According to statistics, often even experienced housewives do not know how to cook the broth correctly. Many simply put a piece of meat in a pan, fill it with water, and then completely forget about everything while sitting in front of the computer. At best, they remove the foam and wait for the meat to cook. It is not surprising that the meat eventually becomes tasteless, under-salted, tough, and the broth is fresh and odorless. How to cook the broth? This question can be answered by looking at the cookbooks. All serious, thorough books open their first pages with recipes for various broths.
Broths are the alpha and omega of cooking, without which it is impossible to cook soups, sauces, transparent jellies, jellied meat, risotto and many other dishes that make up the treasury of world cuisine.
Modern urban dwellers are in an ongoing state of lack of time. Therefore, for many, the temptation is great to buy ready-made cubes of chicken or beef broth, dilute them in water, throw noodles - and the soup is ready. However, those who care about the contents of their own plate are unlikely to like this compromise. In fact, the question of how to cook the broth is not an acute issue. A few tricks and knowledge - and in the end, the finished perfect broth.
Varieties of broths
In the article, we will consider how to cook the broth correctly, what they are, how to store them, and so on. A broth is a decoction of meat, vegetables and fish. If you cook it in accordance with all the rules, it has a pleasant, rich taste, and also has a number of healing properties.
Most often it is used as the basis for soups, main dishes, for cooking rice and other cereals, however, the broth itself is very tasty.
Most broths are cooked from bones with a small amount of meat and with the addition of vegetables and seasonings, aromatic herbs. Decoctions are:
- Chicken
- Meat.
- Fish.
- Vegetable.
- Mushroom.
In addition to these basic ones, there is also a dashi broth, which is prepared on the basis of algae and dried tuna, as well as the famous Chinese pickle from soybean Low Soy, which is used a certain number of times. Meat is cooked in it, after which the broth is not poured, but left until the next time. If stored correctly, it can be used forever.
In countries where there is a lot of seafood, they often make broths from shells of shrimp, crayfish and other types of crustaceans. These basics are great for preparing dishes such as chowder, curry and so on.
Consider the recipe below, how to cook the broth, and all those ingredients that are necessary for cooking it.
Water
It would seem that there is nothing to talk about water. Without it, it is impossible to cook almost any dish, especially a decoction. But not everyone knows how much water to take, how to cook the broth to make it tasty.
For this dish you need to take tasty, soft water without any impurities. It should also be borne in mind that during the cooking process the water will boil away, therefore it is preliminarily taken more than the desired volume of the finished broth.
If you gradually add water instead of boiling, then the broth will turn out tasteless. However, if there is no other way out, there is little water, then it is better to add boiled water.
Broth base
The base or base of the broth is the bones. These are either meat or fish bones, due to which a rich taste is obtained. They need to be cut, then a wonderful broth will turn out. Sometimes meat is added along with bones, but this is not the right approach.
The meat gives its taste to the broth, so this cooking method is justified only in one case: if you need to cook a soup, the basis of which will be meat, for example, borsch or cabbage soup. In all other cases, this is not permissible. It is better to cook the meat already in the finished broth.
If the broth is fish, then take the fins, bones, head and tail of the fish, after removing the gills. In the vegetable broth, the basis is the vegetables themselves, the roots and spices.
How to cook chicken stock?
The most popular is, of course, chicken stock. It fits perfectly into the preparation of most soups, sauces, risottos. Based on it, dishes with seafood and fish are prepared.
For one kilogram of chicken bones, you need to take one onion, one carrot, several cloves of (preferably unpeeled) garlic, two or three sprigs of parsley, a little celery, bay leaf, salt to taste and half a teaspoon of black pepper peas. This is the recipe found in cookbooks. Many people like to add one apple, cut in half.
How to cook chicken bone broth? If you adhere to the rules, then this is three hours, since the broth is put on a small fire.
Bones are placed in a pan, poured with water and brought to a boil. A few minutes before boiling, a foam will appear on the surface of the water, which must be removed. In fact, foam is a protein found in meat and bone that comes out when heated. Foam is not a danger, it is removed in order to make the broth look attractive. If you do not do this, the foam will disperse in the water and the broth will turn cloudy, and this, often, causes the refusal of the dish.
