Fonds de Cuisine

I hope I never have to kill another lobster. Although stabbing it through the head with a knife is much kinder than boiling the lobster alive, just the thought of it gives me shivers. Worse than killing the lobster though was trying to dismember it while it was still twitching. Ugh...it was a rough day, but overall I'm glad I had the experience because I believe that if I am going to eat something I should know where it came from and how it got on my plate. I'm also glad that I do not like the taste of lobster.

In general, shellfish, crustaceans, and cephalopods (octopus and squid) all creep me out. In todays class we learned how to clean and prepare clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, shrimp, and calamari. I ate my first raw oyster and its wasn't too bad, although it mostly tasted like the mignonette sauce that I ate it with.

Today was also the day first day of our education in making stock. Stocks, aka fonds de cuisine, truly are the foundations of French cooking because they are used as the basis for almost every sauce. By definition, a stock is a flavorful liquid prepared by simmering bones from meat, poultry, or seafood, and mirepoix (2 parts onion, 1 part carrots, 1 part celery), in water with aromatics.* I confess the only reason I am telling you all this information is because I have to memorize it for my exam next week and writing about it helps me to remember it, but hopefully you will find it a least a little bit interesting.

There are two basic types of stock: white stock and brown stock. The main difference is in a brown stock you brown the bones and mirepoix in the oven before simmering them. You also add tomato paste in a process called pinçage, which is just a fancy word that means to brown or caramelize a tomato product.* Today we made white fish stock, shrimp stock, and lobster stock, but today was just the beginning. Next week we are making vegetable stock, mushroom stock, brown duck stock, chicken stock, white veal stock, brown veal stock, white rabbit stock, and pork stock. Just looking at that list is daunting because making stock is a lot of work: cleaning the bones, chopping the mirepoix, skimming constantly, straining the stock, and washing the dishes. A good stock is both beautiful and delicious, so even though it's a lot of work, it's definitely worth it.

*The Professional Chef, 8th Edition from The Culinary Institute of America