Cookery 10-QUARTER 3 PREPARE STOCKS, SAUCES AND SOUPS, AND POULTRY AND GAME DISHES

 LESSON 1 PREPARE STOCKS, SAUCES AND SOUPS

Overview:

This lesson covers the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required to prepare various stocks, sauces, and soup in a commercial kitchen or catering operation.

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this Lesson you are expected to do the following:

1. prepare stocks for required menu items;
2. prepare soups required for menu items;
3. prepare sauces required for menu items;
4. store and reconstitute stocks, sauces and soups; and
5. evaluate the finished product

Learning Outcome 1 Prepare Stocks for Required Menu Items

Principles of Preparing Stocks

    Stocks- are among the most basic preparations found in professional kitchen. They are referred to in French as fonds de cuisine, or ―the foundation of cooking.” It is a flavorful liquid prepared by simmering meaty bones from meat or poultry, seafood and/or vegetables in water with aromatics until their flavor, aroma, color and body, and nutritive value are extracted.

• a clear, thin liquid flavored by soluble substances extracted from meat, poultry, and fish; and their bones, and from vegetables and seasonings.

Classification of Stocks

1. Chicken stock –made from the chicken bones.
2. White stock – made from beef or veal bones.
3. Brown stock – made from beef or veal bones that have been browned in an oven.
4. Fish stock – made from fish bones and trimmings left over after filleting

Ingredients in Preparing Stocks

1. Bones- Most of the flavor and body of stocks are derived from the bones of beef, veal, chicken, fish, and pork. The kinds of bones used determine the kind of stock, except vegetable stock.
   
   
   
2. Mirepoix- is the French term for the combination of coarsely chopped onions, carrots and celery used to flavor stocks. Basic formula for Mirepoix –  used to flavor white stocks and soups, tomato paste or puree is often included for brown stock, gravy, stew or soup.
                           - 2 parts onion
                           - 1 part celery
                           - 1 part carrot



3. Acid products - Acid helps dissolve connective tissues, and extract flavor and body from bones
   
   
   
4. 
   
5.  Scraps and left-over -Scraps may be used in stocks if they are clear wholesome, and appropriate to the stock being made.
   
   
   
6. Seasoning and spices. 
   
7. Bouquet garni – assortment of fresh herbs and aromatic ingredients tied in a bundle with string so it can be removed easily from the stock.

Different Kinds of Spices and Seasoning

1. Basil: sweet; fragrant; complements pasta & proteins

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. Bay leaves: sharp, bitter taste good in soups & stews

3.Cardamon: Intense sweet flavor for coffee & breads

4. Cayenne pepper: made from chili peppers; hot taste

5. Chervil (chur-vil): sweet; parsley-like flavor; trace of anise

6. Cilantro: fragrant mix of parsley and citrus

7.Cloves: dark brown, pungent, strong, & sweet flavor

8. Cumin (Q-min): slightly bitter; warm

9. Curry powder: savory combination of many spices

10. Fennel: anise-like flavor

11. Ginger: slightly biting and hot; sweet, woody aroma

12. Mace: similar to nutmeg but more pungent; sweet

13. Marjoram: slightly sweet and resembles oregano

14. Rosemary: tea-like aroma and piney flavor

15. Saffron: spicy bitter flavor with penetrating aroma 

16. Sage: fragrant aroma and warm flavor

17. Tarragon: bittersweet; flavors vinegar and pickles

18. Thyme: subtle aroma; slightly minty flavor

19. Tumeric: orange or ginger aroma; bitter flavor

Guidelines for preparing stock

1. Follow the correct procedures for cooling and storing stock and make sure that any stock you use is flavorful and wholesome.
2.  Follow the cooking time for stock. The following are approximate cooking time for different stocks; the time will vary according to numerous factors such as ingredients quality, volume and cooking temperature.  

• White and brown Veal Game stock – 6 to 8 hours 
• White poultry and Game Bird Stocks – 3 to 4 hours
• Fish Stock – 45 minutes to 1 hour Vegetables Stock – 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the specific ingredients and the size of vegetables cut. 
• White beef stock - 8 to 10 hours

3.The stock ingredients are boiled starting with cold water. This promotes the extraction of protein which may be sealed in by hot water.

