If you want to be inspired by Italian tradition and serve classic tortellini, a risotto or simply a good consommé, broth is an indispensable ingredient. And just like every recipe that is made with few ingredients, broth, too, must be made with the top quality raw materials. Beef, not too lean, and pieces of poultry, without forgetting cartilage-rich bones, and then the classic vegetables, onions (yellow, including the skin), carrots and celery. If you want a more distinctive taste, you can add spices like cloves and cinnamon, as well as a bay leaf. Here are directions for a richly flavored and substantial broth, that you will dream of sipping not only on Christmas day.
Long cooking time
For the broth to be exceptional, the meat needs to cook in water for a long time. This allows all the most flavorful substances to be extracted from the vegetables and the meat, and the collagen to dissolve. The higher the temperature, the less time is needed to obtain this result. With the condition, however, that you will have meat that cannot be used, because it will be completely shredded. If, instead, you keep it at a medium temperature and extend the cooking time, you will have a better result. The long cooking time also allows the collagen in the bones and the connective tissue to dissolve, creating a gelatin that gives the broth a greater consistency.
The right meats
Whether you use veal or beef, for a good Christmas broth, get pieces with a nice amount of fat and others with bones. Flank steak, neck, shoulder, muscle, marrow with the bone and then pieces of chicken or capon. You can also use a whole chicken or a quarter chicken, and then when it’s cooked, you can put it in a salad and have it as a meal the next day.
The recipe for Christmas broth
Fill a large pot with water, about 5 quarts. Add about 3 pounds of meat, a combination of beef and poultry, and cook on low heat, covered. After 2 hours, add 2 carrots, 1 unpeeled yellow onion and 1 celery stalk, all cut into chunks. Add a few cloves, a pinch of pepper, some parsley and cook for 2 more hours. When it’s done, season with salt, strain and let cool. If you want a lighter broth, when it has cooled, you can use a skimmer to remove the layer of fat that will have formed on top. If you like a richer flavor, then leave it; it will melt when the broth is reheated.