Brown Stock and Mango Salsa

In this series, we learned how to split bones, make brown stocks and sauces, and then switch gears to a more modern sauce, mango salsa. 

 

Here, Chef demonstrates which bone we will be cutting. Since this class was right after the Jewish holidays, there was a shortage of cut bones in the kosher world so we got whole bones instead (for class materials).

Classmate Josh with the bone saw, and he looks a little more than happy with it

Classmate Esther with the cleaver. Watch out.

Success!

As part of one brown stock team, I made the sachet d'epices (spice bag) with parsley stems, bay leaves, thyme, and white peppercorns.

Below, chef checks on how brown our bones were getting. The trick to a nice, rich brown sauce is to brown the bones in the oven or on a pan first.

To draw out even more color, we brushed them with tomato puree. The acid in the tomatoes draws out the moisture in the bones.

Next we placed out mirepoix (carrotsonioncelery) in the oven to brown on a tray.

Finally, classmate Naomi burned some onions, to add to the stock for color.

We checked our mirepoix and bones. When they were done, we dumped them all into our  enormous stock pot.

Then we deglazed the pans the bones were on with some hot water, cleaning the pans. Then we dumped this water into the stock pot.

The goop baked on the bottom of the pan is called "fond."

You'll see my spice bags hanging over the edge as we filled the pot with deglaze and water.

Then we moved on to the mango salsa:

The proper way to cut a mango (though there are several right ways) is to cut slices on each side of the pit and then trim away the flesh from the pit. We diced our ingredients (green onion, red pepper, shallot, green pepper) and mixed in a bowl.

Another classmate was preparing grilled chicken breasts under which to serve the mango salsa. According to health and safety regulations, cooked chicken must be at least 165 degrees F to be served. This piece needed a little more time.

Finally, we eat!

Our stock would sit overnight for use in brown sauces and soups the next day!

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Mango Salsa

1/2 medium red onion

1 ripe mango

1/2 red bell pepper

4 green onions, finely minced

1/4 cup cilantro (if you can stomach it. I leave it out)

juice of half a lime (1TB)

2 tsp olive oil

1 TB clover honey

1 tsp white vinegar

1/4-1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed

if you want it extra spicy, leave in the seeds and membrane

sea salt, for garnish

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. This will let the flavors marinate together. When ready to serve, top salsa with a few grains of sea salt.