4. Stocks are simmered gently, with small bubbles at the bottom but not breaking at the surface. If a stock is boiled, it will be cloudy.

5. Salt is not usually added to a stock, as this causes it to become too salty, since most stocks are preserved to make soup and sauces.

6. Meat is added to the stock before the vegetables and the ―scum‖ that rises to the surface is skimmed off before further ingredients are added.

Learning Outcome 2 Prepare Soups Required for Menu Item

Soups- Soups are based on stocks added with other ingredients for variety of flavor, consistency, appearance and aroma. A well-prepared soup always makes a memorable impression.

Soups offer a full array of flavoring ingredients and garnishing opportunities.

Soups also allow the use of trimmings and leftover creatively.

Classifications of Soups

1. Clear Soups - They are soups based on a clear, unthickened broth or stock. They may be served plain or garnished with a variety of vegetables and meats. They are very similar to stocks, except that broths are based on meats rather than bones so they are richer and have a more defined flavor. Broths can be used as a liquid in preparing soups. A good quality broth should be clear, aromatic and rich-tasting with a very evident flavor of the major ingredient. One strong and clear broth or stock is a consommé. It is made by combining lean chopped meat, egg whites, mirepoix, herbs and spices and an acidic ingredient like tomatoes, wine, or lemon juice. The combination is called ―clarification, since the particles that make the broth appear cloudy are trapped as it cooks. A good quality consommé is crystal – clear, has a good body, amber to brown in color, and completely fat-free.

• Broth and bouillon simple clear soup without solid ingredients. Broth and bouillon are similar to stock in technique and in cooking time. The major distinction between broth and stock is that broths can be served as is, whereas stocks are used in production of other dishes.
  
  
  
• Vegetable soup – clear seasoned stock or broth with the addition of one or more vegetable, meat, or poultry. 
  
  
  
• Consommé‘ – rich, flavorful stock or broth that has been clarified to make it perfectly clear and transparent.

2. Thick Soups - Thick Soups are soups that are thickened to provide a heavier consistency. Thick soup is a cream soup based on béchamel sauce and is finished with a heavy cream. A béchamel sauce is milk thickened with roux. But some thick soups are veloute sauce-based, stock thickened with roux. A veloute sauce base is usually finished with a liaison of heavy cream egg yolk. A thick soup should have a velvety smooth texture and the thickness of heavy cream. It is always essential to strain out the solids and at times to puree and put back in the soup. Cream soups may be served hot or cold. A kind of cream soup based on crustaceans like shrimps and lobsters is bisque. It is made by simmering a crustacean in a stock or a fish fumet. Another thick vegetable soup is the chowder made with broth, milk or water as base, then thickened with roux. Cold, thick soups such as vichyssoise are simply cream soups served cold. Others like gazpacho or a chilled cantaloupe soup are based on a puree of cooked or raw ingredients brought to the correct consistency by adding fruits or vegetable juice as a liquid

• Cream soups – are soups thickened with roux, beurremanie, liaison or other thickening agents, plus milk, or cream. 
  
  
  
• Purees – vegetable soup thickened with starch 
  
  
  
• Bisques – are thickened soups made from shellfish. 
  
  
  
• Chowders – are hearty soups made from fish, shellfish or vegetables usually contain milk and potatoes. 
  
  
  
• Veloutes – soup thickened with egg, butter and cream. 
  
  
  

3. Other types of soup

a. Dessert soup

    A. Ginataan – a Filipino soup made from coconut milk, milk, fruit, and tapioca pearl served hot or cold. 

    B. Osheriku – a Japanese asuki bean soup 

    C.Tonge sui – a Chinese soup 

b. Fruit Soup can be served hot or cold depending on the recipe where dried fruits are used like raisins and prunes. Fruit soup may include milk, sweet or savory dumplings, spices or alcoholic beverages like brandy and champagne. 

c. Cold soup is variations on the traditional soup wherein the temperature when served is kept at or below temperature. 

d. Asian soup is a traditional soup which is typical broth, clear soup, or starch thickened soup. 

