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Cover and Interior design by Red Herring Design

ISBN: 978-1-4532-9508-3

Published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc.

151 West 19th Street

New York, NY 10011

www.blackdogandleventhal.com

This edition distributed in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media

180 Varick Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

CONTENTS

Introduction

Equipment

Basics, Sauces, and Stocks

Vegetables

Eggs

Fish and Shellfish

Poultry

Meat

Offal and Charcuterie

Carving

Bread and Pasta

Pastry and Dessert

Presentation

Index

INTRODUCTION

This is a seminal work, and like no other. Jacques Pépin is not only a renowned chef, a foremost authority on French cuisine, and a great teacher; also, as all of us know who have seen him in action, he is truly a master technician. For us to have all this information in our hands, fully illustrated and explained, is indeed a treasure.

Even though I wrote La Technique and La Méthode thirty-five years ago, I am happy to say that, with some minor changes, the culinary techniques demonstrated in the books are as current and useful today as they were at that time. A good cook still beats egg whites, bones a chicken, and makes a caramel cage in the same way. Just as in 1974, the greatest hindrance to good performance in the kitchen is an inadequate knowledge of basic techniques.

Along with the hundreds of techniques collected in the original two volumes, La Technique and La Méthode, we have incorporated color photography and additional techniques from my two-volume set, The Art of Cooking, which was published in the 1980s. Furthermore, we have underlined the text in recipe captions that specifically describes what is shown in that picture. In my opinion, both improvements to the current edition will help cooks more readily comprehend what’s being demonstrated.

Jacques Pépin’s New Complete Techniques uses step-by-step pictures and detailed, descriptive text to acquaint cooks of every level with the basic procedures that make up the core, the center, and the heart of the profession. Do you want to learn how things really work in the kitchen? It is the goal of this book to teach you, and in the process, to help you understand and hone the basic manual skills that are almost impossible to explain solely in words. This book, quite simply, will teach you how to cook in a way a conventional cookbook could never do.

Don’t be discouraged if you can’t master some of these techniques instantly. Some, like the fluting of a mushroom, take practice and patience. Others, like peeling garlic, are quite simple. Remember that as your mastery grows, you will become better able to tackle even difficult recipes with ease and proficiency. In time, you will open your favorite cookbooks and experience them in a new light!

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When professionals work with ease and rapidity, it is a result of long years of practice and discipline. There are no secrets or tricks, only feats of skill (tours de main) acquired with prolonged effort. Through endless repetition, these techniques will become so much a part of you that you’ll never forget them. People often tell me that what surprises them most is watching me cook and talk at the same time. This is because my hands are trained to the point where I do not have to think about the processes I use as I make a recipe—it’s automatic. Instead of fighting the mechanics of cooking, I can concentrate on thinking about the combination of ingredients, about taste, and about texture. You may be very creative and imaginative in the kitchen, but you cannot take advantage of those qualities if you don’t know the basics. A solid background must precede inventiveness. An artistic mind might create a stunning decoration for a cold salmon, but the dish will be triumphant only if the salmon is first properly cleaned and poached, and the aspic rich and crystal-clear—and this requires knowledge of the proper techniques.

For many years I have dabbled in painting, and although I have occasionally come up with what I think is a great idea for a picture, my hands are rarely good enough to express what I have in my head. This is because my knowledge of painting techniques is weak; I haven’t repeated them day after day after day for hours, so my hands very often are not skilled enough to realize my ideas. In cooking, however, after so many years of practice, I can eliminate a great many potential problems or obstacles along the way as I think about a recipe, and then my hands can do the rest. I can usually come pretty close to my vision on the first try.

In this book, I do not pretend to have explicated the whole spectrum of cooking skills; I haven’t touched on Asian cooking, for example, concentrating more on the general cooking techniques that I have used all my life. I may have taken for granted very ordinary chores, such as peeling a potato or melting butter. And even with the help of the step-by-step photos, some of the techniques, like making a butter flower, still require a fair amount of patience and perseverance to achieve. Others, like peeling and seeding a tomato or making a rabbit out of an olive, can be mastered instantly. You will discover that there is great satisfaction in conquering dishes that may have frustrated you in the kitchen before. Knowledge of the basics is so rewarding, in that it allows you to try out new ideas, to remedy potentially catastrophic miscalculations, and to tackle any kind of recipe because you will comprehend the mechanics behind it.

