Making your own stock
And making a soup with some
Did you grow up in a household where the bones of a well savored meal were used for making stock for a stew, soup or gravy?
I certainly did not. My mother wasn’t all that crazy about cooking. She made sure we had three decent meals a day, but I wasn’t coming home to soup simmering on the stove. In my world soup came from a can.
Making and cooking with your own stock is traditional old school cooking and many of the the old ways of doing things have been left behind in our modern kitchens. When I was growing up, like now, some women just weren’t interested in cooking. So there are lots and lots of people that don’t know a darn thing about making stock. But there are lots of good things to come from boiling left over meat or poultry bones and it’s a very simple thing to do.
Old school cooking
My cooking buddy Ricky grew up in a “simmering soup” household.
His mother, Tess was an old school waste not, want not Sicilian cook and everything she cooked was great. Thankfully she didn’t mind me hanging with her in the kitchen to learn how all those great meals were made.
When she had meat or poultry bones left over from a meal, she planned on that making another meal or two. Some of those extra meals started with making stock. Watching Tess in her kitchen was my introduction to using left over bones to make a meal.
Why make stock at home?
So, why would you want to make stock when you can get it in a can or a waxed box at the grocery store? There are lots of reasons.
Stretch your food dollar
Do you get sticker shock when the cashier at the grocery store tells you what your total is?
Think of this. What if your store ran a promotion offering to give you one free meal for buying something that you planned on buying anyway? My guess is plenty of people would take the store up on the offer.
Well, if you buy meat with a bone in it, you are getting a free meal. Or darned close to it! There was a reason why cooks in the “old days” made stock. They had to make every penny count.
There is a minor fortune to be saved by cooking at home, and even more if you mimic the cooks of old. Making stock has always been a way to make the most of your food on hand.
Value beyond the buck
Getting back to tried and true basics, like making stock from your meat and poultry bones, has value beyond the buck.
There is something subliminally pleasing about walking into a house and smelling food simmering on the stove; it’s warm and welcoming.
Making stock can make you feel like you really know your way around a kitchen too. Making a soup or stew from your own homemade stock is pretty neat.
And last, but definitely not least, when you are eating meal you made from scratch you know exactly what is in it. There are typically a lot of the additives in prepared foods. When it comes to your food, the “what you don’t know, won’t hurt you” theory may not apply.
Making a homemade meal gives you back some control over what you are serving. In the long run, it’s the nutritional value of the food that really counts.
Do you want to try making stock before you throw those bones away?
Have I tempted you to consider throwing those bones in a pot instead of the rubbish?
If so, you will be glad to know that I have saved the best for last. It’s EASY! We have gotten so accustomed to thinking that something like making stock is too much trouble, when there is really nothing to it.
Read on. We are going to show you just how easy it is. We are going to use turkey bones to make a stock.
The methods used to make stock from turkey bones is the same no matter what meat bones you use.
Thanksgiving dinner has come and gone. All that is left of our turkey is this pile of bones.
Stock starts as a pile of bones
You don’t need much meat on bones you are using for stock. If you have some useable meat left on the bones take it off and save it for later.
The leftover bones of a turkey is called the carcass. If you aren’t going to make your stock the day of the meal, put the carcass and leg bones in the refrigerator. I use large zip storage bags to stuff the leg bones in and wrap the carcass in foil.
If you are making a turkey stock you don’t need to use the wings. Skin has a lot of fat, and wings have a lot of skin. Since this was a 20 pound bird, I had plenty of bones to work with. More than enough to make a BIG pot of stock without using the wings.
You need a large Dutch oven or stock pot
Use the biggest pot you have.
The pot in front is a standard large pot. Most saucepan sets have a large pot such as this. It is a 8 quart pot. Large pots such as this are often referred to as stockpots or Dutch ovens. I have put it in the picture to show you how huge the stockpot is that I am using.
You most definitely can use the Dutch oven to make your stock, I’m using the largest pot I have to make the most stock I can with all these bones.
