Stocking Up
I was a little dismayed earlier this month when watching an episode of Top Chef. One of the challenges involved the chefs making a dish using their choice of Swanson store-bought broths.
What first struck me was the blatant product placement, something I don’t remember seeing before on Top Chef.
What struck me next was the insidious inference here that top chefs use store-bought broths. Maybe only one of the dozen or so chefs would even consider using store-bought broth in real life. We don’t know. They weren’t asked.
So we were left thinking that opening up a can or carton of broth is nothing unusual for professional chefs.
This idea was confirmed in recent talks I’ve had with local chefs.At least some of them are not making their own broths anymore.
This was unheard of back in the 1980s in the restaurants where I cooked.
In these chefs’ defense, I will say that many make chicken or fish stock but do not make the more involved demi-glace, long an essential ingredient in French gourmet cooking.
Demi-glace is a big deal—a lot more work than throwing a bunch of ingredients in a pot and simmering for 3 or 4 hours. And it’s true, as several chefs told me, that pretty good store-bought demi-glace is now available from such companies as D’Artagnan (www.dartagnan.com).
Still, it bothers me. If everybody’s using D’artagnan demi-glace, aren’t their meat sauces all going to kind of taste the same?
I was further bothered by a TV ad for Swanson’s new stock. In the add, a professional chef named Christopher Lee (I think), is talking about how he makes great dishes with Swanson’s store-bought chicken stock.
Now I’m not against using store-bought broth, and Swanson’s often comes out on top when I do taste tests. But some things, like onion soup in the picture above, need homemade broth or stock to taste great instead of just good.
And I expect more from a professional restaurant kitchen, especially one with any pretense of gourmet or fine dining.
Again, that ad pushed the notion that store-bought is normal for the pros, not just home cooks.
I was more than a little heartened to look at the December issue of Saveur magazine, whose cover features a gorgeous plate of filet mignon with Bordelaise sauce. The cover also boasts “the secrets of French sauces” on page 45.
Turning to that page, I was amazed to find a thorough defense of homemade demi-glace, written by James Peterson.
I had written about Peterson and his new book Sauces just a couple of months ago. So I wasn’t surprised that he wrote the article. I was just surprised that the magazine published it.
The article does include a short sidebar mentioning D’Artagnan and other recommended brands of store-bought demi-glace. But it goes on for pages about how to make your own demi-glace and various sauces you can make with it.
Now Saveur doesn’t have much mainstream appeal, but it did make me think that all is not lost.
Poor Saveur, they probably won’t be getting Swanson as an advertiser anytime soon.
(By the way, check out Saveur’s Web site, www.saveur.com, for good information on skimming stocks and more