Start with simple techniques and work gradually toward the more involved and complicated ones. And have fun! Remember, you are not learning new recipes, you are acquiring a whole new way of cooking, and with this book, you begin your apprenticeship.

Happy cooking!

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June 2012

EQUIPMENT

Today’s cooking equipment comes in all types, shapes, prices, and materials. The enormous interest in food, heightened by cooking schools, cookbooks, newspapers, magazine articles, the Internet, etc., has spurred the manufacturers into bringing many different types of paraphernalia onto the market, and a lot of it is good. However, it is often hard for people to differentiate. What pots should one buy? Should they be copper? Stainless steel? Heavy aluminum? No-stick? Black cast iron? Enameled cast iron? It is difficult to choose because ultimately there is no ideal pot. Every material has its good and bad points. The thick, heavy, hand-hammered copper is the best to conduct, diffuse, and retain heat. While attractive, it is very heavy, very expensive, and needs constant polishing. Pots should not be lined with tin, as used to be done, but with stainless steel, which is cleaner and more durable.

Heavy aluminum pans, customarily used in professional kitchens, are much lighter and easier to handle. Heavy aluminum is the best heat conductor after copper and it’s tough. However it tends to discolor food, especially when acidic ingredients such as wine, vinegar, and tomatoes are used. (When using a whisk for an emulsion, such as hollandaise, you will often have a brownish dirty color mixed with your sauce.) At home, the discoloration happens regularly just from boiling water. The pan is not used often enough and moisture in the air will cause darkening. The same heavy aluminum pot used in a restaurant kitchen may not discolor since it is used over and over again and is washed between each use, preventing any buildup. The best are heavy aluminum pans lined with stainless steel.

The no-stick lined pans are very good, especially the permanent no-stick, which have a tougher, more durable, finish than the ones made years ago.

Stainless steel cleans easily, keeps shiny, does not discolor food but, unfortunately, does develop “hot spots” or patches of burn. The transfer of heat is fast but stainless steel does not retain heat well. Fortunately, stainless steel pans are now made with thick bottoms, and aluminum or copper “sandwiched” between layers of stainless steel.

The dark cast iron skillet and kettle are good, sturdy, and practically indestructible. They are inexpensive, easy to care for and hold the heat fairly well. However, they are heavy and if not used often will get rusty, stain, and discolor food. The enameled cast iron is attractive, cleans well, and will chip if dropped. Eventually, the inside will darken and discolor.

Earthenware is attractive, good for prolonged oven cooking, and can be used as service pieces. Since they are fragile, and extreme temperatures may cause cracking, don’t use them for stove-top cooking.

For baking, flat, heavy, not too shiny, aluminum cookie sheets are the best. The iron or steel cookie sheets will warp and the heat conductivity is too rapid. Silicone liners, as well as no-stick aluminum foil, are an inexpensive and vast improvement for preventing dough from sticking. All kinds of plastic and silicone shaped containers are good when working with chocolate. Microplanes are terrific to grate the skin of citrus fruits, as well as garlic, onions, etc.

Should you have a plastic or wooden chopping block? My preference is wood—it is attractive, with just enough bounce, and it does not dull the knife’s blade. Both types should be thick, heavy, and wide. Your chopping block won’t perform properly if you do not have a high, sturdy table, which does not bounce when you use a meat pounder or a cleaver. However, I do not use my block for rolling out dough. I prefer rolling it directly on a marble, granite, or formica counter. It is clean and non-porous, with no taste attached to it.

