Simmering

Traditions

Simmering is a universal technique, refined distinctively across cultures. In French cuisine, simmering is used in making stock, where ingredients are reduced in a copper pot for hours to extract deep flavors. Japanese dashi is created through a brief simmering of kombu and katsuobushi, focusing on umami. In India, simmering is key to dishes like dal, allowing spices to meld in a clay pot over a slow flame. In Italy, risotto is slowly simmered, gradually absorbing broth for creamy texture.

How It Works

Liquid held at 85-95°C with the surface barely breaking — small bubbles release from the pot floor but don't break the surface in volume. Convection is gentle, so suspended particles (raft of egg whites in consommé, mirepoix in stock) don't disperse. Collagen-to-gelatin conversion accelerates above 70°C; aromatic volatiles (terpenes, thiols) extract without driving off as steam would at full boil.

In Practice

Across the World

Through Time

Roman *ius* and medieval pottage are early simmered preparations. Marie-Antoine Carême's 1822 *Le Cuisinier parisien* established the fond brun protocol still taught at CIA and Le Cordon Bleu. Auguste Escoffier's 1903 codification of *fonds de cuisine* defined the modern eight-hour beef-stock standard. Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller maintain the lineage.

Related cooking knowledge

Every Dish