Concentrated veal stock is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Any veal stock is good. Use it in your cooking. But concentrated veal stock – that’s magic. Concentrating it makes it easier to store in the freezer. That way, it’s just there and ready when you need it. And you will need it with beef and with lamb. It’s not full blown demi-glace but it adds that unbelievable richness to sauces.
Roast the bones before making the stock for a dark rich flavour. For a lighter flavour you can skip the roasting. I like roasted better. Don’t go too heavy on any other ingredients. Personally I use one onion per big pot of stock. Flavours intensify when reducing so things can get unbalanced pretty easily.
I make a batch of it and freeze it in ice cube trays. If you have a vac pac food saver you can use that to store it – otherwise ziplock backs work. I put 4-5 cubes in each vac pac. This recipe makes about 30 cubes or about 1 quart.
concentrated veal stock
Ingredients
- 7 lbs veal bones
- 1 onion halved
- Water to cover bones
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 375F
- Place veal bones on a cookie sheet large enough to contain them in a single layer.
- Roast for 1 hour turning the bones halfway.
- Place bones and onion in a large pot and cover with cold water.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 12-15 hours.
- Remove bones from pot and strain stock.
- Reduce to about 1 quart.
- Cool and freeze (ice cube trays make for nice portions) or use within 3 days.
concentrated veal stock
Ingredients
- 7 lbs veal bones
- 1 onion halved
- Water to cover bones
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 375F
- Place veal bones on a cookie sheet large enough to contain them in a single layer.
- Roast for 1 hour turning the bones halfway.
- Place bones and onion in a large pot and cover with cold water.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 12-15 hours.
- Remove bones from pot and strain stock.
- Reduce to about 1 quart.
- Cool and freeze (ice cube trays make for nice portions) or use within 3 days.
Pan fried pork chops. The right chop, a hot pan, a few minutes in the oven and a quick pan gravy put a weeknight staple on the the table in 20 minutes or less.
Pan fried pork chops sound great in theory. Season a piece of pork, toss it into a frying pan and bang – you are ready to eat. In practice they curl. They don’t brown properly. Part of the chop is perfectly done, the rest is bone dry. A big part of the problem is the choice of chop. Thin chops are no good. Centre-cut chops – the ones with the loin and the tenderloin – are really no good.
Rib chops work well. One muscle keeps things consistent. Just make sure they’re about an inch thick and this recipe will work every time. Chipotle gravy is easy to make and really adds a nice dimension.
Using the stovetop and then the oven is a pretty common restaurant trick. Start by frying the chops on the stovetop until brown on one side, then pop them into the oven to finish. Easy and consistent. That’s why restaurants do it.
pan fried pork chops with chipotle gravy
Ingredients
- 2 rib chops cut about 1 inch thick
- salt
- creole seasoning to season the pork chops
- 1 tsp flour
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 tsp chipotle in adobo puree or minced chipotle in adobo
- salt to taste
Instructions
- The day before cooking - assuming you are that organized - sprinkle the chops generously with salt and refrigerate. Dry brining is a great way to add a bit more flavour to pan fried pork chops.
- Pre-heat your oven to 375F.
- Sprinkle some low salt creole seasoning on the chops.
- Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Film the pan with olive oil and fry on one side for 2-3 minutes. You are going for nicely browned here. Flip the chops, spoon off any excess fat in the pan and place in the oven. Roast until an instant read thermometer reads 135-140F, around 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove the chops from the pan and tent with foil. Heat the pan over medium heat and sprinkle the flour evenly into the pan. Stir constantly for about 1 minute, making sure all the flour is coated with the pan drippings. Add 1/4 cup of stock and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Make sure you get all the brown bits to dissolve. After 30 seconds or so add the second 1/4 cup of stock and return to a boil.
- Now is the time to decide whether you like the consistency. If you want a bit thinner gravy add some more stock. If you want it thicker, boil it down a bit.
- Stir in the chipotle in adobo, pour in any juices that have accumulated under the chops, adjust seasoning if needed and serve.
