Building a Dish with Cooking Stock

June 11th, 2013 by Chef Louie

Building a dish is a labor of love whether you’re a home cook or a professional chef.  Selecting and preparing good ingredients, cooking for the right consistency and texture, seasoning to bring out flavors—it’s all part of creating a delicious end result.  One of the key components in many dishes is a well-crafted cooking stock.  The French word for stock is “fond,” which means “foundation.”   Stocks are made by slowly simmering vegetables, herbs, seasonings, and bones (poultry, chicken, fish, or beef/veal) for a long period of time to extract all their flavors.  These rich, flavorful liquids serve as the foundation for both simple and more complex dishes.

On the simple end of the spectrum, vegetables, potatoes, rice, and other whole grains can be simmered in cooking stock instead of plain water for a great kick of flavor.  Stock is also the perfect liquid for a quick braise of poultry, meat, or seafood.  Our recipes for Quick-Braised Chicken with Oranges and Ginger, or Braised Shrimp with Pancetta show you how.  You can also use stock to create a simply delicious soup, like our Mushroom and Orzo Soup, or a savory sauce, like our Corn Cream Sauce.

Stocks are also the key building block in more complex dishes.  Their rich, savory taste is a critical first step in making a soup, braise, stew, or sauce with many layers of flavor.   Whether you’re making Lobster Bisque, Molé Sauce, Pork Cassoulet, or Paella, beginning with a good stock creates a flavor base for all the ingredients that come into the dish, enabling them to blend well and enhance the primary ingredient as they should.

Given the importance of stock in building a dish, using a quality stock is essential.  At More Than Gourmet, our chefs start with pure, natural ingredients and follow traditional, time-tested French recipes to lovingly craft flavorful cooking stocks that belong in any kitchen.  There are no additives or preservatives in our cooking stocks; they’re gluten-free and lower in sodium than most prepared stocks.  Read our labels and see for yourself!  Our products are made from scratch by people who know and care about what goes into good food.  Our expertise and our commitment to quality make More Than Gourmet’s cooking stocks the perfect foundation for any dish you have in mind.

Tags: ,
Posted in The Sauce Guys

How to Judge Quality If You Buy Sauce Online

June 3rd, 2013 by Chef Louie

Shopping for gourmet sauces at online stores has a number of advantages: a wide selection of products you may not have access to locally, not having to travel further than to your desk to do the buying, and delivery of your order right to your door.  A good online store will also provide an array of information and resources to help you make an informed purchase.  Here are a few pointers on how to judge quality if you buy sauce online.

First, read the ingredient label, just as you would if you picked up a package in the grocery store.  You want to know what you’re getting!  In addition to a list of ingredients, look for nutrition information.  (Is the sauce gluten-free?  Trans-fat free?  Does it contain allergens?)  You may also find tips on how to use the sauce and even links to recipes, which will give you a sense of how the sauce will work in your cooking.  More Than Gourmet provides all his information on a dedicated web page for each of our products.

Second, look beyond what the seller has to say about the sauce and see how others have rated it.  Testimonials and reviews from other cooks can be a wonderful source of information to help you decide which sauce to put in your shopping cart.  People are vocal about their likes and dislikes, especially when it comes to food!  Look at the online store’s web site and social media pages and/or do a search to look for comments from others about the products you’re considering.  The More Than Gourmet web site lists testimonials from both professional and home cooks, and we have an active Facebook page where you’ll find customer comments and product information.

Third, take a look at who’s minding the store.  Do a quick check on the seller’s background and policies.  The information should be clear and up-to-date.  If there’s a blog at their web site, read a few posts.  Check to see if the company has any formal certifications or seals of approval.  More Than Gourmet has earned inspection certifications from the USDA, FDA, and the BRC, one of the few certifying agencies meeting the Global Food Safety Initiative standards.  Our vegetable-based products are certified vegan by the prestigious American Vegetarian Association.

In the end, the most important way to judge quality when you buy sauce online is to open the package when it arrives and taste the sauce.  At More Than Gourmet, sauce is our entire business.  Sauce is what we do—and we do it well.  We offer you plenty of information and assistance at our online store and web site, but the superb flavor of our expertly prepared sauces speaks for itself.

