Broth

Generality

Broth is a food product based on water and various types of molecules released, during cooking, by the ingredients used for its formulation (vegetable and / or animal).
The broth can be based on: vegetables, meat, fish or mixed meat / fish (little used and subject of controversy);

the broth can be consumed alone, as an accompaniment to first courses or as a cooking liquid for other foods in which it will then be stored or eliminated.
ATTENTION! Fish broth is NOT fish stock!
The essential concept for the preparation of the broth is that of pass as many nutrients as possible from the ingredients to the cooking water. The tools are few: knife and cutting board for the peeling of the ingredients, a pot (or a saucepan) and a stove for cooking, a skimmer to eliminate the foam during cooking and a Chinese colander (possibly supported by a cloth sieve) to filtering. Even the ingredients of the broth are few: water, celery, carrots, onion and the object of the broth (meat, fish, other vegetables and spices or aromatic herbs).

Quality broth

A good broth is obtained by respecting some small precautions:

1. Do not use the bouillon cube, the powder, the granules or any other substitute
2. ALWAYS use cold water: the ingredients, whatever they are, must be immersed in cold water and NOT boiling water; this is because cooking in cold water facilitates the molecular transit from the tissues to the water, while immediately immersing their surface in boiling water. it would be "healed" hindering the release of nutrients.
3. Salt at the end of cooking: this is more a "personal opinion. It is true that the chlorine and sodium contained in cooking salt should, theoretically, facilitate the extraction of organic liquids and molecules present in the ingredients; on the other hand, the same result can be obtained by reducing the size. We remind you that adding salt during cooking increases the probability of an excess (which would cause irreparable damage to the preparation (s)).
4. No hurry: cooking times are long and the fire must NEVER determine the BOILING of the broth; by eye, the suitable temperature is the one that determines the gentle simmering. It is recommended to use a lid to prevent the broth from shrinking excessively.
5. Choice of products: some foods are not suitable for preparing broth; personally I strongly advise against the game for the meat broth (even the pork is not the best) and the blue fish for the fish broth. Sheep broth is a very special base that not everyone can like.
6. Respect for the purpose: the broth is a fundamental ingredient for many recipes, therefore, the taste and aroma must be calibrated on the basis of the specific use. If the combination is NOT yet well known, it is advisable to structure a light broth, free of spices and basically bland.
7. Processing of ingredients: the broth was born as a system for using the NON-edible (or no longer edible) portions of food. The broth ended up with: cuttings of meat, fish, bones, bones, spoiled vegetables, cuttings of unusable vegetables, etc .; the goal was to extrapolate the flavor of foods that, otherwise, would end up being fed to pigs, chickens, dogs or cats. Today, however, the broth has the function of structuring and giving "thickness" to the taste of the recipes that provide for use; it goes without saying that it should not in any way present defects or inadequate scents. All ingredients must be subjected to ordinary washing and husking in compliance with some details. For example, celery should be deprived (as well as the roots) of the upper leaves which, like the surface of the carrots (also to be removed) or the parsley stem, gives a bitter aftertaste to the finished broth.
8. Foam carefully during cooking: during heat treatment, the broth (especially meat or fish) tends to form an off-white foam. This should be properly eliminated by means of a skimmer to prevent the broth from becoming cloudy.
9. Do not mix it BUT filter it: the broth should not be mixed during cooking but must be subjected to filtering to prevent it from becoming cloudy. In this last step, the stock bottom should not be used.
10. Pigment it according to the destination: the vegetable broth is straw yellow, the meat broth is more golden and the fish broth varies according to the ingredients (usually whitish, darker in the presence of crustaceans). However, at times, it may be necessary to increase or enhance the color of the liquid to enrich the final presentation. The techniques are NOT all shared and some may slightly alter the flavor of the broth; however, for information, below I will list the most used ones: tomato concentrate or beetroot to obtain a more orange color, courgette peel or green leafy vegetables to obtain a more greenish color, half an onion BURNT on a pan or a spoon of caramel to obtain a more golden color.
11. Greater digestibility: broth, in itself, is a food that slows down digestion; therefore, when composing a meat broth, it is essential that it is COLD degreased (refrigerator temperature, so that the lipids solidify) to avoid further compromising the digestion times. It may also be useful to filter it, as well as with a sieve, also by means of a cotton cloth to reduce the protein residues in suspension.



Mixed Meat Broth - All the Tricks to Make it at Home

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Why does broth slow digestion?

Broth is, for many, a poorly digestible food. This is NOT due to the full-bodied nutritional intake (as long as it is defatted), but to the dilution of the gastric juices, which perform their effect more slowly. Following the ingestion of the broth, the secretion increases to compensate for the tamponade of the ingested liquid, without taking into account the fact that the absorption of water by the mucosa is already in progress. Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, the pH the gastric content is logically very low, consequently it requires a rather important secretion of buffer molecules by the intestinal mucosa; this process further slows down the transit in the digestive tract.

Some examples of broth

• Neutral vegetable broth: celery, carrots, white or yellow onion and water
• Rich vegetable broth: celery, carrots, white or yellow onion, zucchini, parsley leaves, potato, tomato and water
• Neutral meat broth: celery, carrots, white or yellow onion, beef muscle or brisket, hen or capon or guinea fowl (QB), ossobuco and water
• Flavored meat broth: celery, carrots, white or yellow onion, beef muscle or brisket, hen or capon or guinea fowl (QB) ossobuco, peppercorns, juniper berries, bay leaves, cloves (questionable) and water
• Fish soup: celery, carrots, white or yellow onion, heads and bones / carapace of galinelle, small weever, paganelli, small scorpion fish, etc., shells of crustaceans such as shrimps, prawns, crabs etc. and water. For this preparation it is possible to add some spices or aromatic herbs to taste, preferably at the end of cooking.

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