What kind of electrical appliances should you get? A food processor (the stronger the better) is a must, as well as an electric mixer. Should you cook with gas, electricity or microwaves? Cooking is harder to control on electric tops, although the electric oven is excellent. Microwaves are efficient for melting chocolate or cooking bacon. But gas is my favorite. Professional stoves are a good investment. They are strong, have great capacity and never go out of style. We enjoy seeing the flames, and control is there at all times. Ultimately, the best heat is wood (hard wood). For barbecuing, it is a must. Never briquettes. Briquettes are a derivative of petroleum and they are not good for your health. A steak well charred on a dirty grill over briquettes has more tar than several packs of cigarettes.

Good whisks with thick, heavy threads are a must, as well as “piano-wire” whips (very thin, flexible, and tightly woven). Both are necessary—the whisk for thick sauces and the whip to whip egg whites and heavy cream. Rubber and wooden spatulas, as well as a series of stainless steel and ceramic bowls, wire racks, strainers, metal spoons, skimmers, vegetable peelers, etc., are all necessary implements.

Then there are the knives, an extension of your fingers. There is always a controversy about knives. The current trend is toward high carbon steel and ceramic knives. They do not discolor or oxidize when used for cutting lemons, tomatoes, or onions. Stainless steel is a very hard metal and difficult to sharpen, although it keeps a good edge once sharpened. The knives should be very sharp to perform correctly. You should have a minimum of three knives. A very large (10- to 12-inch/25- to 30-centimeter blade) chopping knife, a thinner, 8-inch (20-centimeter) all-purpose knife, and a small paring knife. Several paring knives would be even better. Have a good sharpener. A steel or ceramic sharpener (good for stainless steel) is necessary but both sharpen only the tiny cutting edge of the knives. After a year or so, depending on how often you use your knives, this tiny amount of metal will be worn away. The carbon knife must then be sent out to be sharpened professionally unless you have the know-how, and possess a large stone with which to grind the metal. Send dull knives out to a person who sharpens lawn mowers, scissors, or electric saws. Then the knives can again be utilized for one year, using the steel sharpener periodically. Ceramic knives must go back to the manufacturer to be sharpened.

You will notice that expensive, good equipment is usually well-designed and pleasant to look at. Visit pot and pan shops. Many specialize in gadgetry and gimmicks. Some have an enormous, confusing potpourri of paraphernalia, among which, if you have the proper lore, you will discern the good from the bad. There are a few good shops that specialize in good equipment only. When you have chosen a good shop, follow the judgment of the salesperson; once you get to know a place, the people will give you good advice. Have a tag sale and get rid of your bad tools. Buy pieces one by one if you can’t afford to spend a lot. Some people will spend a small fortune in a good restaurant without blinking an eye, but won’t spend the same amount for a few pieces of equipment. It is worth the investment, since they will go on working for you, your children, and, maybe, your grandchildren.

Have your pots, molds, strainers, etc., hung from the wall or the ceiling, as is done in a professional kitchen. They will be easy to get to and you will use them more often.

Even though you may have the best ingredients to start with, nothing is more frustrating when preparing a meal than when your oven does not keep a constant heat, your pan is discolored, your knife is dull, your pots dented, etc. It won’t work! Finally, cook, cook, cook, cook, and cook again! I know people who have great kitchens with all the latest and best equipment. It is only there for show. The more you cook, the easier it becomes. The more the equipment is used, the better it performs and you will get attached to certain tools.

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THE Basics

How to Sharpen Knives

Holding the Knife to Chop Vegetables

How to Julienne

Garlic

Leeks

Duxelle of Mushrooms

Tomatoes

Brown Stock (Classic and Fast), Half-Glaze, and Meat Glaze

White Stock

Fish Stock

Skimming Technique

Skimming Fat

How to Strain Sauces

Strong, Clarified Stock

White Butter Sauce

Hollandaise Sauce

Butter and White Sauce

Mayonnaise

Larding: Strips and Leaves

Folding in Ingredients

Coating a Cookie Sheet

Pastry Bag and Tube

Lining Cake Pans

Paper Casing

Paper Frill

Paper Cone

Collar for Soufflé

How to Sharpen Knives

(Aiguisage des Couteaux)

A knife is useless if it is not sharp. You can tell if your knife is sharp if it can cut a soft, ripe tomato into thin slices with ease. If the knife is dull, it will just crush the tomato.

