Anthony Bourdain's Number One Essential Ingredient For Great Cooking

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In the arena of celebrity chefs, although he probably hated the title, Anthony Bourdain was one of the most beloved — a lot of which had to do with his cool factor. After years of struggling in the day-to-day restaurant life, Bourdain broke onto the scene with his tell-all book, "Kitchen Confidential," telling the real behind-the-scenes stories of the back-of-house service industry. He was a guy you might want to have a cold beer with. He was an explorer, a questioner, and a bon vivant, as much as a chef. That said, he did always come through with some solid advice. His essential ingredient for great home cooking is another thing from "Kitchen Confidential" that still holds up.

In a quote from "Kitchen Confidential" (via Goodreads), Anthony Bourdain compels us to make a good homemade stock and illustrates its importance. "Stock. Stock is the backbone of good cooking. You need it and you don't have it. I have the luxury of 30-quart stockpots, a willing prep crew, readily available bones, and plenty of refrigeration space. Does this mean you should subject your guests to a sauce made from nasty commercial bases or salty canned broth? Make stock already! It's easy!" In the book, Bourdain says all you have to do is roast some bones and vegetables, simmer them in water on the stove, then reduce it until it's full of bold flavor. It lasts a long time in the freezer, and the more you reduce it, the more flavor it has.

There are some mistakes everyone makes with vegetable stock, and they're often the same as chicken, beef, or almost any homemade stock. First of all, hold onto your onion and garlic skins to throw into the stock (instead of into the trash), and avoid using starchy vegetables — they overly thicken the liquid as it cooks down. According to Bourdain, it's important to roast the bones and veggies before they go into the stock. While it's not necessary to roast the garlic and onion skins, you can add extra flavor to your stock by chopping your veggies — carrots, celery, onions, and whatever else you may choose to use — into chunks and roasting them with some olive oil and salt and pepper for about an hour at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, turning occasionally so they don't blacken.

Chicken bones should be roasted at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, and beef bones 40 to 80 minutes (adding veggies halfway through if you'd like to do them all together). Once everything is roasted, add it to some water with fresh or dried herbs, and let it all simmer on the stovetop for around four hours (or more). The simmering helps extract the bone marrow and tons of flavor. Then, as Anthony Bourdain wrote in "Kitchen Confidential" (via Goodreads), "reduce and reduce and reduce" to get it thick and super flavorful. He was a proponent of freezing the reduced stock in containers to use as needed. According to Bourdain, "Life without stock is barely worth living, and you will never attain demi-glace without it."