Making Your Own Stock

First off, why make your own stock? Well, to begin with, it's fun! On a more practical note though, a stock you make yourself is much more flavorful than one of those canned or bottled stocks you can buy at the grocery store and will also be completely free of additives and preservatives. Just pick up a can or bottle of stock next time you go to the grocery store and note all the extra stuff besides "stock" that is put into these products. The compressed stock cubes are even worse, there's hardly any stock in them at all, it's mostly salt (real stock should not have any salt in it) and corn starch! Making your own stock gives you control over one of the most important base ingredient in a range of dishes such as soups, sauces, stews, all kinds of oven dishes and much more.

A quick note on the difference between a stock and a broth; the two are very similar but the main difference is that stock is a clear liquid that has nothing in it whereas a broth, while consisting mostly of the same liquid as stock, can include additional ingredients such as vegetables and meat, making it in fact a type of clear soup.

The stocks I am about to talk about are the ones used in the French cuisine. There are two main types of stocks, white stock and brown stock. The main difference between the two is that the bones (or vegetables in vegetable stock) in white stock are not fried (browned) before adding water whereas the bones in a brown stock are fried and caramelized before adding water. It does not matter what kind of bones you use, you can have beef white stock and chicken brown stock.

The basic ingredients in every stock is a combination of three special aromatic vegetables, namely carrots, celery and onions. This vegetable combination is so good that it even has a special name in many languages such as mirepoix (French), refogado (Portuguese), sofrito (Spanish), suppengrün (German) and "holy trinity" (Creole cuisine). It is a classic combination that just can't go wrong. In fact, you can use this combination in many other dishes such as pot roasts, stews and braised oven dishes.

The second very important ingredient in stock is a combination of herbs, called bouquet garni (garnished bouquet). Although there is no generic recipe for what is included in a bouquet garni it is usually some combination of sprigs of parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage and bay leaf tied together into a bundle with a bit of string. Sometimes garlic and peppercorns are included as well but then it's not possible to tie all the ingredients together so a little pouch of cheesecloth or coffee filter is used instead. These herbs are always strained out at the end so it's not strictly necessary to tie them together or put them into a cheesecloth pouch.

The third important ingredient in stock is bones. I put them last because bones are not used in vegetable stock. When making vegetable stock, you substitute bones for some more aromatic vegetables such as peppers, leeks, radishes and so on. You can use any bones you can lay your hands on but the cooking time of the stock you are preparing will vary significantly based on the bones you are using. This is because different types of bones need different cooking times to extract their full flavor potential. Here's the cooking times for commonly used bone types:

Fish Bones: 30 - 45 minutes, any longer and you'll ruin the taste! Chicken Bones: 3 - 4 hours Lamb Bones: 4 hours Pork Bones: 4 hours Beef and Veal bones: 7 - 8 hours

You can also use meat in your stock, either already cooked (leftover) or fresh. This is a great way to get every last bit out of whole chicken once it's served its purpose on the dinner table. Fresh meat will produce a superior taste though and meat rich in connective tissue such as chuck, shin or shoulder (beef or veal), or chicken thighs and so on is recommended.

Here's a basic chicken white stock recipe:

Stock: 900 gr/2 lb Chicken Bones 1 Piece Onion 2 Pieces Carrots 2 Pieces Celery 1 Piece Leek 4 dl/4 qt Water

Herb bundle: 1 Piece Garlic Clove (Smashed) 4 Pieces Parsley Stems 1 Tea Spoon Peppercorns (Black) 1 Piece Thyme (Fresh Sprig) 1 Piece Bay Leaf

Cut the vegetables into rather large chunks (they will be cooking for a long time). Then put all the ingredients into a large pot (you can put the herbs into a cheesecloth sachet if you want). Turn on high heat and let it come to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer gently for 3 - 4 hours (because we are using chicken bones, cooking times depend on the type of bones you use). If any foam forms, remove it. If you leave it, it might incorporate itself back into the stock, resulting in murky stock. Once the stock is done cooking, strain it through a fine meshed strainer and then pour it into a container and refrigerate. Once cool, skim the hardened fat off the top. You can freeze stock for a very long time. It's a good idea to create a little stockpile of frozen stock for when you need it.

The recipe for brown stock is almost the same except you fry the bones and brown them first. Don't move them around much at all when frying, just let them sit for a few minutes on each side. Then add the vegetables and fry with the bones for a little bit. Next add the water and follow white stock recipe.

 

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