The Pat Conroy Cookbook Read Free Page A

peeled and coarsely chopped
    1 yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
    1 whole celery stalk (with leaves), coarsely chopped
    1 cup dry white wine
    1 strip lemon zest or juice of 1 lemon
    Small bunch flat leaf parsley
    1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt
    1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
    1. Rinse the fish. Place the fish and vegetables in a large stockpot. Add the wine and 2 quarts cold water. Over medium-high heat, bring stock to a simmer. Use a slotted spoon to skim off foam on surface of the liquid. Add the lemon zest, parsley, salt, and peppercorns.
    2. Simmer gently for 20 to 30 minutes. Depending on the stock’s use, cook for another hour (a light stock) or up to 5 hours (a richer, deeper stock for gumbo and Creole dishes). Let the stock cool and strain it through a fine-mesh sieve (or double thickness of cheesecloth) into alarge heatproof storage container (with a tight-fitting lid). Discard solids. Bring to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate overnight. (To freeze, portion the strained stock into smaller containers.)
    The stock will keep refrigerated for a week or frozen for several months. (After 8 weeks the stock begins to lose favor.)

    BEEF STOCK                                • MAKES 3 QUARTS
    5 pounds beef bones (with a little meat still attached), cut into 1 -inch pieces by your butcher
    2 large yellow onions, peeled and halved
    2 carrots, peeled and halved
    2 whole celery stalks (with leaves), halved
    1 large ripe tomato, halved
    5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
    1 bay leaf
    1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
    1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
    2. Put the bones in a large roasting pan and roast in preheated oven until well browned, about 30 minutes. Add the vegetables and garlic and continue roasting for another 15 minutes (roasting will caramelize the vegetables and beef, resulting in a rich, complex stock).
    3. Using long tongs, transfer beef and vegetables to a large stock-pot (about 10 quarts). Add the bay leaf, peppercorns, and 4 quarts cold water (enough to cover the beef by 2 inches).
    4. Over medium-high heat, slowly bring the mixture to a boil. Use a slotted spoon to skim foam from the surface of the liquid. Skim the foam frequently, being careful not to actually stir thestock. Simmer gently until the stock is deeply colored, about 5 hours. (You may have to add a little water to keep the meat and vegetables covered.)
    5. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve (or double thickness of cheesecloth) into a large heatproof storage container with a tight-fitting lid. Discard solids. Bring stock to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate. (To freeze, portion the strained stock into smaller containers.)
    Variation
Preheat oven to lowest setting, 200°F or 250°F. After bringing the stock to a boil, place the covered stockpot on the bottom rack (or floor) of the oven. Let stock simmer for 24 to 48 hours. Strain the stock, cool, and refrigerate (as above). The oven variation only applies to beef stock; neither chicken nor fish stock benefits from long simmering.
    *1
I keep my flour in an airtight bag in the freezer so it is bug-free and always ready to use for pie dough
.
    *2
Do not use strong-tasting fish bones and heads such as mackerel or bluefish unless the stock will be used for a recipe featuring these fish
.

T he first actual cooking teacher who took both my money and my grief for imparting culinary secrets to me was the inimitable, un-classifiable queen of the Southern kitchen, Nathalie Dupree. Though Nathalie does not know this, she is one of the few people in my life who seems more like a fictional character than a flesh-and-blood person.
    When my novel
Beach Music
came out in 1995, I had included a couple of recipes in the book, and had tried to impart some of my love of Roman cuisine and the restaurants of Rome. Several journalists who write about food for newspapers interviewed me about the food angle in the novel, curious about the fact that the book’s