Other thickening agents for soup

1. rice

2. flour

3. grain

4. corn starch

Ingredients of soup

• Meat (chicken, beef, pork, lamb, fish)

• Salt

• Pepper

• Vegetables (carrots, string beans, turnips, tomatoes, mushrooms,

celery, leak)

• Onion

• Garlic

• Water

• Eggs

• Cornstarch

• Seasoning (MSG, convenience products)

• Butter

• Cream

• Garnishes (slices of lemon, egg, shredded vegetables,

pimiento strips)

Basic Principles of Preparing Soup

1st Principle. Starting with Cold Water -Why cold water? Most protein, vitamins and minerals dissolve in cold water. Part of the flavor comes from these components. Using hot water would lessen the flavor and nutritive content of stock

2nd Principle. Cutting vegetable to appropriate size for the type of stock. The size of cut helps the maximum flavor to be extracted.

•  Example 1: A fish stock only simmer for a half hour (30 minutes) so the cut should be julienne (thin strips: 1⁄4 inch thick 2-3 inches long)
• Example 2: A brown stock simmers for 4-6 hours and sometimes 24 hours, so the cut should be 1‖ cubed so that stock will have time to extract the flavor and will not fall apart after a long cooking.

3rd Principle. Select your protein based. Beef, Chicken, Pork and Fish All bones are washed, roasted or blanched. Roasted for brown sauce and blanched for white stock. 

4th Principle. Simmering. Gentle extractions aid in flavor and nutrition. Boiling causes cloudiness

through agitation of the ingredients. 

5th Principle. Skimming- Keep the stock clear. The scum on top of stocks contains impurities.

Cooking soups

Meats, Poultry and Fish

• Cuts of meat that are less tender should be added early in the cooking process
• Poultry needs to be added early enough so that it cooks thoroughly
• Add fish closed to the end of the cooking process to keep it from overcooking.

Grains and Pasta

• Allow a little more time in cooking.

Beans and Legumes

•  Soaked beans, lentils and black-eyed peas should be added with the liquid so they will fully cook

Dense or Starchy Vegetables

• A small-diced cut of potatoes, carrots, and winter squashes will require 30–45 minutes to cook.

Green Vegetables:

• These vegetables should be added during the final 15–20 minutes of cooking the soup

Adjusting Consistency

Thick soups may continue to thicken during cooking and may need additional stock or water added to adjust the consistency

Degreasing

Broth-based soups maybe prepared in advance, cooled and refrigerated. This facilitates removing of congealed fat from the surface. Skim the top layer of fat from a hot soup with a ladle, alternately.

Learning Outcome 3 Prepare Sauces Required for Menu Item

Sauces

One of the important components of a dish is the sauce. Sauces serve a particular function in the composition of a dish. These enhance the taste of the food to be served as well as add moisture or succulence to food that are cooked dry. Sauces also enhance the appearance of a dish by adding luster

and sheen. A sauce that includes a flavor complementary to a food brings out the flavor of that food. It defines and enriches the overall taste and its texture. Sauce is a fluid dressing for poultry, meat, fish, dessert and other culinary products.

Sauce is a flavorful liquid, usually thickened that is used to season, flavor and enhance other foods. It adds:

1. Moistness 

2. Flavor 

3. Richness

4. Appearance (color and shine)

5. Appeal

Basic Sauces for Meat, Vegetables, and Fish

1. White sauce - Its basic ingredient is milk which is thickened with flour enriched with butter.

2. Veloute sauce- Its chief ingredients are veal, chicken and fish broth, thickened with blonde roux.

3. Hollandaise – It is a rich emulsified sauce made from butter, egg yolks, lemon juice and cayenne.

Emulsion – (as fat in milk) consists of liquid dispersed with or without an emulsifier in another liquid that usually would not mix together.