If you looked at the cutting edge of a knife through a magnifying glass, you’d see that it is made up of hundreds of tiny teeth—like a saw. Through repeated use, these teeth get twisted and bent out of alignment. This is what makes a knife dull; a sharpener gets these little teeth back into alignment.

The harder the metal the knife is made of, the harder it will be to sharpen, but the longer it will hold its edge. A sharpener has to be made of a material that’s a shade harder than the metal it is to abrade. (The hardness of metals is measured on the Rockwell Scale.)

Steels are metal sharpeners. They have a fine grain and give a super finish to an already sharp knife. Butchers and professional cooks use a steel constantly, giving the knife a few strokes before each use. A ceramic sharpener is better than a steel for sharpening hard metals such as stainless steel. (Ceramic is harder than the hardest metal on the Rockwell Scale.)

Eventually, repeated sharpening wears away the little teeth of the cutting edge. At this point the knife needs to be ground to thin the blade into a new cutting edge. This is done with an abrasive stone.

An apprentice chef cannot “graduate to the stove” until he has mastered the basic techniques for correctly chopping, dicing, mincing, and slicing vegetables, fruits, or meat. Perfectly prepared vegetables not only have an attractive texture, but add a good “bite” and taste to the finished dish. Practice, obviously, is of the very essence, and good knives are just as important. Knives should be sharpened professionally at least once every year or two. In the interim, keep a good edge with either a steel or carborundum sharpener.

1. Handling your knife properly is your first concern. Hold the item to be cut with fingertips tucked under, so the blade “rests” and slides directly against the middle section of your fingers or against your index finger, if it is more comfortable. The knife follows, in fact, “glued” to the fingers and slides up and down the fingers at the same rate all the time. The speed at which the fingers move back determines the thickness of the slices. See steps 6 and 7 for more illustration of this technique.

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2. To mince an onion, cut off the root and the stem end on opposite ends. Some onions have extremely thin skins which are hard to remove. Some are quite thick. In either case, remove one layer of onion, or several if necessary, so there is no yellow or dry skin visible.

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3. Cut into halves through the root. Place one of the halves flat side down and, holding your fingers and knife properly,

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4. cut vertical slices from one end to the other, up to, but not through, the root end. The knife does not go in a straight down motion while cutting, but rather in a down and back motion at the same time.

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5. Holding the knife flat, cut 3 or 4 horizontal slices from top to bottom, up to the root end.

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6. Finally, cut across the onion, again up to the root end. (If the dice is not fine enough, chop some more with a large knife.)

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7. To slice a potato, place it on its flattest side so that it does not roll under your fingers. If the potato is not stable, cut a slice off so the potato can sit firmly on the cut end. Slice to desired thickness by controlling the progress of the fingers that hold the potato in place.

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8. To chop parsley, use a bigger knife. Place the blade perpendicular to the chopping block and gather the washed parsley top into a tight ball. Slice the bunch across.

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9. Slice, going down and forward, or down and backward, sliding the knife along the fingers.

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10. Holding the handle firmly in one hand, the other hand relaxed on top of the blade (this hand does not apply much pressure on the blade, but rather directs it), bring the front of the blade down first, then the back. Repeat in a staccato and rapid up and down motion until the parsley is finely chopped. Draw the pieces together in a heap as you go along.

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11. To dice an eggplant, hold the eggplant firmly with the tips of your fingers and cut lengthwise in equal slices.

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12. Stack 2 or 3 slices on top of each other. Using the same technique, cut into square sticks.

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13. Cut the sticks across to form little cubes. Very small cubes or dices of vegetables are called brunoise.

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To cut into julienne is to cut into very thin strips. A julienne is aesthetically very pleasing and very nice as a garnish for soups, fish, meat, etc. A vegetable julienne (such as carrots, leeks, and celery) is usually blanched and finished by being cooked a few minutes with fish, veal, or whatever it will be served with. Being cut so thin, it cooks very fast.

