Italian brodo — made with beef, veal, chicken, or a combination — differs from French stock in its intention: brodo is meant to be drunk and used as a soup base, not reduced to a sauce. It is therefore seasoned (lightly salted) during cooking and designed for a final flavour that is good without reduction. The cold-water start, the vegetables added whole rather than chopped, and the maintenance of a gentle simmer rather than a boil are techniques Hazan shares with the French tradition but applies with Italian intent.
- **The cold start:** Meat and bones placed in cold water, brought slowly to a simmer. The cold start draws albumin and other proteins into solution before they coagulate — producing a richer-flavoured broth than a hot-start method. Skim the grey foam that rises before and as the broth reaches a simmer. - **The vegetables:** Whole onion (halved and charred directly over flame for golden broth — identical to the pho technique HS-12), whole carrot, whole celery. No chopping. - **Parmigiano rind:** Added to the broth — one of Hazan's signature techniques. The rind's residual Parmigiano flavour and glutamate content dissolves into the broth during the long simmer, adding depth. [VERIFY] Hazan's Parmigiano rind instruction. - **The simmer:** Never a boil — a boil emulsifies the fat into the broth, producing cloudiness. A gentle simmer (surface barely moving) produces a clear, golden broth. - **Time:** 3–4 hours minimum for beef/veal broth; 2 hours for chicken broth. - **Straining:** Through a fine mesh or cloth without pressing — Hazan's identical principle to Tsuji's dashi straining.
Hazan