Why should you make your own stocks and broths at home?
- Reduce waste by using less than desirable vegetables or scraps before they go bad!
- Create more flavorful stocks than what you can buy in the store.
- Homemade stocks can be customized to the final dish they will be used in by using regional ingredients.
- You are not just paying for salt and water, which are often the first ingredients in most store-bought stock & bone broths.
- It is a great way to add humidity to your home during cold and dry winters!
How can stocks be utilized beyond just soup?
- Sauces
- Braising meats
- Cooking grains
- Bone Broth - Good for your joints, cartilage, muscles, and brain. It is a superfood!
What can you use to make stock, beyond just chicken!?
- Beef, Pork, Lamb & Goat. Everything except hunks of meat, offal and fat. Tendons, cartilage, and of course bones, you can even boil the head (maybe not a cow).
- Turkey & Other Poultry. Throw it all in the pot, including the skin!
- Fish, Shrimp Shells, Lobster Shells, Crab Shells. These can make an amazing gumbo or bouillabaisse.
- Vegetables. Almost anything that’s not lettuce or starchy. This is where creativity can make the difference between boring stock make from onion, celery and carrots to a broth with unique flavor profiles that will be the base for an amazing final product, whatever that may be. Mastering the art of making great vegetable stock will assist you in all the forementioned stock variants we discussed and expand your culinary abilities with all the great flavors that can now be unlocked.
- Mushrooms! I mention these last because while you may find them in the produce section, mushrooms add a level of umami that can elevate a dish, and by using the butt ends and less than desirable parts of the mushroom when making stocks, you can keep flavor from going into the trash or in my house, the composter.
- Herbs, lots of herbs! Standards – Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, Oregano. More Unique – Cilantro, Bay Leaf, Green Onion or Chive, Marjoram, Ginger, Chili Peppers (dried or fresh).
Vegetable stock (16qt stock pot) – makes 8-10 qts
- 1-2 heads celery cut into large pieces
- 8-10 yellow onions large cut into medium to large chunks
- 3-4 carrots peeled and cut into large chunks (not too many, I often will omit depending on the result intended for the batch)
- Mushrooms - 2oz of dried mushrooms or 8oz of fresh mushrooms. We recommend porcini mushrooms!
- 6-8 cloves of garlic
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/8 cup of sea salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
Fill your pot with all of the ingredients before filling the pot with water. Be sure to leave at least 2" of space at the top of the pot so your stock doesn't spill over while cooking. Slowly simmer the stock for a minimum of 2 hours, and up to 3 hours for the best flavor.
Pro Tip: Add fresh (or frozen) corn cobbs to your stock to give it a rich flavor that is over the top delicious! This trick works great no matter what kind of stock you are making.
Beef stock (16 qt stock pot) makes 6-8 qts.
- 8-10 lbs. of roasted beef bones (sub: pork bones, lamb bones)
- 1 head of celery cut into large pieces
- 5 yellow onions large cut into medium to large chunks
- 2 carrots peeled and cut into large chunks (not too many, I often will omit depending on the result intended for the batch)
- 4 ripe tomatoes, or 2 cans
- 6-8 cloves of garlic
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 6-8 fresh sprigs of thyme
- 2 rosemary branches
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/8 cup of sea salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
Fill your pot with all of the ingredients before filling the pot with water. Be sure to leave at least 2" of space at the top of the pot so your stock doesn't spill over while cooking. Slowly simmer the stock for a minimum of 4 hours, and up to 10 hours for the best flavor.
Chicken stock (16 qt stock pot) makes 8-10 qts.
- 5 lbs. of roasted chicken bones (sub: shrimp, lobster, turkey, duck)
- 2 head of celery cut into large pieces
- 8-10 yellow onions large cut into medium to large chunks
- 2 carrots peeled and cut into large chunks (not too many, I often will omit depending on the result intended for the batch)
- 6-8 cloves of garlic
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 6-8 fresh sprigs of thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/8 cup of sea salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
Fill your pot with all of the ingredients before filling the pot with water. Be sure to leave at least 2" of space at the top of the pot so your stock doesn't spill over while cooking. Slowly simmer the stock for a minimum of 4 hours, and up to 10 hours for the best flavor.
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