Making Stock: The Basics

It's easy to think of the procedure for making stock as just another recipe. "Add this, this and this to the pot, simmer for this long and you're done." And it's certainly possible to prepare a decent stock using this approach.

But given the importance of stock and its relationship to so many other areas of the culinary arts, it's worth taking the time to understand the purpose of each ingredient, and the properties each one brings to the stock.

White stocks are used as the base for veloute sauce and various derivative sauces like the allemande and supreme sauces.

Brown stocks are used for making demiglaze and its derivatives, such as bordelaise and Robert.

Note that beef or veal bones can be used for either white or brown stocks. The difference is that when making white stock, the bones are blanched first, or quickly boiled, then drained and rinsed, before simmering.

For brown stock, the bones are roasted before simmering, and some sort of tomato product is usually added. The roasting and tomato product give the brown stock its darker color.

Cutting Board Basics

Wondering about the best kind of cutting board to use to help avoid a food-related illness? Here's all the info you need. Nonporous surfaces like plastic or glass are easier to clean than wood and thus better in terms of food safety. Wood is naturally porous, and those tiny fissures and grooves in wooden cutting boards can harbor bacteria. Which is why cutting boards made of wood aren't allowed in commercial kitchens. That being the case, why use them at home?

As for glass cutting boards, they're just awful for your knives and aren't allowed in commercial kitchens, either. Why? Because things get dropped in kitchens, and broken glass in the soup is a real no-no.

Bottom line: Use plastic or acrylic cutting boards, not wood or glass.