In the beginning there was Stock
Enter a new year. Enter the quiet scrubbed kitchen. Steel surfaces waiting. Saucepans, boards and knives poised for artistry. And it feels good and right to start at the beginning.
At the beginning of the week, in any kitchen with some culinary integrity, the chefs make stocks. Akin to the building of washes, colours and glazes of an oil painting, excellent cooking starts with stocks. In the late 19th century with the famous gastronome, Brillat Savarin, it was postulated that there is a 5th flavour, osmazone. And true to the ever tenatious Platonic sentiments, this was believed to be the essential flavour captured in the bones of the various meats which we prepare and consume.
Stock is considered to be the ‘fonds de cuisine’: the base, the foundation, the beautiful “bottom” of the food. At the Corner Post we make our stocks with chicken, beef and, if available, veal and game bones. Two stocks are prepared: the one, a light chicken stock, made with carefully skinned chicken bones, unroasted and cooked for three hours. This is used for soups, rice dishes and cream sauces. The other is a darker stock, made with roasted chicken and beef bones and cooked for six hours. This is used for various types of richer gravies.
It’s a thing about depth and you are invited to swim to the bottom with us.
Featuring on the menu this week
- The freshest Knysna oysters (with a bottle of cold white, perhaps?)
- Onion and rosemary soup
- Avocado, bacon and baby spinach salad with poached egg
- Tiger prawn cocktail
- Potato pancake with Franschhoek smoked salmon and chives
- Grilled quail with semolina gnocchi and sage
- Home-made tagliatelle with tomato, basil and parmesan
- Norwegian salmon with salad nicoise
- Roast rack of Karoo lamb with mash and poached garlic
- Char-grilled Greenfields steak with chips and bearnaise (Skirt and Rib-eye)
- Caramel and Muscat custard with raspberries
- Hot chocolate fondant with white chocolate and mint ice cream
Leave a Response