Until
recently, I think most folks knew the difference between a stock and a
broth. But then came the “Bone Broth”
fad. So called Bone Broth is certainly
nutritious and I am glad people are making it, but it confused definitions and
clouded the understanding of cooking.
For centuries, and the definition I still use, broth was any liquid in
which food had been cooked. You could
make chicken or beef broth, vegetable broth, fish broth, etc. You can even make a surprisingly good broth
by simply boiling some hard rinds from old cheese. Broth was simply the liquid left in the pot
after you boiled the food in it. This
broth was full of nutrition from the food.
It would be turned into soup, strained and served as a clear broth for
the sick, perhaps a bit of cornmeal added to make a gruel, etc.
Stock is
the correct term for the liquid obtained from boiling bones, vegetable scraps,
shrimp shells, etc. Stock is made,
mostly from scraps. The interesting
thing is that these scraps produce an essential ingredient in cooking that is
far more refined and useful than broths.
Stocks are foundational to the sauces we will discuss later. Stocks can be used to make soup or
consomme. But, stocks can also be
reduced to make demi-glace. Stock is
full of gelatin. The fat is
removed. Stock is truly foundational to
good cooking.
As I have
stated, the best cooks waste the least amount of food. This is especially true in making stock. Many home cooks find making stocks daunting,
especially as the old recipes include several pounds of bones, some scraps of
beef, veal and pork, roasting and simmering for two days or so and constantly
skimming off the fats, proteins and solids.
In past centuries, such a laborious and time consuming process just came
naturally. The stock pot was kept at the
back of the stove or fireplace, was added to daily and simply simmered all day
and most of the night due to heat from the fire. While that is not practical for many of us
now, we can still make excellent stocks with reasonable amounts of time and
effort in the modern kitchen.
Let’s
start with a simple brown stock, made from beef bones. First, you will need some bones… say 2-5 lbs
of beef shin. If you don’t raise cattle
and do not know anyone who does, ask the butcher at your local grocery
store. If they do not carry “soup
bones”, they should be able to order them for you and they should not be very
expensive. I recently found a 3 lb bag
of frozen soup bones in a local grocery store for $2.99. Additionally, we need just a few scraps of
meat. The bones will likely have some
meat on them, so that is sufficient if you have no scraps of pork, chicken,
game, veal, etc. Using two or three different critters gives more depth of
flavor. But, it is not essential. If you have a little ham or something, feel
free to use it, If not, don’t
worry. Now, we need vegetable
scraps.
Whenever
you trim vegetables for cooking, or a salad, save the scraps - onion and garlic
peels and ends, tomato peels, carrot tops, mushroom trimmings, fresh corn cobs,
cabbage hearts, pepper stems and seeds… literally any scraps you have. Keep a bag in the freezer and add to it until
you have enough if you just use a little veg per week. If you use enough veggies to fill a gallon
sized bag in just a few days, simply keep them in the fridge. Make sure though, that nothing is
rotting. Cut out all bad spots and don’t
use anything that is mushy. When you are
ready, put your bones and vegetable scraps on a roasting pan and roast them for
an hour in the oven at 400 F. When the
roasting is done, and everything is nicely brown, take out and let cool.
Now, comes
a treat. We do not want much fat at all
in our finished stock. The nicely
browned bones will be full of fatty marrow.
This marrow is delicious! Many
people love to dig it out with a knife and spread it on bread like butter. I find it a bit rich that way, so I dig it
out and combine it with softened butter and a few herbs like garlic, chives,
parsley, thyme, etc. This marrow butter
is amazing melted onto a nice, medium rare steak! It is also good on popcorn… and probably
anything in between. Marrow butter is
rich and indulgent… as I said, before, profound.
While your
roasted bones and bits are cooling, heat your stock pot with just a bit of fat
and well brown any meat scraps you are using.
The beef left on the bones will be very brown. Then, toss everything in the pot, fill the
pot with cold water and bring to a simmer.
Add no salt. The stock we are
making is an ingredient in dishes we will season later. Traditionally, a bundle of herbs, called a
bouquet garni is added - this is bay leaves, parsley and thyme, often with
green tops of leek….and really, any herb you would want to add to suit your
taste. I always toss in some onion,
cloves and peppercorns, too. Then, just simmer all afternoon. You can skim off the foam as it rises to the
top, or add a beaten eggwhite which will form something like a natural filter
to catch all the fat and bits, then scoop that out and discard. Do not stir though if you use the egg whites
- if you do you distribute everything back in.
You might think of making stock as making a tea of the ingredients. Once it is all done and strained, it will
yield a brown, mostly clear liquid.
That is
honest brown beef stock. It can be used
immediately, or frozen for later use.
Many cooks like to pour the cooled stock into ice cube trays and freeze
it, then transfer to a freezer bag, so they can add a cube or two to anything
they wish. After straining, you can
continue simmering to reduce the liquid through evaporation. As the water evaporates, the liquid thickens
and becomes richer and richer until finally the demi-glace is achieved… the
ultimate essence of meat flavor and rich, browned flavor.
A brown
chicken stock is made much the same way, just using the scraps of roasted
chicken and browning the bones.
Otherwise, it is the same. A
white chicken stock may be made by just skipping the browning process. The flavor of cloves goes surprising well
with chicken. A classic technique is to
use a whole onion, making slices into it and inserting a bay leaf into each of
those two or three slices, then “nailing” it in place by sticking in a few
cloves to secure the bay leaf.
You can do
this with most any meat. And, of course,
a vegetable stock is made just using the vegetable scraps. Fish stocks are made using fish bones. Shellfish stocks are made using shrimp, crab,
lobster, crawfish, etc. shells. Game
stocks are made just the same way - use deer, elk, bear, etc bones as you would
a beef stock and wild turkey, pheasant, quail, grouse, etc. bones as you would
chicken. I always think that a turkey
stock taste best if it is just made with turkey and used specifically as turkey
stock. Ditto on pork. While you might
use some pork in your basic brown stock of beef bones, a stock made from pork
bones yields a distinctive porky flavor.
I love using pork stock with beans, BTW.
Milk,
interestingly enough, has traditionally been considered as its own stock. The French call it a natural fonde, or
base. While we often combine broths and
stocks with milk, milk and cream need no special preparation.
I
recommend keeping a brown beef stock, a chicken stock and a fish or shellfish
stock on hand at all times - frozen or home canned. Vegetable stocks can always be thrown together
in a hurry. Game and shellfish stocks
are generally less often used. Obviously
though, if you live at the coast, or are an avid hunter, you may wish to
prioritize these stocks. I always keep
some pork stock frozen, as well.
Whenever I cook barbecue, I reserve the smokey, intensely flavored bones
and freeze them. When I plan to have dry
beans, I simmer the bones for the stock, as I soak the beans overnight.
Three
things can elevate your cooking to the next level - garden fresh vegetables,
herbs and real, honest, homemade broths and stocks. While some folks say that store bought broths
and stocks are good… I find them only occasionally acceptable. When you consider that the very best stocks
are made from the scraps you would otherwise throw away, not to make your own
is a true shame.
This article is an excerpt from
Available on in paperback on Amazon:
The Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: Carroll, Judson: 9798354856374: Amazon.com: Books
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