French Menu, 09-05-11 Part 1

I've made a lot of the recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French cooking, and have enjoyed every one that have I have tried. I have also learned so much from that book, about sauces, cooking temperatures and times, and different techniques. I highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about cooking, and french cooking in particular.  Something has been bothering me, however - the chapter on aspics. Rather, my avoidance of that chapter in general. Let's face it, an aspic is essential meat flavored jello, with meat or other things encased in it. So, instead of pineapple suspended weirdly in lime jello, an aspic is maybe a chicken liver suspended in chicken jello. I mean, how appealing does that sound?!  Yet, the aspics are an undeniable part of french cooking, and I felt they were well worth an attempt; if nothing else, to say I made them. And also in case I ever end up on an episode of Chopped and the ingredients are chicken livers, durian, and grape jelly. BUT, I was not going to make them and eat them by myself, so I had to find someone who was adventurous enough to try something that weird. Ironically, I did find someone who signed up for an entire meal of weirdness, so that was a super bonus.

In planning the meal, I did figure the aspic would be a novelty, but wouldn't taste very good, so I intentionally planned a larger menu so that we didn't leave the table hungry.  I knew I wanted to try the liver aspic, just because I thought the sight of a chicken liver suspended in jello would be really gross. But, since I also figured I wouldn't be eating it, I thought I would also add to the menu a liver mousse in aspic; essentially, a lighter version of chicken liver pate. I figured that had a better shot at being edible. And, I would be able to use the same ingredients in both dishes, making it a little easier to prepare.  I also wanted to try marrow bones, after seeing a presentation of a single marrow bone perched on top of a steak pan sauteed in butter; it was an eye catching plate, and I thought it would be fun to try something really different.  Since I had already made several french chicken dishes and the beef bourguignon for this same dinner guest, I opted to go for more of a french bistro dish, steak on potatoes, with a fancy french sauce.  After researching options, I finally settled on a traditional french steak, the hanger steak, served with a borderlaise sauce. Only instead of opting for the perennial french favorite side, pommes frites, or french fries, I wanted something a little fancier; so I selected fingerling potatoes, that I would roast.

For the aspics, I picked up plain packaged gelatin, which is available at the local normal grocery stores. I also talked with my friendly neighborhood butcher that replaced my favorite friendly neighborhood butcher that moved to Mexico; I learned the new butcher's name is Marco, and that he did indeed always stock chicken livers, and that he had some frozen ones he could pull from the back for me to make sure I had fresh ones. Yay! I also had him package up some chicken leg quarters for making stock for the apics. I asked him about different cuts of beef, and could he get hanger steak, and bones for stock, and marrow bones; he didn't have anything else that I wanted, but I think he thought I was flirting with him, because then he asked me if I was married or dating someone.  I didn't know what to do, so I panicked, grabbed my chicken quarters and chicken livers, and ran. I did make sure to make my getaway through the produce section, where I picked up carrots, celery, onion, fresh thyme, and fresh parsley for the stock.

At this point, I had everything I needed for the aspics, but still needed the hanger steak, and marrow bones. I knew I had seen the bones recently at Ralphs, so I wasn't too worried, but I knew the hanger steak would be harder to find.  While making the menu list and shopping list for dinner, I double back to re-read the borderlaise sauce recipe, which is a red wine reduction sauce. That is when I saw that it called for demi-glace.  I knew demi-glace was a beef reduction sauce, so I figured that would be easy enough. But then, I figured if I was going to make the chicken stock from scratch, I should make the beef stock from scratch. I looked up recipes for demi glace, and found a lot of mentions of "easier to buy pre-made" and "no one makes demi-glace from scratch anymore". Of course that intrigued me. I mean, it was practically a CHALLENGE to me to make it from scratch. I tracked down a recipe on Saveur, and that is when I realized that it was made from veal bones, because the younger bones have more collagen and gelatin, and make a thicker, richer sauce.  Now I knew that I was going to have to visit the specialty butcher. I called Harmony Farms in La Crescenta (GREAT butcher, lots of exotic meats and sausages, and raw dog food, plus homemade tamales on the weekends!). They are only a few miles up the street from me; it would be so convenient if I could get the bones from them. When the lady answered the phone, I asked if she had veal bones available. "Veal bones?" she asked. "Yes, veal bones. For demi-glace." "VEAL BONES?!" she asked, like I was joking. I didn't get the joke, I just wanted veal bones.  CLICK. She hung up on me!! I spent the next few minutes trying to figure out what sort of prank call could possibly start with asking for veal bones, but I came up empty.

