How making stock helps me to eat well
Posted by kathryn in Main courses
Today I have another guest post – from the lovely Wendy of A Wee Bit of Cooking. I asked Wendy to tell us about one strategy that helps her eat well. And this was her answer.
Tuesday nights kill me. The days are always the busiest; the evenings are often filled with meetings, parents’ nights and/or marking and, to make matters worse, the weekend is never anywhere in sight. Arriving home on a dark and cold Tuesday night it would be very tempting to call for a pizza or pop into the chippie but I rarely do, for I know that within 20 minutes I can whip up an enormous, steaming bowl of Asian soup to chase the Tuesday blues away.
Silky noodles, delicate vegetables, fragrant broths – there is nothing that I don’t adore about these soups. I love how pretty they are. I love how restorative they feel. And, despite being very filling, I love how light they are.
But the thing about Asian soups is that store-bought stock cubes and powders simply aren’t good enough. Home-made stock is essential and, though run-of-the-mill chicken or vegetable stocks can be used as a base, for a deeper, more aromatic essence garlic and ginger infused broths are by far the best.
Luckily, Chinese chicken and vegetable stocks are simple to make and freeze well. The bottom drawer of my freezer is always loaded with 500ml bags of both kinds enabling me to quickly and easily prepare a nourishing bowl of egg drop or tom yum or chicken noodle soup to invigorate me on one of those sluggish Tuesday evenings.
How I make stock
Both recipes are adapted from Kylie Kwong.
1. Chinese Chicken Stock
Makes approximately 2 litres of stock – but you’ll need to use a 5 litre stock pot.
- Carcass of one chicken (leftover roast?) or 500g chicken wings or thighs
- Bunch of spring onions, chopped roughly
- 10cm piece of ginger, sliced thickly
- Bulb of garlic, separated into cloves and bashed with a rolling pin
- 1 onion, quartered
- 10 peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon salt
Add all the ingredients to a stock pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer gently for 2 hours.
Strain and leave to cool completely. Remove fat from the surface of liquid and discard. Makes approximately two litres.
2. Chinese Vegetable Stock
Use a 5 litre stock pot.
- 6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 onions, quartered
- 5 sticks of celery, chopped roughly
- Bunch of spring onions, chopped roughly
- 10cm piece of ginger, sliced thickly
- Bulb of garlic, cloves separated and bashed with rolling pin
- Handful of fresh coriander, leaves and stalks
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 peppercorns
Prepare in the same way as the above chicken stock.
Easy ways to use your stock
Both of these stocks can be used as the base for:
- Asian Vegetable Soup – recipe available later this week
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Tom Yum
- Egg Drop Soup
- Wonton soup – simply simmer chinese dumplings in broth until cooked, stirring through some greens for the last few minutes.
What are your simple recipes for using home-made stock?
Wendy from A Wee Bit of Cooking is a teacher living in the Highlands of Scotland. She loves cooking food, growing food, finding food and eating food. She also has the cutest dog in the northern hemisphere.
All photographs by Wendy.
29 October, 2008
Comments
Wendy: thank you for such an inspiring post. I love these soups and am especially intrigued by the egg drop soup.
I made a disappointingly bland noodle soup earlier in the week, with shop bought stock. The empty flavour was entirely due to the poor broth.
So this weekend I’ll be following your advice and making some vegetable stock. While it takes a time to cook, I’m imagining it’s low maintenance cooking? Just the occasional peak and stir required – with plenty of time in between for chores, work and reading the paper?
Thanks again for your glorious post.
yumyum! I totally wholeheartedly endorse making your own stock. It is easy low maintenance cooking that you get done whilst making something else, just set a pot on the boil in the background. My dog loves the cooked veggies that is a by product of stock making too! :)
You can easily turn a classic stock into any flavours:
Pho – black peppercorns, cloves, staranise
Thai – coriander root, fish sauce, lemon juice, chilli
Great work Wendy! love it. I am a secret admirer of your sweet potato and black bean burritos. It is a repeat performance in our house.
