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Swore off making stock in under 2 hours, then a 78 year old line cook set me straight
For 12 years I treated stock like a rush job, 90 minutes on high with whatever scraps were left at close, and I figured that was just how it worked. Then a retired guy named Manny came in to help on a Friday and watched me dump a pot after an hour and a half. He asked me one question, "Why are you boiling it?" and I honestly had no answer. He showed me a simmer at barely a bubble overnight, and the next morning that stock had a body I could not get in a full shift. The gelatin from the wings and feet was doing all the work while I was cooking it into mush for years. So now I want to hear it, what is the one thing a veteran showed you that made you feel dumb in the best way?
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patriciaellis1mo ago
Oh man this hits close to home! I read a thing once from a chef who said the biggest mistake home cooks make is treating stock like a race when its really just a slow hangout between water and bones. The collagen needs time to turn into gelatin and if you boil it hard all that stuff just breaks down and you get cloudy water with no body. I remember reading that even a light boil can make the fat mix in and turn the whole thing greasy and muddy too. Manny was dead right, low and slow is the whole game and its wild how many of us learned it the hard way.
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