On making stock

[telophase]

This started as a comment to a post about Making Stock 101 over at actyourwage but grew too large to leave there.

I tend to throw some different aromatics in my chicken stock, because I like them: a few quarter-size smashed coins of ginger, some hunks of lemongrass if I have them, etc. I've also used the carcass of a chicken that had previously been red-cooked (stewed in a mix of water, soy sauce, cinnamon, star anise, and a few other spices) which produced stock with a lovely scent of the spices.

I've also been known to make double stock when I'm feeling particularly bored ambitious: make stock, then make it again, using the previous stock as most or all of the water. It intensifies the flavors.

I've also made it with a whole chicken (preferably the oldest bird you can get - a stewing chicken or a roaster, rather than a fryer - as it'll contain more flavor). Once the meat is fork-tender but before the simmering has sucked all the flavor out of the meat and into the stock, shred as much of it as you can (until you get bored) off the carcass with a couple of forks and set it aside for use in chicken salad, chicken soup, etc. Since it's been cooked in water over a long period of time, the normally tough meat of the old bird will be tender.

And after reading Culinary Expertise, a book about cooking techniques full of interviews with chefs, I no longer feel guilty about occasionally tossing in a Maggi chicken bouillon cube or two, as one of the chefs there confesses to throwing in a Knorr bouillon cube, because she likes the way it tastes!

Also, for people to keep in mind: there is no One True Way to make stock, and it can be simple or complicated. This past weekend I just made some in a way more complicated fashion than I usually do using techniques for fine-dining-quality chicken stock, just to see how it would differ from the kind I usually make: I kept the stock at a constant temperature between 170-190°F, because boiling - or even simmering - can cause tiny particles to incorporate into the stock and make it cloudy. I also didn't add the vegetables until the last 45 minutes or so of cooking, as the authority I was following explains that it only takes that long to incorporate the flavors of the vegetables, and long-cooked vegetables will often suck up stock liquid and give you less stock at the end (and if you want clear stock, you can't squeeze them out in the strainer), and then disintegrate and make it that much harder to have clear stock.

When it was finished cooking, I strained it twice through cheesecloth, and since it was still somewhat cloudy*, I did the egg-white clarification trick: whisk some egg whites until bubbly, then simmer in the stock until they float to the top in a raft: they trap particles in the stock and filter them out without leaving any odd flavors behind. You then carefully ladle the stock out and strain it again.

Result: beautifully clear. On tasting, it tasted *slightly* better than usual, but I decided my palate is not yet refined enough to want to follow these procedures every time I want to make stock. Just when I'm feeling especially foodie. :)



* because I failed at not reaching a boil at one point, and also used a spoon to break up the carcass before I remembered I wasn't supposed to disturb it.

Comments

[jamethiel]

That sounds fabulous! I tend to make cloudy stock because it doesn't matter in the dishes I use it in. I do clarify if I'm making a consumme or something. But with a household of 5, my cooking tends to be very much on the hearty side rather than refined! I don't generally use whole chooks, just because for me it's a way of using leftovers. But that's really interesting, I'm going to try it!

[telophase]

What I usually make with the whole-chicken stock is a soup I adapted from a Mexican restaurant I used to live near: chicken stock, a handful of leftover rice, chicken pieces, then float diced tomatoes, green onion rings, and cilantro on it. Especially good if I threw a few dried red chilis into the stock while making it for just long enough to give a tingle to my lips, but no more heat than that as I'm a wimp when it comes to that sort of thing. :) The restaurant also floated a slice of avacado on each bowl, but I'm not enough of an avocado fan for that. (I found a picture on their website - beleive it when they say it was voted San Antonio's best chicken soup!)

My mom took my whole-chicken stock recipe, but usually makes chicken-noodle soup with it.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Ooh, interesting! I have always been too lazy to make clear stock—mine winds up cloudy and I call it rustic. ;) But I think I will have to try this sometime, just so I can serve a Perfectly Clear Consomme once in my life.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

If you use egg whites, don't leave the egg white-laden stock simmering too long: part of them fell to the bottom and fastened themselves to the bottom of the pot in an almost ineradicable manner. Didn't burn, but browned very prettily. XD

It was beautifully clear, but not perfectly clear - I could see a few ... not clouds, exactly, but areas of different thicknesses floating through the stock. I would probably not get an A for it at the CIA's stockmaking class, but I think I'd have gotten at least a passing grade.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

I've never used whites to clarify stock, just cheesecloth strainings. I know there are people who swear by coffee clarified that way (stovetop coffee) too.

Have you tried feeding the whites to the cats afterward? It seems like it could be an excellent proteiny treat for them.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I didn't try that - I shall see if the cats are interested next time! (Sora will eat them, perhaps; Nefer tends to go "Euw, protein!" and go for crunchy carbs like taco chips instead.)

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I think that's about as good as I would strive for, myself.

[nightambre.livejournal.com]

LOL I feel so...unsophisticated? Perhaps that' snot the right word. My method of making stock is: 1) Buy whole chicken 2) Toss chicken in pot. 3) Put water in pot. 4) Cook throughout the day, adding in spices. (I'm very basic; Poultry seasoning, Thyme, and Sage are the big ones outside of the standard Salt/Pepper/Garlic combo) 5) Remove chicken. 6) Continue cooking stock. cheat by throwing boullion in there. 7) Hurt fingers pulling apart chicken. 8) PROFIT.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That's more-or-less my typical process, with a few more things - carrots, onion, garlic, in addition to the above-mentioned ginger and lemongrass - thrown in. :D But occasionally I get to feeling antsy and want to see how else I can do it, and that's when I get elaborate. XD

[nightambre.livejournal.com]

Veggies are used when I have them. But a ot of times, the whole 'boiling chicken' comes when I have nothing left in the house (IE: it's at the end of the month) and need something to make that'll stretch a couple of days. Dumplings and Soup usually qualify. >D But yeah, if I'm actually giving it forethought, I use veggies. They make it num.

[affreca.livejournal.com]

Stock making is about the only thing I use celery for. After years of trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the celery head after making stock, I finally figured out to just freeze it, as vegetable texture isn't terribly important when making stock.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I should try that. I don't like celery plain and don't cook many meals with it, and every recipe I ever use it in calls for, at most, two stalks, so I'm forced to a buy a whole head or spend more money on pre-chopped celery in order to get less celery to reduce waste, which seems incredibly wrong somehow.