Conference turris::cooks

    
    Well, I'll take a shot at it ...
    
    (The New Basics) Stock: A long simmering, well flavored broth made 
    from meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables with the addition of herbs 
    and spices.
    
    (Joy of Cooking) Consomme: Clarified double strength brown stock.
    
    (Joy of Cooking) Bouillon: concentrated brown stock [There's also
    chicken bouillon]
    
    Soup: How about any of the above with added ingredients such as 
    meat, poultry or vegetables.
    
    Larry

    The main difference between consomme and soup is about $3.50
    
    The main difference between stock and bullion is that while bullion is
    a better investment, stock is easier to carry around.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Can anyone take a stab at defining, and explaining, "clarified"?

Just what it sounds like - stock is cloudy when made (due, I think, to fat
and other particles.)  Clarifying it means removing the stuff that makes
it cloudy so that it is clear.

How to do it? I have no idea...

D!

    This is the way one of my books said to clarify the stock.
    
    Wet down a large dish towel and ring it out well.  Cover a large
    bowl with the damp cloth and secure it.  I folded tucked all the
    ends of the cloth under the bowl.  Slowly ladle the stock onto the
    cloth.  Do not press it in.
    
    When you are done the fat will be trappd in the cloth and the 
    stock will be clear.
    
    	aud...

    
    RE .1
    
    Thanks for the exact definitions, but the Stock definitions contains
    the word "Broth" which is one of the terms I meant to add to the list
    in the starting note. 
    
    Does a broth have salt and seasoning?
    
    Lets take a chicken example.  Please correct me where my thinking
    is wrong:
    
    1. I take a chicken and put it in a pot with some celery, carrots,
       onion.  I simmer it for a couple of hours.
    
       I now have a BROTH.
    
    2. If I had added seasoning to the above concoction:
    
       I would have a STOCK.
    
    3. (If I had used beef instead of chicken and used much less water,
        and then clarified it, I would have CONSOME).
    
    4. And BOUILLON seems to be the same as the BEEF CONSOME or a CLARIFIED
       CHICKEN STOCK.
    
    RIGHT?
    
    		AUD...

    
    I was always under the impression that consumme, while not 
    necessarily clarified, was boullion without the fat. Best and
    easiest way to do that is to put the liquid in a bowl, and into
    the fridge over night. The fat solidifies on the top and can 
    be removed with the spoon. This also seems to leave a "clarified"
    product behind. 
    I am always amused that at that point it does not resemble consumme
    as you serve it, but looks like so much soup-flavoured jello! 8-)
    
    Monica
    

How do you clarify butter?

Karen

    you remove the water from butter, not the fat...
    
    Ana
    

    RE: .8, .9
    
    To clarify butter you want to remove the water and the solids in it.
    
    Heat the butter to evaporate the water, it will bubble alot until all
    the water has left and the solids will start to brown.  Then pour the
    remaining stuff through a strainer lined with a couple of layers of
    cheese cloth into a measuring cup or dish that can stand the heat.
    This will strain out the solids and you should be left with just the
    oil component of the butter.
    
    				-David

	How about if we "clarify" the spelling of "consomme'" while we're
	at it.

	The American Heritage has the best definition around for it
	too:

	"A clear soup made of meat or vegetable stock or broth."

	(They apparently forgot the bouillon during this printing,
	or they didn't want to confuse anyone.)


	Diane

    Note 3007 is dedicated to clarifying butter.  There is, as yet,
    no other note in here which discusses clarifying stock.
    
    ed

As far as practical definitions are concerned, 

	Stock is the liquid resulting from boiling meat or vegetables in
	water.

	A soup is usually a variety of solid things floating around in a
	stock, or sauce derivative (like the the cream sauce in a chowder).
	But you can also use soup to refer to stock/broth/consomm�/bouillon
	that is ready to eat.

	Broth usually refers the stock part of a soup.  So, the cream sauce
	in a chowder usually isn't called a broth, but if the chowder was 
	made using the liquid that resulted from boiling clams (clam stock),
	it would be called a broth.

	Consomm� is usually a clarified stock.  Sometimes there are solid 
	things in it, but usually they are few (for example, 2 small ravioli
	in a large flat bowl of consomm�), so as to emphsize the clarity of
	the liquid.

