Paper coffee filters are far too slow. I use the metal reusable ones that come with coffee pots.
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And that spare rib stock could be the base of a wonderful ramen! Your thoughts on gnawed bones reminded me of the friend who was aghast when I did not scrub potatoes before boiling them to mash. The dirt (minimal) was at the bottom of the pot, and the horseradish and cream mashed potatoes were delicious.
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Itâs been five years, so confirming in advance that itâs still the case would be advisable, but the Honeybaked Ham stores sell (or sold) meaty ham bones for less than half the price of ham by the slice. They freeze the hams they are using for sandwiches and purchase by the slice, once enough meat has been removed that the slices are no longer full size. About all you can ask is for a big one or a small one, as they are already wrapped up opaquely. One time the small bone I bought had well over 2 pounds of good meat still on it, which I didnât realize because I put it into the pot still frozen. I had to make two more pots of pea soup in order to use all the meat that came off. Another time, they had just wrapped up and put the bone in the freezer, so when I got home I immediately sliced off enough meat for several generous sandwiches.
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As regards salting, the only stocks I reduce regularly are beef, veal, or a mix. I do not salt those. I do not salt pork stock because I use it for ramen. I salt chicken, vegetable, and lamb.
Beef ribs do not make the gelatinous stock you need for a demi, but any time I have prime rib I roast them, make stock, and proceed to onion soup.
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Half homemade turkey or chicken stock, half beef Better Than Bouillon (diluted per label measures) makes a great French Onion Soup. I prefer it to all-beef, which I HAVE made properly, with roasted joint and marrow bones plus boneless round. Too expensive, and a lot of work. BTW, Cooks Illustrated recommends adding Knox flavorless gelatin to broths that dinât have enough collagen.
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I was shopping in Redding this summer at R@R meats . I asked the monger if he had any fish frames . He said hold on a minute Iâll get you some . Pulled out a freshly caught twenty pound halibut from the walk in . Filleted it . Gave me the whole frame . Here you go itâs free .
I cut the frame into large pieces and vacuumed sealed them . Into the freezer to make fish stock for cioppino and other fish soups . You need the bones for stock . Not clam juice.
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I know the gelatin hack. I have made demi from vegetable stock with it.
I cheap out and make it with roasted ribs and a ton of vegetables.
I like having pork stock around as itâs more versatile than people think. I usually make it Thai style with lemongrass and white peppercorns, but it can still be used for a whole range of dishes and the lemongrass is just a great pairing. Pork stock is good for a lot of Asian dishes and I can also use it when I want an extra flavorful dish like Dominican locrio de puerco or even for non-meaty dishes like moro.
I like chicken stock but I admit these days I feel less compelled to make it if I have bones.
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My freezer is only so big, so I have to pick and choose what stock and broth to make and really to keep. Years ago, I started to make more of basic stock and broth. The idea was that I would use them as early ingredients and add additional ingredient to modify and adjust. Lately, I have been shifting toward later stage stock and broth which are much closer to the final version of the finishing dish.
Not for the purpose you were talking about to extract more essence. I have certainly heard of that argument, but I do not have real evidence that it really extracts more. Maybe people added salt and then feel the resulting broth (salted) has more favor than broth without salt and mistakenly claim salt extracts more peptides and proteins out of the meat. Sorry, I went a bit off there. I sometime do add salt, but that is to get it closer to my final stock/broth.
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Tonight I used some of that rib stock to cook beans for red beans and rice. Very nice.
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Ive finally gotten the others in my house accustomed to seeing a package of chicken feet in the freezer. They make spectacularly unctuous stock when I add a few to the backs and necks that will contribute most of the flavor.
I .ust have gotten pretty good at itâŚfriends who are under the weather now call and ask me to make them chicken noodle soup. (Perversely I had none of my own medicine to hand when I had covid this summer⌠I called my friend who owns the local Chinese place and ordered gallons of her wonton and hot and sour soups. It got us through!)
Im not a fan of pork stock as I find it far too âpiggyâ for my taste, but I always put dibs on ham bones. Just today I had some split pea soup that Iâd frozen last spring. Iâll also use it for 13-bean soup and petit sale, the rustic but so satisfying French lentil stew.
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Iâm down to my last two âpre-new-transitory-inflationâ frozen chicken that I got at $0.99/lb. But chicken generally has suffered less from inflation than beef (or eggs! When my 2 younger daughters visit we go through 1-1.5 dozen a day). And whole chicken seems to have suffered less than parts - last week I checked price and the stuff I had gotten before (no-name, cheapest in store) was around $1.70/lb.
Gotcha. My error - I missed the word âreusableâ in your prior message. I might try that to see how it compares to the folded linen (weâve got a micropore plastic one, never used, that came with the current coffee pot). Iâm sure itâd be easier to wash than the linen.
I feel like once you put salt in, youâre basically halfway to making soup.
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There are two gallon-sized Ziplock bags of bones in my freezer, one for fish and the other for meat/poultry, combined. The fish stock is mostly salmon, with some branzino. The other is maybe 60% chicken, 40% beef and pork. Fish stock doesnât take much time, since thereâs little connective tissue. I simmer it for maybe 45 minutes, remove the bones, then simmer to reduce. The meat stock simmers for about 3 hours, until most of the gelatinous stuff has dissolved. Both stocks go into the freezer in soup-to-go containers, with some of the meat stock in 1 cup containers for quick ramen or Greek-style pilafi. No salt or other materials, not even vegetablesâfor me stock is a raw material to be enhanced when cooking the final product.
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And after making some soup the other day, I realized that my supply of frozen stock was emptying faster than the Ziploc was filling. So, I picked up some chicken backs at a local butcher counterâtwo pounds for about $2.60, and will commence simmering soon.
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I also save mushroom trimmings and shrimp shells.
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To take roasted vegetable broth up in flavor, I add mushroom ends and tomato navels. For a seafood broth I like to take the water, wine, and herb court bouillon in which I poached fish and add the shrimp shells. I make it right in the poacher, strain it, and store it.
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On those occasions that I buy a whole plate of beef short ribs from somewhere (usually Snake River Farms as a treat), I save everything that cooked plate renders, including the fat and the bones. The fat makes great fries (after it is strained) and the bones make a heck of a stock!
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