Day 2: Stock = Liquid Gold

Chicken? Always thought it was sort of, meh. I have one roast chicken recipe that I am intensely loyal to, but other than that, I never thought chicken something to write home about. Dry and just kind of boring.

This class is teaching me to stop being a chicken hater, and just be a better cook. Turns out, chicken is delicious if you know what to do with it. Day 2 focused on chicken stock, some simple soups and dry-brined roast chicken.

Stock

TLDR; stock is where its at. And if you buy your stock (like I have, ignoring my dad's countless pleas to start making my own) you're basically a heathen. But as it turns out, making your own isn't that much of a pain, and it really is ridiculously more flavorful/ better/ delicious/ wonderful.

Stock starts with Mirepoix, which just refers to the holy grail combination of the aromatics: onions, celery and carrots (2:1:1 ratio)

There is brown stock, and there is white stock.

• Brown stock: You roast the bones first, and get all those delicious crispy bits at the bottom added to the stock. You also want to roast your mirepoix! Throw those veggies the oven too. Thing to note about browning - while getting some black bits on the veggies is fine, you absolutely do *not* want any black on your bones. Apparently burned protein is very different from the burned sugars in the veggies, so be careful about that. Brown stock has a ton of flavor, but not a lot of depth.
• With white stock, you are putting the bones directly into the stock pot, without cooking them first. White stock has less flavor, but a ton of that umami depth that comes from the collagen slowly coming out of the bones, and turning to gelatin when it cools. The more collagen in a stock, the richer it will be.

Other things to note:

• With chicken stock, bring your stock up to a low boil and then add your mirapoix. With beef stock, you’ll want to let it simmer for about 2 hours before adding your vegetables.
• Never let your stock boil! You want it to slowly simmer, and have the bubbles come up to the surface in a slow “bloop….. bloop” (according to my Chef). You don’t want it to boil because you’re not actively trying to reduce it - you’re just trying to extract as much flavor as possible.
• One it comes to a boil, start skimming the gross scummy stuff that floats up to the top. As Chef Marc said, that is nature’s way of telling you it does not belong in there.
• Don’t salt, unless you know exactly what you’re going to do with the stock. If you salt it for some unknown future recipe, and then end up using it in something that has other ingredients that are already very salty, then you have an issue. But if you know exactly what how you’re going to use it, and you don't plan to reduce it later, then you can salt if necessary.

We used the stock to make some simple soup - our team made Tomato Soup. It was good but turns out we added too much stock and it ended up being a little thinner than was ideal.

Pro tip: add your liquids a little bit at a time. You can always add more, but can't take it back.

Roast Chicken

Alright onto the chicken. Always rinse your chicken, people! Get that gross, watery goop that its stored in out of there and the chicken nice, clean and dry before you do anything to it.

This chicken was absurdly simple, and absurdly delicious. If you like crispy skin, this chicken is where its at.

• Salt the chicken 24-36 hours in advance. You want about a tablespoon of salt for one chicken.
• Keep it out on a sheet tray in the fridge while its brining - get that skin nice and dry!
• About an hour before you're going to cook, start to preheat your oven. You want it HOT - about 500 degrees. Once the oven is hot, put the chicken on a cooling rack stacked on a sheet tray and pop in the oven. (Note so self: get cooling rack) That’s right - no other spices, no oils no nothing. But because of that brine, you will have the juiciest chicken ever. And because of the temp, you’ll have the crispiest skin ever!

Btw - chicken oysters - did you know that was a thing? They're just little pieces of chicken shaped like an oyster that are hiding right behind the leg that are literally the most delicious part of the whole chicken. Get it!