Ratio by Michael Ruhlman

Author:Michael Ruhlman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2009-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

Stock Perfected

But what to do if you are the sort who wants to take some of the very nice stock you’ve made and make it better, perfect it? To bring some of this finely made elixir, through some craftsmanship, to a state of crystal clarity and deep, rich flavor, to make the consummate stock? The cook then endeavors to make a consommé, one of the most satisfying dishes for a cook to prepare.

Consommé = 12 parts stock : 3 parts meat : 1 part mirepoix : 1 part egg white

A consommé is a perfectly clear soup, so clear that it looks like a distilled liquid. When you lift a spoonful, the bowl of the spoon should sparkle. This liquid is so limpid, you are able, the saying goes, to read the date on a dime at the bottom of a gallon. It is stock perfected.

You don’t see it offered often at restaurants because it takes some work and because it has a fussy reputation, the kind of thing you’d be served if you were lunching with an old wealthy relative you hadn’t seen in years. And this is a shame because it’s a pleasure to behold, to taste, and, most of all, to make. It gives true satisfaction to the cook.

The last restaurant I saw it prepared at was the Escoffier Room at the Culinary Institute of America, which teaches and serves classical French cuisine. The fellow, who serves as a kitchen manager and teacher’s assistant, was Frank Jerbi, and he was the one responsible for making the consommé, twice a week for a year. He loved it. I tasted his and it was delicious. “What’s the secret?” I asked.

“It’s the ratio, man,” he said. And he rattled it off: 5 quarts stock, 3 pounds meat, 1 pound mirepoix, 10 tomatoes, 10 egg whites.

The egg whites are what actually clarify the stock, forming as they coagulate with the meat into a kind of filter that traps the particles that make a stock cloudy. The filter, called “the clarification,” or, after it’s formed, “the raft,” also traps flavor; thus the need to include meat and vegetables and herbs in the clarification. After the raft has formed, the stock is simmered gently to infuse it with more flavor and to further the clarification process. The broth is then ladled or gently strained through a coffee filter. And that is consommé.

I first learned how to make consommé at the CIA and this ratio is roughly based on what this school continues to teach, though I’ve reduced somewhat the amount of meat and increased the amount of egg white, so that the ratio would work best for smaller quantities.

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