1. To peel: Trim both ends of the carrot to form a flat end to start from. Working toward you, peel a whole strip of carrot in one stroke, from end to end. Rotate the carrot and proceed all the way around. Use long, regular, slow strokes. Your speed will improve with practice. Short nervous strokes (or peeling one half of the carrot then turning the carrot around and peeling the other half) take twice the time.

2. Slice the carrot into very thin lengthwise slices. If you do not have a mandoline or a similar type of vegetable slicer, and if you’re not proficient enough with a knife, use a good vegetable peeler. Apply as much pressure as you can so the slices are not too thin.

3. Stack 3 or 4 of the thin slices on top of one another, fold and then slice into a fine julienne.

4. For the julienne of leeks, only the white and the very light green part of the leek is used. Remove the dark green part and the root, keeping the green part in the refrigerator for soups or stocks or to put in a stew. Split the trimmed leek in half.

5. Separate all of the layers of the leek. (Note that in our leek the center is woody. This happens when the leek is old and grows a tough central core. Remove and discard.)

6. Fold a few of the leaves at a time, so that the inside of the leaves shows on the outside.

8. Separate the stalks. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the top layer of fiber from the large outer stalks if necessary. (By scratching the celery, you can find out if it is fibrous or not.)

9. Cut each stalk into 4- to 5-inch (10- to 13-centimeter) pieces. Flatten each piece with the palm of your hand. (It will probably crush in the center.)

10. Using the flat of your knife held horizontally to the table, cut the celery into 2 or 3 thin slices.

11. Pile all the slices on top of one another and cut into thin strips. A julienne of celery is never as thin as a julienne of leeks or carrots, but it is used in the same way.

There are many types of garlic readily available, the best of which is the “red garlic,” so-called because of the reddish color of the skin. Garlic affects food in different ways depending on how it is cut and used. You can roast a chicken with three full heads (about 40 unpeeled cloves) of garlic and serve them with the chicken. Guests can pick up the cloves and suck the tender insides out of the peel. Prepared this way, it is astounding how mild and sweet garlic is. The scent and taste are barely noticeable. However, the smell of one clove of garlic, peeled, crushed, chopped fine, and added at the last minute to sautéed potatoes or string beans, or to a salad, can permeate a whole room and remain on your breath for hours. The same crushed, chopped garlic—when cooked slowly for a long time, as in a stew—loses most of its pungency and harmonizes, quite modestly, with the other herbs and ingredients. Crushing the garlic releases more essential oil and gives more flavor than slicing it or leaving it whole. Raw garlic, chopped to a purée, is the most powerful. Mixed with olive oil, it becomes the garlic-loaded mayonnaise of Provence (aïoli or ailloli), known as beurre de Provence (the butter of Provence).

One important point: When making scampi, escargots, sautéed potatoes, zucchini, or any dish where the garlic is added at the end and slightly cooked, be careful not to burn it. Burned garlic hopelessly ruins a dish.

Leeks are called the “asparagus of the poor” in France. This hardy winter vegetable is unbeatable for soups. Leeks are great cooked in water and served with a vinaigrette sauce and excellent in stews and quiches.

A duxelle of mushrooms is a mixture of mushrooms chopped very, very fine and cooked, sometimes with shallots, sometimes without, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Duxelle is one of the staples of classic French cooking and is used in many dishes—as a coating, as a stuffing, as a seasoning. With the addition of cream or milk, it becomes a purée of mushrooms and is served as a vegetable.

Peeled and seeded tomatoes are a requisite ingredient in many recipes. They are used to make tomato balls—a perfect garnish for roasts, chicken and the like—and fondue de tomates, which is a fresh tomato sauce that’s both easy to make and very good.

PEELING AND SEEDING TOMATOES

(Tomates Emondés)

1. Remove the stem from the tomato using the point of a knife. Dip the tomatoes in boiling water—they should be fully immersed—and let sit for approximately 20 seconds if well ripened. If the tomatoes are not ripe, it will take a little longer for the skin to come loose.

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2. When cold enough to handle, remove and peel. The skin should slip off easily. An alternative method is to impale the tomato on a fork and, holding it by the fork handle, roll it over an open flame. “Roast” it for 15 to 20 seconds; the skin should slide off easily.

