Broth and Stock: Truly Making Something From Nothing

Kristin Devine

Kristin has humbly retired as Ordinary Times' friendly neighborhood political whipping girl to focus on culture and gender issues. She lives in a wildlife refuge in rural Washington state with too many children and way too many animals. There's also a blog which most people would very much disapprove of https://atomicfeminist.com/

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1 Response

  1. Rob McMillin says:

    We have talked previously about making stock. I do this pretty much constantly throughout the year, so that in the late spring and summer months, when the weather is warm and I have no interest in hot soup, I can fill the shelves with chicken stock. I pressure can these and put the finished product in the basement storage for consumption later.

    I use the U. Georgia Home Food Preservation method (but NOT their recipe — mine looks a lot more like yours) for canning:

    https://bit.ly/3e4fO0p

    What I usually throw in mine:

    1 medium onion, quartered, skin on
    2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
    2-3 stalks of celery
    2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine or run through a garlic press
    1 whole leek, sliced

    I have sometimes used mushrooms or bell peppers if they’re still good but I’m unsure of how much longer they’ll stay good in the fridge.

    Put 4-5 frozen chicken carcasses collected from previous meals into a pressure canner/cooker (I use the Presto 26 quart model Walmart sells), add all the other ingredients and a generous helping of pepper. Cover the carcasses with water, and start the pressure cooker at 15 lbs for two hours.

    At the end of the two hours, remove from heat and drop the canner into a sink. Using the faucet, spray the outside until it cools off. Remove the lid. Outside, set up your filtration system; I do a two-step process, using an All-Clad multi-cooker as a course filter, and then a chinois screen into a different stock pot for final cleanup. If your stock is fatty, you will want to get out (or buy if you don’t have one) a fat separator and minimize the fat in the stock. (Unless I’m starting with a LOT of chicken backs, I almost never need to separate fat from poultry stocks.)

    If you only have one canner, this is where you will need to clean the one you used previously, for the processing step.

    Return the stock to the stove and taste the stock. If it is too weak, it will need further reduction. Cook it down until the flavor is intense enough, and then add salt to taste. There are people — many of them professionals! — who say you should never salt your stock. THEY. ARE. WRONG. I find I can never get the flavor right without salt.

    Can according to the U.Ga. recipe above. Lasts for easily a year if not more.Report