Asian style. Ordinarily, you'd take a whole chicken, throw it in a pot, boil it until it falls away from the bone easily. Before you reached that point, you'd add celery, onion, carrots, a mirepoix if you were to do things correctly, which my mother, bless her, did not. And which would have come first. Actually, to be totally correct about it, the good chef realizes that whereas roasting a chicken concentrates flavor, boiling one dilutes flavor. And after the chicken is roasted, the bones are then roasted too, just to make sure that every molecule of flavor that bird has to offer is extracted, concentrated, and layered via the miracle of Maillard reaction. But I am not doing any of that. And I am not doing what I saw my mother do either. I'm striking out on my own here and following my own lights. I'm using a single chicken thigh, albeit a large one, and a carton and a half of prepared chicken broth along with aromatics as suits me, and a few Asian additions. I'll also make my own egg noodles because that's what I'm all about tonight. I got a wild hair to make noodles by hand, like a little old Italian lady, and without the aid of the Atlas because I do not feel like dragging it out and clamping it up. Down. On. Whatever. And Plus I get to hone my mad pasta-skillz.
Whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap whap. Done. A whole row of perfectly spaced pasta strands. And, Man, are they ever good. I totally forgot how supremely better my own egg noodles are compared to the best I can buy. This is child's play for me. I'm awesome.
Here's how I made this in the order it was done. The process is linear. The pasta was made first and held in reserve then added last. I guess that's circular innit. It's linearly circular then. Not shown, one tablespoon sugar. No salt and no pepper. The yellow powder is semolina flour next to all purpose flour. A green bell pepper is shown cut but not shown whole. The chicken thigh was cut up into pieces, and the skin and fat were rendered, all reserved in the pot to oil and flavor the remaining ingredients. The pot was deglazed with sake. That sake sure went fast, the whole bottle is almost all gone. Then the remaining ingredients added one at a time as a stir-fry with the noodles last.
No more words, now, just pictures.
Just to clarify: were the noodles placed in boiling water at the beginning? Or were they added to the stir-fry in their uncooked state?
ReplyDeletepeter, the noodles were added raw at the very end. They cook in two minutes because they're fresh. They do get mushy if they stay in the broth too long. They're coated with extra semolina flour to keep them from sticking to each other while holding for everything else. That extra flour thickens the broth.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a bad cook -- last night I roasted a pork loin with mushrooms that the women in the house liked -- but there are plenty of things I haven't tried, like making my own noodles.
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of my grandma making spaetzle. I should make that sometime.
I roast chicken thighs -- or take a shortcut and buy a rotisserie chicken at the grocery -- but only if I've timed it right and get them when I see them coming out of the oven. I don't want to buy a chicken that's been sitting in the warmer for a couple hours.
Then I take the skin and bones and other what-not and bring it to a boil, along with a chopped onion and a carrot or two. Let that simmer an hour or more, then strain off the liquid. It's stock. At least it's what I call stock.
I gather from something I read that a lot of cooks make stock from uncooked parts -- like feet and other parts we don't usually cook.
Does that mean that my stock isn't the same as that kind of stock?
And what's the difference between stock and broth?
The basic difference between broth also bouillon and stock is that broth (bouillon) is seasoned mostly with salt and stock is not seasoned at all. Broth is a finished product that can be consumed on its own. Stock is a basic unseasoned ingredient, often reduced, that is used for other things, soups and sauces. Consomme is concentrated broth and usually clarified. It is cleared of all the tiny clouding bits. There is an old method of floating whipped egg whites on gently simmering broth so that convection lifts up the particles which become trapped in the egg whites which are then strained through cheesecloth. Very pissy.
ReplyDeleteThe terms broth and stock are used so loosely by commercial concerns that the difference between the words is nearly meaningless. Confused further now that marketers offer low-sodium broths.
Those pre-roasted chickens you mentioned are fantastic. Especially the huge ones they sell at Sam's Club. Once I bought 8 of them when my friend asked me to help with a reception following a funeral. He called me at work and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I also salvaged my father's reception similarly when my sister arranged for a cold platter cuts and cheese. She was so proud of her selection but I could see that it would not do. So those chickens saved the day twice. In both cases, the chickens were dolled up with kale and other exotic greens that nobody ever eats along with various fruit. Both receptions there was nothing left. People tore into them like cavemen.
I have made stock and broth from their carcasses, not the funeral reception ones, but other times. It's fun! You can enhance the stock even further by breaking open the bones and roasting them so the marrow drains out and burns on the pan. It only takes a few minutes to put a burn on them. Then lift off the burnt bits with simmering water, roasting pan on the stovetop. Then boil all the bones, the cartilage, the skin, all the junky little bits. It helps to have two or more chickens. You'll notice the free-range chickens and the slightly older birds produce a much richer stock. If you were to add bay leaf, pepper, dry herbs like sage and such then you'll officially have broth and not stock. I suppose the difference is important to chefs who intend to reduce that by 200% or so to concentrate the flavor for thick sauces. If it were seasoned and salted, then that would become concentrated too.
I need to do this again. I'm tired of chicken broth in cartons. I miss my own chicken broth. It's no trouble at all and it's totally worth it.
Thanks for the primer.
ReplyDeleteAfter a day or two, the stock I don't use goes in a zip bag and into the freezer. I have quite the collection of flat bags of frozen stock. Some with pieces of meat in them, but most without.
I had make something vegan-friendly once, so I used Bittman's recipe for vegetable stock. Turned out well. But I prefer the chicken stock, especially when I have leftover bits of celery to add.