Taking stock

[gemfyre]

There are two things I don't understand

Comments

[lilactime]

I just finished reading The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman, and my head is still swimming with stock, brown sauce and the great roux debate.

[hazelstitch]

Ok, I will tell you why I don't make stock.

I don't have the freezer space either to store the ingredients, or the finished stock. I wish I did.

I have no idea why there are recipies though, that makes no sense.

[gemfyre]

Yeah lack of freezer space sucks.

I had to deal with a tiny freezer for a few months and was quite distraught to not have my stock around.

Then my b/f moved in and brought his chest freezer. Hallelujah!

[hazelstitch]

Believe me, if I could find room for a chest freezer, I would so have one :-(

I just need a bigger house - well a better designed kitchen would do

[neohippie]

You could try what I do, and boil the stock down to a concentrate, then freeze that. It takes up less space, and you just have to thaw it and add some water when you're going to use it.

[nobodyhere]

Another tip: sprouts add great flavour to veggie stocks. I find it difficult to finish the big package that sprouts come in, so I just end up throwing the remainder in stock. I imagine you could freeze the sprouts until you were making stock, but I haven't tried that.

[gemfyre]

Ooh now there's a plan.

I figure anything that's going to become stock won't mind being frozen. You're only gonna end up boiling the crap out of it anyway so texture doesn't matter.

[tuluum]

i've always been simultaneously intimidated and intrigued by stock. in situations like that 'recipes' tend to soothe my anxiety :) However, your freeform version has actually inspired me to stop building up my fortitude and to just jump in and do it :D thanks for sharing :D

[gemfyre]

I just always felt I was wasting good veggies by putting sliced carrots and onions and celery in there, so I figured, all I need is the flavour, so why not just use offcuts?

[redrubylips]

I find making stock somehow very....comforting. You throw all these scraggy left over bits into a pan and boil it up and somehow you end up with a light flavourable soothing broth. It takes no brain work or fiddly recipes. Just pottering around the kitchen.

Deeply comforting :)

One of my favourite things to cook in a good stock is couscous. It really draws up the flavour. I tend not to use stock in Indian curries as I'm Angelo-Indian and thats not how I was brought up to make it. However I've used good stock in Thai curries and it really does make a difference, as the tastes in Thai curries are quite light and delicate.