knapplc
Active member
This post got me to thinking that there may be things I do that would be helpful to you guys, and I figured there should be a thread to share tips like this. Also, if you guys have any good ideas I'll learn something, which is the real me-first reason I started this thread.
Making Stock
Save your bones, save your vegetable peels. Ever use chicken, beef, pork, vegetable or fish stock when you cook? If you buy it, you're cheating yourself. You can make excellent stock from the stuff you typically throw away.
Vegetable peels are gold and should be treated as such. Root vegetables such as onions, garlic, carrots, celery and potatoes are something you're usually going to be cooking with, and you're going to have waste. Onion ends/skin, that knobby bit on the bottom of the carrot, your garlic paper and tips/ends, typically you're going to throw that all away, or compost it.
Instead, rinse them all clean (I use a colander) and toss them in a gallon freezer bag. A gallon freezer bag full of this waste will make approximately two gallons of vegetable stock, depending on the strength you prefer.
Got chicken bones, like from a roast chicken? Or beef bones, pork bones from a shoulder, stuff like that? Don't throw them away, freeze them. When you have a bunch, put them in a pot with a few handsful of your veggie peels, boil them for about ten minutes and then simmer for an hour or so, and you've got great, free stock. Same goes for shrimp shells (fresh - not cooked in a broth or any dish). Freeze your shrimp shells, throw in some veggie peels, and you've got fantastic fish stock.
Your butcher, or even the butcher at your local grocery store, should have beef bones in the back, and often they're just thrown away. My grocery store butcher sells me giant marrow bones for $1 a pound - less if I show him a bit of leg. I have him cut those into 10" sections. I give them a slight dousing of olive oil, then roast them in the oven at 350 for an hour or two with root vegetables (but not peels). Once out of the oven they go into my ginormous pot and simmer for a while. What comes out is beefy magic, and serves as the base for many of my recipes. I use it in a lot of recipes, and since it's the real deal good stuff, you can render it down to demi glace if you want - and sometimes you do want.
I do the same with chicken bones, although the chicken bones I use are typically leftovers from deli roasted chickens that I've pulled the meat off of (discard the skin - if they spice their chicken, you don't want their spices in your broth).
If you're a composter, you can toss your used veggie scraps on the compost heap after you've made your broth.
This is the biggest no-brainer idea I've ever had. I felt like an idiot (not a genius) when I first thought of doing this because why hadn't I been doing this for years?
EDIT - here's Anthony Bourdain's beef stock recipe. It's basically what I do.
Storing stuff
I freeze most everything I make, including broth, stock, pesto, various sauces/ragu, etc. I have plenty of freezer space, but it gets filled up fast if I don't organize it properly.
The best way I've found is to fill my quart or gallon freezer bags full, squinch out all the air, then lay it flat to freeze. I have some boxes that exactly fit both quart and gallon freezer bags, which helps them not flop around as they're freezing.
Once frozen I take them out of the boxes and stand them upright in the freezer, usually set into short-walled boxes (like the flats you get at Sam's Club). Standing them upright saves space, and freezing things flat makes thawing more uniform and things thaw far quicker than if it's a big lump.
The easiest way to fill quart freezer bags is to stuff them in a quart drinks cup , then drape the closey end over the sides of the cup. I'll use a drinking glass to stuff it down in properly, then pour/ladle whatever I'm storing in, pull it out, get the air out on the counter, and lay it flat. If you have a gallon pitcher you can do the same thing with your larger batches.
LABEL EVERYTHING. I still have this problem, and I kick myself every time if I grab an unlabeled bag and can't figure out if it's chicken or veggie broth, or a specific kind of pesto or even what meat it is. Frozen foods look different than thawed. Label, label, label.
This took a little longer to type up than I thought, so that's it for now. I'll add some more stuff as I think of it.
A few other things I do that makes things better/easier...
Making Stock
Save your bones, save your vegetable peels. Ever use chicken, beef, pork, vegetable or fish stock when you cook? If you buy it, you're cheating yourself. You can make excellent stock from the stuff you typically throw away.
Vegetable peels are gold and should be treated as such. Root vegetables such as onions, garlic, carrots, celery and potatoes are something you're usually going to be cooking with, and you're going to have waste. Onion ends/skin, that knobby bit on the bottom of the carrot, your garlic paper and tips/ends, typically you're going to throw that all away, or compost it.
Instead, rinse them all clean (I use a colander) and toss them in a gallon freezer bag. A gallon freezer bag full of this waste will make approximately two gallons of vegetable stock, depending on the strength you prefer.
Got chicken bones, like from a roast chicken? Or beef bones, pork bones from a shoulder, stuff like that? Don't throw them away, freeze them. When you have a bunch, put them in a pot with a few handsful of your veggie peels, boil them for about ten minutes and then simmer for an hour or so, and you've got great, free stock. Same goes for shrimp shells (fresh - not cooked in a broth or any dish). Freeze your shrimp shells, throw in some veggie peels, and you've got fantastic fish stock.
Your butcher, or even the butcher at your local grocery store, should have beef bones in the back, and often they're just thrown away. My grocery store butcher sells me giant marrow bones for $1 a pound - less if I show him a bit of leg. I have him cut those into 10" sections. I give them a slight dousing of olive oil, then roast them in the oven at 350 for an hour or two with root vegetables (but not peels). Once out of the oven they go into my ginormous pot and simmer for a while. What comes out is beefy magic, and serves as the base for many of my recipes. I use it in a lot of recipes, and since it's the real deal good stuff, you can render it down to demi glace if you want - and sometimes you do want.
I do the same with chicken bones, although the chicken bones I use are typically leftovers from deli roasted chickens that I've pulled the meat off of (discard the skin - if they spice their chicken, you don't want their spices in your broth).
If you're a composter, you can toss your used veggie scraps on the compost heap after you've made your broth.
This is the biggest no-brainer idea I've ever had. I felt like an idiot (not a genius) when I first thought of doing this because why hadn't I been doing this for years?
EDIT - here's Anthony Bourdain's beef stock recipe. It's basically what I do.
Storing stuff
I freeze most everything I make, including broth, stock, pesto, various sauces/ragu, etc. I have plenty of freezer space, but it gets filled up fast if I don't organize it properly.
The best way I've found is to fill my quart or gallon freezer bags full, squinch out all the air, then lay it flat to freeze. I have some boxes that exactly fit both quart and gallon freezer bags, which helps them not flop around as they're freezing.
Once frozen I take them out of the boxes and stand them upright in the freezer, usually set into short-walled boxes (like the flats you get at Sam's Club). Standing them upright saves space, and freezing things flat makes thawing more uniform and things thaw far quicker than if it's a big lump.
The easiest way to fill quart freezer bags is to stuff them in a quart drinks cup , then drape the closey end over the sides of the cup. I'll use a drinking glass to stuff it down in properly, then pour/ladle whatever I'm storing in, pull it out, get the air out on the counter, and lay it flat. If you have a gallon pitcher you can do the same thing with your larger batches.
LABEL EVERYTHING. I still have this problem, and I kick myself every time if I grab an unlabeled bag and can't figure out if it's chicken or veggie broth, or a specific kind of pesto or even what meat it is. Frozen foods look different than thawed. Label, label, label.
This took a little longer to type up than I thought, so that's it for now. I'll add some more stuff as I think of it.
