Friday 8 February 2008

Chicken stock rules!

Any of you who have been in a professional kitchen will know that most chefs have a pan of stock or demi-glace sauce on hand to deglaze their pans. Well, you can do the same just as effectively with chicken stock.

The carcass of the chicken I bought a couple of days ago has made the most fabulously rich, jellied stock which I was saving for a soup or risotto. But the Toulouse sausages I was frying for lunch today produced such great stuck-on pan juices I had to prise them off somehow* and the stock was conveniently at hand. Two or three ladlefuls and I had some really intense rich pan juices that went perfectly with the accompanying lentils (cooked with garlic and parsley). I could have used a little wine or wine and stock combined but sometimes wine can make a sauce too acidic if you haven't time to cook it down.

And there's still enough stock for the soup . . .

* Incidentally you can't do this once the pan juices have burnt so it's worth keeping the temperature low when you're frying

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