Welcome back and we are still on the case of stock peoples! having fun? :)
Having one stock recipe is a limitation, that means with the countless amount of recipes available, you keep introducing the same flavours to those dishes. Some recipes work well with a brown beef stock, while others are done justice with the introduction of a quality chicken stock. For that reason, I want to talk about how this western chicken stock recipe is an undercover quality ingredient, a silent killer, like that crush you have that you don't know about, who stalks you everyday and shoots all the pigeons that sh*t on your car (I hate pigeons)
This chicken stock recipe you saw in the video is known as a white stock. A white stock is where we have just used the bones without browning them. we discussed brown stocks previously, brown stocks are mostly made from red meat, but you can also make a brown stock with poultry.
The same thing applies to a brown stock when making a chicken stock, you can use the same ingredients, except the tomato puree, and the fact that you boil it for much less than you do for bones from red meat, this is because it does not take that long to extract the gelatine from chicken bones, 6-9 hours max.
Because raw bones are used in a white stock and not grilled like the brown stock, all the fat are still left on the bones, meaning more fat and impurities will rise to the top of the stock and should be skimmed off to avoid a cloudy stock. The french technique; depouiller is where you add a large amount (about 500ml) of cold water into a stock as it is coming up to a boil/simmer, this helps to lower the temperature of the stock and solidify fats and scum, lifting it to the surface for easy skimming.
Chicken stocks just make everything better for me, I can get really excited sometimes and use chicken stocks in places where I really shouldn't, I almost used chicken stock to make scrambled eggs, but note this, I will still do it, I just didn't do it last time because I was stopped. If you want a really rich brown stock, start off with a litre of cold or room temp chicken stock rather than cold water. As a matter of fact, when I make chicken stock, I start off with 1-2 litres of my old chicken stock, ad the flavour just gets richer and richer each time. it is so brilliant almost everywhere, chicken stock can be used to cook, wait for it, CHICKEN! Yes, chicken, I mean the meat-on-the-bone chicken and not the carcass.
There is a chicken recipe where you flavour the already made chicken stock with ginger, garlic, brown sugar, herbs, soy sauce, and chillies and then poach the chicken in it for 1 - 1 & 1/2 hours, you freeze the chicken uncovered to allow the skin dry,then fry it later, and further flavour the chicken stock with some asian spices and ingredients, reduce it a bit, then serve as a dipping sauce for the chicken. This is chicken on a whole new level, and the primary item through all the steps? chicken stock.
Try this coconut rice recipe when next you have extra chicken stock around and be amazed:
COCONUT RICE RECIPE:
400g Coconut milk
200g Chicken stock
20g Ginger (minced)
10g red chillies (sliced)
15g fish sauce (optional)
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
1/4 (which is one side) of red, yellow and green bell peppers
1 cup of carrots
1 cup of peas
200g king prawns
50g button mushrooms
1 tbsp crayfish (substitute: anchovies)
20g lemon grass
and 10-20g chopped coriander roots (a couple would suffice as well)
salt to taste
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup of rice
Method:
Throw it all in a pot and pray!
OR
- In a pot add your coconut milk, chicken stock, ginger, chillies, button mushrooms, crayfish, lemon grass, coriander roots and seasonings.
- Bring to a boil, don't let it get to a roiling boil (bubbles popping), then cover and leave to infuse for 15 minutes. best way is to cover with a tight lid or cling film
- In a pan, add some oil, and fry your prawns, bell peppers, carrots and peas. In order to avoid dilution from excess water, make sure to wipe prawns down and make sure they are at room temperature and not frozen, same at vegetables. You can try my strange ritual that works for me, fry carrot and peas together first, then set aside, fry bell peppers next then add to carrot and peas, then fry prawns last and add, making sure to wipe pan clean if you notice any water diluting the oil. if water mixes with the oil, you are not longer frying, but steaming/cooking your prawns or vegetables. When done, fry all together one last time and season with 1 tbsp butter, salt, white pepper, smoked paprika, basil, dried coriander, or just use any seasoning of your choice.
- After 15 minutes, add washed rice and fish sauce to the mix and steam until done. check while it cooks and add more chicken stock if needed.
- When rice is done, add fried prawns and vegetables and mix together with rice.
ENJOY!