Invest in a Little Stock, the Edible Kind

Stock – otherwise known as broth – is one of the most satisfying things I ever make in my kitchen. It’s really easy, economical, nutritious, and the flavor payoff is huge. If you’ve never made it, you must definitely give it a try. Then you’ll be hooked.

I do not claim to be a stock expert – so all you folks with formal culinary training, feel free to chime in. But I think the most important thing is having a few basic guidelines (which I’m going to give you) and following your own intuition – as well as your taste buds!

For those of you who know me, I need to add that I’ve drifted back and forth between vegetarian, vegan and carnivorous diets for my entire life. Right now, I’ve entered a mostly-vegetarian phase, where about 80% of my meals are meatless, with the occasional chicken and fish.

The procedure I give here is for chicken broth – but if you’re a vegetarian, the instructions are really pretty much the same: just leave out the bird.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I roasted a whole organic Bell & Evans chicken. This was a basic roasted chicken – I split it in half, drizzled it with olive oil, salted and peppered it, and placed it in a large baking dish with a whole slew of quartered onions and several garlic cloves. So easy. Then I roasted it until it was done. The meat provided a couple of meals. Then, with the carcass sitting in the refrigerator on the 3^rd day, we were headed out of town, so I popped the whole dish into the freezer.

One week later, it was time to make stock. (Ok, this is how you do it now!):

I filled a large kettle (a stockpot) with 4 liters of purified water, and put it on the stove, on high heat, to bring it to a boil. Meanwhile, I added the frozen chicken carcass (scraps, fat & all) to the water. Then, I added some vegetable scraps and whole veges: a few stalks of celery, a turnip, half of a fennel bulb, a few small pieces of bell pepper, a couple of carrots, two large Spanish onions, 4 or 5 bay leaves.

No need to do a lot of prep on the vegetables – rinse, peel (or not), trim (or not).  I usually cut them into manageable chunks, or quarter them.  (If you’re making vegetable stock, use more veges – and be sure to include some dark leafy greens like mustard, collards, or turnip greens, because they add an incredible punch of flavor.)

No vegetables are really off-limits – but it’s better to avoid the ones that would overpower the broth, such as cabbage, broccoli, or garlic. Also, potatoes will break down and create a cloudy stock, which is ok from a flavor standpoint, but looks awful and spoils the texture. Be sure to go with plenty of onions, carrots and celery – the Holy Trinity….or is that onions, celery and bell pepper? Anyway. All of those are good.

And NOW for the exciting secret to the best, richest most flavorful broth ever!!!! DRIED MUSHROOMS. So amazing. I added about 3 to 4 ounces of dried shitake mushrooms.  (Bought in bulk from Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market, they’re super cheap.) Go for the mushrooms, they will change your life. Or at least your stock.

Anyway, at this point, just let it simmer. Mine simmered on medium-low heat most of the day on Saturday.  I did not feel like dealing with it after that, so I just put a folded towel on the refrigerator shelf to disperse the heat, put the lid on it, set the stock pot containing hot broth on the shelf, and went to bed.

The next day, I removed the pot and skimmed off the chicken fat and set it aside for the cats. (It also makes good human food, if you like it.) Take another kettle and set a colander in it. (Get out all your pots & pans now, and whatever containers the broth will be stored in. Store it in pints or quarts, or in single cup servings, for easy thawing.)

Pour the contents of the stock pot into the colander. You may have to do this in a couple of batches. Once you’ve strained the large pieces out, pour through a fine sieve into clean jars or other freezer storage containers. Label the containers with a Sharpie (date, contents, quantity) and freeze.

Your homemade stock will transform anything – make soup, rice, sauces, whatever. The idea is for the stock to be flavorful, but sort of neutral. You don’t typically salt or season it, so that later, it can take on whatever character is needed for a recipe. It is so rich, that it can actually be diluted with a little water when making the recipe.

The improv Asian-style soup you see in the picture above was made with my stock, water, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, garlic, ginger, jalapenos, carrots, parsnips, green onion and a few rice noodles. It went together almost as fast as packaged ramen. And, it was off the chain.

My most recent batch of stock made about one gallon.