How to cook meat for broth: a complete guide
Meat broth is the basis for many first courses. Many housewives face problems: the broth turns cloudy, tasteless, or too greasy. The secret of the perfect broth lies in choosing the right meat, observing the temperature regime and cooking time. All the details are in the Izvestia article.
Meat selection and preparation
The quality of the broth directly depends on the right raw materials. For cooking, it is best to use beef of the first and second grades, beef ribs or brisket on cartilage — they make the most transparent and rich broths. Pork is also suitable for broth, but it cooks faster — about 2-2.5 hours.
Meat should be thawed at room temperature naturally, without using a microwave oven. After defrosting, the product must be thoroughly rinsed and cleaned of small bones, films and tendons. It is recommended to boil the meat in a whole piece — this way it will slowly release its juices into the broth.
To enhance the taste, the meat can be pre-baked in the oven at 190-200 ° C for 20 minutes until a brown crust appears. This technique also significantly reduces the amount of foam during cooking.
The beginning of cooking
The basic rule of cooking broth is to put the meat in cold water. When gradually heated, valuable substances and extractive elements from the meat pass into the liquid, giving the dish a rich taste and pleasant aroma. If you pour boiling water over the meat, the protein on the surface will curdle and the product will not give up its juices.
Proportions for classic broth:
3 liters of cold water per 1 kilogram of meat with bones;
2 liters of water per 1 kilogram for concentrated broth.
Before the water boils, the pot of meat is tightly covered with a lid. As soon as the liquid begins to boil, the lid is removed or shifted — so the broth will turn out rich, not watery. Bring to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce the heat to a minimum.
Many cooks practice the technique of double cooking: the first broth with dirty foam is drained 10-15 minutes after boiling, the meat is washed, filled with fresh cold water and boiled again. This method allows you to get a perfectly transparent broth.
Temperature and foam
The broth should never boil too much — the ideal heating temperature is 90 ° C. At high boiling, it becomes cloudy, and the fat breaks down into small droplets that come to a suspended state. It is correct to cook the broth over low heat so that it only gurgles slightly on one side of the pan.
During cooking, it is necessary to carefully remove scale and fat from the surface. To do this, it is convenient to use a special skimmer with very small holes or a frequent strainer. Foam is a clotted protein, its only harm is that it makes the broth less transparent.
Important points:
remove the foam immediately after it appears;
scum adhering to the walls of the pan must be removed with a wet cloth.;
periodically remove the fat from the surface, especially when cooking bone broth.;
much more foam is formed at high boiling.
Cooking time of different types of meat
The cooking time depends on the type of meat, the size of the cut, the age of the animal and the desired saturation of the broth. The longer the meat broth is cooked, the more concentrated and saturated it is. However, if the broth is cooked for too long, the quality of the broth may deteriorate.
Recommended cooking time:
beef — from 2 to 6 hours, on average 2.5–3 hours;
pork — 2-2.5 hours;
beef bones — at least 4 hours;
pork and mutton bones — 3 hours;
bird bones — 2 hours.
To speed up the cooking process, the meat can be lightly beaten off, and add a teaspoon of vinegar to a pot of water. Beef can also be greased with mustard, but it must be thoroughly rinsed off before cooking. Do not add water or broth during cooking.
Adding vegetables and spices
Vegetables and spices add a richer flavor and aroma to the broth. They are added 30 minutes before the end of cooking, so that they do not overcook and make the broth cloudy. Salt is also added 15 minutes before cooking.
Classic set of vegetables and spices:
onion (can be peeled for golden color);
carrot;
celery (stem or root);
bay leaf;
black peppercorns;
fresh parsley.
Lightly fried or baked onions and carrots in a dry pan will give a pleasant taste to the broth until a brown crust appears. For convenience, the greens can be tied into a tight bundle with a thread, so that it is easier to pull it out later. After baking the bones or vegetables, it is recommended to pour a little boiling water into the pan, scrape off the baked juice and add it to the pan with the broth.
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