For the second part of the Stocks 101 workshop, Ian showed us how to make a white stock. White stock is basically made with chicken bones and veggies like carrots, celery, onions, leeks and herbs like peppercorns, bay leaf and parsley.
Another thing that Ian brought up was you can add fillers like mushrooms, dumplings and grains like quinoa into a stocks to make a more filling soup.
Ian planned to make a Chicken Broth with Matzo Balls from the white stocks. Matzo ball mix is a flour/wheat base with leavening. It is a great pantry item to whip up some quick dumplings.
So, the first thing Ian prepared was the Matzo dough using the store bought Matzo ball mix. According to the instructions, you’ll need to add 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil and salt to taste. You may add bits of ham, mushrooms, etc into the dough if you like to. It will form a wet dough and need to be chilled in the fridge to firm up while Ian proceed to demonstrate how to debone a chicken for the chicken stocks.
 First, Ian bisected the chicken wings at the socket into wing tips, winglets and drumettes. Ian used a small pairing knife to do the whole deboning process, amazing!Tip: roasted wing tips are great for nibbling. |
 Next, Ian separated the thigh from the breast by slicing through the skin between the thigh and the breast. There is no meat attach there. |
 The next step is to bend the chicken leg the other way slowly to dislocate the joint. |
 To remove the leg, Ian pulled back the leg, peeled and cut a little at a time towards the bone. |
 What is left is the breast and the frame. The breast bone in the middle is very soft. Cut one or two milliliters from the breast bone down the center and you’ll see the tenderloin and the breast. |
 Cut towards the bones to remove the breast and tenderloin.Tip: remove the tendon from the tenderloin which is chewy by holding the tendon and scraping it off the tenderloin. |
 Finally,you’ll end up with the carcass for making stocks. You’ll need about 6 carcasses to make stocks. Stuff the neck and any other bones into the carcass when freezing it to save storage space. |
 Ian also showed us how to stretch a chicken breast by butterflying it at the thicker part. One chicken breast can feed two people by thinning it out, pounding it and breading it.Tip: deep fried the chicken skins to make crackers. |
To make the chicken stocks, Ian used 6 carcasses with bones. Frozen bones are best for making stocks. You do not need to defrost the bones for making soup because as you defrost, you’ll loose some flavour through the liquids from defrosting.
If you roast the bones before making stocks, you’ll end up with a brown stock. Roasted chicken bones will make the stocks sweeter.
To make the chicken stocks, Ian added 4 carrots, 2 sticks of celery, 1 large onion, some thymes and 1/2 teaspoons whole peppercorn. The vegetables are chopped relatively small so that more surfaces are exposed and give more flavour. The ratio of vegetables to chicken bones is about 20%. Add enough cold water to cover all the ingredients and bring the water to a boil. Once it’s starts to bubble, reduce it to low heat to simmer, uncover. Do not bring the stocks to a rolling boil as it will yield a greasy stock. The rolling boil process will emulsify the fat. Skim off the scums that forms on the top with a spoon.
The chicken stocks has to be simmered for 45 minutes to an hour. Do not over cook the stocks as the vegetables will disintegrate and makes a the soup cloudy or muddy. Strain the stocks and chill in the refrigerator after it cools off. You may then remove the fat cap easily the next day.
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Pastry making requires everything to be cold. Ian freezes the butter and grate it using a box grater (largest grate).Combine cold butter and flour (unsifted) in a bowl. Salt it for flavour.
Add cold water a bit at a time.
Ian swirled the mixing bowl to combine the flour/butter and water until it starts to form chunks.
Ian squeezed together the chunk (not knead), one small chunk at a time and place on a floured counter. You do not want to overwork the dough.Add more water when it becomes too dry.
Once all small chunks are formed, Ian gathered them together and form a ball.
Ian then flattened the dough with his palm with a motion away from himself.
Pull back the dough and fold once.
You”ll see chunks of butter and many layers. When the chunks of butter are big, you”ll have a flaky dough.
If you work the dough further more, like a couple more times pressing and folding, you’ll get a mealy dough with smaller chunks of butter.You must rest the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out for making pie.
