Restaurant DNA
Stocks and bases
Stocks and base sauces are the foundation layer: made in bulk, they give body and depth that water cannot.
Stocks
A stock is bones, vegetables and aromatics simmered gently in water. Gelatin from collagen gives body; long, gentle simmering (not a rolling boil) keeps it clear because boiling emulsifies fat and churns proteins into the liquid. Classic kitchens make white stock (raw bones), brown stock (roasted bones and vegetables) and fish and vegetable stocks.
- Start bones in cold water and skim the scum as it rises
- Keep at a bare simmer: chicken stock about 3–4 hours, beef or veal bones longer, fish about 20–30 minutes
- Do not salt stock; it gets reduced later
- Strain, cool quickly, and lift off the set fat
Bases in Indian cooking
Indian kitchens build depth through bases instead of (or as well as) stocks: slowly cooked onion masala (bhunao until the oil separates), tomato-onion masala, ginger-garlic paste, fried onions (birista), and in some kitchens a boiled-and-blended base gravy. Yakhni, a meat stock flavoured with whole spices, is the traditional base for some pulaos and gravies.
Why it matters
A sauce made with stock has more body (from gelatin) and more savoury depth (from extracted amino acids and Maillard products from roasting) than one made with water. A good base lets a short cooking time to order still taste slow-cooked.
Bring it home
- Freeze chicken carcasses and vegetable trimmings until you have enough for a stock.
- A pressure cooker makes good stock in about an hour.
- Freeze stock in 250–500 ml portions; reduce it first to save space.
- Cook onion masala in a large batch until deeply browned and the oil separates, then freeze in portions.
Related techniques
These lessons describe widely used professional practice. They are not any restaurant’s proprietary recipes or methods.