Lately I've been taking a bit of a back-seat approach and just riding it out, going with the flow, feeling a bit guilty about my lack of contribution to the world at large, but knowing fully well that when the time was ready, I'd be back at it again.
Things at work have been pretty busy. Most people would consider this a good reason to basically let the rest of their life settle down. I, however, end up being pushed up the accelerating side of my energy curve. The result? I, of course, decide to make a demi-glacé. The weather is getting colder and it smells like autumn outside. It's the perfect time of year to use roasting pans and stock pots.
I've been thinking about taking on the challenge of the infamous demi-glacé ever since reading Anthony Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential (wonderful, hilarious read for any foodie out there). I approach these types of culinary adventures in the same ritualistic way people approach an event like the prom, planning, list-making, preparation. I woke up today at 7am, excited to go out and buy a 20 quart stock pot (in this analogy, the equivalent of a prom dress). I treated myself to two new roasting pans and a new fine-mesh strainer as well, (the shoes and the jewelry?). I bought some bubble-wrap to use as a diffuser for my new fancy-dancy flash on my camera and I bought some big sheets of white paper to reflect flash off of. By the time I left the store with my new toys in hand, I was nearly giddy with excitement. I haven't cooked, really cooked, in a very long time. I haven't photographed the efforts in ages. Pretty poor form for a self-proclaimed food-blogger.
I moved on to New Sagaya and bought the ingredients for the mire poix and the bouquet garni. Arriving home, I took the ten pounds of veal bones out of the fridge to let them finish thawing and started to pre-heat the oven. I should note that, after researching the various methods of making a demi-glacé, I've decided to opt with the more modern approach. Rather than making a brown stock, splitting it in half, making an espagnole sauce and then recombining to reduce by half, I'm instead creating the stock and reducing it in one step. Rather than use a brown roux, I'm going with the purist approach of using only reduction as the thickening method. I'm skipping the celery in the mire poix and using leeks. I've substituted shallots for the onions. The carrots remain unaltered. The bouquet garni will be parsley, bay leaf and peppercorns, and I'm not using madiera or any other wine. My thought is that I'll keep the flavors as straightforward as possible since the result should be a base ingredient for a wide range of uses. Adding layers of flavor now would only limit my options later. We'll see how it goes.
I'm going to take a moment here to plug Mr. Prime Beef. What an awesome little gem of a butcher. Not only did they have frozen veal bones for sale, but they're already cut into two inch pieces. I had had images of trying to saw the bones myself in my garage with what was sure to be disastrous results. Not only to they carry relatively impossible-to-find items like veal bones and elk meat, but they also have amazingly high quality, fresh meats and their homemade Italian sausage (which can be bought in bulk), is pretty damn fantastic; this coming from an irritatingly picky Italian.
So now the oven is preheating, the veal bones are in the final stages of thawing, and I'm sitting here blogging in an attempt to relieve some of the giddiness.
Next steps: clean this mess of a kitchen, unwrap my new camera flash and take a few practice photos, prepare my mire poix and bouquet garni, and then get those little bones in the oven to get this process rolling.
One small advantage of making a sauce which requires 24 hours of attention: you end up with a really clean kitchen. Needless to say, I have the mop out and the stainless-steel wipes are poised and ready for action.
I can't wait!
Photos and fiascos to follow...
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