Making Stock

My apologies for a long blogger absence, but we have been trying out a new bedtime routine which unfortunately means that I have to go to sleep when my toddler does, which greatly cuts back on the "me" time late at night. Part of me misses it, part of me likes feeling well rested in the morning.

So, on to making stock! Poultry first. This is a great way to double your money with poultry - eat the meat, save the scraps
to make stock (and you can easily make heavenly gravy with drippings, triple your money!). So, save any giblets, necks, cooked bones, extra meaty pieces, skin, fat, etc. (even extra gravy) from chicken, turkey, duck, whatever and throw it all in a gallon-size ziploc freezer bag. Freeze and keep adding as you get more. When the bag is so full you can't fit any more, you're ready to make stock. You'll get about a gallon of stock out of each full bag.

You'll need a large stockpot.

poultry pieces (pastured makes the best)
1 good size onion, cut into quarters
3-4 carrots, pared and cut into large pieces
3-4 celery ribs with leaves, cut into large pieces
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
2 tbsp vinegar
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 gallons water
slightly crushed peppercorns, optional
2-3 bay leaves
1 bunch parsley

Put the poultry pieces, onion, carrots, celery and garlic in the stockpot, add the water and vinegar and stir a little. Let it sit 1/2 hour. Then add peppercorns (you can crush them with the broad side of a knife. I put in a "small-well-of-the-palm" amount, maybe 20?) and bay leaves. Turn the fire up to medium and let it cook for an hour or two. Skim any foam off the top (this is important, the foam has a lot of impurities in it) - we use a slotted spoon to do it. Turn the fire down and cover most of the way. There should be a small gap for steam to get out. You don't want the mixture to boil now, but you want it to simmer so be sure there are some bubbles coming to the surface. Let it simmer for 12-24 hours - the longer it simmers the more flavorful it will be. Stir every few hours, but don't worry about it overnight. About an hour before you turn off the fire, add the parsley.

Turn off the heat and let the mix cool a little. Grab a slotted spoon and fish out the big pieces; discard. This is the most time-consuming part; it usually takes me 20 min per pot. Strain the liquid through a fine cheesecloth to get the small particles out. Put the strained stock in the fridge or garage if it's cold enough. You don't need to cover it because the fat will all rise to the top and form a solid seal. Let it cool in the fridge or garage for 24 hours. Then lift the fat or schmalz off and discard it (I tend to leave little to give it some extra richness). The stock may be gelatinous which is a good thing; gelatin aids digestion. (If you can find chicken feet for sale they add a lot of gelatin.) Ladle it into containers and freeze.

Never add salt to this until you're working with it for a recipe. In fact if you boil the stock down some after straining it, it will become so concentrated that you may not have to add salt at all. This stuff is incredible when you're sick. Heat it up, pour in a mug, add a little salt if necessary and drink.

Boil, boil, toil and trouble!!


Heh heh, just wanted to freak you out a little.

Now beef stock. It follows the same general principles as poultry stock, with a few changes. Since most meats from the store don't come bone-in it's hard to get enough bones together from meals to make a full recipe of stock. But it's easy to request beef bones from your local butcher. They will likely be large and may need to be sawed down to fit your stockpot, or maybe your butcher will be nice and only give you bones of a manageable size. You'll also want to put in some meaty pieces with the bones. A "stew bone" or two works well; they usually have a good amount of meat. Fill your stockpot as high as you can (as long as the water will still cover the bones and there is room for the other ingredients). As with the chicken stock, you'll want to soak the bones in a vinegar/water mixture for about 1/2 hour to release the calcium. Then add ingredients as in the poultry recipe and follow its directions. The beef stock will likely foam a lot more than the chicken would; it also will not smell or taste quite as agreeable. When straining be sure to leave the last few cups of liquid unstrained and just discard them - there will be some "sludge" that settled to the bottom of the pot. The finished product is not something you're likely to want to drink on its own like the chicken stock, but it works great in recipes and it's much better for you than the MSG-laden beef base alternative.