Making Stock
The short answer: When a cold wind blows, you snuggle deep into your coat and pull it tight. During economic storms, stock made from bones warms the soul while guarding both health and wallet.
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Saturated fat—good or bad?
The Danish are in the news this week—for levying a tax on saturated fatty acids (SFA) as part of a plan to improve longevity. For a generation we’ve been told that SFAs are unhealthy, a cause of heart disease and other ills. To my knowledge, this has never been proven. So if the proof isn’t there, why all the attacks on SFAs? It’s a long story, but once the establishment takes a position, they don’t change until the generation that staked their reputation on it dies.
If you listen to Mary Enig, PhD, the scientist who doggedly exposed the danger of trans fats, the body needs dietary SFAs. In her excellent article, “The truth about saturated fats,” Enig notes that from 1910 to 1970 traditional animal fats in our diet declined from 83% to 62% of all fats. Butter consumption dropped from 18 lbs./yr. to 4 lbs., replaced by vegetable oils. Yet, heart disease rose from a rare illness to the #1 cause of death during this time. You do the math.
Enig cites these benefits of dietary SFAs:
- SFAs constitute 50% of cell membranes so regular intake is essential to cell replacement.
- SFAs are vital to the absorption of calcium into our bones.
- SFAs reduce the risk of heart attacks by lowering Lp(a), which is linked to heart disease. The longer SFAs nourish the heart during times of stress.
- SFAs enhance the immune system.
- The essential omega-3 fats are better retained if the diet is rich in SFAs.
- Some SFAs have important antimicrobial properties; they protect against harmful bacteria in the gut.
Pundits have noted that Danes eat 4x more margarine than butter (a real problem), and that while SFA consumption has declined their obesity numbers have risen. Strikingly, no action was taken against sugar (another real problem as blood glucose levels have risen in parallel with obesity), sulfites (Danes love bacon), or refined carbs. Danes eat a lot of meat, about 8 oz. daily, also a real problem. One other thing: Denmark is a delightful country with beautiful architecture and friendly, practical people. But their politicians seem quixotic, tilting at windmills while missing the weighter matters.
We eat just a little meat, a source of SFAs, but do enjoy butter and whole milk. Until I hear more, we’ll continue to enjoy saturated fats in moderation.
Tales From The Depression
During the Depression an unusually well qualified couple, John and Leah Widtsoe, wrote an exceptional book on nutrition according to the Mormon Word of Wisdom. John had earned his PhD in chemistry at the close of the 19th century in Germany, the birthplace of nutrition science. He was later a professor, then president of several universities. Leah was a college graduate, unusual for women of the time, and had gone east to study at the Pratt Institute, a leading school of domestic science. Their 1937 book, The Word of Wisdom, A Modern Interpretation, sold well (used copies now go for over $100), and is still available in reprint and ebook.
Leah was a formidable woman and an early believer that health came from whole foods. A sort of pioneer Martha Stewart, she later wrote a book of recipes, How To Be Well, suggesting dietary guidance as good as any heard today:
- Use only whole grains.
- Eat fresh fruit year around if possible. (She also recommended putting fruit rather than sugar on breakfast cereals.)
- Use meat sparingly. (Leah suggested one serving of meat and fish weekly with other protein coming from plants.)
- Use more vegetables, choosing fresh over canned, and regularly eating some uncooked in salads. (Over-cooked vegetables were common then.)
- For dessert, eat fruit or simple dishes. Leah was emphatic: “Rich candy and heavy soda fountain concoctions are out.” (Allow me a moment of nostalgia here for my high school job as a soda jerk.)
Leah believed family dinner should be fun, as well as nourishing. The best sauce for dinner, she thought, was “laughter.” She warned about hidden hunger, an early awareness that though modern food might be filling it was insufficient in vitamins and minerals. Over time this shortage of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and other essentials is thought to be an underlying cause of chronic disease. So though much remained unknown about nutrition—not so different from today—health could be protected through eating whole foods.
The garbage disposal in modern sinks would be anathema to Leah. What we put in the disposal, she put into her soup kettle:
“One must never waste good food. A soup kettle is a wise possession for every family. In it should go every scrap of meat, bone . . . all clean vegetable parings, outer leaves . . . and all bits of good food [including chicken feet] that should not be wasted. The basis of the soup of the day should be found here.”
The wood-burning stove that kept the house—and the soup kettle—warm in winter is gone but Judith Jones’ charming book, The Pleasures of Cooking for One, suggests a modern method: Place edible scraps in a closable container in the freezer, to be retrieved when you make soup. If our economy continues to decline as some fear, such Depression wisdom could mean the survival of a household.
