Test post,..having trouble editing,....
Hi Kara,
Long time, no see!
Mushrooms are a very common addition to stocks, especially vegetable and veal stocks. Porcini are great, what's even nicer is that if you're using dried porcini in a recipe you can add the strained liquid, from soaking the mushrooms, to your stock as well.
OK,..Sauces post updated , we're up to "demiglace"
For the purpose of keeping the "instructional" posts clear and easier to follow, I'm leaving out variations, and additions, trying to keep the ingredients basic, and stress the methods.
Mirepoix can be made from a variety of ingredients. Kara mentioned mushrooms, in my training mushrooms and leeks are used with onion and celery to make "white" mirepoix, for stocks that won't color a sauce. But there are so many variations, none of them are "wrong", and most of them have specific uses. The basic recipe I posted earlier, will work in almost any situation.
Facts About Mirepoix:
Quote:Vegetables, herbs and smoked meats with very intense flavors are often added for flavor and aroma.
Mirepoix and similar combinations are intended to provide a subtle but pleasing background flavor, supporting and improving the flavor of the finished dish. Mirepoix is the French name for a combination of onions, carrots and celery, but it is not the only such combination, even in the French culinary repertoire. Other common combinations include onions, carrots, celery (both Pascal and celeriac), leeks, parsnips, garlic, diced ham, tomatoes, shallots, mushrooms, peppers and chiles, and ginger are among the ingredients commonly referred to as aromatics. They may be used in various combinations, as dictated by the cuisine and the dish itself.
Even when used in relatively small amounts, aromatic ingredients make a significant contribution to a dish. One pound/450 grams of mirepoix is enough to flavor 1 gallon/3.75 liters of stock, soup, sauce, stew, braise or marinade and, according to the ratio above, would include 8 ounces/225 grams onion, 4 ounces/115 grams carrot, and 4 ounces/115 grams celery.
To get the best flavor from mirepoix and similar preparations, thoroughly rinse and trim all the vegetables first. Onion skin will give a simmering liquid an orange or yellow tint, which may not be desirable. Scrubbing but not peeling carrots and parsnips can cut down the prep time. Nevertheless, some chefs peel all vegetables on the premise that flavor is extracted into the dish more easily; others peel them only when they are not strained out of the finished dish.
Regardless of whether or not the vegetables are peeled, cut them into pieces of a relatively uniform size, with the dimensions matching the cooking time of the dish. The shorter the simmering time, the smaller and thinner the cut; the longer the time, the larger and thicker the cut. Make larger cuts for long simmering dishes, like pot roasts or brown veal stock. Cut mirepoix small or slice it for use in uncooked marinades, pan gravies, and dishes that simmer up to 3 hours. Slice mirepoix very fine or chop fine for fumets and stocks that simmer less than 1 hour.
Mirepoix will add a distinct aroma to a dish, even if the cut-up vegetables are simply added to the pot as it simmers. But sweating, smothering or browning them in fat significantly changes the flavor. Start by cooking onions and leeks in the fat first, then the carrots, and finally the celery.
White stocks or cream soups generally call for cooking the mirepoix over low heat in fat until it starts to give off some juices, known as sweating. If the pot is covered as the aromatics sweat, they are considered smothered. Mirepoix can cook until it turns a deep rich brown (sometimes referred to as caramelized), either on the stovetop or in the oven.
Tomato paste or puree is often added to the mirepoix for added flavor and color. Add it, if required, once the mirepoix ingredients are partly cooked. Cook the tomato paste until it turns rusty brown and has a sweet aroma. This technique is called pincage, from the French pincer, to stiffen or pinch, which is a fairly good description of what happens to the tomatoes as they cook in hot fat.
Mirepoix variations:
Standard Mirepoix is used for a variety of stocks and soups typically includes the following ingredients (by weight): 2 parts onion, 1 part carrot, 1 part celery. Tomato paste or puree is often included for brown stock, gravy, stew, or soup. In addition to standard mirepoix, the following aromatic vegetable combinations are also used:
White Mirepoix: Used to flavor white stocks and soups that should have a pale ivory or white color. Leeks, mushrooms and parsnips replace some of the onions and the carrots.
Cajun Trinity: Used in many Louisiana Creole and Cajun dishes, such as gumbo. Made up of a combination of onions, celery and green pepper.
