CLASSIC FISH STOCK

For fish stock, use more white-fleshed fish such as snapper or roughy than oily-fleshed, darker fish such as salmon. It makes for a “cleaner” broth.

Q. “Do you have a recipe for seafood broth?” Ruth R.

A. My mother’s will do. She used it when she long ago taught cooking classes at her Denver cooking school, La Bonne Cuisine. Here it is:

RECIPE: Classic Fish Stock
From “La Bonne Cuisine,” the cooking school of Madeleine M. St. John. Makes 1 pint.

Ingredients
2 and 1/2 pounds fish bones and trimmings (Tend toward “white” meat fish trimmings such as those from red snapper or tilapia and away from those of “darker,” more oily fish such as salmon)
Salt
1 white onion, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 large sprigs fresh Italian (“flat-leaf”) parsley
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
About 1 ounce mushrooms, stalks and stalk peelings
6 white peppercorns
Thinly pared rind of 1/2 lemon
1/2 chicken stock cube (or equivalent in chicken bouillon paste)
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions
Rinse fish bones and trimmings thoroughly under cold running water. Chop them up roughly and put them in a large pan with 2 pints cold water and a little salt.

Bring to the boil over a low heat. Allow scum to come to the surface; then skim off carefully with a slotted spoon. Add the chopped vegetables, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, mushroom stalks and peelings, the white peppercorns, and the thinly pared rind of the 1/2 half of lemon (use a potato peeler to avoid taking too much of the white pith).

Bring back to the boil; add 1/2 chicken stock cube; skim again and leave to simmer gently for 1/2 hour, skimming occasionally. Stock should reduce to half the original volume.

Strain stock through a muslin-lined sieve; add more salt if necessary and flavor lightly with lemon juice.