Lazy Chef's Soup Stocks

Lazy Chef's Soup Stocks

This is long overdue and I have to work towards regular uploads on this site. Life and lethargy keep getting in the way of my best intentions as far as this blog goes! As I had mentioned, the easiest and quickest way to add stock to a soup is to throw in a soup cube or add a cube to some warm water.  What I failed to mention is the fact that no soup cube that I have ever come across comes close to the real thing; the recipes are all short cuts and will by no means produce a clear stock but, that doesn’t count for much in most soups.  The authentic technique for clear stock will be listed later. It requires patience and takes time to make clear stock.

So, here are a few basic stocks (and I hope to have the determination to add some more in the near future!) for all of us in a hurry:

5a) Brown Stock

Ingredients:

750 gms chopped beef  or mutton bones

1 chopped onion

3 – 4 unpeeled cloves of garlic

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 sprig each of parsley and thyme

10 – 12 peppercorns

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the beef bones, stir until browned; an alternate method is to rub all but 1 tsp of the oil onto the meat and then put into the pan in which you have heated the remaining 1 tsp of the oil – this helps the bones and the bits off meat on the bones from sticking stubbornly onto the pan.

Throw in the rest of the ingredients and add enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer (or not if you like as the difference is marginal) and put the lid onto the pressure cooker. Put the weight on and cook for 30 mins on low heat or until all the ingredients look like they have been cooked to their death.

Strain the liquid and use, I squeeze the garlic and the celery stocks to extract whatever little flavour may be remaining in them and to get a stronger tasting stock.

You can even reduce the liquid, cool and then freeze it to use later. Some people freeze their stock in ice cube trays for convenience, my take on that: only do so if you have a separate tray for it – your regular ice cubes will never be the same once you have frozen soup cubes in them – the celery and garlic linger till forever!

Variations:

White Stock: Follow exactly the same procedure as above, with exactly the same ingredients – just leave out the oil and don' t brown the bones.

White Poultry Stock: Follow the same procedure as for White Stock, just substitute chicken carcass, odds and ends from a whole chicken, pieces of chicken or even a whole chicken for the beef or mutton bones.

Bacon Bones: Proceed as above but substitute 400 – 500 gms of bacon bones for the beef, mutton or chicken.

5b) Chicken Stock for Oriental Soups

Ingredients:

250 gms (or more) Chicken carcass, odds and ends like wings, neck pieces 
2 inches piece ginger, thinly sliced
6 -  8 cloves of garlic, pealed
Salt to taste

Method:
Put all ingredients into a pressure cooker along with enough water to cover the ingredients and cook for 6 to 7 whistles. You may want to stop in between to check if the water is still adequate and top it up if you see fit.

Tip: You can use bones, odds and ends etc from any other protein, including sea food, just as long as you don't go over board with the quantity in case the protein has a strong flavour or aroma of its own.

5c) Vegetable Stock

Ingredients

15  gms of butter

250 gms roughly diced carrots

1 chopped onion

5 – 6 cloves of unpeeled garlic

3 sticks of celery, roughly diced

3 sprigs of parsley

Bunch of thyme leaves

5 cups of water

6 peppercorns

½  tsp wild celery seeds - known as ajmud or chandni in Hindi and radhuni in Bengali (Optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat the butter in a pressure cooker, and sauté the vegetables  for 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients and the water.

Cook in the pressure cooker for about 4 to 5 whistles.

Strain and use, please read the last two paragraphs of  recipe for Basic Brown Stock to know how to store the stock.