Best way to make stock??

kittiwoz

at27 wrote:

My problem is that my even when I put enough water in the pot to just cover the carcass and veg and leave it to simmer for 3 hours, my stock still tastes really watery and bland. I often find that I have to crumble a stockcube in thereby defeating the whole point of homemade stock! Is it normal that the stock doesn't taste of much, and therefore you have to boil it down to reduce it?

Does the stock gell on cooling? As other's have said it is if it doesn't turn to jelly that you are doing it wrong and in this case it is either just too watery or you haven't cooked it long enough or hot enough to extract the flavour fromt he bones. If it does gell my only guess is you are under-seasoning it. I'd try studing the onion with a couple of cloves, using a bayleaf and adding a bit more salt. The other thing you could do is to crack the bones open so you get more of the flavour of the marrow. If you have giblets use them in the stock too.

Loretta

I think you may be getting confused between stock and soup. The stock doesn't just become soup, you make the soup out of the stock. Put the chicken carcass and any vegtable, or the vegtable peelings, mushroom storks, literally anything, either into a slow cooker and leave all day or all night, hours and hours, or into a saucepan covered in water and simmer as low as you can for hours. Strain through a sieve into a large bowl and throw away everything in the sieve, all the bones and bits etc. You now have your concentrated stock.

When you want to make soup you use some stock any vegtables etc and add water and simmer again, this becomes your soap and you dilute it and season it until it is how you want it. It won't be bland.

You can use the stock then to flavour things. You can make risotto with it, instead of adding water as the recipe may tell you you add the stock, or if is too thick, it is concentrated now, you can add water. If you make say a chicken pie you can make the gravy adding chicken stock. I love making stock, I am addicted. I literally put everything in it, nothing is ever wasted. My kids say ' are we having rubbish soup?' I keep all my left overs in a tupperware type box in the fridge or freezer so that when the urge to make stock becomes too strong to resist I have loads of stuff to put in it!

thriftlady_2

cupid_stunt wrote:

And then can we refreeze the actual soup then?
Thanks

That's a good question, because you are not supposed to freeze cooked things twice, but I do it all the time with soup made from frozen stock. Been doing it for years and never had a problem.

Stock will keep in the fridge for at least a week.

As Loretta says stock isn't soup. It isn't supposed to be eaten/drunk as it is, but used as a flavour enhancer as part of other dishes. The difference with stock cubes is that they are full of salt (and a load of other stuff). But, you can add salt to your finished dish

Shortie

Thanks very much everyone!

At least a second attempt at stock would mean I won't be paranoid about the 'jelly factor' :rotfl:

janeawej

I make the stock by boiling the bones with bits of veg and fresh herbs, then allow to cool , i then remove all the bones one by one and pick off any remaining meat, its amazing how much there is on a carcase that seemed to be devoid of all meat! and remove all bits of veg ect, i then put any meat back into the stock to use for chicken and veg or mushroom soup, i freeze it and then use straight from the freezer if i dont have time to defrost, it makes lovely soup simply the best!

amazon_spice

Knew I'd find the info. I 'needed on MSE.

Thanks everyone.

apprentice_tycoon

at27 wrote:

Hi,

Thank god somebody else has these questions about stock - I thought it was just me! My problem is that my even when I put enough water in the pot to just cover the carcass and veg and leave it to simmer for 3 hours, my stock still tastes really watery and bland. I often find that I have to crumble a stockcube in thereby defeating the whole point of homemade stock! Is it normal that the stock doesn't taste of much, and therefore you have to boil it down to reduce it? Have just realised that as I haven't posted much so will have to wait days to be moderated... aaaaaaggghhhh!!

You don't need quite so much water if you break the carcass up - crush the body bit and take the legs off.

Also if you don't have time to deal with the carcass on the day that the chicken is finished you can freeze it in a suitable bag until the day you want to make the stock, it's even easier to crush it when it's frozen, this is useful at Christmas when you may not have the time or inclination to make turkey stock .

Another 'also' if you have the left over veggie bits to make the stock but not the chicken you can freeze these scraps until the chicken comes along

Big point - don't BOIL your stock when it's being made, this will cause the fat to emulsify (meaning that the fat will be absorbed into the liquid) and you'll get a greasy stock -so - remove any skin, always start with cold water, bring it up to a very gentle simmer then leave it so that it's just gently moving. When it's been strained, skimmed (if you have a skimmer you can skim off the fat and scummy bits) and the fat removed the stock can then be boiled to reduce it down to concentrate it

Luna69

Great thread! I'd come on here to find out how long I could keep a chicken stock in the fridge, I thought I might have had it too long now, but don't think it's been quite a week yet, so will try to make soup today.
Howver after reading this, I"m not sure I simmered mine long enough.. it doesn't seem to have gelled, it's not completely watery, but it's defo not gel like. I do have the fat on the top to get rid of, but can I still use this if it hasn't gone gel like? Should I just reheat it before putting it in the slow cooker with veg?
How long would the soup take in the slow cooker? I can put mine on low, med or high.. low would be best I guess.

Thanks
Yvonne

apprentice_tycoon

You are probably correct, if it's not really jelled then maybe you didn't extract all the goodeness from the bones.
I'm a real wuss when it comes to keeping things in the fridge and I would have thrown that stock out by now, but as I say, that's just me, if everyone else says that you keep stock for a week and it's OK then it must be, I've never done it so I can't say can I? perhaps if you give it a quick boil before if goes in the SC it will be better than if you brought it to the boil slowly in the SC

liz545

Aside from making Wagamama-style chicken noodle soup from homemade stock, my single favourite thing to do with it is Pommes Boulangere. Thinly slice potatoes and onions, then layer them in an ovenproof dish, and pour over homemade stock, to almost cover. Season, add a bayleaf, and dot the top layer of potatoes with a bit of butter. Bake in a medium oven for about an hour, or until the potatoes are tender. Lovely!