“It is on a good stock, or first good broth and sauce, that excellence in cookery depends. If the preparation of this basis of the culinary art is intrusted (sic) to negligent or ignorant persons, and the stock is not well skimmed, indifferent results will be obtained”. From Mrs Beeton’s The Book of Household Management, S. O. Beeton 1861, Chapter V: Soups
Mrs Beeton has given me a wakeup call. For years I have extolled the virtues of making white sauce and egg custard from scratch, but avoided stock and gravies, and as my husband is equally challenged in this area we had destined our children to eating a range of chemicals that parade as stock-like substances.
Before our time the inability to make a stock would mean a household was denied many dishes unless you were in a position to have staff to make it for you. Oh how I wish I had staff. I dream about having staff.
I’m evidence of the evolution of the self sufficient home chef to supermarket hack. These days I can waltz down to my local supermarket and pick up a whole load of chemical food-like products which can be used in place of stock.
The trouble is the ingredient list looks like this:
Before our time the inability to make a stock would mean a household was denied many dishes unless you were in a position to have staff to make it for you. Oh how I wish I had staff. I dream about having staff.
I’m evidence of the evolution of the self sufficient home chef to supermarket hack. These days I can waltz down to my local supermarket and pick up a whole load of chemical food-like products which can be used in place of stock.
The trouble is the ingredient list looks like this:
Beef Stock Cubes: Wheat flour, salt, yeast extract, maize starch, flavour enhancers (621, 627 ie msg), colour (why?), vegetable oil, autolysed yeast extract, flavourings (including beef flavour – and I bet it wasn’t extracted from a cow...), sugar, onion extract, onion powder.
That’s not food. Not even slightly. What am I doing to my children?
So, despite memories of long hours of simmering and a fatty unappealing result, I thought let’s give this stock caper a go once more.
One night I cooked a roast chicken dinner. After dinner I gathered up the remaining carcass and meat and threw it in a pot of water along with the most wilted vegetables in my fridge. My secret here is that I put all this in my pasta pot which has a built in drainer (handy later believe me).
[This was my first attempt when I hadn't worked out about using the pasta pot...]
I simmered this concoction from the time after dinner until just before I went to bed. At that point I drained the stock, threw out the lumpy bits and put the stock into the fridge overnight. The next morning the fat had risen to the top and hardened. I simply scooped this off and voila four litres of chicken stock! Why had I thought it was so hard? The stock went into takeaway containers in the freezer. Easy.
But still I hear you decry this as too hard? Visit your local butcher. Many of ours make their own stock (they have the bones on hand after all). If a stock has more than four ingredients, or ingredients I don’t recognise, I don’t buy it anymore. My great-grandmother wouldn’t have, and now, neither will I.
[this is a photo of beef stock in progress. I'd learnt about using the pasta pot with internal drainer by then...]
Oh, and once I had stock on hand, suddenly gravies became so simple, soups easy. Who knew?
Any stock makers out there?
22 comments:
I am a very seldom stock maker. Mostly I make it for soups. That's all I have to say about stock. ;)
Oh my God.
I need a pot with a drainer. I sometimes make stock but all of the drama with getting all of the lumpy bits out at the end puts me off.
Your photo was a revelation. (And yes, I realise that i do need to get a life.)
I'm a stocker!! My sisters used to tease me over this (not because there's anything wrong with making stock, but they just thought I was a bit extreme in not letting things go to waste, and they liked to find anything to tease me about, in general). Years and years ago, when they lived hundreds of miles away from me, but together, while I was visiting they packed up the carcass after a nice chicken supper and hid it in my luggage, to be discovered when I arrived home. Later that year, when thinking of me fondly after a chicken supper, they packaged up the carcass and sent it to me in the mail! Gross but we all got a good laugh.
I think that would probably be illegal these days, with e-coli, biohazards, and postal and airport security being what it is.
I just made a batch of turkey stock last month, and I use a big pot with a built in strainer too!
Well that has inspired me.
The chicken stock especially - I'm thinking risottos...
I always use my roast carcasses for stocks. Occasionally I have been known to accidentally discard the liquid when I drained the wilted vegies and carcass out, all that lovely stock straight down the sink, sob!
My best stock was when I used the VERY EXPENSIVE organic lamb roast bone for stock (had to get my full money's worth there, you see, it cost $37), the stock was divine and the resultant lamb and barley soup my best ever.
The strainer is a great idea.
