Clear, strained stock
Stock is the backbone of most of this book, and the only version that belongs on this diet is one you can see the bottom of the pan through.
Half the flavour in this book comes from stock, which matters more than usual when herbs and spices are restricted. Stock is also one of the easiest places for something to slip through, because a broth with a few flecks of vegetable in it still looks fine in a mug. On this diet the standard is higher than looks fine. Nothing floating, nothing settled at the bottom, nothing caught in your teeth.
How to do it
Start with cold water and bring it up slowly. A stock that comes to a rolling boil emulsifies its fat and breaks the vegetables apart into cloud, and once it is cloudy you cannot get it clear again. Hold it at a bare simmer, where a bubble breaks the surface every few seconds.
Skim the grey foam in the first twenty minutes, when it is easiest to catch. Then leave it alone for two or three hours, topping up if the bones show.
Strain twice. Once through a sieve, pressing only lightly, and then again through muslin or a clean tea towel set inside the sieve. The second pass is what takes out the fine sediment the first one misses. Chill it fully and lift the set fat off the top in one sheet.
The cue
Pour a little into a white cup. You should be able to see the bottom of the cup through it, and the liquid should be the colour of weak tea. Set chilled stock should wobble like a soft jelly if the bones were good, which tells you there is body in it.
Common mistakes
Boiling. Pressing the solids hard at the strain, which pushes vegetable purée through and clouds the finished stock. Using a shop-bought stock with visible herbs in it, so read the pot. A good cube dissolved in hot water is entirely acceptable and is what most of these recipes assume.