Tags:
Posted in The Sauce Guys

Executing a Homemade Demi-Glace Recipe Can Be Time Consuming

May 29th, 2013 by Chef Louie

An expertly prepared demi-glace can enrich almost any meal. This rich, meaty, concentrated brown sauce is delicious as is, or it can be used as a base for other sauces and as a great flavor enhancer in soups, stews, and a variety of great dishes.  Making demi-glace at home, however, is a very lengthy process requiring some expensive ingredients, specialized cookware, and a lot of time. A homemade demi-glace recipe requires a well-stocked kitchen and the preparation of an excellent brown stock and a separate French mother sauce, which are then combined and reduced.

The original French demi-glace recipe begins with making brown stock.  To make the brown stock at home, you would need roughly seven pounds of beef and veal bones, as well as a roasting pan and stockpot capable of holding them. The first step in the recipe involves roasting the bones to maximize flavor, followed by simmering them with aromatic vegetables and herbs for a very long time. During the process, the cook has to be present to occasionally skim the stock to remove impurities that emerge as the stock cooks.

Some of the brown stock is then used to make Sauce Espagnole. This mother sauce also requires brown roux (a combination of flour and butter cooked until it has browned), caramelized aromatic vegetables, herbs, and tomato purée, all simmered together for at least 4-5 hours after the ingredients are prepared.  Once the Sauce Espagnole is ready to go, another time-consuming step begins.  A homemade demi-glace recipe requires the cook to combine the sauce with more brown stock and reduce the mixture by at least half. Reduction is the process by which the liquids evaporate and the flavors concentrate into glaze-like syrup. As with brown stock, the cook has to be present for the reduction to ensure that things are going according to plan.

With More Than Gourmet, having an expertly prepared demi-glace on hand need not require hours or days. We have the time, the ingredients, the specialized equipment, and the culinary experience to create amazing demi-glace for use in your kitchen. Let us do the hard part so you can enjoy cooking without worrying about time constraints.  We offer traditional beef and veal demi-glace, as well as veal demi-glace, roasted chicken demi-glace, and vegan, gluten-free roasted vegetable demi-glace.  Shop our pantry and open up a world of great flavor options for your cooking!

Tags:
Posted in The Sauce Guys

Gluten-Free Sauce Recipes Add Variety to your Diet

May 15th, 2013 by Chef Louie

Variety is an important aspect of any diet, both for good nutrition and for simply enjoying our meals.  Whether going gluten-free is a necessity or a choice, trying a new dish every once in awhile is just more fun than sitting down to the same meals week after week.   One of the simplest ways to vary your meals is to experiment with new sauces.  More Than Gourmet offers a wide variety of gluten-free sauce recipes to help you keep your menus fresh and new.

Preparing a healthful and satisfying meal on a rushed evening can be a challenge for anyone, perhaps even more so for those of us who follow a special diet.  More Than Gourmet offers gluten-free prepared sauces that are ready to use for quick, tasty, gourmet meals any night of the week.  Lemon Dill Sauce pairs beautifully with grilled seafood or chicken. Creamy béarnaise sauce dresses up roasted vegetables with ease. Rich Roquefort sauce is a welcome addition to red meats and earthy mushrooms. Classic hollandaise is a delightful gluten-free sauce for just about anything – asparagus and poached eggs are favorites.  You can also experiment with quick additions to these ready-to-use sauces, like a splash of wine or some chopped fresh herbs, to keep things interesting.

The majority of our demi-glaces and stocks are also gluten-free and offer a wealth of opportunities for the creative cook.  Use our chicken demi-glace to make Rosemary Peppercorn Sauce for roast chicken or our roasted vegetable demi-glace to make Mediterranean Mushroom Olive Sauce for grilled meats, poultry, fish, or veggies.  Our gluten-free stocks are the perfect foundation for a whole spectrum of sauce options, including quick, gluten-free pan sauces for quick sautés or low-and-slow roasts.  Take a look at our gluten-free recipe collection for more sauce ideas!

More Than Gourmet’s gluten-free sauce recipes make meals easier and more flavorful.  With our ready-to-use sauces, gluten-free meals don’t need to be bland just because of a time crunch.  Our gluten-free demi-glaces and stocks allow you to use your palate and creativity to create your own delicious gluten-free sauces.  The professional chefs at More Than Gourmet prepare these sauces and stocks with natural ingredients to save you time and effort at the stove. Let our expertise help you cook amazing gourmet meals without the gluten.