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3. Cut the tomato into halves widthwise—not through the stem.

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4. Press gently to extrude all the seeds. You now have pure tomato flesh or pulp. The seeds, skin, and juice can be used in a stock or long-simmered sauce.

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TOMATO BALLS FOR GARNISH

(Boules de Tomates)

1. Peel and seed the tomato. Cut each half in two.

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2. Place a tomato quarter in a strong kitchen towel, the outside against the towel.

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3. Squeeze the tomato flesh

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4. to form a nice, small, fleshy ball. Sprinkle with salt and a dash of ground pepper. Moisten with melted butter and heat in a hot oven for a few minutes before serving.

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TOMATO SAUCE (Fondue de Tomates)

1 tablespoon good olive oil

3 tablespoons chopped onion

3 cups (450 grams) cubed tomatoes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped very fine

1 tablespoon tomato paste, optional

Heat the oil in a saucepan. When it is hot, add the chopped onion and sauté for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and the salt and pepper to taste. Cook on a high heat for 5 to 6 minutes to evaporate some of the liquid. Add the garlic, and the tomato paste if the tomatoes are too watery or too pale in color. Cook 3 to 4 minutes and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper, if necessary.

1. Peel and seed the tomatoes and cut coarsely into 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) cubes. Prepare 3 cups (450 grams) of cubed tomatoes and proceed with the recipe below.

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Cooks often get confused when they hear names such as brown stock (fond brun), demi-glace (half-glaze), brown sauce, glace de viande (meat glaze), sauce espagnole, fond lié (thickened stock), jus, broth, bouillon, and so forth. It is confusing. However, it is an area that is too important to French cooking to bypass.

Let’s start with the most basic—stock. (We will use the word “stock” instead of broth, bouillon, or jus.) What is a stock? It is a liquid obtained by boiling bones with water. There are two basic stocks: one white, one brown. The white stock is bones and water boiled together with seasoning. The brown stock is made from bones that were browned in the oven or on top of the stove. The browned bones give the stock a darker color and a nuttier taste. A brown stock reduced by half becomes syrupy and is called a demi-glace (half-glaze). Reduced to its extreme, to the consistency of jam, it becomes a glace, or glaze.

A stock must cook a certain amount of time, which varies depending on how large the bones are and what type of bone is used. With small pieces of bones, or with thin bones like the bones of a chicken, three hours of cooking is sufficient, whereas larger veal or beef bones require up to 10 to 12 hours. Time is essential to extract all the nutrients and taste from the bones. Water is added to the bones, but not a fixed amount. Throughout, the cooking water evaporates and more is added regularly to replenish the stock. When the stock is cooked, it is strained and reduced to its proper consistency.

We make our brown stock with veal, beef, and chicken bones mixed together. The chicken bones, besides being readily available and inexpensive, add a pleasant nutty and sweet taste to the stock. In fact, if we are low on other bones, we’ll make up the difference with more chicken bones. It is, of course, better to use fresh bones; however, in a home kitchen you rarely have enough fresh bones on hand. So when you order a roast of beef or veal from your butcher, ask him for a few bones and then freeze them. A few times a year, empty the freezer, make large amounts of stock and freeze it in small containers. It should last you for a few months and be very inexpensive. Make great quantities of stock if you have pots and pans large enough. Three pounds (1.4 kilograms) of bones take as much cooking as 20 pounds (9 kilograms).

Brown stock is a carrier—a vehicle—which permits you to make sauces. It is not a sauce in itself, but is used to “wet” (mouiller as we say in France) a stew or deglaze a pan, or add to other bones (game, lamb, etc.) to produce a more concentrated and differently flavored stock. Though it is gelatinous when cooked and holds together, a stock is not concentrated enough to be called a sauce. However, 3 quarts (3 scant liters) of brown stock reduced by half will yield 1½ quarts (1.4 liters) of a slightly syrupy and darker liquid which is concentrated enough to become a “sauce” and which has a name of its own—demi-glace (half-glaze). Furthermore, if that quart and a half of demi-glace is reduced to its extreme, it will yield about 2 to 2½ cups (473 to 591 milliliters) of what is called glace de viande (meat glaze). The glace de viande is not a sauce any longer. It has transcended the condition of a sauce and is now a strengthening and flavoring agent. The glace de viande hardens enough when cooled to be unmolded and cut into cubes. In the freezer, it will keep almost indefinitely if the reduction is correct. These cubes of glace de viande are added to sauces to make them stronger and richer. Thus a basic stock, taken to different stages of concentration and volume, changes its name as well as its function.