Making Stock
The famed French chef Auguste Escoffier claimed that stock was everything in cooking. Who am I to question the French on food? The American version of cooking with stock is to open a can of Campbell’s soup—was there a ‘50s casserole recipe that didn’t require a can? So I looked for stock at Campbell’s website. They didn’t have anything and suggested I check my spelling. I resolved to make my own stock.
To make stock you use leftover bones, hopefully with a little meat. Put the bones in a pot with water (about 6 cups per pound of bones) and add savory vegetables (by tradition, a carrot, a celery stalk, and some onion, all chopped, an aromatic combination known as mirapoix), plus some spices. The traditional spice mix is a bay leaf, thyme, some parsley (a few recipes call for cloves or garlic), plus a few peppercorns). If you add more meat it’s broth, or to be fancy, consommé.
The beautiful wife brought home some chicken carcasses from a dinner, enough to make five quarts of stock. (Beef bones, cut up, are also used, or fish bones.) I cooked the bones for an hour, while I prepared the mirapoix and spices, and cooked everything for another hour. Some recipes call for longer times, but this chicken had been previously cooked. I strained it, poured the stock into quart jars, and put them in the refrigerator. You can refrigerate stock (when chilled it takes a soft Jello-like consistency) for a few days or freeze it a couple of months.
You can buy stock in the store so the big question is whether the benefit of homemade justifies the trouble. The store product is a pale version of the stock I made; mine jelled after refrigeration and was very flavorful. The wife made a tasty soup after the stock was cooked by recovering the mirepoix with some broth. We’ll try our stock in a few recipes, comparing to store-bought stock, and report back.
Benefits of Stock
By tradition, stock will heal whatever ails you. This may be true; you always hear that chicken soup, made much like stock, is the only remedy proven to relieve the common cold. Stock is also said to aid digestion. Science, to my knowledge, hasn’t confirmed these traditions but a warm bowl of soup does provide comfort while your immune system does the healing. The article, Broth is Beautiful, by Sally Fallow Morrell, lists some benefits of stock:
Stock is rich in minerals from the bone, amino acids, gelatin from the cartilage, and other nutrients. Gelatin has a long tradition in healing and also serves as a thickener; my stock was surprisingly thick. The minerals extracted from the bone, mainly calcium, are believed to aid bone building. In addition to all the nutrients, stock makes sauces, soups, and stews tasty.
Several years ago the beautiful wife had a sore hip joint that persisted for many months. She finally saw an orthopedic doc who found nothing visibly wrong but suggested that glucosamine and chondroitin supplements were helpful to some. This wasn’t proven science, the doctor pointed out, but thought it worth a try. She tried it and within a matter of weeks the pain went away. Bone broths are natural sources of chondroitin and glucosamine so there may something to the claimed benefit of stock for bone health.
Please comment on your experience cooking with stock, whether homemade or store-bought. A reverence for food implies avoidance of waste. Please share your own ways of reducing waste.
Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 7:05AM | by Skip Hellewell | 18 Comments | Share Article | Email Article
Reader Comments (18)
Skip, I've been really enjoying your blog. I'm not Mormon, but these changes make sense regardless of one's religion! I have made stock before but I'm not sure how to use it in my recipes. The last time i made it, i ended up with about a cup of it but it was gelatinous and thick. I'm not sure of the proportions of stock vs water and would appreciate some direction. I've seen lots of articles on making stock but none on how to use it. Thanks!
I've taken lately to getting a cheap (but delicious) rotisserie chicken at the grocery store. We eat it plain with veggies for one meal, then I pick off the meat and refrigerate it to use in later meals during that week. Then I put the carcass in a stock pot with veggies and seasonings and simmer it for a few hours. I got a ton of stock out of it - something like 5 quarts or more. I strained it and then put it in one-pint tupperwares and froze it. I also used some of it to fill some ice cube trays, and then when the stock cubes were frozen I popped them out and stored them in a freezer bag. Each ice cube is about 1/8 cup stock, which is perfect for when you just need a little bit, or when a recipe calls for uneven amounts (like 1 1/2 cups). That much stock usually lasts me about a month, sometimes even more (and we use it pretty regularly).
It is delicious!!! We love it. In fact, we accidentally ruined our stock pot this summer and my husband has been begging me to get it replaced so that we can have our fresh stock again. We use it in soups, simple chicken gravy (a great replacement to msg-loaded cream of chicken soup), to cook delicious and flavorful grains (it makes especially tasty rice and beans, and parmesan couscous) and anywhere else that we need stock.
