Missing Ingredient

It was like any other Friday night at 10:30. I was outbound on the redline having just gotten out of work. Contrary to the people I was surrounded by, I had not been drinking. Nor was I on my way to a party or from one. I wasn't taking pictures or carrying a 30 rack of anything. I was carrying something much more heinous. I was hoping no one could smell it. Then I wondered; How are my priorities tonight different from those of my fellow riders? Go to a party? Nope. Have a drink? Certainly, but not with the company of anyone else. No, my task for this evening with to prepare. Not a meal, but simply an ingredient. I was making fish stock tonight.

I had gathered my other ingredients during my break in preparation of my afterwork activities. One of the most important, I had been told, being white wine. After a long debate with myself regarding many factors I settled on a nice pinot grigio. Aside from the dubious task of acquiring the secret ingredient I had read that fish stock was relatively easy to make, but was worth it's weight in gold in adding flavor to soups, stews, and chowders. Even though I had no plans for making any of those things in the near future I decided that I must make stock, you know, just in case.

As I continued onto the 71 bus with 1 1/2 pounds of red snapper bones and heads on ice in my backpack, I started to wonder if I'm loosing touch with people my own age. I know I'm not some pioneer leading some sort of culinary revolution. People have made stock for ages, both for personal and professional use. I'm a cooking novice, no doubt about that. I was going to be using a book recipe that I had no intention on straying from. I also happen to have access to fresh fish heads, so it only seemed like the logical thing to do. But it dawned on me that this is what I had chosen to do on my Friday night.

With my ingredients layed out, I began to contemplate the task ahead of me. Some chopping, some defrosting, some simmering, ALOT of waiting, then some straining. The only thing I decided to add to the recipe was a fat sack of thyme. Why? Because I love the way it smells and I don't often have a good reason to use it. I thought about bay leaves, but I'm getting kind of sick of them.

This whole endeavour came about from a gentleman at work that day that had wanted me to fillet some red snappers for him. I explained to him that this is not cost effective, and that we had other fillets that he could substitute for snappers. But he insisted, so I complied. All that was left after filleting the two fish was a head and tail connected by the spine, with soft white flesh in between each pinbone. I had been wanting to try my hand at stock for a while, so with my Friday night schedule open, I decided to wrap them up and take them home. I felt good about this, taking someone else's leavings and doing something constructive with them. About 20 minutes later a co-worker brought me the fillets that the customer had unwrapped and left unrefrigerated in the baking aisle. dick.

Chopping vegetables for stock is easy. You leave the skins, peels, and ends on most vegetables since you won't actually be eating them, just taking the flavor out of them. I was also surprised at how little salt most stock recipes call for, just 1 teaspoon in this case. Evidently canned stocks and bouillon cubes substitute saltiness for strong flavors. While I was going pretty much by the book I can see where there is alot of room for customization, especially if you have a use for your stock in mind.

After I set my brew to simmer, I didn't have much else to do but wait. I had thought the process might be a bit more intense. But in reality, I had time to cook a whole other meal while the stock was simmering instead of settling for a turkey sandwich. I started to contemplate if using the bones of a fish is really worth it for home cooking? The only people that ask for them at the store are old ladies with moustaches and indeterminate accents. Why on Earth was I wasting my time making broth from garbage? Well, I thought, maybe I'll be emulated. Maybe this recession we're in will last into the '10's and people will start re-embracing fish heads and chicken bones as a way to bring serious flavor into their home kitchens just like their grandparents did. But then again I was also deep into that bottle of shitty wine.

Someone I asked at work said the most important part of making stock is letting it cool down. This is absolutely true. When it was still hot it tasted bland and I thought I had done something wrong. But gradually the flavors seeped out and by the time it was room temperature I was really surprised with what I had. As I put the stock into plastic containers and into the freezer I was disappointed that I hadn't planned to do something with this right away. Not to overstate things, but it seemed that I had discovered the apex of the vortex of flavor. I thought it a travesty to just shove it in the freezer. But it was late and I was tipsy, so I went to bed feeling much the wiser.

I think that if I am to conclude anything from this, it's that I need to get out more.