Concentrated veal stock is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Any veal stock is good. Use it in your cooking. But concentrated veal stock – that’s magic. Concentrating it makes it easier to store in the freezer. That way, it’s just there and ready when you need it. And you will need it with beef and with lamb. It’s not full blown demi-glace but it adds that unbelievable richness to sauces.
french
pan fried steak with dijon white wine sauce
While a grilled steak can be pretty good I’m not happy unless there’s a sauce. For me, a pan fried steak is where it’s at. A splash of wine, a bit of stock – in this case veal stock – and a couple of flavour highlights and you move into serious territory.
The French have mastered at least 100 different pan fried steak dishes – and yet there’s no grilled steak recipes in the Cordon Bleu at Home…
french chicken in a pot
French chicken in a pot. It’s a great way to mix up the Sunday roast chicken. It infuses the chicken with rich flavours and creates an unbelievably delicious sauce.
This is a simplified version of the poule-au-pot. It’s not stuffed. It’s not poached. It’s roasted. But it’s not really roasted because it’s sealed in a pot. Confused? Just go with it. It’s really, really good.
truffled leek and potato soup
Without the truffle this soup is called potage parmentier when served hot and vichyssoise when served cold. I don’t think it has a name but truffled leek and potato is completely over the top.
chicken paprikash rethought
This isn’t authentic. Chicken paprikash is a braised dish. This is a technique I came up with to try to get somewhere close to braised chicken flavour with crispy skin.
Invest in some fresh quality Hungarian paprika. Paprika is the star of this dish. If your star ingredient is weak your results will be weak. You can mix your paprikas up to taste as well. Want a hint of smoke? Use a bit of smoked paprika. Want some spice? Hot paprika actually has a bit of heat.
simple french vinaigrette
A nicely balanced dijon based french vinaigrette is a great alternative to bottled salad dressings.
duck fat roasted potatoes
Duck fat roasted potatoes. Potatoes roasted in duck fat. Beautiful words indeed. A very simple tweak to a million recipes on the internet that changes everything. I don’t know of a better way to cook potatoes than in duck fat.
Butter – very tasty, olive oil and rosemary – very tasty, duck fat – freaking awesome. And there’s no excuse not to make them. Duck fat is not hard to find. Talk to your butcher.
super concentrated chicken stock
Chicken stock. Bone broth. It’s a simple thing really. Making stock. Bones. A few aromatics. Water. Time. Super concentrated chicken stock is a whole different thing.
When you reduce the stock right down to a syrupy consistency it transforms into a flavour grenade ready to transform any chicken dish.