apple rose tarts and the veal stock challenge

 

I was flicking through Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook a couple of weeks ago, looking for something to do with the wild boar that a hunter friend had given us, when I came across a recipe that called for demi-glace.  Demi-glace is basically veal stock that's been highly reduced then strained and reduced again with shallots and red wine, resulting in a rich, dark mother sauce with an intense caramelised favour. I often make my own chicken and fish stocks, but when it comes to veal, I've been put off by instructions like "simmer for eight to ten hours" and "skim frequently". But I found a recipe that promised I could make a decent brown veal stock in under four hours, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I ordered 3 kilos of veal bones from my butcher, wildly guessing that they would cost me no more than €5, but when I went to collect them two days later, he said: That will be one hundred euros please Madame.

One. Hundred. Euros.

There was a split second (after I picked myself up off the floor) where one half of my brain said: What the ....? while the other half was reaching for my wallet - the half that appreciates the value of veal stock, no matter what the price. But then he gave me a wink, pushed his pencil stub behind his ear with the two remaining stubby fingers on his right hand and said: Just kidding. For you,  gratuit.

Back at home, I tipped all the bones into two lightly oiled baking trays, mixed through some tomato paste and left them to roast in the oven until browned. While the bones were roasting I peeled and roughly chopped some carrots, onions and celery and roasted these in another oiled baking tray until evenly browned and caramelised. Then I threw everything into my biggest stock pot, covered with 5 litres of cold water, added some sprigs of thyme, a couple of bay leaves and a few whole black peppercorns and left to simmer for three and a half hours, skimming from time to time.

So far, on course for my simple and delicious, velvety veal stock.

But I hadn't reckoned on that most extreme of kitchen sports - straining.

The recipe instructed me to do this as many times as I could stand (up?) and I was disappointed, given my diligent skimming, to see thick legs of grease running down the sides of the empty pot after my first straining manoeuvre. I washed the pot (using industrial quantities of washing-up liquid to dissolve the fat) and repeated the process eight times, cursing the still lardy pot (which by this time was nearly running out the door) and the diminishing returns of my precious liquid. At this point I gave up and decided just to bag the damn stuff and be damned, poured what was left (precious little) into two poly bags and went to put them aside ...

... when whoosh, the bottom of one of the bags split open and the contents splattered all over the floor and down the kitchen units.

Veal stock. Don't try this at home.

Today I made these apple rose tarts which I serve to guests with panna cotta and apple purée and apple and cinnamon sorbet - my trio de pommes. You can watch how they're made on this video link. They're dead easy and look and taste fab.