loves to try new recipes and have plenty of variety in my diet, there are certain foods that I can never quite enjoy as much as when they are made the way I like, the way I grew up eating, the way that I, in my heart of hearts, believe is the “right” way.

One of those foods is macaroni and cheese. I like it baked with breadcrumbs on top. I like it made with a mild cheddar cheese. I like it made with a basic béchamel sauce. There are about a million and one ways to make mac and cheese, but I never liked it better than when it was made in this most simple and basic way. Until now.
The September 2008 issue of Bon Appétit had this fantastic macaroni and cheese recipe that I now can’t get enough of. It’s still fairly simple, and incorporates many of the things that I love about my “original” mac and cheese: the breadcrumb topping is still there, only now it’s in the form of panko sautéed in butter with chopped parsley stirred in; the base of the cheese sauce is still a béchamel, only it is started off with some crisped pancetta and sautéed onion; the cheese is still cheddar, only this time a sharper version is used and combined with parmesan, and—and this is the real key to the brilliance of this dish—mascarpone. The mascarpone helps balance out the sharpness of the cheddar and parmesan, and also adds an incredible richness to the sauce.
The rest is done just as I’ve always done it: combine the sauce with cooked macaroni (shells work well here too), top with the panko, and bake for about thirty minutes.
We had this on a Wednesday night with Caesar salad, and though the macaroni and cheese was not the precise version I had been loving for years, it was true comfort food that I’m sure I’ll love for years to come.
Mac and Cheese with Pancetta
From Bon Appétite, September 2008
Makes 10 servings (I always halve this recipe)

8 tbsp. butter, divided
4 oz. thinly sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped
1 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 tsp. dried crushed red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup flour
3 1/2 cups (or more) milk
2 1/2 cups coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 8- to 8.8-ounce container mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
1 lb. orecchiette, or large elbow macaroni

Melt 1 tbsp. butter in large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add pancetta; sauté until crisp, about 5 minutes. Add onion, sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add crushed red pepper and garlic, stir 1 minute. Stir in 3 tbsp. butter, allow to melt, then add flour and stir 1 minute. Gradually whisk in 3 1/2 cups milk, simmer until thick enough to coat spoon thickly, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in cheeses. Whisk in more milk by 1/4 cupfuls until sauce is thick but pourable. Season with salt and pepper.

Melt 4 tbsp. butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add panko and stir until very light golden, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain well. Return pasta to pot. Add warm cheese sauce, toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over. Bake until heated through and topping is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

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