Well, clearly I don’t need to be convinced of the joy of chicken stock…
But, seriously, I agree that stock-making is important. It is not time-consuming as you point out, Wendy, though you do need to be at home. It makes even the simplest of things taste remarkable and is, therefore, perfect ‘recession’ stuff.
Gosh. That Tom Yum. I must make it, and soon.
ooh, inspiration! maybe not tonight, but sunday…I wish my freezer was bigger however, as storage becomes a problem.
Can’t wait to try the Chinese vegetable stock!
How long can you keep it frozen for?
OOOH i love Wendy’s blog! These all look fab. I am curious about freezing stock in bags… will have to give it a go.
Perfect timing! I’ve been thinking I need a few back-up fast recipes for busy workday evenings so that I will eat well despite being drop-dead tired. No more toast and coffee for an evening mean for me!!!
Hello all. :)
Kathryn – Yes, exceptionally low mainenance. Pop it in a pot then put your feet up!
Sue – Oh, will have to give Marco the leftover veggies next time. He does tend to get the chicken! Glad you like the burritoes. They are a favourite of mine too.
Lucy – The tom yum is spectacular. Really do try it soon. :)
Fiona – Up to three months. After that it starts to loose its flavour.
Shauna – Thank you very much. :) Curious as to what else one would freeze stock in…
Terri – The stock is a real life saver and defrosts on the stove top over a low heat in little time. Just make sure it boils for a moment.
Wendy – you’re right about the low maintenance. Was so inspired by your post yesterday I put a pot of stock on, while working from home. So I now have about 3 litres of beautifuly gingery broth.
I followed a combination of your recipe, Sue’s ideas and what I had in the house. My stock had carrots, ginger, coriander root, black peppercorns, a couple of shiitaki mushrooms, a whole chilli (scored down one side), onion and a bayleaf. So a bit cross cultural, but boy it’s good.
And now I’m planning on what to have for lunch. Thank you again.
Oh and mine is frozen in 500ml plastic containers.
I made soup once with my own stock…I roasted a chicken first, took off the meat, then made stock with the chicken carcass. The only problem was that I had basted the chicken in butter, and what with the fat already on the chicken and the butter, it mad a very slick-filled stock. So I’ve stuck with canned stocks since then. I suppose I could try using a chicken without the butter and see how it turns out…
Kathryn – Glad to hear it!
Lethological Gourmet – My roast chickens are usually basted with butter too. It shouldn’t matter so long as you cool the stock completely and chill in the fridge. All the fats will solidify and rise to the surface making them very easy to remove.
I can also report – the egg drop soup is fab!
It is defintely soup time of year and I especially like Wendy’s egg drop soup!
@Lethological Gourmet You could also try organic chicken drumsticks(skin removed) or wings if you don’t have any chicken carcasses handy or find the roast bones too fatty. Generally, I skim the stock as it goes if I’m making a meat one to get rid of the scum.
I usually make a clear plain stock and when making something out of it, add the spicy herby bits.
Hi! I started reading your blog recently. I’m a Sydneysider, healthy food lover, and overweight individual slowly and steadily making my way down to the Healthy Weight Range through eating less and moving more whilst also simultaneously learning how to cook nutritious, scrumptious meals. I have wanted to add asian-style soups to my cooking repertoire but thought of it as too daunting – so it was great, and inspiring, to hear a post from someone who actually thought of these as an easy staple! I’ll add it to my list of things to try. I was wondering where I can access the Asian Vegetable Soup Recipe – I’d love to see it – would you please let us know when it becomes available?
Hello! Thanks for recipies on making stock, but I have a question: Do you really mean to use 1 tbs salt – as in the chicken broth – when theres only 1 ts salt in the vegetable version? A full tbs sounds awfully like a lot of salt…
PG – the Asian vegetable soup recipe will be appearing on Wendy’s site, sometime soon. I’ll put a link up, in the above post, when it’s published. Or take a look at Wendy’s site – she has some beautiful recipes.
Well done for making the commitment to eating well, exercising and losing weight. Slowly and steadily is a good approach; trying to change your habits will lead to better long term health. Good luck.
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