{"id":1521,"date":"2015-06-02T15:08:52","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T20:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=1521"},"modified":"2015-11-06T11:18:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T17:18:25","slug":"less-is-not-more-chicken-vegetable-stock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=1521","title":{"rendered":"Less Is Not More: Soup Stocks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D1521&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><div id=\"attachment_1550\" style=\"width: 628px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-1550\" href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?attachment_id=1550\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1550\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1550 \" title=\"Stock Image\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Stock-Image2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"618\" height=\"206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Stock-Image2.jpg 629w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Stock-Image2-100x33.jpg 100w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Stock-Image2-300x99.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1550\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stock Photo<\/p><\/div>\n<p>My wife\u2019s style is all about color.<\/p>\n<p>Not that I\u2019m an expert or anything, having failed every single test for color blindness the last time I went to see the eye doctor. But anyone you ask will tell you the same thing: her gift for combining colors from the same palette or from different ones altogether is incredible.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s there in her floral arrangements, her gift for creating a garden landscape, even the table she sets for dinner. It\u2019s all about color, color and more color.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, despite our having been together for over 15 years, none of her talents have rubbed off on me. Not that I haven\u2019t learned anything. Just not in the realm of hues or tints or anything beyond monochrome. So\u2026 she sort of has to help dress me for any function above the casual level.<\/p>\n<p>In the kitchen, however, I\u2019ve completely embraced her philosophy\u2014 more is better.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of cooking that means always adding flavor. And one of the best ways to add flavor is to use a lot of stock.<\/p>\n<p>When I was first making soups, some of the recipes I made used water as the foundation of the soup. I would never do that now.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n<p>Sure, adding water contributes to the texture of a soup, but it actually takes flavor away by diluting the taste of whatever else you already have in the soup. Stock lets you change the texture of your soup (Okay, it transforms whatever you\u2019re making into a soup.) and gives it more flavor and body as well.<\/p>\n<p>But I don\u2019t stop with soup. I use stock to cook rice, vegetables and just about anything that involves water, except pie crusts and most baked goods. I\u2019m not crazy. The logic doesn\u2019t stop with stock either. Milk, wine, juice or any other flavorful liquid adds more to a dish than water does. But stock is usually my first choice.<\/p>\n<p>All of which segues nicely into to this week\u2019s recipes. (That\u2019s right, this posting is a two for one.)<\/p>\n<p>The first recipe is for a good chicken stock. It\u2019s cheap, easy to make and a great choice for soup or anything else in which you use stock. The second recipe is for a veggie stock (for all my friends and family who don\u2019t eat meat). Personally, I think chicken stock has a little more flavor and body, but the veg. stock is really good too.<\/p>\n<p>With the chicken stock, much of the flavor and body comes from the chicken bones and requires a fair amount of cooking (3-4 hours) to extract it all. In the interest of adding flavor, however, the mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery) and the sachet (literally a bag of herbs and spices: parsley stems, peppercorns, thyme and bay leaf are the classical version) shouldn\u2019t be discounted.\u00a0 They don\u2019t add much extra work either.<\/p>\n<p>The vegetable stock gets all of its flavor from the vegetables and takes less time to make. This is because it\u2019s not as hard to pull all the flavor out of a vegetable. That means doesn\u2019t take as long to make more of it.<\/p>\n<p>More is good.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chicken Stock<br \/>\n<\/strong>(about 1 gallon)<br \/>\n8 lbs chicken bones<br \/>\n6 qts cold water<br \/>\n1 lb mirepoix:<br \/>\n\u2153 lb onions, chopped<br \/>\n\u2153 lb carrots, chopped<br \/>\n\u2153 lb celery, chopped<br \/>\n1 sachet:<br \/>\n3-4 parsley stems<br \/>\n\u00bd t thyme<br \/>\n1 bay leaf<br \/>\n\u00bd t peppercorns<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Rinse the bones and combine      with the water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer      for 3-4 hours, skimming the surface of the stock as necessary.<\/li>\n<li>Add the mirepoix and the sachet      (traditionally the ingredients for the sachet are wrapped in a small cheesecloth      sack, hence the name) and simmer for another hour.<\/li>\n<li>Strain the stock and you\u2019re      done.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Vegetable Stock<br \/>\n<\/strong>(about 1 gallon)<br \/>\n2 T oil<br \/>\n1-2 lbs leeks, white part only, well cleaned and chopped (not too fine, you\u2019re just going to soak them)<br \/>\n1 lb carrots, peeled and chopped<br \/>\n1 lb onions, chopped<br \/>\n1 lb celery, chopped<br \/>\n1 fennel bulb, chopped<br \/>\n4 qts cold water<br \/>\n1 bunch parsley<br \/>\n1 bay leaf<br \/>\n1 t thyme<br \/>\n1t peppercorns<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat the oil over medium in an 8      quart pot add the vegetables and saut\u00e9 until they\u2019re soft (6-8 minutes).<\/li>\n<li>Add the water and the sachet (everything      else) and bring the contents to a simmer (boiling is too harsh) for about      an hour.<\/li>\n<li>Strain the stock and you\u2019re      done.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> The bones and vegetables you strain out of the stock don\u2019t have any flavor left in them and can be thrown out. You can also compost the veggies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Another note: <\/strong>In the interest of saving time, there are alternatives to homemade stock. Most grocery stores or supermarkets (or Costco or Trader Joe\u2019s) sell cartons or cans of chicken, vegetable, or even beef stock (it\u2019s often called broth, but it works the same way). When you\u2019re really pressed for time, you can also use bouillon cubes\/powder or another concentrated product called \u201cbetter than bouillon.\u201d It won\u2019t make the purists happy and bouillon is pretty salty often has MSG (just so you know), but there you are.<\/p>\n<p><em>Image Credit: <\/em>\u201cStock Photo,\u201d by the author.<\/p>\n<p><strong>One of the downsides of making a lot of soup and stock, is where to store it.\u00a0 You can use it all at once (if you cook\/eat a lot). You can also freeze the stuff for later use, but that takes a lot of space and I don\u2019t have a walk-in freezer or even a standalone.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s something I still have trouble with. What do you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My wife\u2019s style is all about color. Not that I\u2019m an expert or anything, having failed every single test for color blindness the last time I went to see the eye doctor. But anyone you ask will tell you the same thing: her gift for combining colors from the same palette or from different ones [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,56,55,8,14,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carrots","category-celery","category-onion","category-poultry","category-no-meat-fish-poultry-dairy-or-any-other-animal-products","category-vegetarian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1521"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}