Put water in the pan and add the bones
When you are ready to start your stock fill the pot about 3/4 full of water and submerge the bones in the water. You can’t have too much water. Bones can transform a lot of water into a stock. Just leave enough room so there isn’t an overflow when you add the bones and other ingredients.
Stock freezes well. It’s perfect to have on hand for soups and stews. You can also make a thick and rich gravy or sauce with your stock, or add a real flavor boost to a rice or pasta side dish. Later in the post we will talk a little more about freezing.
Stock is not made with bones alone
Stock and broth are not the same thing. A stock is a lot heartier and has more flavor because it is made with meat bones. Broth is not.
Some of the full bodied richness of stock comes from other ingredients added to the water and bones. It’s pretty common to make stock with celery, onion and carrots. It’s a classic combination and the basis of many great recipes. We are also adding a few bay leaves and some salt.
For Thanksgiving, I used celery in my stuffing. Before I started chopping the stalks, I cut off the base of the celery and put the whole bulb back in the refrigerator to use in my turkey stock. The celery bulb that you usually throw away can become part of your almost free meal. I also chopped off the green leafy tops to use in my stock.
These vegetables and bay leaves are going to be strained out and thrown away when the stock is done, so there is no preparation. Just rinse the vegetables off and put them in the pot with the water and bones, salt and bay leaves. Everything is going in, just as you see them here.
No fuss .. just put it all in the pot with the water and bones
And here is the stockpot with the water, turkey bones and all the other ingredients. We are ready to bring the water to a full boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat to medium low and continue cooking at a simmer.
Bring to a boil then simmer
This is a huge pot. It has a lot of water so I planned on 3 and 1/2 to 4 hours of cooking time. If I were using a smaller pot, 3 hours would be enough. I simmer for 3 hours no matter what size the pot is. On the other hand, there is no harm in having your stock simmering well into 3 or 4 hours.
Making stock isn’t like making other recipes that require a specific time to produce the desired result. Within reason, the longer the better. The bones have collagen which provides substance to the stock. You get the benefits of collagen and bone marrow when bones are cooked low and slow. That’s what makes a thick stock with good flavor.
You can’t hurry stock. But, you don’t have to do anything to it while it is cooking, except enjoy the aroma. So what’s the rush?
I leave my stock uncovered while it simmers, I love the smell throughout the house, but it can be covered. The temperature you set your stove at will be higher if uncovered, because you have heat escaping.
We have a brief description of what a slow boil is on our TERMS AND TIPS page. Most everyone knows what boil means, but there is a difference between a slow boil, a full boil and a rolling boil, not to mention a simmer.
When is it done?
There are things to look for to determine if you have simmered long enough to get the best stock possible. The following picture shows my stock done in the pot.
It’s been about 3 and 1/2 hours. The water is looking cloudy. The celery is limp. The bright orange carrots are fork tender. The onion is wrinkled up and mushy. That’s all good news. That means the vegetables and bones have given up all the goodness they have so we can get a great stock.
It looks pretty gross, but it smells great. The herbs floating on top were in the cavity of the turkey while I was roasting. That means more flavor for the stock.
The stock is done, now what?
Pull the bones and vegetables out
When the stock comes off the heat, pull all the big stuff out with a large slotted spoon and/or tongs.
Take out the bones, vegetables and bay leaves out of the stock.
These ingredients have done all they can do for us.
Strain the stock in a colander
Next, strain out any smaller stuff that is left in the pot. Here is how I do it. I put a colander inside a large pot. The largest of a usual set of pots and pans is sometimes referred to as a Dutch oven. It has two handles, not one long handle like saucepans.
I have put my colander inside my empty large 8 quart pot.
Dump the stock into the colander. Pour slowly so there isn’t a lot of messy splashing. As you pour the stock in, it will probably come up higher in the pot than the bottom of the colander. That’s fine. The colander can be fully submerged. When you pull it out, the stuff you are straining out will be in the colander.
