REDUCE, réduire; To boil down a liquid, reducing it in quantity, and concentrating its taste. And so,
You will reduce the substance of your life into something stronger, more efficient and of more value than in your present condition.
You already know that a proper consommé requires the body of whatever animal’s essence you wish to preserve. The first consommé you made was with your best friend in an apartment overseas, with the leftover carcass of a Thanksgiving turkey. You spent two days shelling the flesh off those bones and simmering its marrow down to something worth a damn. It was a success the way your life in Spain was a success: simple, delicious. Don’t ever forget the lesson learned that third Friday in November, when you considered the essential components of a bird (a difficult thing to find in Barcelona) and concentrated them to a point of perfection. One thing you discovered was that the longer you cooked her bones, the Earthier (I believe you said ‘gamier’) her flavor became, and the better she paired with wild rice and dark green, leafy things.
Making stock out of you/ A substitute for soups
step one Turn off your cell phone when you’re at home. If you need to see someone, plan in advance or send them an email.
step two Spend 7 – 10 days without so much as a glass of wine. Unless you are writing, in which case red is permitted.
step three Make a list of all the things you love (in gerund) to do on your own: cooking, cooking well, reading, writing, watching 90210, running, writing well, eating well, eating ice cream, sleeping six hours, cleaning your room, working on your cookbook, making progress on your grant applications, listening to prince
step three Shower every day, ok
step four Cut your list of loves down to the most important (in the infinitive): to cook, to read, to write well, to run, to eat well, to make progress
step five Ask yourself: what is progress? Make a map of your life with index cards and tape them up all over your wall. Start taking some down.
step six, 7, 8, 9 Create a blog. Cook something new every day and then write about your efforts every evening. Don’t say ‘delicious’ unless you mean it. Paint your kitchen walls the color of a pumpkin.
step ten Ignore them boys.
You’re gonna simmer on these for a while. Once some promising opportunities start to surface, it’ll be time to lower your cooking temperature. In the meantime…
BEEF REDUCTION – to use as meat stock for all your fall and winter soups
Preheat your oven to 450°F. Roast one and a half throbbing pounds of beef shank in a pan that you smartly drizzled with olive oil, for about half an hour. Throw some carrots and onions into the mix. Once browned, transfer to a large saucepan. Here’s the fun part… Add half a cup of brandy into the empty roast pan, and cook over medium heat while relieving all those extra brown scraps left anxiously sticking to the sides. Put your beef and vegetables back into the roast pan with equal parts water and beef broth (about eight cups total). Throw in some thyme and a pinch of nutmeg. Bring to a boil and then REDUCE your heat to medium while your broth REDUCES to about two cups. It will take a couple hours. Once finished, strain the liquid and chill until cooled. Make sure to cut the fat from the top.
This is a great base for French onion soup or anything else that calls for beef broth. Or just heat it up and dip some toasted baguette in there. You’ll thank me later.
