Mastering Stock: The Foundation of Great Cuisine

In every serious kitchen, the stockpot is always on. Stock is the invisible architecture beneath great sauces, braises, and risottos — the difference between a dish that merely satisfies and one that lingers in memory.

The Three Pillars of a Great Stock

Whether you are making a delicate chicken velouté or a rich veal fond brun, three principles remain constant: quality bones, patience, and temperature control.

1. Start With Quality Bones

We source our beef bones from a small farm in the Hudson Valley where the animals are pasture-raised. The marrow is richer, the collagen more abundant, and the resulting stock has a body and golden hue that commodity bones simply cannot produce.

For chicken stock, we use carcasses from birds that have already yielded their breast and thigh meat to other dishes — nothing is wasted. Roasting them first in a 220°C oven for 40 minutes until deep mahogany gives the stock its characteristic colour and sweetness.

2. The Mirepoix

Onion, carrot, and celery in a 2:1:1 ratio form the aromatic base. Cut them large — they will simmer for hours. A generous bouquet garni of thyme, bay, and parsley stalks completes the flavour profile.

3. Temperature Is Everything

A stock should never boil. The surface should tremble, not roil. Boiling emulsifies the fat into the liquid, creating a grey, cloudy result. At a gentle simmer, fat rises and can be skimmed cleanly, leaving a crystal-clear, glistening liquid.

The stock is the soul of the dish. If you rush it, you lose everything that makes it worth making.

Our House Brown Veal Stock

The recipe that underpins much of our menu begins with 5kg of veal knuckle and shank bones, roasted until deeply caramelised. We then sweat the mirepoix in the same roasting pan to capture every fond, deglaze with dry white wine, and build slowly over eight hours.

The result — reduced by half — is a glossy, intense stock that forms the base of our signature jus and several of our most celebrated sauces.

Great cuisine begins long before service. It begins here, at the stockpot, with time and attention to detail.