Tags: ,
Posted in Tips and Techniques

Flavorful Solutions for a Gluten-Free Vegetarian Diet

May 13th, 2013 by Chef Louie

A gluten-free and vegetarian diet may sound restricting, but for many who need to follow this dietary lifestyle or have chosen to do so, cooking without meat and without ingredients containing gluten inspires creativity in the kitchen and a real appreciation of plant-based cuisine.  A gluten-free vegetarian diet celebrates the fresh flavors of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and lentils. Great tasting dishes, including risottos, curries, hearty stews and gratins, delicate soups, and sturdy casseroles, are all part of gluten-free vegetarian cooking.

Cooks who embrace this diet don’t rely on heavily processed foods with artificial ingredients.  There’s no need to when you’re cooking with fresh, naturally flavorful ingredients.  More Than Gourmet’s gluten-free vegetarian products are much the same.  Our vegetarian stocks and sauces are gluten-free because our time-honored recipes simply don’t call for anything that contains gluten.  There’s no need.  Our vegetable-based products are also certified vegan by the prestigious American Vegetarian Association because they are made carefully with only the best natural ingredients.

MTG’s versatile gluten-free vegetarian stocks and sauces can serve as the foundation for delicious soups like Wild Mushroom Bisque and Pea Soup with Mint and satisfying stews like Spicy Vegetarian Black Bean Chili and Vegetable Stew Dijonnaise.  Our vegetable and mushroom stocks add rich flavor to rice and whole grain dishes, from simple pilafs to whole-grain salads and risottos, as well as to braised fresh greens and vegetables.  These stocks can be used to enhance potato dishes like Fingerling Potato Salad and Yukon Gold Garlic Smashed Potatoes.  Need a sauce for roasted or grilled veggies or for grains or potatoes?  Use our Roasted Vegetable Demi-Glace to make Lemon Dill Sauce, Spicy Ginger Garlic Sauce, or Mediterranean Mushroom Olive Sauce.

A gluten-free vegetarian diet can be delicious and satisfying with MTG’s stocks and sauces to use from your pantry.  You’ll find no chemicals, no MSG, no fillers or preservatives, no artificial anything on our labels: only flavorful, fresh ingredients, just like the foods you rely on for a health-conscious lifestyle.

Tags: , ,
Posted in The Sauce Guys, Tips and Techniques

Fish Fumet Gives Your Dish a Kick of Flavor!

May 9th, 2013 by Chef Louie

To create our fish fumet, we gently simmer the bones and trimmings of various white fish with white wine and aromatic vegetables to produce the highest quality fish stock, and we call it Fumet de Poisson Gold.  Its clear yellow color and lovely aroma make it outstanding as a braising or poaching liquid, in addition to its primary use in sauces.  Our fish fumet is the perfect flavor base for your fish and seafood dishes.

Check out our trusted recipe pages for a few ideas on how to use Fumet de Poisson Gold! Braise fish of your choice in our fish fumet, then add flavorful Asian ingredients to make Braised Fish with Thai Curry Sauce.  Or top some fish filets with sun-dried-tomato pesto, braise them in fish fumet, flake the fish into the braising liquid, and serve over pasta to make Sicilian Tomato Pesto Fish Sauce with Spaghetti.  You can also simply poach or braise fish in our fish fumet with some minced onion and fresh herbs and serve it with a little of the delicious braising liquid spooned over the top.

Fish stock is most commonly used in sauces.  For just the right complement to baked, grilled, or steamed fish, use our fish fumet to make a classic Velouté Sauce, or try building on that sauce to make nearly endless variations.  Sauce Aurore is Velouté flavored with tomato and finished with butter.  It’s terrific with salmon.  Sauce Chivry is Velouté flavored with fresh herbs and white wine, and It goes beautifully with delicate fish like sole or flounder.  You can find more sauce ideas for fish in in our recipe pages.

Fumet de Poisson works so well in seafood dishes because it has a balanced fish flavor.  It’s not overly strong and has a fraction of the salt found in commercial fish bases and clam juice.  Give our fish fumet a try and discover a secret ingredient sure to become a pantry staple!

Tags: ,
Posted in The Sauce Guys, Tips and Techniques

Gourmet Gluten-Free Stock Is a Flavorful Foundation

May 4th, 2013 by Chef Louie

Gluten sensitivity and celiac disease aren’t passing diagnosis fads. These are real conditions that affect the dietary habits of professional and home cooks alike. Some people experience mild discomfort from eating gluten, and others need to avoid it at altogether. Finding a restaurant that offers a good selection of gluten-free items can be difficult at best and impossible in some places. Often, the best place to find a truly gluten-free meal is in the home kitchen. Gluten-free stock helps new cooks and old hands alike by providing a trusted foundation. Fortunately, More Than Gourmet follows traditional French recipes to produce naturally gluten-free stocks for cooks of all skill sets and dietary lifestyles.

