Sauces in French Cuisine. Romeo Brodmann
1 bay leaf, 1 clove, 5 peppercorns
Preparation
Bone out beef brisket and breast of veal. Chop bones into small pieces. Cut the meat from the beef brisket, the breast of veal and the shin into thumb size pieces, set aside. Mix bones with a little oil, roast and lightly brown them in oven for 30 to 45 minutes. At the end, add onions and carrots and let everything roast for another 10 minutes. Place the bones together with the bacon rind and the knuckle of ham in a pot, fill with 1.8 l (2 5/6 pt or 6 1/2 U.S. cups) of cold water, add a little salt, bring to the boil and gently boil for at least 3 hours. The original recipe calls for boiling the bones for 12 hours. Regularly add boiling water to replace the evaporated liquid during the boiling process. Sear and brown the meat cut into pieces on all sides. Then deglaze with 200 ml (7 fl oz or 7/8 U.S. cups) of the prepared stock and reduce to a glaze until everything starts to roast again. Repeat process once or twice and add to stock. Continue to gently boil for a total of another 3 hours. Add thyme, parsley stalks, garlic, bay leaf, clove and peppercorns 1/2 hour before finishing and continue to gently boil. Strain the stock through cheesecloth and reduce to 1 l (1 3/4 pt or 4 1/2 U.S. cups).
Note
May be used as the basis for brown stocks and sauces instead of meat or bone broth, wine or water, according to taste. In particular the beef and the shin as well as the knuckle of ham give the stock a strong, at times a hearty note.
In respect of this stock, Escoffier considered it an error to colour the stock by overly roasting the ingredients because he claimed that the osmazome contained in meat would suffice to reach the required colour. (Osmazome = substance imparting meaty smell and taste to liquid during cooking).
Fond de Veau Brun (Brown Veal Stock)
Ingredients for 1 l (1 3/4 pt or 4 1/2 U.S. cups)
20 ml (3/4 fl oz or 1/10 U.S. cups) oil (sunflower or peanut oil)
600 g (21 oz ) veal bones, chopped into thumb size pieces
200 g (7 oz) calf’s feet, chopped into thumb size pieces
200 g (7 oz) vegetables: carrots, celeriac, onions (no leek, would turn bitter during roasting)
30 g (1 oz) tomato puree
1.5 l (2 5/8 pt or 6 1/2 U.S. cups) water (2 to 3 times > 500 ml (18 fl oz 2 1/4 U.S. cups))
600 ml (1 pt or 2 5/8 U.S. cups) white wine
1l (1 3/4 pt or 4 1/2 U.S. cups) broth or Fond Brun
spices: salt, 1 bay leaf, 1 clove, 5 peppercorns, 1 sprig of thyme
Preparation
Roasting Variant 1: Mix veal bones and calf’s feet with the oil in a frying pan (iron or cast iron pans are best suited, but coated pans also work) and roast slowly and carefully for 1 to 1.5 hours, turn occasionally. Place bones in a bowl. Slowly and gently roast vegetables for approx. 30 minutes in the same pan. Add tomato puree and roast together for 10 minutes.
Roasting Variant 2: Mix veal bones and calf’s feet with the oil, place in (coated or uncoated) metal roasting pan. Place on grid in heated oven (200 °Celsius), medium height, roast for 2 to 3 hours, turn occasionally. Keep an eye on temperature, reduce heat before it starts to burn. Add vegetables, continue to roast for 30 minutes. Add tomato puree, continue to roast for 15 minutes.
According to variant 1, put everything back into frying pan, deglaze with 500 ml (18 fl oz 2 1/4 U.S. cups) of water; according to variant 2 deglaze roasted ingredients with 500 ml (18 fl oz 2 1/4 U.S. cups) of water.
For both variants, boil down water and reduce until everything begins to slightly roast again (reduce to a glaze), then add another 500 ml (18 fl oz 2 1/4 U.S. cups) of water. Repeat once or twice.
Once everything has reduced for the second or third time, transfer to a suitable pot. Rinse cookware or frying pan with a little water and add to bones.
Top up with white wine and broth or brown stock. Bring to the boil and frequently skim and degrease. Add spices after one hour.
Gently boil for 1 to 2 hours.
Pass through a coarse sieve, pressing gently. Then strain through a cheesecloth. Season to taste with salt.
Note
Seasoning with salt: Do not season with salt according to taste and usage until the stock has been strained through the cheesecloth; the broth is already seasoned with salt.
Slowly roast over low heat. Never at excessive heat. Do not burn anything. Otherwise the stock would develop unpleasant bitter substances and undesirable black pigments. Roasting is a time consuming and continuous process.
Jus de Veau / Veal Jus
Escoffier introduced the term Jus de Veau as being Fond de Veau reduced to 1/4 (4 l (7 pt or 18 U.S. cups) Fond de Veau = 1 l (1 3/4 pt or 4 1/2 U.S. cups) Jus de Veau). It is customary today to replace veal bones used to produce Fond de Veau with gristle and meat of veal and veal trimmings. The quantities can be increased in accordance with the liquid used, and the stock then does not have to be reduced quite as much (reduce to 1/2 will suffice in general) to produce a Jus de Veau. For all variants: To make sure that the Fond de Veau / Jus de Veau gets a beautiful brown colour and pure flavour as requested by Escoffier, one must see to it that only the best ingredients are used and prepared with utmost care.
You may replace the broth with white wine, water or brown stock.
You may also replace the entire liquid with red wine, which will give the stock a different flavour and a stronger colour. Disadvantage: There is a risk that the stock will turn greyish when mixed with cream and / or white sauce (e.g. for Sauce à la Crème).
Fond de Veau Brun – Brown Veal Stock
Fond de Veau Brun is the most important basis for all brown sauce, be it as a base for Demi-glace, for Jus de Veau or directly as thickened Fond de Veau. This is why a careful and perfect preparation is required.
1. Prepare, wash vegetables and cut into thumb size cubes.
2. Mix veal bones with oil. Place in cookware.
3. Slowly roast veal bones for 1 to 1.5 hour. (Do not burn).
4. Remove roasted veal bones from cookware, drain off excess fat.
5. Place vegetables in cookware and roast gently.
6. Add tomato puree and roast with other ingredients. Do not burn.
7. Add roasted bones.
8. Deglaze and top up with water.
9. Reduce until everything begins to slightly roast again. Repeat once or twice.
10. Once everything has reduced for the third time, place bones in suitable pot.
11. Dissolve juices at the bottom of the pan with water and add to bones.
12. Top up with broth and white wine.
13. Bring to the boil and gently boil for 1.5 to 2 hours. Skim and degrease frequently.
14. Add spices half an hour before the end of the cooking time.
15. Pass through a coarse sieve.
16. Drain off and press bones.
17. Pour through cheesecloth.
18. Squeeze thoroughly.
1. Prepare, wash vegetables and cut into thumb size cubes.
2. Mix veal bones with oil. Place in cookware.
3. Slowly roast veal bones for 1 to 1.5 hour. (Do not burn).
4.