Court-bouillon: Why delay adding the wine and vinegar?

I'm preparing the court-bouillon recipe from James Peterson's Sauces (p. 103 of 3rd edition). The procedure is, roughly:

Sweat vegetables,
Simmer vegetables for 10 minutes,
Add white wine and vinegar, simmering for a further 15 to 20 minutes, and then
Cool and strain.

My question is about step 3. For what reasons would the wine and vinegar be withheld for the first 10 minutes of simmering? Is this an evaporation issue? Or is there some deeper interaction between wine/vinegar and vegetables to be accounted for?

Thanks!

stock

Best Answer

Court-bouillon is an old French broth designed for subtle seafood dishes (crayfish/lobster etc.). There is no "standard" for it

The finished product should have a note of the wine and vinegar (make sure you use a good quality wine and vinegar)

If you add the wine and vinegar too early they may have time to overly react with the other ingredients and make their flavours too strong (ethanol and acids strip good and bad flavours from vegetables and herbs). If you add it to late it may have an overly powerful smell of wine and vinegar

The simple trick is to add it nearer the end, and gently simmer for longer if the smell is too intense

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Can you reuse court bouillon?

In general, a court bouillon is not meant to be eaten itself or reused many times.

What are the main components of a standard court bouillon?

It contains four components: water, vegetables, aromatics, and acid. The simplest court bouillon consists of nothing but salted water, and some traditional recipes call for a mixture of half salted water and half milk.

Can you freeze court bouillon?

Court-bouillon can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 week or frozen up to 3 months.

How do you make fish bouillon?

Ingredients:

2 bay leaves.

1 small bunch fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme.

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thick slices.

1 small bunch fresh parsley.

2 celery stalks, chopped, or a hand-full of celery leaves (optional)

2 TB apple cider vinegar.

5 qts water.

5 whole black peppercorns.

Classic Court Bouillon

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