The white counterpart of veal jus: the same bones, but blanched instead of roasted. The result is neutral, lightly gelatinous and crystal clear, exactly what you need under a velouté or a blanquette, where colour would spoil the sauce.
White veal stock
Fond blanc de veau
White veal stock
Fond blanc de veau
Method
01
Blanch
Put the bones in a large pan, cover generously with cold water and bring slowly to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes, drain and rinse both the bones and the pan clean under the cold tap. This seems wasteful, but it is precisely why this stock turns out clear.
02
Start the stock
Put the clean bones back in the pan with 4 litres of cold water. Bring very slowly to just below boiling and skim for as long as scum keeps forming.
03
Add aromatics
Add the carrot, leek, onion, celery, bouquet garni and peppercorns. No tomato purée, no colour, no browning.
04
Simmer
Leave to simmer for 5 to 6 hours over the gentlest heat, just below boiling point: you want at most a single bubble per second. Don't stir and don't top up with water.
05
Strain
Pass through a fine sieve and then through dampened muslin. Cool quickly in an ice bath and chill overnight; the fat sets on top and you can lift it off easily.
Tips & notes
Never add salt. A stock is a semi-finished product and often goes on to be reduced; salt it now and you will end up with an unusable sauce. Salt belongs in the finished sauce, not in the stock. Keeps for 3–4 days in the fridge, and freezes very well (up to 3 months); the flavour often deepens further the next day.
Chef's tip
The difference between white and brown lies not in the recipe but in one action: blanching or roasting. Both start with the same bones. If you let the white stock boil instead of simmer, you emulsify the fat into it and end up with a cloudy, greasy stock that never becomes clear again. Temperature is the whole technique here.
Variations
- Fond blanc de volaille – Replace the veal bones with chicken carcasses and shorten the simmering time to 3 hours.
- Fond blanc de porc – With pig's trotter and pork rind for extra gelatine, ideal under terrines.
- Double stock – Use the strained stock instead of water on a new batch of bones for a concentrated result.
Contains:
Celery
Serve with
- Velouté
- Blanquette de veau
- Poulette
- Suprême
- Risotto
- White stews
| Calories | 56 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 2 g |
| Carbohydrates | 14 g |
| Fat | 1 g |
| Fibre | 5 g |
Estimated values, calculated from standard nutritional values per ingredient.
