How to cook broth - features, recipes and recommendations

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

As statistics show, often even experienced housewives do not know how to cook broth properly. Many people simply put a piece of meat in a pan, fill it with water, and then completely forget about everything while sitting in front of the computer. At best, they skim off the foam and wait for the meat to cook. It is not surprising that the meat eventually becomes tasteless, unders alted, tough, and the broth is bland and odorless. How to cook broth? This question can be answered by looking at cookbooks. All serious, solid books open their first pages with recipes for various broths.

Bouillons are the alpha and omega of cooking, without which it is impossible to cook soups, sauces, clear jellies, aspics, risotto and many other dishes that make up the treasury of world cuisine.

Modern city dwellers are in an ongoing state of time pressure. Therefore, for many, it is tempting to buy ready-made cubes of chicken or beef broth, dilute them in water, throw in noodles - and the soup is ready. However, for those who care about the contents of their own plate, this compromise is unlikely to please. In fact, the question of how to cook the broth is not acute. A few tricks and knowledge - and in the end, the perfect broth is ready.

Varieties of broths

In the article, we will consider how to properly cook the broth, what they are, how to store them, and so on. Broth is a concoction of meat, vegetables and fish. If cooked according to the rules, it has a pleasant, rich taste, and also has a number of healing properties.

Most often it is used as a base for soups, main courses, for cooking rice and other cereals, however, the broth itself is very tasty.

Basically, broths are cooked from bones with a small amount of meat and with the addition of vegetables and spices, aromatic herbs. Decoctions are:

• Chicken.
• Meat.
• Fish.
• Vegetables.
• Mushroom.

In addition to these main ones, there is also dashi broth, which is prepared on the basis of seaweed and dried tuna, as well as the famous Chinese soy brine Low Soi, which is used a certain number of times. Meat is boiled in it, after which the broth is not poured out, but left until the next time. If properly stored, it can be used forever.

In countries where there is plenty of seafood, broths are often prepared from shrimp shells, crayfish and other varieties of crustaceans. These bases are great for making dishes like chowder, curries, and more.

Let's look at the recipe below for how to cook the broth, and all the ingredients that are needed to cook it.

Water

It would seem that there is nothing to say about water. Can't cook without itpractically no dish, especially broth. But not everyone knows how much water to take, how to cook the broth to make it delicious.

For this dish you need to take tasty, soft water without any impurities. It should also be borne in mind that during the cooking process, the water will boil away, so it is taken beforehand more than the required volume of the finished broth.

If you gradually add water to replace boiled water, the broth will turn out tasteless. However, if there is no other way out, there is not enough water, then it is better to add boiled water.

Bouillon base

The base or base of the broth is the bones. These are either meat or fish bones, thanks to which a rich taste is obtained. They need to be cut, then you get a wonderful decoction. Sometimes meat is added along with the bones, but this is not the right approach.

Meat gives its taste to the broth, so this cooking method is justified only in one case: if you need to cook a soup based on meat, for example, borscht or cabbage soup. In all other cases, this is not allowed. Meat is better to cook in ready-made broth.

If the broth is fish, then take the fins, bones, head and tail of the fish, after removing the gills. Vegetable broth is based on vegetables, roots and spices.

How to cook chicken broth?

The most popular is, of course, chicken broth. It fits perfectly into the preparation of most soups, sauces, risotto. Based on it, dishes with seafood and fish are prepared.

Per one kilogramchicken bones, you need to take one onion, one carrot, a few cloves (preferably unpeeled) garlic, two or three sprigs of parsley, a little celery, bay leaf, s alt to taste and half a teaspoon of black peppercorns. This is the recipe that is in cookbooks. Many people like to add one apple cut in half.

How long to cook chicken bone broth? If you follow the rules, then it's three hours, as the broth is put on a small fire.

The bones are placed in a saucepan, poured with water and brought to a boil. A few minutes before boiling, foam will appear on the surface of the water, which must be removed. In fact, foam is a protein found in meat and bones that comes out when heated. The foam is not dangerous, it is removed so that the broth looks attractive. If this is not done, the foam will disperse in the water and the broth will turn cloudy, and this often becomes the reason for refusal of the dish.

