One, two, three, four, Can I have a little more!

So I tried to do a little research as to why cooling stock covered would cause the stock to sour, and friends...I got nothing. I found a number of precautions that "cooling stock covered will cause the stock to sour" but no one wants to tell me why. I did get a little bit of useful information for tomorrow's post, but you'll just have to wait and see.

I did however find a solution to Psychgrad's "Do I have to put my dutch oven in the fridge" quandry. My go-to guy, Alton Brown recommends placing your dutch oven in the family cooler, with about two inches of ice in the bottom. Then drop in a couple of half-way full frozen water bottles.

Tonight's stock lesson bring you a little vocabulary lesson!

Mirepoix (pronounced /mɪər ˈpʍɑː/) is the French name for a combination of onions, carrots, and celery (either common Pascal celery or celeriac). Mirepoix, either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter, is the flavor base for a wide number of dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces.

The bouquet garni (French for "garnished bouquet") is a bundle of herbs usually tied together with string and mainly used to prepare soup, stock, and various stews. The bouquet is boiled with the other ingredients, but is removed prior to consumption.

There is no generic recipe for bouquet garni, but most recipes include parsley, thyme and bay leaf.

These two terms are very important to the chapter and you should have them all on hand for the making of the stocks and stews!

And now on to the main event. While I made the beef stock with beef bones, the chicken stock I decided to go whole hog. Or whole chicken. We eat so much chicken, that I thought this would be a great way to cook some chicken and make some stock. One of Fannie's variations on cooking stock uses a whole chicken so that worked out just perfectly for me! We ended up with a ton of stock, a tupperwear full of cooked chicken, and a dog who thinks the stove is a magic place where dreams come true.

Chicken Stock (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 4lb chicken
• 1 onion cut in half
• 2 carrots, cut in thirds
• 3 stalks celery with leaves, cut in half
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 crushed peppercorns
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• salt

1. Wash the chicken and put it in a large stock pot. Add 8 cups of cold water and remaining ingredients.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, skimming off the scum during the first 30 minutes.
3. Cook, covered until the chicken is tender. Turn off the heat and remove all the chicken from the pot (I did this about 30 minutes after covering).
4. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, separate the meat from the skin and bones and return the skin and bones to the pot.
5. Continue to simmer 4-5 hours in all. Strain and cool the stock, uncovered.