We are planning on making a bunch of beef stock this weekend, actually Every couple of years we get a 1/4 of a cow, and we can get soup bones for free. We end up making and then pressure canning the broth/or freezing to have on hand. We need to make room in the freezer so the bones must go. Broth making it is.
@Sarah: I always replace it cup for cup. Whatever you make with it, like soup, etc., will also thicken up when cold like the stock but becomes liquified when heated again.
I really enjoy your insights and read your blog frequently. I too have read good things about the importance of getting back to using more homemade bone broths so I was glad to see it here. I am interested to hear more on your findings of saturated fats. I've recently been reading a lot from the camp that touts we need to get back to eating full fat meats, less grains (some advocate for none) with emphasis on more animal fat in the diet. The scientific bent really focuses on insulin control, not only for weight loss but for so many chronic diseases (heart, diabetes, arthritis, etc, etc) that seem to stem from systemic inflammation caused mainly by too much insulin in response to too much carb (mainly sugar and grain) or even too much protein intake without enough fat to slow the insulin response. Overall I am of the opinion of everything in moderation, but still find the information behind all this to be quite compelling. Keep up the good work!
Sarah M: We'll share out experience when we use our homemade stock, and compare with store-bought. Thanks for following the blog. Our aim is to advance the food reformation by combining the wisdom of science, food traditions, and scripture. (In the past there was an over-reliance on science, which has been flawed.) The Word of Wisdom is a scripture unique to Mormons but in harmony with Bible teachings. Mormons are good about following the prohibitions (no tobacco, alcohol, or coffee/tea). Unfortunately many eat pretty much what everyone else eats and we do get teased about eating so much Jello. Biggest problem is moms are pretty busy. Though the W of W teaches to build the diet on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, with a little meat, most haven't mastered this part. But I'm encouraged by the response to this blog. Best to you.
There is no stock from the store that compares to homemade stock! I love to make homemade stock, and I've heard a lot about the healing properties. Mom always cooked our Thanksgiving turkey into a delicious turkey soup. Since it's already snowing here, I'm definitely thinking of hot soups. I like to throw in any veggies that need to be used up. Beef stock is really good with some tomatoes added. It's much better than the beef vegetable soup from the can.
I bought some beef bones to make stock, but they are still in my freezer. I am fearful that it won't turn out will. I tried making chicken stock once. It was supposed to jell a bit, but it never did. From what I had read, if it doesn't jell then it isn't really full of nutrients. Apparently the feet will add the most gelatin- from what I've read. I am going to take the bones out of the freezer and have a go at it! Thanks for the post.
I love cooking with bones because the flavors are delicious and they're easy on the pocket book.
I roasted a small chicken last Saturday night for dinner. Like Cindy, I pulled off the meat and used it in several later meals. Yesterday afternoon I put the carcass in a stock pot and covered it with water. I added interior celery ribs with the leaves attached, 1/3 of an onion, skin and all, and a couple carrots. I rarely chop the mirapoix for stock (saves time.) Simmered it for 3 or 4 hours, strained it, and picked the remaining meat off the bones. (And then I picked over it for the cartilage which I ate as the cook's tax--I love that stuff.)
I reduced the stock a bit more and added both wild rice and brown rice to cook for a bit until it was time for veggies. Then fresh chopped mirapoix, the bits of meat, and one of my favorite flavor enhancers, a piece of parmesano reggiano heel (what you'd normally throw away when done with the cheese I freeze for adding to soups, it adds a wonderfully nutty quality.)
Using the whole chicken is terribly important, the original chicken was $5.00. I turned it into 3-4 meals for our family of 4 eaters (and one baby.) It's cost effective and satisfying.
Smoked Ham Hocks are cheap--usually between .35-$1.00 a piece, and they add tremendous flavor to lentil or split pea soups. You can usually get about a cup of meat off the hock, which is a tasty addition to a lentil soup. Simply simmer a hock or two with water, mirapoix, and lentils. Strain after 30 minutes and pick meat off the hock. Add lentils to broth, hock and meat, and fresh mirapoix. Nothing like a ham bone for split pea soup.
I heard once that the reason that there are so many glucosamine and chondroitan supplements these days is that people have stopped cooking with bones and are therefore missing those natural dietary supplements.
If nothing else, I hope that people take away that this isn't just economical and simple cooking for busy families, it's also DELICIOUS.
Whether animal based or vegetarian, oven roasting your ingredients prior to bathing them will add tremendous flavor and color to your final product. One can easily make broth/stock on the Low setting of a slow cooker overnight.
I did some investigating about the terms "stock" and "broth." Stock is your conerstone for other products like gravies or soups and is therefor made without any salt, as that would be added in later. Broth is it's salted cousin, used mainly as is. There is no clear cut definition of one being only meat or meat and bones, although many say that a stock is darker and thicker by comparison.