Matignon (sometimes called Edible Mirepoix): Typically includes onions, carrots, celery and ham cut into very neat dice. Mushrooms and assorted herbs and spices may be added as desired. Used to garnish a dish as well as to flavor it.
Battuto: Extensively used in Italian soups, sauces, stews and meat dishes. Includes olive oil or chopped lard, pancetta, or fatback, with garlic, onions, parsley, carrots, celery and/or green peppers. Once sauteed, a battuto becomes known as a soffritto.
Great thread, thank you so much!
You're welcome osso!!
Hoping to finish with sauces tonight,..then on to soups!!
You're welcome msolga, and um,....I'll let "Larry" know
!
Just kidding!
Oh dear ... sorry, Jerry!
(I've constantly juggled the "BS" & "r" Larrys on these threads, so's not to confuse them .... So I guess it was YOUR "R" that confused me this time.)
Anyway,
JERRY (
) , Terrific thread!
Thanks,..I really was just kidding
OK, sauces posted up to Beurre Blanc.
Will post Hollandaise/Bearnaise tommorow, then it's on to pan sauces,..whoo-hoo!!
As an aside, do you ever use old wine in sauces? y'know, reds that are past it?
Also, you are doing a marathon job. I know I thanked you already, but not enough. Superb...
osso
Hiya Osso,
It depends on the sauce. Something like the Beurre Rouge I just posted needs a fresh, bright red. But if it's a red that's just starting to fade, sure, use it in a reduction.
I'm more apt to use older wines in my stocks, where you wouldn't notice the difference.
I know you know this, but I will post it anyway:
Don't cook with wine you
couldn't drink. (It's ok to cook with wine you don't love, and save the great stuff for sipping
)
Don't cook with BAD wine, old is ok, but if it's "corked", or turning to vinegar,..that'll really show through!
Hi kara,
Glad you liked the "mirepoix" info.
You're welcome to post any recipes that fit!
JerryR--as i am very ignorant about certain things, i wonder if its possible to show how the sauces are to be used with other foods.
i'm basically limited to "gravy" on brisket, or ketchup on burghers.
thanks.
Hi bzgootch,
Good to see you!!
I'm still in progress on the sauces, there's alot to cover. I think you'll see in the next day or two, that it will all start coming together, and make a whole lot of sense. Which sauces go with what, and why, is coming up!!
I made this sauce last night as part of a recipe for Salmon with Balsamic Butter Sauce, a speciality of a local restaurant.
Ingred: 2 Tbsp olive oil; 1/2 cup shiitake mushroom stems; 1 med. red onion, coarsely chopped; 1/2 T. minced garlic; 1 1/2 med. tomatoes, coarsely chopped; 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar; 3 bay leaves; 6 whole peppercorns; 1 cup water; 2/3 cup butter, cubed and chilled.
Heat oil in a saucepan over med-high heat. Add shiitake stems, onion and garlic, and saute about 3 minutes until shiitakes have softerned a bit. Add tomatoes, vinegar, bay leaves, peppercorns, and water; bring to a boil. Cook 10-20 minutes, until liquid is reduced to a syrup consistency. Strain to remove solids, and return liquid to the pan over low heat.
Whisk in butter and remove from heat as soon as the butter is incorporated (if heated too long after butter is added, the sauce will break.) Adjust salt and pepper. Sauce may be made up to 1 hour ahead of time and kept warm in a thermal insulated container. (I just set the pan in my warming drawer turned on low.) Makes about a cup.
My mixture did not turn syrupy after 20 minutes, so I strained it and returned to the heat. It soon reduced properly.
I did not use the suggested amount of butter, cut it to maybe 1/2 cup, because I wanted a tart sauce to balance the oily salmon, which was seared and served on top of a bed of sauteed shallots, sliced shiitakes, and baby spinach. The restaurant's recipe called for fresh corn kernels to be sauteed with the spinach mixture, but I didn't add the corn. The dish was outstanding without the corn, but I'll add it next time just to try.
Hi kara,
Sounds great, a variation of a Beurre Blanc.
I love Shiitake mushrooms, and hate wasting the flavor in those woody stems, so that's a great way to extract the flavor!!
One of the things I didn't mention about reductions is that the larger the surface area of the pan, the faster your liquid will reduce. So, if you were in a rush, you might have done the reduction in a large skillet, then added it to a small saucepan when it was time to add the butter.