Sauce & Stock Techniques
Remouillage
Also: second stock, re-wetting, second wash
A second-extraction stock made by re-simmering already-cooked bones, yielding a lighter liquid used to fortify or extend a primary stock.
/reh-moo-ee-YAHZH/French remouiller, from re- ('again') + mouiller ('to wet, to moisten'), from Latin molliare ('to soften in liquid').
Definition
Remouillage (French: 're-wetting') is the practice of covering already-used stock bones with fresh cold water and simmering them a second time after their initial extraction. Bones that have given up most of their collagen to a primary fond will still hold residual gelatin, minerals, and some marrow fat; a second long simmer — typically four to eight hours for beef or veal bones, two to four for poultry — extracts what remains. The resulting liquid is noticeably lighter, less gelatinous, and less intensely flavoured than the primary fond. Its gelatin content may be 50–70% lower, depending on how thoroughly the first stock was cooked. Remouillage is rarely used as a finished stock on its own; instead it is employed as the wetting liquid for a subsequent batch of primary stock (replacing plain water and adding some body) or as a secondary mouillement in braises and long stews where a full fond would be excessive or too expensive. Classical French kitchens, where economy of ingredients was a professional discipline, relied on remouillage to keep production costs low. In contemporary nose-to-tail cooking and zero-waste restaurant practice, remouillage is a standard element of the mise en place cycle. The term is also used loosely in some kitchen cultures to describe the thin, pale liquid produced by extending an already-reduced demi-glace with water to create a lighter sauce base.
In use
“"We never throw bones away after the first fond — we cover them again for the remouillage, which goes into the braising liquid for the short ribs the next day."”
See also
- TechniqueStock Making
- ConceptCollagen and Gelatin
- TechniqueBraising
Related terms
References
- 1.Le Guide Culinaire — Auguste Escoffier
- 2.Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making — James Peterson
- 3.The Professional Chef — The Culinary Institute of America
- 4.On Food and Cooking — Harold McGee
Confidence: high
Notes
Why the gelatin drops so sharply
Collagen in bone converts to gelatin at sustained temperatures above 70 °C. Once a set of bones has simmered for six or more hours, most accessible collagen has already hydrolysed. The collagen that remains is buried in dense cortical bone or shielded by tissue that no longer softens. A remouillage extracts what diffuses out with extended heat, which is why time matters more than agitation: the second stock benefits from a full, unhurried simmer rather than a quick boil.
Economy and ethics
Escoffier's brigade system treated remouillage as good kitchen discipline. Contemporary zero-waste chefs often freeze remouillage for use as a braising liquid extender, ice cube stock for pan sauces, or a base for staff meal soups. The bones can sometimes go a third round — 'troisième mouillage' — producing little more than hot, mineral-rich water, useful for stretching a stock in an emergency but contributing minimal body.