Fond Blanc de Volaille (White Poultry Stock)

My first class in culinary school was Stocks and Sauces 101. I made all sorts of different stocks in huge pots the size of bathtubs.

Now, whenever I debone chicken and have no use for the bones, I stick them in the freezer. I had a nice collection of various chicken, turkey and duck bones. I even had the carcass of a chicken I roasted the other day. When I do not have enough bones collected and need to make stock, I will go out and buy chicken feet and chicken wings for the stock. They both make a very nice gelatinous broth.

The difference between stock and broth is stock is made using primarily the bones and broth is made using primarily meat with some bones. Broths are used for soups and stocks are used for sauces. I find it weird that you mainly find broth in grocery stores and we never made broth in school. We only made stocks. We made fifteen different types of stocks but no broths.

A few years ago I felt a little ambitious so I made duck demi glace starting by making duck stock and then espagnole and then demi glace. I could have reduced it more to make glace de viande but I stopped there. I froze the demi glace in little ice cube trays and stored them in a little baggie. I had instant sauces for many many meals.

When making chicken stock or fond de poulet, I stick with the classic mirepoix for the aromatics. When making a brown poultry stock (fond brun de volaille) we usually roasted the mirepoix with the bones and when making a beef stock we also roasted a tomato product such as tomato paste with the bones and mirepoix. When making a delicate fish stock, we used something called a white mirepoix, which omits the carrots and subbed leeks for the onions.

Poultry bones (combination of chicken, turkey and duck)
Water, to cover
Celery
Carrots
Onions
Parsley (I had some parsley that I needed to use up. We usually threw all of our parsley stems into the large stockpot that we usually had simmering.)
Peppercorns
Bay leaves

In a large stock pot, add all the ingredients and cover with water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a low simmer. Simmer for several hours and skim off the foam (depouiller). Strain through a chinois. Pour into freezer safe containers and lable with name of stock and date.

(I reduced mine a little longer for a more concentrated stock because freeze space is very precious to me. I usually dilute it a bit with more water when I use in recipes. I also never salt my stocks like how I never cook with salted butter. This way it allows you to have more control when seasoning.)

Read More

MIA (on vacation)

I haven't been posting because I have been on vacation and didn't take the little MacBook with me. Whenever I take my computer, I am tempted to work. I wanted to have a relaxing vacation so the computer stayed at home. (I did check emails on my phone but that was about it.)

I highly recommend the breakfast buffet at Duke's. It is located in the Outrigger Waikiki and right on the beach.

What a great way to start the day. We woke up at the crack of dawn, showered, walked on the beach and then ate breakfast. We were done by 9:00 am, leaving the rest of the day for other activities.

After laying out on the beach and swimming with the fishies, we had my birthday dinner at the Top of Waikiki restaurant. Of course I had the duck. The menu description: Tea Smoked Ginger Duck l'orange: organic free range Long Island duck with prosciutto, mascarpone, mesculin greens wrapped in a corn crepe with blackberry balsamic syrup, ginger-orange sauce & duck au jus & crispy sweet potato.

The bf had the fish special. Sorry the pictures suck because I was trying to be discreet by using the camera on my phone instead of a real camera.The next morning we climbed to the summit of an extinct volcano and then rewarded ourselves with the best snow cone in the world. This snow cone truck is located at the base of Diamondhead.

After waiting all morning at Pearl Harbor and taking the guided tour, we were famished. (The tour is definitely worth the wait. I'm a sucker for history so this tour was up my alley.) My buddy Scott took us to a local place he likes to dine at. It is called Wally Ho's Garage and Grill. It is a gas station/auto repair shop/grill. The food was really good. I thought the Coca Cola bottle shaped slat and pepper shakers were adorable.

I've never seen pineapple growing before. I loved the Dole plantation.

Me and my pineapple soft-serve in a waffle cone.

My fresh coconut I bought from one of those famous shrimp trucks on the side of the rode in North Shore. We didn't have the shrimp because we were still very full. The shrimp is supposed to be really good. This place had their own shrimp pond where they harvested their shrimp fresh daily.

Just some food posts. Maybe some other posts later. I am still tired.

Read More

Duck Red Curry and Monday Morning Ramblings

I was meeting some friends for dim sum and since I do not usually find myself on that part of town, I was mentally coming up with a list of items I wanted to pick up at the Asian grocery store. I remember the grocery store in the shopping center has a Chinese barbecue section. Their roast ducks are pretty good. I decided to pick up a whole duck. It was a long wait. Apparently this must be the only place in town that sells Chinese roast meats. I also picked up a few other items that I needed around the house.

For this dish I am branching out from my usual chicken red curry. I'm replacing the boring chicken with duck. I looked at various duck curry recipes. They all seem to include pineapple and lychees. I am not too fond of pineapple in savory dishes. I bought some lychees but decided to leave that for snacking instead and make the curry my usual way.

Duck doesn't have very much meat. That is why I only order duck breast when I am at a restaurant. For this dish, I took the time to take all the meat off the bones. I kept the bones for making a stock. You can make this dish by roasting your own duck (a very timely project that involves scalding the duck, coating it with honey, blowing air in between the skin & fat, and air drying) or just purchasing one from your local Chinese barbecue joint.


1 roast duck
4 tablespoons red curry paste
1 can coconut milk
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 rose gold potatoes, washed and cubed
1 large white sweet potato, washed and cubed (The store posted a picture of white sweet potatoes. I didn't question it. When I got home and peeled the sweet potato, I discovered that the flesh was orange instead of white.)
1 can sliced bamboo
1 stalk lemon grass, cut into 3 inch sections
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 dried galanga root
salt
pepper
msg
1 disk palm sugar
fish sauce
basil
cilantro
green onions


1. Remove duck meat from bones. Cut the meat into small pieces. I use a pair of kitchen shears. Put reserved bones in a small pot and add enough water to cover. Simmer gently.

Bones ready to make stock:
Duck Meat:

2. Prep the other ingredients while the duck bones simmer. By the time you are done washing, chopping, and dicing, your stock should be ready. Take the stock and strain out the bones.
3. In a dutch oven on medium heat, toast the curry paste until fragrant. Add the cream portion of the coconut milk, reserving the liquid at the bottom. Cook the coconut cream and curry paste until thick.
4. Add garlic and onion. Add the duck stock and the rest of the ingredients except duck meat, cilantro, green onions, and basil . You don't want to cook the meat too long since it is already cooked.
5. When potatoes are tender, add duck meat. Garnish with cilantro, green onions, and basil.

Read More