Under Pressure for Stock

The idea of cooking Stock or Jus under pressure seems completely alien to me. From day one in the kitchen we are taught to simmer stock or Jus slowly and gently. The two biggest mistakes you can make are to boil a stock or cover it. Both will make it cloudy and fatty. A regular veal jus in any kitchen will take 24 hrs from start to finish. Its a process of roasting bones, scumming off, simmering and skimming of fat. A white chicken stock could be done in 3 hours as most of the goodness is extracted by then.
Cooking a stock under pressure in a pressure cooker speeds up the process and extracts all the flavour of the ingredients that are added.
The pressure formed inside the cooker prevents the stock from boiling. The down sides are that industrial pressure cookers are expensive. You have to be very methodical with them. Releasing pressure could give off cloudy stock and a face full of steam! Regular recipes containing chicken wings or calves feet need to be adjusted as the extraction of all the nutrients will make the jus really sticky.

Start of your Jus in the normal way. Roast the bones to render the fat and colour the meat. Brown off the vegetables and de glaze the rosting trays.

Cover the bones and veg with water and bring to a simmer. Skim of as much fat as you can and seal the lid on. Pressure cookers have valves that indicate the amount of pressure within. Too much and they will release and your stock will boil like mad. So manufacturers instructions or for our one between the two red lines.

3 hours later for a red wine jus is really quick and the loss of stock is minimal. This can then be passed off and reduced or frozen and skimmed a second time. The days of 24 hr stock pots are over Chefs claim your stove space back!!!