Mastering Stocks and Broths: A Comprehensive Culinary Approach Using Traditional Techniques and No-Waste Methods

James Beard Foundation Book Award Finalist

“Top Ten Cookbook of the Year”―Booklist

“Mamane’s writing is as beautiful, thoughtful, and caring as her approach to food, the table, and her stocks. And I love [her] intriguing recipes.”—Deborah Madison 

Stocks and broths are the foundation of good cooking, yet information on their use is often relegated to the introductions or appendices of cookbooks. Until now there has not been a comprehensive culinary guide to stocks in the canon, save for snippets here and there. Hard to believe, since most passionate home cooks and professional chefs know that using stocks and broths―both on their own and as the base for a recipe―can turn a moderately flavorful dish into a masterpiece. 

Mastering Stocks and Broths is the comprehensive guide to culinary stocks and broths that passionate home cooks and innovative chefs have all been waiting for.

Author Rachael Mamane takes us on a culinary journey into the science behind fundamental stocks and the truth about well-crafted bone broths, and offers over 100 complex and unique recipes incorporating stocks as foundational ingredients. Mastering Stocks and Broths includes a historical culinary narrative about stocks in the classic French technique as well as through the lens of other cultures around the world.

Readers will also learn:

• The importance of quality sourcing

• The practical and health benefits of stocks and broths

• Detailed methodology on how to develop, store, and use stocks in a home kitchen.

The recipes place an emphasis on the value of zero waste, turning spent bones, produce seconds, and leftover animal fats into practical products to use around the home. Readers will turn to this book when they find themselves wondering what to do with the carcass of a store-bought roast chicken and they want to learn how to make every inch of their vegetables go further.

Perhaps most important to remember: a good stock takes time. This is part of the pleasure―making stocks is meditative and meaningful, if you allow yourself the occasion. Building a stock often happens in the background of most kitchens―a smell that permeates a residence, a gentle warmth that radiates from the kitchen. Readers will be inspired by Mamane’s approach to truly slow cookery and her effervescent love for food itself.

“Mamane’s recipes are truly irresistible.” ―Jessica Prentice, author of Full Moon Feast; cofounder, Three Stone Hearth 

“Read this book. . . . it will heal you.”―Camas Davis, butcher; writer; owner, Portland Meat Collective