Southern Appalachian Herbs: From The Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking: Broth and Stock

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.