The New York Times had an article on gelatin clarification last fall, The Essence of Nearly Anything, Drop by Limpid Drop by Harold McGee. The idea is that you can create a perfectly clear broth that tastes like anything – chocolate, ranch dressing, brown butter, whatever you like. All you need is enough fridge and freezer space to set up a gelatin clarification system.
McGee explained the basic technique very well: Create your broth by simmering ingredients in water on the stove, then turn it into jello by letting gelatin bloom in a cup of cooler liquid which you then blend back into the hot liquid. Freeze the broth, then set it up in your fridge in a cheesecloth-lined colander set over a bowl. Over the next few days, clear broth will drip down into the bowl, and a strange jelly filter will remain in the colander up above.
McGee gives you a sample recipe, with measurements by volume, but that's imprecise. If you want to take more care to have identical results every time, it helps to have a precise formula; try clarifying your stocks with .7% gelatin by weight. For example, if your strained broth weighs 100 grams, add .7 grams of gelatin to create the gelatin filter.
The broth shown above is a kolbasz consommé, made with a mix of Hungarian sausage (csabai and cserkesz kolbasz). Full instructions after the jump.
