Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 30 – 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1 – 2kg Non-oily white fish bones, including head (preferably Turbot)
2 - 4L of cold water
At both restaurants we keep our stocks very simple, but concentrate on using the best ingredients and cooking them properly. The fish stock we make only requires fish bones and water to make, but we use a certain type of fish. We prefer to use Turbot bones whenever possible as this gives a far superior flavour to any stock or sauce, but the next best is Lemon Sole bones. Ask your fish monger for non-oily white fish bones for a stock and they will be able to help you. You want to avoid using oily fish bones (mackerel, salmon) when making this stock as you will end up with a cloudy, oily stock. We do use oily fish to make stocks as well, but for this stock we want a clear, clean stock.
Use the head of the fish which has a lot of flavour. Remove the eyes and gills from the head, and any guts from the fish bones. Give both a rinse under some cold running water for 10 minutes. Put the bones in a large pan and cover with the fresh cold water. Turn on to a high heat and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat, and allow the stock to just simmer for 20 minutes, skimming off the layer of fat from the top every 5 minutes. Remove the stock from the heat, and allow to cool with the fish bones still inside. When room temperature, pass the stock through a fine sieve and then again through muslin, refrigerate. This will keep for 3 days in the fridge, or 2 – 3 months in the freezer. When chilled, the fish stock may set a little like jelly, this is normal and because of the gelatine naturally present in the fish bones.
