We did a duck consomme for the millenium dinner that was a three day labor of love. Day one was cleaning the ducks, roasting the bones and prepping the veggies for the stock. The stock cooked for about eight hours, and was strained twice through first a fine mesh collandier, then cheesecloth. The stock was then reduced by half to instensify the flavor, but had to be done slowely, barely boiling, so that the solid particles left didn't break up and cloud the stock. After that, the stock was put over a pilot light and a "raft" was put on top. This is a mixture of egg whites, veggies, and herbs, and when the egg whites cook up, they form a raft over the stock, so that when it slowly circulates, the solid particles left get trapped in the raft, leaving a crystal clear, intensely flavored duck stock, a consomme. We served this in a small bowl with flakes of 24k gold floating on top(it was a six course, $250 meal, and really, how often do you get to cook for the turn of the century). All around, doing a consomme properly, is as delicate as they come for me.
Only one day left, and tomorrow's a busy one for me, I'll answer my last questions after work tomorrow, then turn it over to Chino for questions about gravity.
Topic: The Ask black_floyd Thread (page 42) (Read 124609 times)
