MISSING THE KITCHEN

Wow.  Have I ever been missing my kitchen.  After these past few months of working hard with my new company....I needed desperately needed to get back into the kitchen.
The above photo is 14 cups of nourishing, vitamin packed, healthy Turkey broth.  Thanksgiving in Canada was Oct. 8/12. The turkey had been sitting in my freezer.  I hated to freeze a beautiful fresh turkey, but there was just no time.   So happily three days after Thanksgiving we had our Turkey.  Then life got busy again...hence, the bones went into the freezer.
Finally, a couple of days off.  I  love creating in my kitchen.  Today was a "god send".  Just being in the kitchen for 5 hours was bliss in itself.  Stirring, smelling, and skimming...yes, skimming.
For any kind of stock I use the standard:  Onion, garlic, celery, carrot, fresh parsley, bay leaf, the bones, and water, just to cover.  Last year I read on the internet...(can't remember where) that to achieve the most delicious, vitamin/nutrient packed stock, you need to simmer on a low low heat.  Like a "glug, glug" kind of heat, lid off.  While that is happening, every so often, skim the surface of the broth of any white foam and bubbles.  Five hours or so later, once strained, you will have the most delicious stock you have ever tasted.  And it will be a clear deep color, that once refrigerated, completely gels.
Friends....I promise you - don't use a crock pot, don't boil the "daylights" out of your stock.  If you follow this method, you would not believe the difference in flavor.  It is unbelievable.
Then after all is said and done, you can turn around and reduce this lovely stock to a "concentrate".  Simmer fairly hard until reduced by half.  (do not add salt until you taste it, as it will be very concentrated) Pour into ice cube trays to freeze, to add to stews, soups, gravies.
It was a great day in the kitchen, and seeing all this wonderful stock makes me a very happy girl!
p.s.  if you try this method...let me know what you think.  🙂

Ina Gawne
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10 comments on “MISSING THE KITCHEN”

  1. I confess to using the crockpot for stock making - but, on low - no boiling here!
    Making stock makes me feel all virtuous and pioneering :-)and using it in soups, stews, casseroles, gravies etc adds such a delicious richness doesn't it? XO

  2. I save all my bones and scraps and peelings from onions, celery, carrots . . . once I have enough they get turned into stock. I love having homemade stock in the freezer and made my turkey stock a few weeks ago. Making gravy on Thanksgiving here in the US will be a snap. I usually do stove top on low but on occasion I will use the crockpot on low and it works just fine.

  3. Actually Ina I never bother skimming the fat no matter how I make it. The key is really the low temp and long cooking. I usually end up with really gelatinous stock. I let it simmer on the lowest setting of my gas oven for about 6 to 8 hours, strain it through a chinoise. I divide it into 1 or 2 cup containers. Once it reaches room temp I put it in the fridge overnight. The next morning I remove the film of fat on the top which is now hardened and easily removed and then freeze it.

    1. Thanks for the info Cari. The foam and bubbles that I skim are actually the impurities coming out of the bones and carcass...it makes a huge difference in flavor! 🙂

  4. That home-made stock does look so beautiful & rich in flavours too, dear Ina!
    Work hard & try to unwind hard & good, later one! 🙂
    Kisses & hugs to you! 🙂 xxx

  5. There is nothing as good as homemade stock, is there? So silky and sticky- yummo!
    We used to roast off 50kgs of veal bones a week to make a huge kettle of stock to eventually turn into a lovely rich jus of just about 10lts in total. So rich and concentrated indeed!

    1. Rebecca - wow that is a lot of stock! How delicious! I would love to make veal stock...can't find veal bones where I live, but next I will make stock with beef bones instead.

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November 10, 2012
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