Let the children play Brad!
Give us a chance here.

[josephreese]

You people have fun here :-)

I knew the problems with the mousse and the almonds, but not the others. Thanks for the education.

[Shimmer]

Um... what's a raft?

I knew it couldn't have cooked long enough, but have no idea what a raft is?

I need to read more chapters in my cooking books than the pastry/baking ones, I think.....

~~Shimmer~~

[Pastachef]

Thank heavens somebody else asked first.

[cape chef]

My Friends,

A "raft" is a methode in which you clarify your consamme,

It is usually egg whites whipped and ground ox tail, Or other gelatinuos meat. This is mixed together and floated ontop of the warm stock, The eggs and meat will cook and stay on top and collect the impurites. Kind of like a magnet
cc

[Shimmer]

So, would it be possible to skim the raft off, and keep the liquid the beef had cooked in, for more flavor? (Is that the point?)

Thanks for responding so quickly.

Frankly, the word gelatinous isn't an appealing word to me. Yech.

~~Shimmer~~

[cape chef]

Shimmer, I may have not explained this clearly enough, Sorry.

The mass of the raft is tiny compared to your volume of liquid, The sole purpose of the raft is to capture floating sediment, It is not designed to enhance the flavor, The raft is removed before you start your next stage of clarifying, With it will come a load of "skum" yes this is a real word used to discride the impurities.

Does this help?
cc

[Pastachef]

I am loving this! So, the next stage in clarifying the consomme is maybe - straining? Cheesecloth? And if this is true, why can't the whole thing be done that way without using the raft? I appreciate that you are all sharing your education!

[Shimmer]

I realize the raft will be small. My question is when you are finished cooking the liquid, what happens to the liquid minus the raft? Do you throw it out too? (This is similar to Pastachef's question). Or do you use it? I understand the raft is to be thrown away, with all its impurities.

Does this question make sense now?

[chrose]

Think of the raft as a big tasty filter. As Brad said lean meat is mixed with egg whites and some vegetables like carrots and leeks. It is mixed up and added to warm stock. Heat up the stock while whisking the raft in a circle. This is to keep it together rather than having it float all over the place defeating the purpose of the raft. As the stock heats to a fast simmer and the raft starts to solidify many chefs poke a hole in the middle of the raft. Set the stock off to one side, don't boil it, and allow it to simmer quickly. The motion of the simmering liquid will continue to pump the stock up through the raft. The raft will act as a filter with the proteins in the raft catching all the impurities in the stock. The meat and vegetables will add to the flavor of the stock. After a couple of hours the raft is carefully removed with a ladle. The stock is now consomme and should be rich in color and taste. When cooled it will have a very rich and thick consistency. It will have "body" when it's hot. If you like or if it's necessary you can further strain it through cheesecloth.
There are way too many fine impurities that will not be removed by a cheesecloth no matter how many times you run it through. These are particles and bits of protein that serve to cloud your stock and can't really be caught in cloth.
Hope this makes it a little clearer (cute huh?)

[thebighat]

One caveat I want to throw in here...make sure you follow all the principles for making a clear stock which are scattered throughout these message boards. You can't clarify a cloudy murky stock which has been vigorously boiled. Rinsing the bones, blanching, skimming, letting the stockpot smile, these techniques will give you a stock worth the effort of clarifying. One thing that's always bugged me though, did anyone ever notice the difference in taste between the stock and consomme made from it? It always seemed to me to go a little flat, but then, I've found over the years I never used enough salt.

[Pastachef]

Now I understand the purpose of the bone. That is very interesting, and I'll have to practice the tecnique before I go back to work after winter break. Thank you again, everyone. Your knowledge is awesome

[cape chef]

Thank you chrose for taking the raft to the next level, I appreciate it. If you pass the consamme through cheese cloth this would be coulded a "double Consamme"

A technique I learned many years ago when I make a fish fumet to turn into a consamme I do what is called "fining" this is used also to clarfy wines. Lightly whipped eggs whites are placed on the fumet while still warm, This sets the whites and form a kind of cover over the fumet, You then let these whites slowly drop to the bottom of your stock, and with it goes all the impurites. This takes almost 8 hours.
cc

A technique I learned many years ago when I make a fish fumet to turn into a consamme I do what is called "fining" this is used also to clarfy wines.

Here where I live they use this technique for clarifying wines those who produce organic wines. It's the natural way to clarify wines without using chemical products.

You are good cc

[chrose]

Bighat I think the difference is in what you put in your raft. I have always used a flavorful meat. I add the egg shells as well for extra albumen and calcium. I also use a lot of vegetables. In a sense it's like making a second soup. I don't go overboard contrary to how it might sound, but I think I get a lot more body and a much deeper flavor, that as you pointed out is possibly "flat" to some. Remember that you have taken out shall we say "bits of flavor" with those floating bits.

Also it's hard to make out your avatar but are you trying to scare my Diablo!