I remember the first time I made stock, I drained it like I would pasta and was left with a pile of cooked bones and veges - not quite what I was after.
I think I cried, but I haven't done it since.
When I wanted to make beef stock I went to the local butcher and he sold me loads of neck bones for $1.50. I roasted them up, then simmered them as above and, again, four litres of stock emerged, for $1.50 (plus the water, and the power usage). I just need the freezer space to store it all...
with only 2 of us in the house, i rarely roast a whole chicken and therefore don't often have a carcass to make stock from. After christmas last year i made turkey stock... it was scrummy...although i had more stock than you can poke a stick at for a while there... biiiig turkey.
Sueeeus and Weenie Elise: I'm intrigued with the Turkey stock - do you use it the same as chicken stock? I assume so. Must do that this year after Christmas dinner.
Megan - I'm not sure what the regulations are for the transport of stock inter-state...but I have freezer space, and will quite happily 'store' some for you!
I've made stock a couple of times, and it wasn't that onerous a task at all. It is one of those ones you have to think ahead about though, so that you have containers ready, freezer space cleared, time ste aside to keep an eye on the pot simmering...
Did you ever watch Grumpy Old Women? It took me a while to warm to it but near the end one of them commented that you know you're a GOW when you use every opportunity to make your own stock. It made me laugh 'cause I do this (as well as keeping string from things...what for? who knows!). Anyway, whenever I make chicken anything, I use the bones and what meat is left on them to make stock - just chuck an onion, bay leaf, carrot and some celery in with it and let it simmer for a few hours. I really hate commercial stock cubes - they are just flavouring, no nutrition in them as far as I can tell. A good tip my chef friend gave me was to freeze it in ice cube trays - then you don't have to defrost the whole lot if you just need some to add to a meal.
PS I've tagged you for a meme if you feel like playing and haven't done it before
megan, with the turkey stock, i used it to make a turkey and vegetable soup... like a chicken & veg soup, but turkey-er... :)
Like Weenie_Elise said... ...it's wonderful with veggies in a soup. Sometimes cook some noodles (separately so as not to get all starchy, unless you like that) and add them to the soup. It makes delish gravy too.
I know mum makes her own stock, but I have never done it, I did not realise MSG was in stock cubes - what a pain!
I'm not a great one for stock making either but my husband does. He'll even make vegetable stock from scratch. Now to me that is the difference between someone who cooks for fun not someone who cooks 7 days a week!
I make litres of homemade stock, but never thought to use the strainer in the pasta pot. Will be doing so now without fail. No more messy fishing bones out of the stock!
I freeze stock in those zip-top plastic bags. You can store them in the freezer almost flat, like roof slates, and they take up a lot less room.
You have my interest as well!
Tell me, is that an unpeeled onion in the pot? What benefit of that? Would it work better peeled or is this an unspoken secret?
Excuse my ignorance, but I want to try this. I hate stock cubes!
Hi Aunty Evil, yes it is an unpeeled onion. My approach with stock is to chuck in anything remotely vegetable-like that is nearby. I figure an unpeeled onion won't fall apart after four hours of simmering but will still impart flavour. But I'm not sure if this is how Delia Smith or Martha would do it...
I really don't like to cook any more but back in the day, when I cooked A LOT, the stock from any meat was always the best and the best for you, I believe. These days, I am not sure which of the ingredients is the most harmful to us. Preservatives, too much salt, or too much sugar. All those other things listed in the ingredients, I have never quite figured out what they are?!?!?
I'm an avid stock maker and bought a freezer purely for the storage of stocks, soups and pasta sauces.
I call it my freezer of virtue.
Great idea Megan. I think I am doing better when I purchase the Campbell's liquid stock but looking at the ingredients, though not quite as bad as a stock cube, there are definitely more than 5: chicken stock (water, chicken, herb extracts; well, what do you know there is chicken stock in chicken stock! But wait there is more...), water (more), glucose (those bloody sugars I've been railing against), salt, yeast extract, natural flavours (what are these and wouldn't they be present anyway if you have used real food ingredients!)
Well, you've got me thinking and having it boil away for a couple of hours and then frozen doesn't seem onerous.
I like Stacey's dedicated freezer. I think Michael Pollan endorses the purchase of a large stand alone freezer for such things, seasonal produce and buying organic meats in bulk. I am definitely getting my own stand alone freezer and what better way to christen it than with homemade stock.
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