The Importance of Cooking Stocks & Stock Reductions
Why are stocks and stock reductions one of the first things students at cooking school learn how to prepare?
Anyone who wants to be a better home cook, I suggest you learn how to make simple stocks, broths and stock reductions. Once you learn how to make them, then you’ll start learning how to cook with them.
They are vital for making soups, sauces, braises and more. Besides, they are fun to make and will help you with all your cooking technique skills.
Beef Stock – one of the first techniques culinary students learn to prepare is beef stock because it is used in so many dishes from soups to stews to sauces.
Chicken Stock – who doesn’t like a homemade chicken soup and it only gets better when you know how to make chicken stock. I use it in braising, for making sauces, risottos and just about anything else that requires adding a liquid base.
Brown Sauce & Demi Glace – one of these depending on who you speak with is one of the 5 Mother Sauces for making classic French sauces. Learn how to make these and you can really elevate your culinary skills.
What if I don’t want to make my own stocks and reductions?
If I had to choose from all the products on the market today that have improved my cooking ability and allowed me to make incredible gourmet sauces, it would be commercial stock, glaces and stock reductions now available.
I have been to many food shows over the years and seen lots of products but none have simplified my life more than these. If you have ever tried to make demi-glace or even veal stock, you will know how valuable this resource is.
This is not the powdered stuff you buy at the supermarket but the real thing. The same is true for their chicken stock and new seafood stock.
I use one of these products at least once a week but usually more. There was a time I made a big batch of chicken stock and stored it in the freezer for those times when a recipe called for a cup or two.
Problem was I had to really had to think ahead to be sure to defrost it and sometimes I only needed a cup and not a full quart. Besides, it took up so much room in my freezer, I didn’t have room for all the other stuff I purchased at Costco.
Now I just reach into the fridge, pull out my commercial stock reduction and measure out what I need and reconstitute it with hot water. Takes up a lot less room and these products have a year shelf life.
And when it comes to making a Demi-Glace, I don’t have two days to make it right. Now I have it in two minutes.
Where to Find Commercial Grade Demi Glace?
Demi Glace is now being sold by Amazon and if you are part of their Amazon Prime program, you can have it shipped FREE Two-Day Shipping. That’s a deal.
My Top Choices for Demi Glace
Online Sources: Demi Glace
For those of you who do not want to make demi glace at home.
Demi glace is the most important ingredient for making classic "restaurant quality" brown sauces. All the great French brown sauces use demi glace. But it can also be used in soups, stews and braises. It's something you can make at home but it takes a long, long time to do it right and if you make one mistake, it can easily be ruined. Lucky for us, there are now some great sources for commercial grade demi glace and I want to share a few with you now. Everyone has their preferences so I suggest you give each a try to find out which product you like best. The links below are affiliate links.Savory Choice's Demi Glace
More Than Gourmet's Demi Glace Gold
One of my first commercial demi glace products and still one of my favorites. For almost 25 years, More Than Gourmet has been the gold standard for flavor and quality when it comes to sauces, stock, and soup. This product comes in 1 pound tubs and 1.5 ounce pucks and even bigger sizes if you are a commercial establishment. I like buying 6 of the pucks at a time unless I'm doing a big party and need the pounder.
What MTG says, "Our Classic French Demi-Glace made in the old world tradition of Escoffier from brown stock and Sauce Espagnole. Demi-Glace Gold is reduced four times from the classic and allows you to make elegant finished French sauces quickly and easily. Our low-heat cooking techniques and 30-hour reduction process give the demi-glace a beautiful shine, flavor, and texture, which make finished sauces that are glossy to the eye and decided in taste."
Buy Demi-Glace Gold at Amazon
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