In Good Taste: Taking Stock
Theodora FitzGibbon (1976) gives this account to describe “stock”:
“The word covers many culinary preparations, but generally speaking a stock is the liquid extracted from fish, meat, poultry or vegetables by slow cooking in water, or wine and water. There are many familiar uses for this liquid, when strained; and, if boiled down, it will provide an essence or glaze.”
Having a container of stock in the fridge or freezer is a “meal in minutes” solution to putting a hot dinner on the table during these cold winter nights when extra warmth is needed inside and out of our bodies. Your stockpot can sit on the back of the stove (at, as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall would put it, a “tremulous simmer”) while you get on with other things.
There are three general rules to remember when making stock of any kind:
1. ALL stocks should be simmered and not allowed to boil hard. Hard-boiling results in a thick and muddy looking liquid, instead of a semi-clear one.
2. Do not season stocks with salt until the end.
3. To keep any stock satisfactorily, it should be boiled up every day.
Dividing stock and freezing it in bags or containers is convenient for the general household. Vegetable stock is the easiest, and you can use some or all of the vegetables you have in both garden and fridge. Use more of the milder and less of the stronger flavours, taking into account how sweet each one is as you add it to the pot. Carrots are quite sweet, and turnips and swede quite strong, so think about it. Chop all the veges and place them in a large pot. Add water to reach the top of the veges, add a bouquet garni (some parsley, bay leaves and thyme tied together with string) and simmer for half an hour. Once the stock is cooked, strain it and set the vegetables aside to make a puree. Leave the stock to cool before refrigerating or freezing.
Ingredients of choice may be onions, carrots, celery, fennel, leek, tomato, cabbage leaves, mushrooms, two cloves of garlic, bouquet garni, a small glass of white wine (optional), water to cover.
In using the drained vegetables to make a puree, discard the bouquet garni and puree everything together with some butter, salt and pepper. Sieve or mouli, and refrigerate if you’re not using it straight away.
Making chicken stock is easy enough, but trying to get hold of an organic chicken, whole or carcass, is nearly impossible in Golden Bay these days, and if you can find one they’re so expensive that you’d feel better stuffing it (taxidermy-style) and hanging it on the wall rather than eating it! Some financial comfort can be had, however, if you roast a bird, eat the meat on the first night and use the cooked carcass to make a stock on the second night.
Chicken Stock
Place one pre-cooked chicken carcass in to a saucepan that holds it snugly. Add a stalk of celery, an onion cut into quarters, 4 peppercorns, a chopped carrot, a sprig of parsley, a small glass of white wine and water to just cover the bird. Bring to a simmer and simmer gently for an hour. Strain the stock and taste. If a more concentrated flavour is required, return it to the stove and reduce to half its volume. Cool and cover. Refrigerate or freeze.
The uses for stock are endless. Amongst other things, it can be heated and used to poach ravioli or dumplings, which are then served in shallow bowls and sprinkled generously with grated Parmesan. You can add the stock to a risotto or kedgeree. A potato or tomato gratin cooked slowly will soak up all the stock and have a depth of flavour otherwise lacking. A bowl of rich tasty stock with a poached egg floating on top, also sprinkled with grated Parmesan, is a tonic for lost souls.
I will leave you with this interesting little bit from a wartime recipe book written by a Miss Rayner:
Economical Soup
“Take one bean (Haricot or Butter), 7 pints of water, simmer for three weeks, then take the bean out and season to taste. If thick soup is preferred, leave the bean in”.
Fiona Feasey
