I can see clearly now...

Once, years ago, I clarified beef stock. (to make consomme for a dinner party, I was therefore showing off - it was the 80's) and although it was a real pain in the neck, the contrast between the opaque liquid I started with and the jewel like clarity of the end result was astonishing.


To clarify stock you need to whisk egg whites and crushed egg shells into the liquid as you slowly bring it to the boil. A weird quatermass forms when the egg begins to poach but don't worry, whatever it looks like, it won't climb out of the pan after you, provided as soon as the stock is boiling and all the sediment is whooshing around, you turn the heat down so it just simmers gently for 30 - 45 minutes. As the froth of egg whites cooks it becomes a filter taking up all the particles in the stock, so when you finally strain everything through muslin (washed without fabric conditioner - oops) you are rewarded with a sparkling clear broth.


I used my clarified chicken stock to make the tortellini, fennel and shredded chicken soup from this month's Waitrose magazine. Unforunately there are so many ingredients you can't really see how clear it was, but the whole thing did look very pretty.