Fine and strong essences
The making of good beef, chicken or vegetable broth is described in millions of cook books. Broth – no matter which kind – is a basic essence of all good sauces and it is an irreplacable fundament of fine cooking. Considering the chinese nutrition science broth is an absolutely basic and important element of food to provide energy to your body. That is because broth in the chinese understanding contains the essence of all its ingredients: the essence of the meat, the spices and the vegetables the borth ist cooked with. Meanwhile you can buy all kinds of broth – so-called "fond" – ready to eat, some with a quality that is not too bad. But if you have ever tried selfmade broth, and if you have ever worked with it in your kitchen, you would never use broth from the supermarket shelf or even from your organic supplier anymore. Therefore be careful: if you try fresh broth it will change your culinary life from scratch :-)
The basis: vegetables, herbes, meat or fish of high quality
If you want to create a high level broth with magic taste and smell you have to take care of two basic things:
First of all buy or use high quality organic ingredients only, be it meat, fish, vegetables or herbs. The whole essence of all you put together is in your soup later!
Secondly: cook it very, very slowly and at least 2 hours.
The mixture of ingredients will turn into a fine composition of taste and smell in your soup or sauce later on.
Fine strong and spicy beef broth
For this variation of a broth you need the following ingredients:
2 onions
1 leek
5 carrots
piece of ginger
3 red little chilis
fine olive oil
pepper
raw sea salt
clove of garlic
5 balls of pimento
3 leaves of laurel
Last time I used laurel being brought into my kitchen from a friend of mine. This laurel originated from Ticino. It was an herb with an unbelievalble taste, comprising all the smells of the warm climate of the south it has grown up. So take this example to be aware that little changes in your combination of ingredients can be the reason for an extraordinary, small but important change in the taste of your broth.
As meat for your beef broth you can use oxtail, beef shank and a few marrowbones. Cook the meat 10 minutes in extra water before adding it to your soup pot because it dispenses a foam of protein that should not be used.
Your broth can be boiled at a very small heat for round about 4 hours. After that time you own a real treasure to savor it immediately or for use with your further cooking. Broth can easily be kept for a week in the fridge or also be deep-freezed. But don´t forget: nothing will ever be comparable with a fresh broth.
Beef broth with filet, ginger and coriander
A very fine and easy version of a beef broth is to serve it with fried beef filet stripes, very thin sliced ginger and a bit of minced coriander.
dolce vita ahoi • monika ebert • mobile minds