As you can see, the level of the stock is higher than the bottom of the colander, but that isn’t a problem. It is going to be lifted out, leaving only strained stock in the pot.
Here is my strained stock
This is the strained stock. Most of what is floating on the top, is spots of fat. There is an easy way to get the fat out.
Refrigerate your strained stock.
Cool and put in the refrigerator
You most definitely use the war strained stock to make a soup or stew. But if you want a clear stock with the fat removed the easy way to get that is to let the stock cool off and refrigerate at least overnight.
You can leave the stock in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days before making soup or stew with it or you can freeze it for later.
Why refrigerate?
Any fat remaining will float to the top and solidify as it gets cold. Any left over herbs that may still be in the stock will float to the top also and will become part of that skim coat of fat. All you need to do to get a clear beautiful stock is just skim the layer of fat off.
I have put some stock, cold from the refrigerator, in a bowl to show you how nice and clear it is now. Not the cloudy mess it was when it was just coming off the heat.
This is my stock. I took it from the refrigerator and skimmed the excess fat along with all the herbs and little bits that floated to the top and are stuck in the fat.
Look how clear it is. I didn’t do anything except refrigerate and skim to change that cloudy mess that was simmering on the stove, into this beautiful stock. It happened all on its own.
What the picture doesn’t show is the consistency of the stock. It is a soft gelatin. In fact, this is where gelatin comes from. Simmered bones. Gelatin is the major difference between broth and stock. Once the stock is warmed, it all becomes a liquid again, but it is a much heartier base for cooking than a broth would be.
I am going to make soup with some of my stock, and freeze the rest. It’s easy to make soup from stock and doesn’t take long at all.
Now let’s make some soup
I am making a vegetable noodle soup using the same flavor profile as I used in the stock and using carrots and celery. I am also putting in some fresh parsley.
There isn’t going to be any turkey meat in my the soup. If I wanted to add turkey meat, I would chop up some of my left over turkey meat and add that. I never use the meat that was left on the boiled bones. The flavor is gone and it’s pretty mushy.
Put your stock in a large saucepan or Dutch oven
Put your stock in a large pot and bring it to a boil on medium heat. That will warm up our stock slowly. It will go from being a gel to liquid form again.
Here’s my ingredients
| 2 carrots |
| 2 celery stalks |
| a few sprigs of fresh parsley |
| 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper |
| a half bag of egg noodles |
Chop the vegetables and parsley
Slice the celery and carrots. These are cut to about 1/2 inch pieces. You can decide how big or small you want the vegetables, just keep the size of each about the same so they cook uniformly.
Slice the carrots and celery, chop up the parsley, and add them to the stock along with salt and pepper. Don’t add the noodles at this point. As the vegetables are cooking, cook the noodles separately in another pot, for the minimum suggested time on the package directions. The noodles will finish cooking in the soup. When the vegetables are as tender as you want them, add the cooked noodles and let it all cook for another few minutes, 3-5 minutes will do it. My soup took 30 minutes from start to finish.
I have plenty of stock left after making my soup. There is enough to make another batch of soup, and I will pack up a smaller amount to make a gravy, and an even smaller container that I will use when I make one of Ricky’s great stir fry recipes like CHICKEN STIR FRY, BEEF WITH VEGETABLES STIR FRY. That’s going to save me from having to buy broth or stock for those meals.
I am using a freezer bag for the stock that I will be using for soup. It takes up less freezer space. To fill, I open the bag and ladle the stock into it. Zip it closed. To get it to lay flat and get most of the air out, hold the bag upright by the zip end and slowly rest it down, from bottom up, on a flat surface, leaving the zip top curled up. When the stock is flat enough to meet the zip top, open the zip just a little to let any air out, then zip it shut again. Now it is flat, and as long as you lay it on something flat in the freezer, it will stay that way. Once frozen it will hold the flat shape on its own. It’s easier than it sounds.
Good luck!