Home » How To Skim Off the Scum and Fat from Soups and Stocks (灰汁取り)
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Learn how to skim off the scum and fat from your soups and stocks in this tutorial. In Japanese cooking, we use this technique to yield a clean liquid to give soups, hot pots, and stews a refined taste and clear appearance.
In Japanese cooking,skimmingoff thescumand fat that accumulates on the surface of broths and stock is very important to create a nice and cleansoupor stew. It’s an important technique used in theculinary artsbyprofessional chefsand home cooks alike.
Yes, I know it is extra work! However, it’s the key to a refinedflavorand clearliquid.Soup skimmingis worth the effort when making hot pots, stews, and alltypes of souplikechicken noodle soup,pho, andbeefbourguignon.
What is the FoamyScumon Stocks?
When liquids likechicken stockorbone brothare just about toboil, theproteinsin the animal products start to congeal. This createsfoamthat rises to the surface. It can appear whenboilingmeat-based liquids like porkbones,beefknucklesormarrow bones, andchicken carcasses.
It’s usually white, gray, or brown in color. It’s crucial to remove thefoamas quickly as possiblebefore it boils and mixesinto thesoupor stock.
How toSkimOffthe Debris and Scum
Here’s a summary of how I do it; see below for step-by-step photos and instructions!
- Prepare aliquidmeasuring cup filled with water. You’ll also need a fine-mesh skimmer. You could use aladleor slotted spoon, but I prefer amesh strainerof some kind.
- Just before theliquidin yourstockpotbegins tosimmerandboil, look for thescumto form. When you see it floating at thetop of the soup, quickly scoop it off.
- Rinse thefine-mesh sievein the water. Repeat until you’ve removed all the debris from yoursoup.
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How To Skim Off the Scum and Fat from Soups and Stocks
5 from 4 votes
Learn how to skim off the scum and fat from your soups and stocks in this tutorial. In Japanese cooking, we use this technique to yield a clean liquid to give soups, hot pots, and stews a refined taste and clear appearance.
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Prep Time: 5 minutes mins
Materials
- water
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
Instructions
You will need a fine-mesh skimmer and a liquid measuring cup (or bowl) filled with water.
When the soup/stock is about to boil, stay around the kitchen. You‘ll start to see the scum and fat floating and creating forms. With the mesh sieve in one hand and the bowl of water in the other, start scooping it off.
After you pick up the scum, rinse the sieve in the measuring cup (or bowl) and continue to scoop the scum.
Keep the liquid at a simmer rather than a hard boil because it will mix up the scum and cloud the soup. Make sure to thoroughly skim.
Author: Namiko Chen
Course: How to
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: stock
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Namiko Chen
I'm Nami, a Japanese home cook based in San Francisco. Have fun exploring the 1000+ classic & modern Japanese recipes I share with step-by-step photos and How-To YouTube videos.
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