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A master stock or master sauce () is a
stock which is repeatedly reused to
poach or
braise
Braising (from the French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typically, the food is first browned at a high temperature, then simmered in a covered pot in cooking liquid (such as wine, broth, coco ...
meats. It has its origins in
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many o ...
and is typically used in
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
and
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...
cuisines. Foods poached or braised in the master stock are generally referred to as ''
lou mei
''Lou mei'' is the Cantonese name given to dishes made by braising in a sauce known as a master stock or ''lou'' sauce ( or ). The dish is known as ''lu wei'' in Taiwan.
''Lou mei'' can be made from meat, offal, and other off-cuts. The most co ...
''.
Composition
Master stocks are typically begun by simmering meat and bones with typical Chinese ingredients, namely water,
soy sauce,
rock sugar
Rock candy or sugar candy, also called rock sugar, or crystal sugar, is a type of confection composed of relatively large sugar crystals. This candy is formed by allowing a supersaturated solution of sugar and water to crystallize onto a su ...
and
Shaoxing
Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitant ...
or
rice wine. Other commonly added
spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spice ...
s and flavourings include
scallion
Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus '' Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, c ...
s,
shallot
The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the ...
s,
star anise, dried citrus peel,
cassia bark
''Cinnamomum cassia'', called Chinese cassia or Chinese cinnamon, is an evergreen tree originating in southern China, and widely cultivated there and elsewhere in South and Southeast Asia (India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam) ...
,
sand ginger,
Sichuan pepper,
garlic,
ginger, and dried
mushrooms
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...
.
Use
Once the base stock has been prepared, it is then used as a poaching or braising liquid for meat.
Chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
is the most common meat that is cooked in a master stock, although
squab
In culinary terminology, squab is an immature domestic pigeon, typically under four weeks old, or its meat. The meat is widely described as tasting like dark chicken. The term is probably of Scandinavian origin; the Swedish word ''skvabb'' mean ...
,
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
,
quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...
, and
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
are also often used.
. Instead, the
broth
Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...
is stored and reused in the future as a stock for more poachings. With each use, the poached meats and other ingredients absorb the stock's flavor while imparting their own back into the stock. In this way, over time, flavour accumulates in the stock, making it richer and more complex with each poaching, while subsequent poached meats absorb this flavor and likewise become more flavorful.
In non-Chinese cultures
Japan
Many
oden
is a type of nabemono (Japanese one-pot dishes), consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon, konjac, and processed fishcakes stewed in a light, soy-flavored dashi broth.
Oden was originally what is now commonly ca ...
restaurants keep their broths as master stocks, straining them nightly to maintain their lightness and clarity even as their flavors grow in complexity.
Thailand
The Bangkok restaurant Wattana Panich has kept the broth for its beef stew and
beef noodle soup
Beef noodle soup is a noodle soup made of stewed or braised beef, beef broth, vegetables and noodles. It exists in various forms throughout East and Southeast Asia.
One of the oldest beef noodle soups is the Lanzhou lamian (兰州拉面) or L ...
as a master stock for over forty years since moving to its current location.
United States
Between August 2014 and June 2015, Louro, a New York restaurant under the direction of chef David Santos, created dishes from a master stock.
As part of the restaurant's social media presence, the stock was dubbed "Perpetual Stu" (a pun on "perpetual stew") and had its own Twitter account, highlighting new ingredients as it developed.
Safety
After use, if the master stock will not be immediately reused, it is usually boiled, skimmed, strained and cooled quickly to kill any
microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
s in the stock. The growth of microbes in the stock can potentially spoil the flavour of the stock or pose a health risk. The stock is then refrigerated or frozen until required. Refrigerated stocks may be kept for up to three days, while frozen stocks may be kept for up to a month. If the stock is to be kept longer it must be boiled before being returned to storage.
In theory, a master stock could be sustained indefinitely if due care is taken to ensure it does not spoil. Otafuku, an oden restaurant in Japan, has kept its broth simmering since 1945 (an earlier batch was destroyed in WWII).
There are claims of master stocks in China that are hundreds of years old, passed down through generations of cooks in this way.
[{{Cite web , last=Mastbaum , first=Blair , date=2022-12-15 , title=The ‘Perpetual Broths’ That Simmer For Decades , url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/perpetual-broth , access-date=2022-12-22 , website=Atlas Obscura , language=en]
See also
*
Perpetual stew
A perpetual stew, also known as forever soup, hunter's pot or hunter's stew, is a pot into which whatever foodstuffs one can find is placed and cooked. The pot is never or rarely emptied all the way, and ingredients and liquid are replenished as ...
References
External links
*
Neil Perry'sbr>
Master Stock recipe*
Cheong Liew'srecipes for Master Stock and Master Stock dishes
Stock (food)