It is known that the stronger the water boils, the faster the foam forms, so it’s noteworthy for housewives who don’t know how to cook chicken broth, it should be cooked for at least three hours. As an option, you can use a slow cooker, in it the broth turns out to be perfectly transparent, like a drop of tears.
After removing the foam, chopped vegetables, sprigs of parsley and black pepper are added to the pan. You need to salt the broth shortly before the end of cooking. It remains only to strain the broth, and he is ready.
If you bake or fry chicken bones in a pan or grill before cooking, you will get a red, more saturated broth.
How to cook beef broth?
As in the case of chicken, beef broth is white or transparent and red. We consider each case separately.
For white beef broth, you need to take a kilogram of beef or calf bones, pour one and a half liters of water and put on fire. After removing the scum, add one head of onion, half leek, one carrot, celery stalk, three unpeeled cloves of garlic, one hundred grams of celery root, parsley, a little thyme, two bay leaves, a little allspice and black pepper, three cloves to the bones. and salt to taste.
How to cook beef broth? White broth from this type of bone is cooked as well as chicken, the difference is only in time. This broth must be boiled for four or more hours.
Red beef broth
To prepare red broth, all ingredients, i.e. bones, vegetables and roots, must be baked. If the stove has a grill mode, then it is better to use it. To do this, beef or veal bones, along with vegetables, previously coarsely chopped, must be put in the prepared pan and put under a heated grill.
For half an hour, while they are baked, the ingredients must be turned over until they are covered on all sides with a golden crust. Then the contents of the pan are taken out, placed in a pan, poured with cold water and after removing the resulting foam, which in this case is not enough, vegetables and roots are added. All this is put on medium heat. Four hours later, the broth will be ready, it remains only to strain.
Jelly
This dish is a decoration of the New Year's table. Many are interested in the question: how to cook aspic so that the broth turns out transparent? There are several rules that it is advisable to observe during the cooking process.
Of considerable importance is how the meat is processed, how long the jelly is cooked, and in what forms it decomposes. If during cooking the broth still turns cloudy, then you do not need to panic. There are several methods for lightening it.
Often, jellied meat is prepared from different types of meat and fish, but the main indicator of a successful dish is the transparency of the broth and how well it froze.
How to cook transparent jellied meat?
Let's consider in more detail how to cook aspic so that the broth is transparent. First of all, you should choose the meat itself. Usually take pork and beef, it is desirable that the meat was streaked and skin. This is necessary for a rich broth. And naturally, as many bones as possible are put in the broth.
Before cooking the jellied meat, the meat with bones is immersed in water for 3-5 hours, then it is thoroughly washed under running water, and the skins (for example pork legs) are scrupulously scraped and shaved.
Cold water is poured into a large pot, bones and meat are put, and cooked over a high fire until foam is formed. After the appearance of the foam, the water is drained. This is necessary so that the broth is transparent. The pan in which the meat was cooked should either be replaced or washed thoroughly so that no protein formations remain.
Then put meat in a clean pan, bones, fill it with water so that it covers the meat for two or three centimeters. Reduce the fire to medium and constantly remove the foam that forms again with a slotted spoon. After the foam ceases to form, the fire is brought to the lowest rate and the jelly is boiled for five to six hours.
When do they put supplements?
Additives such as onions, carrots, celery, black peas and bay leaves are added an hour before the end of cooking. You need to salt the jelly half an hour before the completion of the process.
After the meat is well cooked, it is removed and cut. It is advisable to cut into small pieces, and the broth is filtered through a colander and gauze folded in several layers. It remains only to decompose the ingredients into forms.
In the prepared trays put beautifully chopped carrots, greens, a boiled egg (optional), as well as chopped meat and pour in the broth. After this, the forms are cleaned in a cool place and after a few hours served to the table.
If the broth is still cloudy, there are several ways to lighten it.
How to lighten broth?
You need to take two eggs, separate the squirrels from the yolks and beat the squirrels. In half a glass of cold water add whipped squirrels and pour all this into a boiling broth. Squirrels will curl up and attract the remaining foam. Everything will come to the surface and then using the slotted spoon you can easily remove the excess.
If the broth is slightly cloudy, then it can be lightened by resorting to a pinch of citric acid.
There are a huge number of recommendations on how to cook the broth. All you need is a desire to learn culinary art.