Stocks should be started with cold water and cooked, uncovered, at a slow, gentle boil. This way, the albumin in the bones and meat will harden and come to the surface of the liquid in the form of a gray foam which can be removed with a skimmer. The fat will also rise to the surface. However, if the stock is covered and boiling too fast, the albumin won’t separate and the fat will emulsify back into the liquid (see the discussion of emulsion in the techniques for hollandaise) instead of rising to the top. The stock will then be cloudy, less digestible, and more caloric.

The classic brown stock is usually seasoned with carrots, onions, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, etc., but not salt because if salt is added at the beginning and the stock is then reduced to a glaze, the concentration of salt will be overpowering. A stock, purified by slow cooking and properly skimmed, will be high in proteins, clear, meaty, and practically tasteless. This may seem paradoxical but it’s not. The stock has been too lightly seasoned to have much of an identifying taste of its own. And it shouldn’t have one if it is to become a demi-glace transformed (as we will a little later) into a red wine sauce for beef, a chicken and mushroom sauce, or sauce for a sautéed piece of veal. In each of these cases, the demi-glace must take on the identity of that particular dish. It is the “hidden and modest” friend which enables a cook to produce a well-finished, long-simmered sauce in minutes. It is what we call in English a basic brown sauce. It doesn’t have a specific name or identity of its own yet. With the addition of wine it becomes a sauce Bordelaise, with Madeira and truffles a sauce Périgueux, with vinegar and shallots a sauce Bercy, etc. The progression is from a stock to a demi-glace or basic brown sauce to a specific sauce.

What is the proper degree of reduction? The key word is “balance.” To achieve a delicate combination of seasoning and correct concentration takes practice, knowledge, and talent.

Making sauces from reduced stocks is particularly well suited for restaurant cooking because it works well with diversified sauces and dishes made one portion at a time. However, it is time-consuming and expensive to make and some cooks do not feel that reductions alone produce a satisfactory result. Besides the question of time and expense, they object to the richness and concentrated taste of the reduction. A truffle sauce for a filet of beef requires a strong reduction but a small delicate quail is overpowered by too potent a sauce.

On occasion, a stock will reduce and intensify in flavor but will lack the gelatinous element to thicken to the right consistency. If you feel your sauce has reached the right taste but it is too thin in texture, thicken it lightly with arrowroot or potato starch. At one time a brown sauce used to be heavily thickened with flour. The classic sauce Espagnole, made with a stock, brown roux, and tomato paste, though rarely made nowadays, is an example. Carème explains that the roux, the binding agent, separates after long, slow cooking, and the fat and the scum from the cooking of the roux rise to the top and should be skimmed off. The sauce clarifies and purifies through the long cooking until only the “binding elements” of the flour (the glutinous part) remain to hold the sauce together. Although this sauce works with practice and care, it is more logical and faster to use a starch such as arrowroot—which is like a purified flour (binding element only) and has no taste, cooks instantly, and doesn’t “dirty” the sauce. Cornstarch can be used, too, but tends to make the sauce a little more glue-y and gelatinous than either arrowroot or potato starch.

Must one use demi-glace to cook well? Some types of cooking require it, some do not. Home cooking and some of the best country cooking is often done without brown stock. In our family, and at friends’ where we have had some of our most memorable meals, brown stocks are practically never used. Often good cooks modify the principles behind the brown stock and use leftover juices from a roast chicken or a pot roast the way a professional uses glace de viande. Roasting and braising give natural strong juices, the equivalent of a strong reduction, which can be used in the same manner.

Following the Classic Brown Stock and the Fast Brown Stock are recipes using these stocks.