Cooking gluten-free doesn’t mean cooking without flavor or substance.  Natural stock made with fresh ingredients doesn’t even have any components that contain gluten.  A quality stock provides depth without overpowering a recipe with over-the-top flavors or excess ingredients. In a perfect world, all stock would be gluten-free stock.  However, this isn’t the case, and careful reading of labels on purchased stocks is a necessity.  In More Than Gourmet’s pantry, you’ll find a large selection of gluten-free stocks you can trust.

A quality foundation like a stock is a key component of a good meal. Some cooks prepare their own stocks, but, in reality, most just don’t have the time. Making stock requires a good chunk of time, effort, and several ingredients.  More Than Gourmet stocks keep the spirit of this  cooking tradition while allowing busier households to carry on with their days. Our cooks do the labor-intensive part, and you take home the results to create inspired meals of your own.

A flavorful starting point allows newer cooks a bit of leeway while learning what starches, veggies, and meats go well together for a filling gluten-free meal. Our family recipes offer more than a few suggestions to help cooks of all skill sets become accustomed to a healthy, gluten-free, yet delicious diet. If you struggle finding a recipe for dinner, just remember that the majority of natural ingredients have nothing to do with gluten. Our stocks, sauces, and large collection of recipes will help you create gluten-free meals without awkward substitutions.

Cooking without gluten isn’t as difficult as it seems at first. For example, filling starches don’t need to contain gluten to be flavorful. Root vegetables, including the beloved potato, are still gluten-free. Rice is safe, as well, so long as the company you purchase from hasn’t coated it in flour (check the ingredients label to be sure). Many grocery stores and markets have started stocking gluten-free pasta as public awareness about celiac disease has grown.  These starches will taste even better when cooked with a flavorful gluten-free stock.

It’s good to remember, too, that gluten-free stock isn’t only for those with sensitivities or allergies to a specific protein. Gluten-based ingredients, including flour, normally function as filler in pre-made stocks and sauces. This serves to “bulk up” the end product without adding or subtracting from elements of flavor. While these types of stocks aren’t unhealthy for everyone, they tend to lean toward the over-salted side of the flavor spectrum.

Gluten-free stock from More Than Gourmet doesn’t need filler. Our choice of vegetables, meats, and spices produces deeper flavors that work with the cook in creating tasty and filling dishes. Really, that’s the way stock should be. Our gluten-free stocks allow families with or without gluten sensitivities to experience gourmet flavors in their everyday meals.

Tags: ,
Posted in The Sauce Guys, What's News Now

Matching a Cooking Stock to Your Dish

May 3rd, 2013 by Chef Louie

Matching a cooking stock to your dish might seem simple at first glance: chicken stock for poultry (or fish), vegetable stock for vegetables, and beef stock for meat and game. However, choosing a cooking stock is all about highlighting and enhancing the flavors in a dish.  To achieve the best taste, selecting the right stock goes beyond those three simple categories.

More Than Gourmet expands your ability to match a stock to the main ingredient in your dish or to the ingredient you want to highlight in your dish.  We offer much more than chicken, beef, and vegetable stock.  Cooking fish?  We have fish stock.  Lamb?  We have roasted lamb stock. Turkey?  We have roasted turkey stock. You can also find shellfish stock, veal stock, roasted duck and chicken stock, venison stock, and even mushroom stock in our pantry. Using a stock that’s a closer match to your main ingredient brings out the naturally delicious flavor of that ingredient.

In addition, stocks are made in different styles, some hearty, some delicate, and selecting the right style of stock is just as important as matching your cooking stock to a main ingredient.  There are two primary styles of stocks: white and brown.  White stocks are light in color and made with poultry, meat, fish or vegetables simmered with aromatics (usually carrot, onion, and celery) in water.  Brown stocks are usually amber colored and are made with browned (roasted) meat, vegetables, or poultry and browned aromatics.

White stocks tend to be light and delicate and are good for poaching, light braises, and light sauces and soups.  Brown stocks are rich and flavorful and add depth to sturdier dishes like hearty soups and stews and concentrated reduction sauces.  More Than Gourmet makes both white and brown stocks, so you have options for any type of dish you wish to make.  Among our white stocks are chicken stock, fish fumet, and vegetable stock.  Our brown stocks include roasted chicken stock, beef and veal stock, and roasted lamb stock.

