Stocks

[LB]

Does anyone have recipes and methods for some good stocks? Such as chicken, beef, shrimp, and vegetable stocks to be used in soups and sauces?

Thank you!

[Wordgeek]

I never use an actual recipe for stock but this is my usual method: Cover the bones with cold water and add onion, carrots and celery.  Boil for hours.  Strain once or twice, depending on how much debris you like in your soup.  Salt and and pepper to taste.  Stick in the fridge overnight.  Lift off the fat in the morning.

Voila!  Stock.  This works for whatever leftover meat you have on hand, but you can also use fresh bones.

[Elle]

I never use an actual recipe for stock but this is my usual method: Cover the bones with cold water and add onion, carrots and celery.  Boil for hours.  Strain once or twice, depending on how much debris you like in your soup.  Salt and and pepper to taste.  Stick in the fridge overnight.  Lift off the fat in the morning.

Voila!  Stock.  This works for whatever leftover meat you have on hand, but you can also use fresh bones.

Make sure the bones are roasted/ cooked first. That gives the stock a more robust flavor.

Typically I will throw all the icky leftovers in the stockpot. (Bones, skin, giblets, neck, and anything else I won't eat on its own) along with the veggies that are slightly past their prime (carrots, celery, onion). I also throw in a bay leaf, peppercorns, and some other herbs (tea infuser works great for this). You can either boil all this in water or in broth (I use both).

Let it simmer for a few hours, strain it, fridge overnight (as per Wordgeek) and skim off the fat.

[Summrs]

For shrimp stock, throw the shells from about a pound and a half of shrimp into about 4 1/2 cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Discard the shells. Use this as the base for soups and season as desired.

For chicken stock, cut chicken pieces (wings, drumsticks, etc.) into about 2" pieces and brown on all sides.  Remove the pieces and in the chicken fat remaining, sautee carrots, onions and celery until fairly dark, but not burnt.  Add the chicken pieces back in, cover with water, add a couple of bay leaves and simmer for about an hour or two.  Strain, throw away all the solids and let the stock sit for a few minutes so the fat rises.  Skim that, and you're all set.

Vegetable stocks are similar.  Caramelize whatever vegetables you like, in a little olive oil... carrots, onion, garlic, celery, turnips, bell pepper, etc.... about 4 lbs total.  Cover with about a gallon of water, throw in a few cloves, a bay leaf, black peppercorns and a bunch of parsley, chopped.  Bring to a full boil, then cover and lower to simmer.  Simmer until liquid is reduced by half and then strain.

[cicero]

whatever you do - make sure you strain the stock after you finish cooking it. that will ensure you will have a clear stock.

[Wordgeek]

Make sure the bones are roasted/ cooked first. That gives the stock a more robust flavor.

Really?  I'd always heard the opposite - the best soup is made from raw bones in cold water, because more flavour is absorbed that way.  We use cooked bones because, otherwise, they'd go to waste.  Persih the thought.

My first Thanksgiving dinner (that I hosted), I was really looking forward to the soup.  Someone asked me what I was going to do with the leftovers, so I said I'd use the meat for a pot pie and make soup from the carcass.  "Carcass" completely squicked out everyone in the kitchen except me, apparently.   

Turkey soup is good stuff.  Soup, in general, is good stuff.

[Elle]

Make sure the bones are roasted/ cooked first. That gives the stock a more robust flavor.

Really?  I'd always heard the opposite - the best soup is made from raw bones in cold water, because more flavour is absorbed that way.  We use cooked bones because, otherwise, they'd go to waste.  Persih the thought.

My first Thanksgiving dinner (that I hosted), I was really looking forward to the soup.  Someone asked me what I was going to do with the leftovers, so I said I'd use the meat for a pot pie and make soup from the carcass.  "Carcass" completely squicked out everyone in the kitchen except me, apparently.   

Turkey soup is good stuff.  Soup, in general, is good stuff.

The thing is that raw bones just don't have much flavor, while the roasted bones have soaked up whatever you cooked the meat with (as well as ther meat juices).

And I refer to the 'carcass' as well. "Just throw the chicken carcass in the stock pot! I'll make soup!" 

[sparksals]

Whenever I'm making Christmas or Thxgiving dinner, I chop up all the veggies, save up all the bits like tops, ends, shavings and put in a ziploc bag, air pressed out and in the freezer.  I clean out my crispers for lettuce that may be a bit wilted or any other veggie that may be close to going soggy.  All those go in the freezer.

When it comes time to making the stock, I toss in every vegetable imaginable, the tops from the freezer and fresh onions, INCLUDING the paper skin.  You can use both yellow and spanish onions.  The paper onion skins will give a nice colour to the stock.

I made a fabulous veggie stock just by cleaning out my crisper and the bits I saved over the months of veggies that I put in the freezer.  I also go through my freezer for packages of frozen vegetables like peas and corn that may be a bit freezer burned.  All those are tossed into the pot. 

The great thing about veggie stock is it's extremely low fat and it can be extremely flavourful.  Mine always comes out very concentrated, so if I'm making rice, I will use half stock/half water. 

For turkey or chicken stock, you can do the same, but you will have to skim out the bones.  You will also have to let the stock cool completely to let the fat settle on top to skim that off.  It can be a lengthy and messy job.  Skimming the fat of chicken/turkey stock is equally as important as skimming out the bones and straining all the veggies.

When you want to make soup from the stock, you don't use the veggies from when you made the the stock.  strain everything out and add the veggies to it when you're about to serve it for a meal. 

[Redhead]

I tend to use a mix of raw and cooked bones when I make chicken stock.  The cooked bones give it a fantastic flavour and with the raw bones I often get a stock that looks like jelly when it is cold (is great for getting the fat off).  Goes completely clear and liquid again when heated.