OK, here’s the thing.  I was pretty late to making my own stock.  I was under the impression it was a bit of a faff, and what was the point when I could buy stock cubes.  Well yes, I am not perfect but I was wrong.  That’s not to say I don’t still keep stock cubes in my larder, they definitely have their place, but making stock is so simple and it appeals to my ideals of minimising waste and using up whatever I can.

Many cook books, and I do have a few, will have a recipe for stock, and I’d look at them and think “Hmm, I don’t have any celery sticks, nor fresh chillies, and I never have any fresh bones just lying around my kitchen.  I can’t make stock.”  Sound familiar?  Then I finally realised, stock is exactly what I want it to be – a way of using up leftovers.

Smells amazing!

I have a pot of chicken stock on the hob right now, and I must admit it is making the house smell gorgeous!  I did a roast chicken for Sunday dinner, and having stripped all the leftover meat from the carcass for a curry last night I am now left with basically the cooked bones.  At this point I will say I trimmed the wing tips before roasting the bird (you don’t eat them anyway so why not) and I had some of the giblets.  This is harder in the UK than it is here in the US, for some reason British supermarkets believe we don’t want giblets apart from in our Christmas turkey.  This might be where chatting to a butcher might come in handy; even the meat counter of your supermarket might be able to help.

So you can’t have chicken stock without chicken bones, but everything else is up to you and the flavours you like.  I raided the fridge and dug out some veg that was looking a bit past its best, so in this batch I have some carrots, an onion quartered up, the outer leaves of a red choi I got in my veg box, a few unpeeled cloves of garlic that were rattling around in a dish, a couple of bay leaves, some sprigs of herbs that were also a bit past their best and some salt and pepper.  I’d broken down the carcass a bit so it would sit lower in the pan, and then I added enough water to cover it all.  In the past I’ve added broccoli stems, random bits of lemon grass, radishes, pretty much anything will go in the pan if I think it will add flavour and it’s at that stage where it’s a bit too past it’s best to serve as a vegetable but it’s not yet gone runny.  Come on, we’ve all found that carrot that refused to hang out with the others and got forgotten about, right?  Anyway…

So the pan is on the hob with the lid on, I’ve brought it to the boil, and now I’m just going to leave it simmering for a couple of hours.  Once I’m happy it’s full of flavour and all the goodness is in the water I’ll let it cool for about half an hour and freeze it.  I tend to freeze it in bags of 500ml, which is a good general amount for gravy and risotto, and I also pour some into ice cube trays and freeze them that way.  This was something my mum taught me, and it is genius.  If a sauce needs thinning out a little, just melt a cube into it, or if you only need a little, rather than a full 500ml, a few cubes will do the trick.  You could even make batches of cubes flavoured with particular herbs, so one batch could be flavoured with chilli, one could have curls of lemon peel; the possibilities are endless and it means if something doesn’t quite work for whatever reason, you’ve only lost half a dozen cubes rather than a whole batch of stock.

Frozen stock cubes

Of course the principle is the same for making other stocks too.  Beef or lamb stock would be just as easy to do, and I know Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (of River Cottage fame) said he always keeps any bones he has, wraps them in foil and freezes them for future stock making.  Vegetable stock is even easier, simply apply the basics of chicken stock and leave out the chicken.  In fact if, like me, you tend to cook several veggies in one pan and then use the cooking water to make your gravy, then you’ve been making your own chicken stock for ages without knowing it.  Hurrah!  I always say as long as I have the basics in there, which for me is carrots and an onion with some herbs and seasoning, then I can’t go far wrong with making a yummy stock.

If that has inspired you, add a comment below and share your ideas and experiences, and if you feel someone could benefit from this, please feel free to share it.

Until next time everyone, happy stock making!

Please feel free to browse all the recipes and tips I have on here; it’s all free to use but of course there are costs involved so some posts may contain affiliate links. If you like what you see and feel able to, please consider popping something in my tip jar so I can keep on cooking and sharing, and thank you!