With the holidays behind us and short days of winter here I seem to be making stock all the time. The tip-off that I’ve got a stock going is that there are aromatics in the air.
I’m going about my business, which is what you can do when you’re making stock, because the simmer takes most of the time. Besides the smell, I like the process--essentially turning water into wine. Well, not wine exactly, but a grounding base for the soups, stews, braises, and risottos that will get us through to spring. Homemade stock is just that: not a broth to eat on its own, but an honest building block that’s much deeper in flavor than the mass-produced boxes and cans on the supermarket shelves.
My go-to stock recipe is a one-pot boiled affair using chicken wings which, due to their density of cartilage, produce a rich, gelatinous broth. It’s a tried and true starting point for most recipes calling for chicken stock. I’m a big fan of gourmet soup mixes, where everything is pre-measured and you know you’re getting high quality legumes, the right amount of spice, and good directions for simple add-ins like onions or a can of tomatoes. If water is called for, I always add broth instead--it just makes the whole dish taste better.
I also like a roasted stock for a darker, heartier flavor, like this one that takes advantage of the carcass from another night’s roast chicken dinner. Here the carcass is simmered with pre-roasted wings and vegetables to produce a broth that’s a perfect base for the split pea soup from Healthy Gourmet Kitchen, to which you can add a ham hock for warm and smoky result.
Finally, I like to have a vegetarian option in the freezer for meatless meals (post-holiday detox, etc.). Recently I made an amazing Thai-ish broth with lemongrass and star anise punching up the usual aromatics, courtesy of cookbook author Nigel Slater writing in The Guardian. The house smelled so good that day it was ridiculous.
I always feel crazily accomplished when I fill containers with stock to sock away in the freezer for another day. Frozen stock lasts for six months (mark the date with tape on the container) but it’s unlikely you’ll have it that long, especially with a stash of soup mixes in your pantry. (A quart of homemade stock along with a soup mix makes a nice gift for a neighbor, too.)