Harmony Farms in La Crescenta

But, never one to give up, I called again the next day, hoping to get someone else. I did, Sonny the owner and butcher answered the phone. "Hi, do you have veal bones available?" I asked. "VEAL BONES?" he repeated. Aw, crap, here we go again. Seriously, what prank calls do they get there?!?  "Yes, veal bones, for demi-glace." "You are going to make DEMI-GLACE from SCRATCH?! No one does that!!!"  Yes, so I had gathered... now I was beginning to get a little scared. I made sure he had enough, and told him I'd be in shortly.  He must have been really excited, because before I got there, he had brought out his entire inventory of veal and beef bones, and marrow bones. When I walked in the door, I told the lady (the same one, I'm sure, who hung up on me the night before) that I was there for the veal bones.  Instead of just showing them to me, she yelled back to Sonny that the lady was here for the veal bones.  He came out, and I could tell he was a little confused to see me, who he knew was a home cook, there to buy veal bones to make demi-glace. He reiterated that no one made it from scratch, and asked if I had done it before. I said no, but reiterated the process, and he nodded, and looked duly impressed.  I asked about hanger steak, and he really lit up.  No one asks for that cut, either, apparently!  Sonny went into the back to dress the steak, and came out a few minutes later to show me the final cut. It was a beautiful steak, to be sure, and so obviously very, very fresh.  He stood next to the counter, and seemed so pleased when I selected the best veal and marrow bones, and nodded approvingly at my choices.  I felt, at that moment, like I'd finally moved into the big league of cooking. Or made a really expensive mistake and didn't know it yet.

Armed with all of the ingredients, I began listing the order of things that needed to be done, since many of the components would take a considerable amount of time. First, I started roasting the veal bones on Friday night.

Veal bones, ready to roast.

I roasted them for just over an hour, until they were golden brown:

Veal bones, after roasting.

Then, I added carrots, leek, and onion to the party:

Veal bones with carrots, leeks, and onions.

And roasted it all some more, until it was all golden brown and happy.

Veal and vegetables, after roasting.

Once everything was roasted, I took it all out of the roasting pan, and put it in a large stock pot. I added water, and a bouquet garni. I had never used a bouquet garni before, but I knew it was a bundle of herbs.  After looking it up, I found the reason it's bundled is to make it easier to remove, as many of the components are inedible and are removed prior to eating. I made mine with the green parts of the leek, fresh thyme and parsley, and bay leaves. I didn't have kitchen twine, so I used white tutu tacking thread.  Mental note: buy kitchen twine. Seriously. It's about time.

Bouquet garni.

After several hours of a very slow simmer, it started to look like a hearty stock.

Simmering veal stock.

I simmered it six hours the first night, after roasting the bones and veggies for almost two hours.  The next day, I pulled the stock out of the refrigerator, skimmed the fat off, and put it back on to simmer for another six hours.  At the end of that simmering, I removed the bones and veggies, and strained the stock. Back into the refrigerator it went.  Meanwhile, I prepared the chicken stock, using the chicken leg quarters, carrots, celery, onion, portabella mushroom, fresh thyme and parsley, and garlic.

Chicken Stock

I simmered the chicken stock for about 4 hours, then removed the bones and veggies, and strained the stock. It too went into the fridge.

To be continued, because enchiladas made from the chicken leftover from the stock are calling my name. : )