a skillet with butter, chicken stock, sugar, and salt, slowly simmering them so that by the time the vegetables are cooked through, the stock has reduced and emulsified with the butter into a shiny, flavorful glaze that coats the vegetables It’s a simple technique, but it’s far from foolproof, particularly in the home kitchen In a restaurant on a high-output burner, the stock boils extremely rapidly and this bubbling action helps it to emulsify with the butter in the pan quite easily With lazy bubbling on a home stove, however, it’s much more difficult to get a stable emulsion On top of that, the gelatin in good chicken stock really helps stabilize the emulsion Use a thin store-bought stock, vegetable stock, or plain water, and your emulsion becomes doubly hard to form The solution? A bit of “artificial” thickening: the tiniest bit of cornstarch—½ teaspoon for a full to servings of vegetables—is enough to easily stabilize the coating without turning it gloppy or thick GLAZED CARROTS WITH ALMONDS SERVES 4 TO 6 1½ pounds large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch disks or faux tournée (see “Knife Skills: How to Cut Carrots,” here) ½ teaspoon cornstarch 1½ cups homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons sugar Kosher salt 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley or chives ... 1½ pounds large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch disks or faux tournée (see “Knife Skills: How to Cut Carrots,” here) ½ teaspoon cornstarch 1½ cups homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock 2 tablespoons unsalted butter