Regarding SFA's and the data provided: one could argue that the onset of mechanical production during those same years has taken away our ability to physically work off our daily meals. Dairy farmers ate cereal covered in cream, but didn't die of heart problems. They had to work and work hard for their existence, something that we've traded for ease, expense and the TV remote.
Liz, thanks for writing. Another thought on saturated fat regards people working in cold weather, which requires significant calories to maintain body heat. Fats are dense in calories. Think of the Eskimo diet, rich in blubber. The meat in stores is from CAFO operations and is actually higher in saturated fat than traditional meat that is pasture fed. Wild game, especially from colder climes, is even lower in SFAs. An interesting fact: Sheep are still pastured so we should enjoy some lamb.
I'm sticking with my statement that broth is made with more meat than stock. The sources I find say the ratio of bone to meat is high in stock, and low in broth, meaning more meat in broth. Stock is also strained, so particles including meat are removed. Stock will have more gelee (gelatin, from bones and cartilage) so is thicker. Broth often has pieces of meat, and sometimes grains or legumes to add substance. Regarding salt, I looked at several dozen recipes and there seems to be no discipline about adding salt. It makes sense not to add salt to stock, as you said, but recipes vary. Most broths don't add salt, in the recipes I reviewed, but some do. Professional chefs may observe your salt rule, but not home cooks. Bottom line, stock seems to be more about the bones (and gelatin) and broth is more about the meat. Best.
Carina, thanks for your suggestion about ham hocks. We actually made the split pea soup recipe using a ham bone (with some meat) and another time using ham hocks. The beautiful wife preferred the ham hock version. Best.
There couldn't be a more timely post! We roasted our first pasture-raised chicken this week (different cooking method than usual) and have made meals out of it for the past for days. I'm looking forward to making stock tomorrow with the bones. It'd be great to extend the nutritional benefits of such a healthy chicken through stock. It's starting to get cold here so everyone is in the mood for soups. I'm hoping that homemade stock works well for us, as being able to make something at home rather than spending money purchasing it is always great.
I love making stock. The other day my 13-month old and I were sick and I made some stock. My daughter couldn't seem to get enough, which strengthened my opinion that it is very healthy stuff. I make it according to Sally Fallon's recipe from Nourishing Traditions. The main difference from the recipe you posted is that you add about a tablespoon of raw cider vinegar to the bones and water and let it sit for about 30 minutes before bringing it to a boil. This is supposed to help draw out more minerals. Also, I usually cook mine for 6 hours or more, again, to draw more nutrients out of the bones. I haven't noticed the taste of the vinegar in the finished broth. I get excited when the refrigerated broth looks like jell-o :)
At first homemade stock tasted a little different (I grew up eating "broth" from MSG-laden bullion cubes) but now I love it. From what I've read, even the stock in the store that is labeled "no MSG" but has the "spices and natural flavors" on the ingredient lists which is a way manufacturers can hide MSG. So, you're much better off making it yourself.
It's not scientific proof but I have been nursed back from long-term illnesses with stock (and only stock) because my stomach wouldn't handle solids. I use it when making soups, sauces, rice, and grains (ex: quinoa), particularly during flu season.
I never add more than a pinch of salt to stock. Since you're reducing stock by simmering it, it's easy for the salt levels to get out of control if you salt at the beginning or middle. Wait until you're using stock in a recipe (soup or otherwise) to salt.
I am very interested in making my own stock. We are a family of vegetarians and find it difficult to find soups that are free of any animal products, so making our own stock seems like a very good (and cost-effective) option. What are your suggestions for making vegetable stock?
My husband has been doing lots of cooking. We had a Canadian Thanksgiving this week and couldn't find a fresh turkey. We grilled 2 nice chickens for our group of 12. Right after dinner, A stripped the carcasses and started making his stock. Sometimes he adds cabbage and jalapeno besides, onion, celery and carrot to give a depth of flavor. It is never "hot" spicy. We threw in the gravy leftovers we had made from the drippings and we can skim the fat of the top when it chills, if it's too much. My knees are talking to me lately - I will have to d get more of those bone nutrients.
I love mushrooms and barley in a homemade beef stock soup.
I tried to make stock a few months back and it really wasn't all that great. I bought some beef bones specifically to try again. I finally made stock this week. After refrigerating overnight it gelled up very nicely. I am so excited! I am also making a second batch from the same bones. Supposedly you can reuse the bones with fresh water over and over again. I'm going to keep going till it doesn't gel anymore. I think the stock will help us recover from all the Halloween candy.