How to make a clear background

How to make cooking funds

The funds cooking are culinary preparations, in liquid, clear, without binding, more or less concentrated and lightly scented, obtained from cooking water two ingredients.

In other words, they are the liquids obtained by cooking meats, fish and vegetables in abundant water, for a long time and over low heat.

The funds are one of the great basics of the kitchen and anyone who has gone through a hospitality school or similar will have learned how to do it in its early days.

Broths should not be confused with funds, as these are not consumed on their own. I would say are the evolution of a stock or fish stock , I vegetable broth or beef broth or poultry .

They serve as the basis for other types of elaboration, such as soups , creams , purees and sauces , in which the bottoms are one more ingredient.

That is why the funds are prepared without salt, to be able to be used freely and that do not condition the flavoring of the elaboration in which they are used.

Elements of the cooking bottoms

Every cooking fund has a main element or genre and an aromatic garnish.

The main element is the one that determines the name of the fund. The most common are:

• Bones, hocks, cutouts, legs for the veal bottom.
• Shells, bird offal for the bird background
• Thorns, heads, cuts of white fish for the fumet

The aromatic garnish is composed of vegetables and vegetables of various types (carrot, onion, leek, turnip, garlic, celery, tomato, etc.), aromatic herbs, spices and wine.

The current trend is to make the bottom or the fumet using the bones or thorns of the dish that we are going to make, with this it is possible to maintain and enhance the flavor of the main genre.

Light backgrounds and dark backgrounds

In addition to the main gender differentiation, backgrounds are classified into two: light backgrounds and dark backgrounds.

• The clear bottoms are made with white meats, bones and carcasses of these same animals, various vegetables and herbs, and spices.
• All elements are boiled directly in plenty of water, over low heat and for a long time, resulting in a light to off-white liquid. Hence its name.
• Dark backgrounds are made with meats, which may or may not be white, as well as poultry bones and carcasses.
• These elements are roasted, fried or roasted, which enhances their flavor and gives them a darker color, before being boiled in water with various vegetables, herbs and spices.
• It is common to add tomato to dark backgrounds, as well as wine, to enhance its flavor.

How to make a clear background

Preparation of the base ingredients for the background

1. Peel and clean the vegetables and cut them into cubes. They do not need to be the same size, but as similar as possible is appreciated. We reserve.
2. We wash the meat and bones under a trickle of cold water to start removing impurities.
3. Then we blanch them in water, that is, we put them in a pot with cold water and heat slowly until they come to a boil.
4. At that time we remove them, discard the bleaching water and wash the meat and bones again.
5. With this we achieve that most of the impurities disappear and that the water of the next cooking does not become excessively cloudy.

Cooking and final preparation of the light background

1. We fill a pot with three liters of water and put the meat, bones, chopped vegetables and greens, spices and the Garni bouquet in it.
2. We heat to a boil and lower the heat, keeping it at a constant medium-low temperature.
3. We cook for a couple of hours, if it is a light background of veal, or an hour, if we are preparing a light background of poultry or game. We foam impurities during the process as often as necessary.
4. After the cooking time, we strain and discard the stumbling blocks, leaving us with only the resulting liquid.
5. We use a cheesecloth or a fine cloth on the strainer so that there are no remains and we get a background as clean as possible. Let cool completely before refrigerating.

With the bottom very cold it is very easy to remove the fat, since it solidifies and concentrates on the surface so you only have to pass a skimmer or ladle.

Once this is done, we already have a clear background ready to be used in all kinds of elaborations immediately or to freeze.

Conservation of light and dark backgrounds

• The light and dark backgrounds are kept in good condition, in the fridge at 3ºC for a maximum of 6 days.
• They can be frozen at –18 ºC for up to 12 months. Decomposition symptoms are manifested in the slightly pink color, foam on the surface, acidified taste, bad smell, etc.
• If there are doubts about its condition, it is advisable to heat the bottom and check.