Stock

Note that I chose not to go for the obvious “taking stock” pun. You’re welcome.

I’ve become one of Those People, whose freezer is full of random animal carcasses and bits. Some are cooked and stripped of most of their meat, some are trimmings. I have a bag containing a couple of lamb marrowbones and a bunch of beef bones, a bag containing short rib bones stripped of their meat and frozen raw, and until today, a chicken carcass and a bunny carcass. The former had been roasted, and the latter braised.

Today I bought a small rabbit at the farmer’s market. The innards, loin, tenderloin, and legs have all been separated and are now awaiting what comes next for them (deep frying for the innards, a sort of rabbit saltimbocca for the loin and tenderloin, and rabbit rillettes for the legs), and the carcass is now in the stockpot with the aforementioned other carcasses, an onion, some carrots, some celery, and spices.

Once this is done, I plan to reduce the stock down to a concentrate, which will then get portioned and frozen. And it will take up a lot less room in the freezer than the carcasses did, that’s for sure.

I’ve got a lot of things I need to write about, food-wise. The classes I’ve been taking with Dai Due, braising rabbit, making pasta, and growing one’s own food. Also have got a bunch of comics-related stuff to write about as well. Watch this space.

I believe this is what is known as “going too far”.

Tonight at Dai Due’s “Other Bits” class, I got a chance to peruse Au Pied de Cochon – The Album by Martin Picard. Picard is a nutbar Quebecois chef recently featured on Bourdain’s TV show No Reservations, in which he was notable for serving up a “reconstructed pig” (in which various cooked pig parts were served on a board in a configuration corresponding to more or less where they were on the critter) which was devoured by him and his shirtless staff.

It’s a remarkable book, well worth the effort to track down. It’s full of warped little drawings and extravagant photography, and more foie gras recipes than you’ll ever see anywhere.

Including a recipe for foie gras poutine.

Poutine is a classic Quebecois comfort food that I’ve never had the chance to try; it consists of french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Picard, madman that he is, takes the fries and curds and tops them with—not just a sauce made from foie gras, but an enormous slab of the stuff as well.

To borrow a phrase: this is wrong and hurting people. In one of the best possible ways, perhaps, but oh. my. god.

The recipe, and a picture. May not be safe for small children or those with heart conditions.