It is known that the more the water boils, the faster the foam forms, so for the note to housewives who do not know how to cook chicken broth, we can say that it should be cooked for at least three hours. Alternatively, you can use a slow cooker, in which the broth is perfectly transparent, like a drop of a tear.

After removing the foam, chopped vegetables, parsley sprigs and black peppercorns are added to the pan. S alt the broth shortly before the end of cooking. It remains only to strain the broth, and it is ready.

If chicken bones are baked or fried before cookingpan or grill, you get a red, richer broth.

How to cook beef broth?

As with chicken, beef broth is either white or clear and red. Let's consider each case separately.

For white beef broth, you need to take a kilogram of beef or veal bones, pour one and a half liters of water and put on fire. After removing the foam, add one head of onion, half a leek, one carrot, a celery stalk, three unpeeled cloves of garlic, one hundred grams of celery root, parsley, a little thyme, two bay leaves, a little allspice and black peppercorns, three cloves and s alt to taste.

How long to cook beef broth? White broth from this type of bones is cooked in the same way as chicken, the difference is only in time. This decoction must be boiled for four or more hours.

Red beef broth

To make red broth, all the ingredients, that is, bones, vegetables and roots, must be baked. If the stove has a grill mode, then it is better to use it. To do this, beef or veal bones, along with vegetables, pre-coarsely chopped, must be placed in a prepared baking sheet and placed under a preheated grill.

For half an hour, while they are baking, the ingredients must be turned over until they are covered on all sides with a golden crust. Then the contents of the baking sheet are taken out, placed in a saucepan, poured with cold water, and after removing the resulting foam, which in thiscase it turns out a little, vegetables and roots are added. All this is put on medium heat. After four hours, the broth will be ready, it remains only to strain.

Jelly

This dish is the decoration of the New Year's table. Many are interested in the question: how to cook jelly so that the broth turns out to be transparent? There are several rules that it is desirable to follow during the cooking process.

It is of great importance how the meat is processed, how long the jelly is cooked, and in what forms it is laid out. If during cooking the broth still turns cloudy, then there is no need to panic. There are several methods for lightening it.

Often, aspics are prepared from different types of meat and fish, but the main indicator of a successful dish is the transparency of the broth and how well it has frozen.

How to cook a transparent jelly?

Let's take a closer look at how to cook jellied meat so that the broth is transparent. First of all, you should choose the meat itself. Usually they take pork and beef, it is desirable that the meat be with veins and skin. This is necessary for a rich broth. And of course, as many bones as possible are put into the broth.

Before cooking aspic meat with bones is dipped in water for 3-5 hours, then it is thoroughly washed under running water, and the skins (for example, pork legs) are scrupulously scraped and shaved.

Cold water is poured into a large saucepan, bones and meat are placed, and boiled over high heat until foam forms. After the appearance of foam, the water is drained. It is necessary that the brothturned out transparent. The pot in which the meat was cooked should either be replaced or rinsed thoroughly so that no protein formations remain.

Then meat, bones are placed in a clean pan, poured with water so that it covers the meat by two to three centimeters. The fire is reduced to medium and the newly formed foam is constantly removed with a slotted spoon. After the foam stops forming, the fire is brought to the lowest level and the jelly is boiled for five to six hours.

When are supplements added?

Such additives as onions, carrots, celery, black peas and bay leaves are added an hour before the end of cooking. You need to s alt the jelly half an hour before the end of the process.

After the meat is well cooked, it is taken out and cut. It is advisable to cut into small pieces, and the broth is filtered through a colander and cheesecloth folded in several layers. It remains only to arrange the ingredients in the forms.

In the prepared trays put beautifully chopped carrots, herbs, boiled egg (optional), as well as chopped meat and pour the broth. After that, the forms are cleaned in a cool place and after a few hours they are served at the table.

If the broth is still cloudy, there are several ways to clarify it.

How to clarify the broth?

You need to take two eggs, separate the whites from the yolks and beat the whites. Add whipped egg whites to half a glass of cold water and pour it all into a boiling broth. The squirrels will curl up and draw the remaining foam towards them. Everything will float to the surface and then with the help of a skimmer it will be easy to remove the excess.

If the broth is slightly cloudy, then it can be clarified with a pinch of citric acid.

There are a huge number of recommendations on how to cook the broth. All you need is a desire to learn the art of cooking.