Spice up your store-bought stock

I know what you're thinking...another stock video? I'm surprised too! But we use stock in some way, shape or form in almost everything we cook in class.

My favorite recipe we've made so far is pork tenderloin served with a subtly spicy sweet and sour sauce (consider the enormity of that statement...we make a ton of good stuff every class). There's just something about the mixture of honey, ginger, jalepenos and pork that worked so well for me. And the base of the sauce? Stock, of course.

Video: Make store-bought stock tastier

Since so many of our sauce recipes call for enriched, or reinforced, stock, I thought I'd share how to make it. Plus, it's a great method to boost the flavor of store-bought stock and broth.

To learn how to enrich stock, watch the video above.

Note: You can switch out chicken wings to any kind of meat on the bone and any kind of stock. The recipe below calls for pork bones and veal stock. You can use some ribs and some beef stock, for example, or any kind of combination you would like.

Ginger-Marinated Pork Fillet with Sweet and Sour Sauce
Adapted from The International Culinary Center

Yield: 4 Servings

• 1/4 cup ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 jalepeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce (look in international aisle in your grocery store)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin
• Salt and pepper
• Corn (vegetable/canola) oil for sauteing

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place all the marinade ingredients into a bowl and add the pork, turning the meat to cover with the liquid. Cover and marinate for 2 hours. (While the pork is marinating, make your sauce - see below.)

2. Remove the pork from the marinade and brush off any clinging marinade.

3. Heat some oil in a saute pan. Season the tenderloin and brown well in the pan. Remove the pork from the stovetop and put it in the oven to finish cooking. You want the internal temperature to reach 145F (it should take 30-40 minutes). Remove and let it rest for 10 minutes.

4. Slice the pork fillet diagonally, and cover it with the sauce. Garnish with lime zest and ginger julienne.

Stock and sauce

• 1 tablespoon corn oil (vegetable oil and canola oil work fine as well)
• 10 oz pork bones (ribs would work well)
• 1/2 small onion (1/4 large onion), cut into chunks
• 1 small carrot, cut into chunks
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tomatoes, quartered (optional)
• Parsley stems
• Thyme sprigs
• Bay Leaf
• 2 cups veal stock (or beef stock/chicken stock)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 limes, peels carefully removed and cut into thin strips (julienne)
• 1/4 cup ginger, peeled, cut into very thin strips
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. While the pork is marinating, start the reinforced stock.

2. Heat the oil in a large saute pan and brown the bones. Add the onions and carrots, caramelize them. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and herbs. Briefly cook.

3. Add the veal stock to deglaze. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes.

4. Strain the reinforced stock.

5. Heat the honey in a small pot and cook until it reaches a dark caramel color. Deglaze with the vinegar and cook briefly to combine flavors. (Be careful when you add the vinegar. Try to keep your face away from the steam - it's very strong).

6. Reheat the reinforced stock until full-flavored and thick (if you put a spoon in the sauce, you want to be able to draw a perfect line down the middle of the spoon. If no liquid drips into the line, your sauce is perfectly thickened). Add the honey and vinegar mixture a little bit at a time until a sweet and sour balance has been achieved. Set aside to spoon over pork.

7. Add the water and sugar to a small pot and let it thicken until it forms a syrup. Add the zest and ginger to the sugar water and cook gently until the ginger is tender. This will take about 30 minutes. Set aside to garnish pork.