	Bouillon is a stock or broth or consomm�, too.  In common American
	practice, it refers to something made from little salty cubes and
	hot water (bouillon cubes).  However, if you see it on a menu, its
	probably the handmade variety.

So, the bottom line is that all the terms ARE used interchangeably, even if 
they should not be.  As an ingredient in a recipe, usually you don't see "Soup"
used, with an accomanying recipe for the soup.  If any of the others are used
without accompanying definitions/recipes, use cloudy stock for stock or broth,
and clarify it for consomm� or bouillon.

Julia Child teaches this method of clarifying stock:

Strain all the solids from it, and refrigerate overnight.  The fat will rise 
and solidify, allowing you to remove every tiny bit.  Removing the final traces
can be done by dragging a warm damp paper towel over the surface.

Warm the stock over low heat.  When it is a tepid liquid (many meat stocks will
be gelatinous when cold), remove a cup.  To the removed cup add one egg white
per quart of stock being clarified.  Whisk the mixture and mix it back into the
pan.  Continue to heat gradually until the mixture comes to the slow boil.  The
egg whites will begine to cook, and will coagulate into a gray mass that floats.
After cooking at a slow boil for about 10 minutes.  Strain the whole mess
thru 2 layers of wet cheese cloth.  The stock will now be crystal clear.  

If it is not crystal clear, it is because you either did not boil long enough
(large quantities may need to cook longer), or boiled it too hard, or didn't 
have a filter that was fine enough.  The process can be repeated until the stock
is completely clear.

To clarify butter, melt it over low heat.  When it is liquid, spoon off the 
clear oil, taking care to leave the milky stuff behind.

The "official" way to clarify a consomme, as practiced in the best kitchens, is
to remove the fat and then strain it several times (as described previously),
then to add lightly beaten egg whites while whisking and heating. The whites
cook and solidify, 'grabbing' the remaining fine particles left after the
straining. When you've got them all you strain the whole lot again and throw
away the (egg+particles).

Always seemed like a lot of trouble to me...

    Could someone define marinara?  How is a marinara sauce different from 
    a regular red tomato sauce?  What makes it a marinara?
    
    Thanks (from a not very good cook whose husband wants to know).

    Marinara is totally meatless.  --S

I don't know if it's the rule, but every marinara sauce I've seen has
been not only meatless, but also totally smooth (no tomato chunks), and
somewhat thinner than "normal" spaghetti sauce (whatever "normal" means).

Art

    Marinara has seafood in it! 
    
    Sheridan
    ;^)
    

    No, despite the name, Marinara does not have seafood in it.
    Besides, Marinara doesn't mean "seafood," it means "fisherman."
    
    Oh -- by the way -- Carbonara doesn't have charcoal in it, either.
    
    					andrew

But a fisherman's dish would usually have seafood in it, wouldn't it?

~Sheridan~
:^)

>But a fisherman's dish would usually have seafood in it, wouldn't it?
    
    Perhaps.  This one doesn't. 
    
    					andrew

Perhaps fishermen are so sick of the sight of fish that they'd rather
lamb?  Or vegetables to curb the scurvy?  :)

Like: My daughters both worked for MacDonald's and became vegetarians...
    
    One still is.
    
    :-)
    
    ed

    FWIW, I've had Spaghetti Marinara in an Italian restaurant (in Greece
    admittedly) and it was spaghetti with a seafood sauce.
    
    Jim
    

When I eat marinara at my Italian nearly-mother-in-law's house, it 
DEFINITELY has fish in it.

So there.
:)

     I always thought authentic marinara had anchovy paste in it.

    
    I'm always amazed that people are so naive about ethnic cooking.  Do
    you suppose that all Italian fishermen use the same recipe to make
    pasta sauce?  I doubt that they all run to the shelf to consult their
    Marcella Hazan for "the" recipe for marinara sauce.  Is there *one*
    recipe for Meatloaf?   Is there *one* recipe for Apple Pie?
    
    Like most regional cuisines, Italian pasta sauces have as many
    variations are there are cooks.  As suggested, it probably often
    contained fish, but I have no doubt that sometimes it was made without
    fish.  It probably contained whatever was on hand, and whatever the
    family liked.
    
    If you re talking about jarred sauces, then that's just some company
    chef's interpretation of an average style of a regional sauce.