I bumbled through making stock the other week -- for the first time, following the instructions in Nourishing Traditions. Well, trying. I was left scratching my head a bit, going 'but what does that MEAN?'. Happily some things are just working better second time around, but I'd still be grateful for some advice.
1. So I understand that it's really important to skim the scum that forms when you bring it all to a boil. I'm getting a bit more deft at this and finding a broad, flat table spoon does the job alright (it's just slow) -- but is there anything better to use? And all the onion floats to the top of the pot also; is there a trick to get the scum out but not the onion?!? I'm wondering if it would help to leave the onion in much larger pieces. And what IS this scum anyway? Apart from gross?
2. Anything I can substitute for thyme, which I don't have to hand? Also, I can't source organic celery at the moment and don't want to use conventionally grown stuff because so many chemicals are used to grow it. What could I substitute? For now, I'm just adding onion and carrot. Are there any vegies it's NOT a good idea to use?
3. What's the easiest/best way to strain the stock once it's all finished simmering?
4. Once I reached the final stage, I reserved the fat I scraped off the top once it was chilled, thinking it would be good to use for cooking. But it's not - it smells bad and just isn't nice. Why is that? I've been saving the grease out of the pan after cooking bacon and that is SO good to cook with. What's the difference? (Apart from beef vs pork ...!)
All advice gratefully received. Thank you. (I am missing my Gran and wishing I'd wanted to know things like this back when I could have asked her.)
Replies
Thank you everyone for your comments, I've learnt lots :-) One more question, anyone? What does the vinegar do? cheers
I usually buy whole chickens and joint them myself and freeze the wing tips, skin and back bone. I also freeze leek tops, celery leaves and parsley stalks and when I have enough, boil it up as a stock with additional fresh herbs, an onion studded with cloves, whole peppercorns and whatever else I fancy. after it's been strained overnight, I skim the fat off and clarify it & use it for roasting veges. If I don't want to use the stock straight away, I freeze it in icecream containers until I'm ready to make some soup with it. If you want smaller portions, just place one of those silicon texas muffin sized containers on a tray and pour your stock into them & turn out into a ziplock bag when they're frozen. It's a handy size for making soup for one or tasty gravy. I don't usually keep the veges that were used to make the stock, they go into the bokashi bin or get fed to the worms.
Hi rachel, i think youll find that everyone has there own unique way of making stock/broth and given time you will come up with a way that works for you.
I think what you need to ask yourself before making it, is what are you going to use it for?
We make a couple of bone broths a week, we use a range of different bones, bacon bones, pork bones, beef bones, venison...the bacon bones definately give the best broths as who can beat the bacon taste!
anyway, i usually put them in the slow cooker with some vinegar, salt and pepper and maybe some welsh bunching onions. i leave this for at least 24hours and then turn it off. I then ladle what i can out of the crockpot and into a container and when i cant ladle anymore i pull out the bones and then strain the rest through a colander....also a mesh sieve works well to. you just need to get the bones out first.
in regards to the fat - dont throw it away. it might just be that you arnt used to eating fat like that, but you can use it for all sorts of cooking, frying, baking, roasting, even for making graveys.....you can season this as well to make it tastier, if you dont have thyme i would reccomend majarom, oregano or rosemary, all of which are great!
i think its good to start with a basic bone broth and then go from there with the flavours. the broth/stock is simply the starting point and you cna easily make it taste better by adding fryed oinions, garlic and any kinda of vege, pumpkin etc.
I would reccomend you get a hold of Kay Baxters book "Change of Heart" its got some great recepies in there and most have ingrediants that are avaliable here in NZ, usuALLY in your backyard!
hoep this novel helps! Bridge
Hi,
I usually don't put in the vegetables till later, after I have skimmed off the scum.
I put in any herbs or vegetables I have at the time excpt potatoes. I keep a bag in the freezer and put in pieces to add when making stock, such as mushroom peelings, pumpkin skins and seeds, tomato skins, corn cobs, cabbage stalks (not too much as they can have a strong flavour) parsley stalks etc.
Usually I will simmer the bones for a while till any meat on it is soft and then let it cool and take the meat off the bones to add to the soup later. I then put in the herbs and vegetables. Look what you have growing in your herb garden at the time and use that for flavouring.
I always strain my stock twice. First with a course seive or just the colander to get the larger pieces out. Then through a finer seive.
My problem is that often I get a lot of fat from the bones. I guess I might just start putting it out for the wild birds.
Kathrina
Hi Kathrina,
The fat that comes off your bones is most definately not a problem : )>. It is a fantastic form of nutrition and is considered gold around these parts! Weston A Price Foundation is big on getting lot of animal fat in your diet, and i would suggest you perhaps start using it for yourself.
I probably should mention that you should only use the fat off organic bones as fat can carry alot of chemical residue in it. We weat alot of fat in our diets and it has slowly taking place of carbs such as bread, and sugars.
Im sure the birds will thank you for it, but your body will love you even more! Cheer, Bridge
Hi there,
Thanks for the info. Am just starting out on this journey and that was just the question I came on to ask. I've been contemplating whether I could use the bones for broth from non organic meats. Do the chemical residues reside in the bones and gelatin? And if we are eating the meat anyway (unfortunately) would you agree that we would still be better to be using the broth than not?
Any ideas/ tips would be greatly
appreciated??
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