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While I was growing up, it seemed my mother always had a pot containing a chicken carcass, the “holy trinity” of vegetables (onions, celery and carrots), aromatic herbs and some water simmering on the back burner of the stove.

Of course, this was in the Stone Age when you didn’t readily find boneless, skinless chicken thighs at the local grocery. You bought a whole chicken, learned how to break it down, and rather than throw the stripped carcass directly into the trash, you made stock.

Stocks — the liquid resulting from simmering meat, bones, fish trimmings or other ingredients together with vegetables, seasonings and water — are one of the first things chefs in training learn to make. They are what Julia Childs refers to as “fonds de cuisine … literally the foundation and working capital of the kitchen.” This liquid, boiled down to intensify its flavor and then strained, forms the base for soups, along with stews, braised meats and vegetables, rice and risottos, and myriad other dishes.

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And while stocks and broths are readily available in stores in the modern era, making your own gives you a wider variety of flavors, a fresher taste and better control of sodium levels. Devote a small corner of your freezer to a collection of chicken bones, shrimp shells, corn cobs, vegetable ends or Parmesan rinds and when you have an afternoon available, you can make something amazing with ingredients that you might otherwise have thrown away.

Shrimp shells along with carrots, celery and onions are cooked down to make a stock.

Shrimp shells along with carrots, celery and onions are cooked down to make a stock.

Homemade stocks can be kept in the refrigerator for a week or so and in the freezer for several months. You can store them in sizes suitable for the number of folks you are cooking for and the amounts required in the recipes you plan to make. No more open containers that get lost in the back of the fridge because you needed a cup or two instead of a quart.

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Making stocks might seem intimidating and time-consuming, but it’s actually really easy. The process is as simple as adding ingredients to a potful of water and turning on the burner. You don’t even need to peel the vegetables, as they will be tossed after their goodness has been extracted. Simmer low and slow; you’ll need give it an occasional stir to keep things from sticking to the bottom and burning, but otherwise you’re free to do other projects while it cooks.

There are four basic steps to making a stock:

1. Add your ingredients to a large pot and cover with water. Make a bouquet of aromatic herbs such as bay leaves and sprigs of dill, parsley or thyme to add the flavors you want. Whole peppercorns, mustard or coriander seeds or pieces of ginger also might be added to your stockpot depending on the stock you are making and the flavors desired.

2. Bring the liquid to a gentle boil over medium heat and then turn the heat down to low. Cover the pot partially to keep the water from evaporating too quickly (you can always add a bit more if needed) and keep it at a gentle simmer for one to two hours until you’ve reached the desired level of flavor intensity. To help keep the stock clear and the flavor pure (and the pot from boiling over), use a spoon or skimmer to regularly remove froth as it comes to the top.

3. Once the stock is done, pour it through a fine strainer lined with a double layer of cheese cloth (if you don’t have cheesecloth, a dampened paper towel can be used in a pinch). Discard the solids.

4. Season your stock with salt and pepper to taste. Allow it to cool to room temperature then cover and refrigerate. Once it’s fully chilled, you’ll easily be able to remove the fat layer, if any, that solidifies on the surface.

The finished stock is now ready to use. It can be further boiled down into a concentrate, clarified to create a consommé or clear broth, transformed into a gelee or aspic, or used as the flavor base for whatever you’re cooking today. Any stock you don’t need immediately (the idea is to make it in bulk) can be frozen in small amounts in well-marked containers for future use. You can even freeze concentrated stocks in ice trays. Transfer the frozen cubes to freezer bags for longer storage and pull them out to use as a flavor bomb when cooking pasta, rice or vegetables.

For this week’s recipes I’m making some stock flavors that might not be as easy to find at the grocery store. I’d been saving shrimp shells and parmesan rinds for the past few months and had a pretty good collection in the freezer. And we’d picked up some corn in the husk recently to make Mexican street corn. So when I found an article that had recipes for shrimp and corn stocks and Parmesan broth all in one place, it seemed to be the perfect time to spend an afternoon creating some liquid gold. Twenty minutes of prep time, three pots on the stove, and a couple of hours of gentle monitoring later it was done. We wound up with about 2 quarts of shrimp stock and a quart of corn stock ready to use and an ice tray full of concentrated parmesan broth that we put in the freezer.

That night I used a little of the corn stock to cook some mixed vegetables to add to the soup I’d planned to make. Combined with leftover Udon noodles from a Sakura 15 take out dinner and a few extra shrimp from a stir fry I’d made a day or two before, then nestled in a tasty bowl of shrimp stock, it made a dinner that filled us up and emptied the fridge of some leftovers that needed some friends to make them complete.

As for the rest of the stocks I made, they are ready and waiting for the next recipe idea to bubble to the top.

Shrimp soup

Shrimp soup

All recipes are from “Get the Most Out of Your Leftovers with These 3 Hearty Stocks” by Jessica Sulima, published in Thrillist on 4/22/2022 and excerpted from ‘To The Last Bite: Recipes and Ideas for Making the Most of Your Ingredients’ by Alexis deBoschnek, Simon and Schuster (2022).

Shrimp Stock

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 yellow onion, halved

  • 2 garlic cloves, lightly smashed

  • 1 dried bay leaf

  • 3 teaspoons kosher salt

  • 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

  • 4 cups shrimp shells, from about 3 pounds of shrimp 1 lemon, halved

  • 5 sprigs parsley

  • 2 quarts cold water

1. Add the olive oil to a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the onion, cut-side down, and cook without stirring until charred, 3-4 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, bay leaf, salt and peppercorns, and stir until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Add the shrimp shells and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shells turn pink, about 3 minutes.

4. Add the lemon, parsley and water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until reduced by one-fourth, about 30 minutes.

5. Place a large fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth or two paper towels over a large bowl and strain the stock, discarding the solids. Let the stock cool to room temperature before using. The stock keeps fresh in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or frozen for 3 months.

Corn Stock

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 yellow onion, halved

  • 3 garlic cloves, lightly smashed

  • 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

  • 6 corn cobs, kernels removed

  • 2 quarts cold water

  • 1 dried bay leaf

  • 1 Parmesan rind

1. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the onion cut-side down and cook, without moving, until charred, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add the garlic, peppercorns and coriander seeds, and cook until the garlic is golden brown, about 1 minute. Add the corn cobs, water, bay leaf and Parmesan rind, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until slightly reduced, about 1 ½ hours.

3.  Place a large fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth or two paper towels over a large bowl and strain the stock, discarding the solids. Let the stock cool to room temperature before using. The stock keeps in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or frozen for 3 months.

Parmesan Broth

1. Add the Parmesan rinds, salt, peppercorns, and water to a large pot and set over medium-high heat. Once the water begins to boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the broth reduces by half and turns golden, stirring often to make sure the rinds don’t stick to the bottom, about 1 ½ hours.

2. Place a large fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth or two paper towels over a large bowl and strain the stock, discarding the solids. Let the stock cool to room temperature before using. The stock keeps fresh in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or frozen for 3 months.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Create ‘liquid gold’ by making homemade stocks and broths

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