When you select a cooking stock, keep in mind what flavors you want to highlight and the style of the dish you’re making.  If you wanted to highlight the delicate vegetables flavors in a light chicken and vegetable soup, you might use our vegetable stock.  If you wanted to highlight the chicken flavors in that soup, you might use our chicken stock. If you wanted to make a hearty chicken and roasted root vegetable stew, our roasted chicken stock would be the perfect choice.

In the end, consult your palate to choose the right cooking stock. More Than Gourmet’s pantry provides the cooking stock you need for the best flavor in all your lovingly prepared dishes.

Tags: ,
Posted in Tips and Techniques

Planning Gluten-Free Dinners

April 26th, 2013 by Chef Louie

Switching to a gluten-free diet can be a big change and may take some getting used to, as can cooking gluten-free meals, whether for yourself or for a family member or friend.  The good news is that many foods you are already eating are naturally gluten-free, and the selection of good substitutes for gluten-containing foods like pasta and bread is getting better all the time.  More Than Gourmet offers a broad range of gluten-free stocks and sauces to help you create flavorful and satisfying gluten-free dinners.

One of our sauces can take a dish from boring to delicious in no time flat.  Top a grilled steak with our Bearnaise Sauce, or drizzle some Dijon Mustard Wine Sauce over roasted asparagus.   Toss some gluten-free pasta with shrimp and our Lemon Dill Sauce, or complete a roast chicken dinner with Rosemary Peppercorn Sauce quickly made with our gluten-free Roasted Chicken Demi-Glace.

Cooking with our gluten-free stocks opens up a whole range of terrific dinner options: savory soups and stews; braised meat, poultry, fish, or veggies; risottos and rice dishes; potato, bean and whole grain dishes, including hearty salads; just to name a few.  For great recipes and ideas, take a look at our gluten-free recipe collection!

If you are sensitive to gluten and vegetarian, we have great gluten-free dinner solutions for you. Our vegetable-based stocks and sauces are certified vegan by the AVA, and gluten-free, as well. Our vegan products allow you to create full vegetarian meals easily. Try braising a selection of fresh vegetables in Vegetable Stock and serving them over quinoa or rice for a scrumptious main course. Use our Mushroom Essence to make a rich, elegant mushroom bisque, or our Roasted Vegetable Demi-Glace to create a succulent sauce for roasted veggies and potatoes.

Any meal prepared with loving attention will allow you and your gluten-sensitive loved ones to enjoy gluten-free dinners without sacrificing taste.  MTG is here to help with plenty of gluten-free stocks and sauces for your pantry and recipes to guide and inspire you.

P.S. We have a great promotion on all our gluten-free products coming up soon.  Go to our Sauce Deals page May 1 and after for details!

Tags: ,
Posted in Tips and Techniques, What's News Now

4 Reasons to Buy Cooking Sauce Online

April 25th, 2013 by Chef Louie

Stock your pantry from ours! When you buy cooking sauce online, you save time in the kitchen without sacrificing flavor. More Than Gourmet’s cooking sauces are available for vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike. Here are four reasons to visit our friendly online store:

1. Quality

More Than Gourmet’s sauces taste better than the other guy’s because they are hand-made by people who know their business. We take immense pride in following the French sauce tradition laid out by Master Chef Auguste Escoffier. Only the highest quality ingredients go into our lovingly crafted sauces. Simply check the label for ingredients – you’ll only find the best.

2. Convenience

Keep a supply of ready-made sauces on hand for times when you need a good meal in a hurry. A little sauce can transform a boring meal into a satisfying feast.  Ordering sauce online allows you to keep your pantry stocked with high quality meal-starters, and our sauces are shipped directly to your door.  If you need some meal ideas, we have plenty of suggestions and recipes ready for you at our web site, with just a click or two.

3. Selection

All 27 of our products are available for purchase at our online store.  From imported Hollandaise to classic demi-glace, to white wine sauce, to mushroom essence, it’s all there for you.  Need something a little out of the ordinary like venison stock or duck stock?  How about gluten-free or vegetarian sauces?  We have those, too.  It’s our pantry, but it’s stocked for you, with products for all occasions, dietary lifestyles, and cooking skills.

4. Cost Savings

Our online store is the place to find great deals.  We offer several discounted packs of multiple products to help you save while stocking up.  We also offer frequent specials at our Sauce Deals page, and there’s always free shipping on orders over $50.  Stock your pantry from ours and experience the best sauces online!

Tags: ,
Posted in The Sauce Guys

« Older Entries