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Though I am typically in "Resolutions" mode until the end of January, I am not talking about about working out at the gym every day or eating carrot sticks instead of a Snickers bar for a 4 pm snack. When I say "de-fat," I am talking about taking the fat out of your broth when you make stocks and broths. I have been in a soup-making frenzy the past few weeks and making stocks has been on the brain.How do you de-fat?
For the longest time, I didn't do it because it was too difficult a task. I had to very carefully skim the top layer of stock with a shallow ladle to catch the liquid fat that was floating on the surface, which never seemed to be a very thorough method.
The last few years, I have been turning stock-making into a multi-day process. It requires simmering the stock all day on the first day, letting it cool, then chilling it in the refrigerator for the fat to harden. I'd simply remove the layer in one large sheet. It felt like I was removing almost all of the fat, and it seemed faster and simpler to just trash a solid sheet of fat. However, it does take two days from start to finish.
Of course, I could simply shout the battle of cry, "Fat means flavor!" and forget the whole thing.
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1-13-2007 @9:13PM John Romkey said... Unfortunately, I do it exactly the way you described. I haven't found a better process yet.
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1-13-2007 @8:39PM matt said... I've taken to chilling and removing the hardened layer of fat as well. I never feel like I'm getting anything done when I skim. At home it's generally fine to have stock-making be a multi-day affair; if I need the stock the day it is simmering, I just strain it directly into whatever I need it for and just leave in the fat for that one dish.
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1-13-2007 @8:52PM RICK BADMAN said... There are certain types of fat I hunger for. There's the fat tail of a chicken, the fat of pork ribs, the fat on a steak at times, and the fat you find in pork and beans which I guess represents the pork you think you're going to get with the beans. When I see a box of some dessert and it says fat-free, often that means flavor free too. People who eat veggie burgers to not eat fat might be health conscious. But you know what goes good with veggie burgers? MEAT.
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1-13-2007 @8:57PM CigarLady said... There is a defatting cup. You pour the stock and the fat floats to the top, you don't pour from the top, instead the spout is separate and is attached at the near the bottom of the cup so that it pours out the broth leaving most of the fat. You have to pour carefully and you will get a little fat. At least you can defat without chilling
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1-13-2007 @9:12PM John Romkey said... I've tried the defatting cup and it hasn't worked very well for me...
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1-14-2007 @9:08AM Mark said... I'll second number 3's comment. I ladel out a large amount of liquid getting most of the fat floating on the top of the stock. Once I have it in a fat separator--looks like a watering can with the spout starting at the base of the container--it's a piece of cake to decant the stock leaving the fat behind.
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1-14-2007 @4:12AM Helen said... I've always had good results from my defatting cup. (Never knew it was called that). It just seems so ingenious. Plus, mine doubles as a measuring cup so it saves cabinet space.
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1-14-2007 @4:11AM Sindy said... I Chill the stock just like you said, I thought about trying the de-fatting cup but I suspected it would not work well.
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1-14-2007 @2:19AM psn said... There's aways getting a stock pot with a spigot on bottom and dropping the stock from there. But that's expensive, and only works if you're defatting stock and not soup. There's aways the écumer, dépouiller, écumer, dépouiller routine (clearing the scum, then removing the skin that forms), but I think you'd need a French chef yelling in your ear to resort to that. Otherwise, yeah, cooling, chilling, and scooping the solidified fat is the best way to go. (But the écumer and dépouiller will result in some nicely clear stock as long as you keep it at a simmer and never at a hard boil!)
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1-14-2007 @1:57PM Chef JoAnna said... For larger batches of stock (2 gal or more) i use a defatting measuring cup AND i refrigerate & spoon off fat...but for small batches, the little cup thing works great. But boy, are they a pain in the ass to clean, even in the dishwasher. My advice: If you get one of these nifty little devices, get the biggest one you can find, you can keep pouring in the liquid and the fat will keep rising. OH, and i always pour the first little bit back in the pot, to remove the fat in the spigot. That way, it will get removed instead of poured the storage vessel.
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1-14-2007 @5:55AM Chef JoAnna said... PS - the day you make stock is the day you should make Risotto!
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1-14-2007 @1:58PM stef said... i use a "defatting cup" as well, but this is the first time i've heard/read it called that! i always knew it as a degreaser, or more commonly "fat separator", which is what it does. for soups with solids, i just pour through a strainer or sieve, then degrease the sieved liquid. it's really easy work, though multi-stepped especially if you have a large pot of stock to go through. my parents (and me, prior to getting the fat separator) have used the chill in the fridge/freezer method for years. got a tip for you though. when it's winter, just leave the pot outside overnight. very useful, esp. if you leave in the cold regions, like when we lived in snowy PA. and you free up room in your ref/fre too!
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1-14-2007 @2:58PM Allison said... Making stock *should* take more than one day. It gets way more flavour and protein if you simmer for longer (and should set up like gelatin when you refrigerate it). My recipe for stock is done over 3 days, which I don't mind since I don't have to pay attention to it aside from turning it on and off.
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1-14-2007 @1:58PM Tammy said... Depending on the size of the pot & what I'm cooking ... I sometimes lay a couple of very absorbent paper towels flat on top of the liquid ... Other times I'll do the overnight chill down ...
One thing that I've heard of, but never tried, is ... Take a ziploc bag & fill it with ice cubes & seal the bag ... Then drag it slowly around the top few inches of the broth/stock/etc ... The grease/fat is supposed to coagulate around the ice bag ... I guess you could consider it the "quick chill w/o the fridge" routine ...
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1-14-2007 @11:02PM Adam Fields said... I fill a 1-liter soda bottle with water and freeze it. When the stock is done and still hot, I swirl the frozen bottle in the stock. The fat cools and sticks to the outside of the bottle, and this also has the side effect of cooling the stock quickly from the inside out, so it can be refrigerated.
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1-15-2007 @12:00PM David Herman said... What works very well is a stock pot with a spout at the bottom, though those are expensive. The most important thing though is cooling your stock as quickly as possible so it doesn't stay in the "zone" for very long. But letting the fat harden is by far the easiest way to get rid of the fat, and to keep it if you care to. In a restaurant I worked in we used to keep the beef fat on occasion for use in other foods.
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