The Mucho Guide to Making Stock
Broth, Stock and Two Steaming Bowls
A good base for any soup or sauce and depending on your family, the remedy for any illness or upset of the body or spirit, a pot of stock goes a very long way. Usually found in the powdered or cubed form in our kitchen cupboard, homemade stock is one of the simplest things to make.
The Lowdown
Before we get into the meat (ha!), we just wanted to clarify the difference between stock and broth, as the words are often used interchangeably to describe a simple vegetable or meat flavoured liquid. A broth is traditionally made when you simmer meat in water with vegetables and other ingredients to add aroma and flavour. Stock is the same, but uses bone instead of, or in addition to meat.
As meat adds a richer flavour, people generally drink/eat broth as is, whilst stock is usually part of a second transformation into a soup or a sauce. Because of the difference in ingredients, their cooking time also differs with stock being cooked for hours, and broth for sometimes less than an hour. I was also surprised to learn that there is a nutritional difference between the two too.
Stock contains over double the amount of calories per cup than broth at 86 calories (compared to 38) thanks to the high fat content of bone marrow. However it’s thanks to the bone (rich in collagen, marrow, amino acids and minerals) and also the extended cooking time that makes stock slightly higher in vitamins and minerals as well. Random I know, but when the focus is flavour, who’s counting calories?
The Cheatsheet
The wonderful thing about stock is that with no recipe, it is very hard to mess up. The base is water, celery, onions and carrot. Add bones or trimmings if you are going for a meat or fish stock and some aromatics for extra flavour. That’s it. Not even a pinch of salt.
There are many recipes out there, which vary from family to family and country to country too. But the simplest and easiest way to make stock, is with no recipe at all. Just follow our guide and you’ll have whipped up a delicious, nutritious stock in no time at all!
Veggies
Whether you are making a meat or veggie stock, the first step in your journey is to gather your basic ingredients which are: one part celery, one part carrot and two parts onion. How you add them is up to you. Roasting the veg beforehand will add colour and create a darker stock, or you could try sweating off the veg in a little oil prior to adding water or simply just putting them in the pot and adding water straight away. The choice is yours.
The Big 3
Fish, chicken or beef bones are you options here if you are looking for a broth with a bit more err meat.
For a fish stock, the bones, head and trimmings add wonderful flavour, whilst for beef or chicken, bones with a little bit of meat on them also work wonders for maximum flavour.
Roasting the bones before hand (not for fish) adds more oomph to colour and flavour, whilst using raw bones and meat adds gelatine and body.
Bones are super cheap/ free from the butcher or fishmonger but if you want to be smart, then store any extra bones or trimmings from your meat or fish in the freezer from previous meal prep until you are ready to make stock. Alternatively save bones from your Sunday roast — trust me on this one.
Additions
Although we want a stock that’s full of flavour, you still need something that is relatively simple and versatile so that you can use it for a range of recipes later on.
Herbs and spices are great as they add layers of subtle tastiness, BUT everything in moderation and as whole as possible i.e no powders. Fennel fronds are a firm favourite, if that’s your flavour, as well as parsley stalks, bay leaves, sprigs of thyme, juniper berries, black peppercorns, chilli and garlic.
Add the spices midway through cooking to get the maximum flavour from them. You may decide to let them infuse in your stock for the remaining cooking time or just for an hour if you are looking for something more subtle. To easily remove them (at whatever point during the process), put all the spices in a little pickling bag and tie the herbs together into a bunch.
Although making stock is a wonderful journey of trial and error that always ends in deliciousness, there are a few things we would suggest you refrain from adding to your pot, including rosemary and veg from the brassica family such as broccoli and cauliflower which when simmered for a long time all add bitterness.
Measurements
It’s so funny writing a sort of recipe for something with no recipe but to not leave you hanging completely, the guidelines are as follows: Based on 6 L of water, use 2.5kg of bones and 500g of veg, 2 tbsp black peppercorns, 10 parsley stalks and 3 bay leaves — more or less…
Cook it!
Now you are ready!! Add all your base ingredients to the pot and bring to the boil. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface, using a fine mesh sieve to scrape it off. Rinse the sieve in a bowl of water before returning it to the stock to make sure you don’t re-add the foam. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for a few hours, topping up with water as needed and adding your herbs and spices midway through.
Deciding when the stock is done is completely up to you, some people say it is when the veg you added have lost their flavour (as it should all have transferred into the stock), but there is no set rule. I would say leave it for sure for a minimum of 4 hours and up to 6. The longer the stock cooks for, the more flavour you will build.
It’s a good idea to taste it every so often so that you can see the development in flavour over time — but remember there’s no salt, so it won’t necessarily be tasty but should be flavoursome!
I’ve left a stock simmering for almost 8 hours before and it was wonderful, in reality I forgot it on the cooker, but the kitchen didn’t burn down, so it was a very tasty mistake.
When the stock is done, leave it to cool. Skim off the fat and drain to get rid of the solid veg, aromatics, meat and bones. Then freeze in ice cube trays or plastic containers, ready for use!
Good luck!
