Chopped Star Maneet Chauhan's Best Tip For Making Clear Broth Without A Raft
If you're ever in doubt about how to cook something, asking a chef is always a great place to start. Not only are they often trained and have kitchen experience, but they can also clue the home chef into tips and tricks for making the best meal. Food Network star and "Tournament of Champions" winner, Maneet Chauhan is no stranger to doling out advice and sharing cooking tips for the home cook. Chauhan's Instagram is filled with videos of flavor-packed recipes that can easily be at home. Her cooking style and recipes often represent her Indian heritage, combined with her love of spices.
Chauhan is known to her fellow chefs as the spice queen because of her expert use of seasonings in her food. She even has her own line of dried spices that can be used in savory dishes, desserts, and even cocktails. While many people may be intimidated to cook Indian food due to the sheer amount of spices, she hopes to change people's perspectives with her cooking. When it comes to making soups or consommes, the spice queen makes an exception to using ground spices.
Use whole spices
If you're looking to make a clear chicken broth or consommé, the last thing you want to see is specs of herbs and spices floating around. Maneet Chauhan offered up a simple solution for fixing scummy broth while appearing on the Splendid Table podcast. Instead of avoiding any spices, Chauhand suggests adding whole spices, like cumin, cardamom, and chiles to steep and flavor the broth. Instead of dried spices, which will disperse in the water, whole spices can be removed at the end of cooking, leaving you with a clear broth.
Chauhan is classically trained and a proud graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, where she learned proper techniques, like making a raft. No, that doesn't have anything to do with logs or fishing. A culinary raft involves adding ingredients like egg whites and shells to a clear broth to help bring impurities to the surface. Once all the gunk has floated to the surface, it can easily be skimmed, leaving a perfectly clear broth. No matter which technique you use, Chauhan always makes sure to add garlic and ginger to her broths. Both ingredients are very aromatic and add more depth of flavor to the broth.