cookware
Matteo and I went shopping on Sunday and I purchased a set of Emeril Stainless Steel cookware. You could kill a horse with the 3 qt. sautee pan. It’s THAT heavy. Nice glass lids and stuff too. It’s basically a cheaper version of All-Clad stuff, with metal handles and things. Perfect for stove, oven, and broiler.
I’m still lacking a giant stockpot and a smaller saucepan. I want a 16 or 20 qt. stockpot, but who knows where the hell I would put a pot that size. Perhaps I could bathe the cats in it.
I made some hollandaise which I was tempted to devour in one sitting. For those of you who don’t know, my hollandaise recipe consists of almost two sticks of butter and three eggs with some lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Can you feel your arteries hardening?
It worked PERFECTLY (Julia, your recipe is the BEST honnnay!) but the taste was a bit off. I think I purchased old butter. I didn’t look at the date, so that was totally my fault. The lemon juice was also bottled (don’t hate me) so that contributed to the lackluster flavor. Next time, fresh butter, and fresh juice.
I need the 1 qt. pan for making roux. I can’t make roux in 2 qt. pan. It’s too big and the liquid in the measures I’m working with spread out too much. I want to move on to Bechamel and Veloute, both require a roux, but for the Veloute I need stock, so the stockpan has to come first.
I’ve never made stock from scratch at home, but this recipe on egullet looks promising. I’ll be doing chicken stock first, hopefully transforming that into consomme.
If I can make consomme I’ll be happy. It’s hard, but I’ll learn what I need to learn about the cookware and the process, so I can move on to beef stock, which leads into making demi glace.
If I can make demi glace, I’ll be ecstatic.