Duck consommé

I grew up on my mother's broths, be it chicken or bone. Nothing nourished me more on a cold, wet day than a piping bowl of chicken and shiitake in homemade broth. My mother would always skim the fat off the broth before serving it, and often she'd do so by freezing the broth overnight and then skimming off the solid bits.

For years I followed her way to make chicken broths. And then I saw Heston Blumenthal make a beautiful duck consommé by freezing the broth and then slowly defrosting it in muslin cloth. I thought what a great way to preserve the flavours! So after procuring muslin cloths from a friend in Taiwan (I'm sure it's available somewhere in Dublin, but all I could find from visiting numerous shops was cheesecloth, which is more gauze than fabric), I got to try out this promising method.

Duck consommé with steamed shrimp dumplings and scallop dumplings

Ingredients (I)

Whole duck carcass, broken
spring onions, green bits, chopped
fresh ginger, sliced
1L filtered water
500ml Shaoxing wine or sake

Method (I)

1. Put half of all the ingredients into a cocotte/dutch oven and bring to a gentle boil.
2. Let simmer over a low heat for 2-3 hours or cook for an hour in a pressure cooker.
3. Wait for the pot to cool. Then pass the liquid through a sieve and back into the pot.
4. Put the other half of all the ingredients into the liquid and cook for another 1-3 hours to intensify the flavours.

   

   Duck broth simmering with spices

5. Now you have a double broth.

Ingredients (II)

Sichuan peppercorns
Dried Sichuan chillies
Fresh ginger, chopped
Whole star anise
Cinnamon sticks, broken in half

Method (II)

1. Into the double broth, add the spices.
2. Bring all to a gentle boil and let simmer for 10-20 minutes.
3. Transfer to a container suitable for freezing, let cool, and freeze.
4. Once the broth is frozen, take it out of the freeze and let defrost a bit before transferring the frozen block to a colander lined with a muslin cloth (this helps clarify the consommé while retaining the flavours). Sit the colander over a big bowl. Let the block defrost naturally and slowly.
   
5. Once the broth is fully defrosted and passed through, discard all the sediments (fat, spices, bones) on the cloth. Pass the broth through a clean muslin cloth again and now you have consommé. The consommé should be transparent at this stage.
   
6. Heat the consommé till piping hot (as it is clear, consommé loses heat quickly) but not boiling. Season with a bit of salt if required. 
7. Pour over steamed dumplings or vegetables and serve. 
   

As Blumenthal promised, the consommé was clear as day while brimming with all the wonderful flavours and aromas from the duck bones and spices. The flavours, while intense, were delicate, and went beautifully with the steamed dumplings. I was delighted. But what I couldn't get over was how clean the consommé was! This method of clarifying broth certainly beats the old-fashion way of skimming or the chefy egg-white raft. I'm sold!