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Stocks

crkoller

Any simple solutions/suggestions on how to get a clearer stock? I use a pressure cooker and despite producing intense flavors, the stock is always cloudier than I would ideally like, I use my chinois and muslin to remove as much of the particulates as possible but the cloudiness seems to remain

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trev_teich

First question would be what kind of stock are you making?

crkoller

Chicken and Vegetable mainly

trev_teich

So before with the chicken stock it's important to blanch the bones, wings, and whatever other dead chicken parts you have in there to get rid of some of the "impurities". So, cover the chicken parts with cold water bring to a boil, then drain right away and go ahead and make your stock as you would. Chicken stock at the longest only really needs to go 1.5 hrs, I think. I'm sure @Chris can get into the what, why, how and may disagree. As far as veg stock try sous vide veg stock.

BlvCook_25591

Would making a raft help with the cloudiness (as in a consomme)?

lelferreira

Besides the tips from @Trevor_Teich, make sure not to over-pressured it because it will make your stock cloudy as well.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I use a 100 micron filtration bag in place of cheesecloth and that clarifies damned near anything that passes through. They're known as superbags on sites like modernist pantry or la sanctuaire but I bought them from McMaster Carr for much less. They're used industrially for filtering sediment and can be found in many different sizes.

mcmaster.com/#standard-filter-bags/=l2sf7u

Chris_Young_80640

So here is how I get a crystal clear stock from my pressure cooker:

(1) Add meats and aromatics to the pressure cooker. Ideally, you will have ground or pureed your meat into a paste prior to browning it (if you're producing a brown stock). Vegetables should be thinly sliced; I don't recommend grinding vegetables for a stock because they turn into juice and all of the usual ratios of meat to veg go out the window.

(2) I always reserve some raw ground meat and fold it into the mixture just before adding the water. This ground meat will "getter" up the droplets of oil and bits of food that make a stock cloudy during the cooking process. Think of this as the ingredient that creates a self-clarifying stock.

(3) Cover with water and bring to pressure. As @Duda says, do not over-pressurize your cooker. Properly pressured the liquid inside the pressure cooker is perfectly still, over-pressurized and it becomes turbulent as liquid boils. Turbulence is what causes a stock to go cloudy—the churning action stirs and disperses small droplets of oil and bits of food that will scatter light, which is what makes a liquid cloudy.

(4) After the cooking step (usually 1 hour), I let the pressure cooker cool undisturbed.

(5) Once relatively cool, I open the cooker. It should be very clear, with a layer of clear oil on the top, clear stock beneath it, and the food on the bottom. You will sometimes see small amounts of scum between the stock and oil layer.

(6) If you pour the stock out you'll make it cloudy, even after skimming of the oil. If you want to keep it clear, get a small, soft hose and siphon the stock out like you might do for draining a fish tank. You can siphon it through a fine filter to catch any small bits of food that get sucked up.

crkoller

Thanks @Chris, I will certainly try that technique it sounds straight forward enough...I did stumble upon Agar Clarification today but there isn't much more information other than it apparently work to clarify stock, couldnt find ratios or the process clearly outlined. Curious on your opinion of whether its worth trying, I'm espeically thinking for vegetable stocks because of their inherent lack of any natural gelatin

Mason_Perry_34060

@Chris_Koller I have used this method with agar agar before, I haven't tried V8 but I have had awesome results with nasty cloudy broth (think white pork based broth for asian dishes)

Agar Agar is easy to find and I just skim, seive and then drop the agar agar in and freeze in a glass baking dish in my deep freezer, it normally ends up about 1/2 inch thick, I break it up and let it melt at room temp in a coffee filter suspended by a colander over a stock pot, it normally takes about an hour for everything to melt, then just heat and go, works like a charm.

crkoller

@Mason, thanks - what weight ratio of agar to stock did you use?

Mason_Perry_34060

I use approx .25 grams of Agar to every 250 grams of stock (which is about 1 cup of stock so the ratio I remember is 1 gram of Agar to 1 Quart (4 cups) of stock) so when I make my 12 quart pressure cooker and get about 6 quarts of stock I add 6 grams of Agar. I don't think there is any reason to be SUPER exact when doing this as the Agar won't pass through the coffee filter, but you may retain some trapped moisture yeilding less clarified stock, but probably not very much.

trev_teich

I knew Chis would come up with something crazy cool.

I didn't know we were making consomme. What about ice filtration?

seijoed

Tried the siphon with my cooks essential programmable pot, went 70 min, probably could have done much more, didn't have any flavor rich beef parts but got a brilliantly clear stock.

seijoed

@Chris, after reading some more, does the unit I have produce enough pressure? I.e I suspect it is venting, so am I gonna need a teachers note so I can buy one of those expensive ones?

Brendan_Lee_56950

Do you know what it's rated for? I've never seen them rated higher than 15psi/1bar

Mason_Perry_34060

I thought in the US they had to vent at 15 PSI....

seijoed

@Brendan I have no idea, it is an old cheapo thing.

seijoed

This looks like what I have.

overstock.com/Home-Garden/Salton-CEPC600S-6-qt.-Programmable-Pressure-Cooker/1028269/product.html

Chris_Young_80640

Stove-top pressure cookers that I have seen are limited to 15 psig (psig means gauge pressure, which is added to the current atmospheric pressure). Properly vented this means that pressure cooker can raise the boiling point of water to 250 °F / 121 °C.

All electric pressure cookers I have seen are limited to even lower gauge pressures. Pressure canners will sometimes go slightly higher, but pressure canners tend to be made from raw aluminum, which I don't recommend for cooking food.

Chris_Young_80640

@Johan - I suspect your unit runs at a maximum temperature of about 240 °F / 115 °C. As a general rule-of-thumb (imperfect, but it will get you in the ballpark) you can double your cooking time to get a similar result to a pressure cooker that operates at 250 °F / 121 °C.

seijoed

@Chris thanks! I'll go try that right away. Not that I don't want a Kuhn

Mason_Perry_34060

Kuhn is on my list of need to get someday....

seijoed

Second batch turned out much nicer after seasoning. Very clear, did get muddled up instantly though in a french onion soup.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/112827635720941213700/posts/AXfngQToCHQ

Mason_Perry_34060

Dang that has been on my list of things to make for months, maybe tomorrow.

Sumit__65166

i use unbleached coffee filters. i do have to change every 100ml or so.

anyone else tried this?

Brendan_Lee_56950

I have a stack of them that I use for that purpose as well. They're cheap and do the job fairly well in a pinch. I have a superbag but it's a pain in the ass to clean so I don't use it unless I'm making a big batch of something.

seijoed

I use coffee filters too, actually a combo of cheese cloth, coffee filter and very fine mesh if in a pinch,

If you siphon right though there is minuscule amounts needing filtering.

Sumit__65166

same here Johan sans the cheese cloth!