4. Brown sauce / Espagnole – It is a brown roux-based sauce made with margarine or butter, flavor and brown stock.

5. Tomato – It is made from stock (ham/pork) and tomato products seasoned with spices and herbs.

A. Variation of Sauces

1. Hot Sauces – made just before they are to be used. 

2. Cold sauces – cooked ahead of time, then cooled, covered , and placed in the refrigerator to chill.

B. Thickening Agents

Thickening agent – thickens sauce to the right consistency. The sauce must be thick enough to cling lightly to the food. Starches are the most commonly used thickeners for sauce making. Flour is the principal starch used. Other products include cornstarch, arrowroot, waxy maize, pre-gelatinized starch, bread crumbs,\ and other vegetables and grain products like potato starch and rice flour. Starches thicken by gelatinization, which is the process by which starch granules absorb water and swell many times their original sizes. Starch granules must be separated before heating in liquid to avoid lumping. Lumping occurs because the starch on the outside of the lump quickly gelatinizes into a coating that prevents the liquid from reaching the starch inside.

Starch granules are separated in two ways:

• Mixing the starch with fat. Example: roux
• Mixing the starch with a cold liquid. Example: slurry

Roux – is a cooked mixture of equal parts by weight of fat and flour.

1. Fat

A. Clarified butter. Using clarified butter results to finest sauces because of its flavor.

B. Margarine. Used as a substitute for butter because of its lower cost.

C. Animal fat. Chicken fat, beef drippings and lard.

D. Vegetable oil and shortening. Can be used for roux, but it adds no flavor.

2. Flour

The thickening power of flour depends on its starch content. Bread flour is commonly used in commercial cooking. It is sometimes browned for use in brown roux. Heavily browned flour has only

1/3 the thickening power of not brown flour.

A roux must be cooked so that the sauce does not have a raw, starchy taste of flour. The kinds of roux differ on how much they are cooked.

 White roux – cooked just enough to cook the raw taste of flour; used for béchamel and other white sauces based on milk.

 Blond roux – cooked little longer to a slightly darker color; used for veloutes ́.

 Brown roux – cooked to a light brown color and a nutty aroma. Flour may be browned before adding to the fat. It contributes flavor and color to brown sauces.

C. Common Problems in Sauce

1. Discarding

2. oiling-off 

3. poor texture 

4. synersis (weeping)

5. oil streaking

METHODS OF PREPARING SAUCES

Sauces Blanches

(White Sauce)

 

Hygienic Principles and Practices in Sauce Making

1. Make sure all equipment is perfectly clean.

2. Hold sauce no longer than 1 1⁄2 hours. Make only enough to serve in this time, and discard any that is left over.

3. Never mix an old batch of sauce with a new batch.

4. Never hold hollandaise or béarnaise or any other acid product in aluminum. Use stainless-steel containers.

Making Roux

Procedure

1. Melt fat 

2. Add correct amount of flour, and stir until fat and flour is thoroughly mixed.

3. Cook to the desired degree of white, blond or brown roux.

Basic Finishing Techniques in Sauce Making

1. Reduction 

• Using reduction to concentrate basic flavors. The water evaporates when simmered. The sauce becomes more concentrated and more flavorful.
• Using reduction to adjust textures- The sauce may be simmered until it reaches the desired thickness. Stock or other liquid may be added to thickened sauce to thin it out, then simmer to reduce to the right consistency.
• Using reduction to add new flavors. Glazes or reduced stocks are added to sauces to give flavor.

2. Straining- This is very important in order to produce a smooth, lump free sauce. Straining through a china  cap lined with several layers of cheesecloth is effective.

3. Deglazing- To deglaze means to swirl a liquid in a sauté pan to cooked particles of food

remaining on the bottom. Liquid such as wine or stock is used to deglaze then reduced by one-half or

three-fourths. This reduction, with the added flavor of the pan drippings, is then added to the sauce.

4. Enriching with butter and cream

• Liaison mixture of egg yolks and cream added to sauce to give extra richness and smoothness.
• Heavy cream- added to give flavor and richness to sauce
• Butter - Add softened butter to hot sauce and swirl until it melts. Serve immediately to prevent separation of butter. Butter gives extra shine and smoothness to the sauce.

5. Seasoning – adds and develop flavor

Ex: salt

lemon juice

cayenne

white pepper

sherry and Madeira