On Food and Cooking

make a rope-like fiber. When heated in water,
the individual protein chains come apart
(right) and dissolve into the water. The
unwound, separate chains are what we call
gelatin.
The Choice of Ingredients The aim in
making meat stock is to produce a full-
flavored liquid with enough gelatin that it will
also become full-bodied when reduced. Meat
is an expensive ingredient, an excellent source
of flavor, and a modest source of gelatin.
Bones and skins are less expensive, poor
sources of flavor, but excellent sources of
gelatin. So the most flavorful and expensive
stocks are made with meat, the fullest bodied
and cheapest with bones and pork skin, and
everyday stocks with some of each. Beef and
chicken stocks taste distinctly of their
respective meats, while veal bones and meat
are valued for their more neutral character, as
well as their higher yield of soluble gelatin.
Cartilaginous veal knuckles and feet give