Making soup without stock cubes is actually one of the tastiest ways to prepare this classic dish and do away with your dependence on dry bouillon cubes. Better yet, you will create a preservative-free dish, while limiting the amount of salt that you ingest. Nor do you need to be a master to pull off the job. Learning make fresh stock is easier than it seems.
Instructions
1. Buy meat cuts, depending on the kind of stock you plan to make. For chicken stock, use a leftover chicken carcass, or buy cheaper cuts of chicken--like backs and necks--and combine with aromatics, an essential addition to soup stocks.These include carrots, celery, onions, herbs, peppercorns, and other seasonings.
2. Add one quart of water to every pound of bones on whatever stock you make. Boil the aromatics along with the bones. Add cold water for a better stock, bring to a boil, and then simmer for two hours. Skim off the froth that builds from the top. If you are on a low-fat diet, remove the fat from a chilled broth that rises to the top in the refrigerator.
3. Once the stock is cooled, remove the bones and skim out the aromatics you want to remove. Cut or shred off any meat you wish to add back into the stock, or save it for a soup recipe. Strain if necessary.
4. Add salt when you make your soup, sauteeing up the vegetables or meat that you plan to add---along with other ingredients, so you can season to taste.
5. Look for rendering bones or other cheap meat cuts at the grocery store to make a beef stock. Roast the bones--preferably with some meat attached--at 400 degrees. Leave them uncovered in the oven until they turn a golden brown shade to bring out the flavors. Add the same aromatics, such as onions, carrots, or parsley, and cook for a couple hours. Some will even simmer soup bones for up to 12 hours.
Tags: meat cuts