Chicken, Fish, Veal, Beef, or Vegetable

Chicken, Fish, Veal, Beef, or Vegetable.

It almost sounds like I am making a decision on which meal to pick at a wedding.
Actually, it is a decision on which type of STOCK you want to make.
Chicken, Fish, Veal, Beef, or Vegetable.

STOCK is the base of any good meal.
I will start with vegetable stock and in the next few blogs, will continue with the other stocks.

Basic Ingredients:
Always start with COLD H2O (water)
5 qts. of cold water
3 or more of each:
Onions, Carrots, sticks of Celery all roughly chopped
a 1/2 lb. of plain mushrooms quartered
2 or more large  green bell peppers quartered

Herbs:
My dad would place them in a cheese cloth and tie the end of it and place it in the water of the stock pot with the vegetables.
In French we call it : "bouquet garni."
I lost most of my French language.
That's my excuse for just dropping all of the herbs in the water with the vegetables.
The herbs are:
4 or more cloves of garlic
2 whole cloves
a handful of parsley
2 or more sprigs of thyme
1-2 bay leaves
and a small handful of peppercorns

Pour the water in the stock pot.
Place all of the vegetables and herbs in the pot.
Simmer on high for 30- 60 minutes, gradually reducing the heat to a low simmer.
Skim any residue that floats to the top of the stock.
Let the stock cool.
You can refrigerate the stock in  sealed containers for about a week or you can freeze
the stock in stored containers for 3 - 4 months.
I like plastic containers with the plastic lids.
Glad storage containers:
http://www.glad.com/

East Bay Restaurant Supply
http://www.chefsfirst.com/searchresults.asp?cat=4011

The easiest resource is to find a good Chinese restaurant that has takeout of egg drop, hot & sour, or won ton soup. The soups usually come in plastic containers with plastic lids that are resealable.
Thoroughly wash lids and containers before reusing.
Also, I like to freeze stock in ice trays for small portions of stock.

Take stock out of refrigerator or freezer and bring back to high simmer and reduce to low simmer.

Chicken, Fish, Veal, Beef, or Vegetable
Now that's something you can take stock in!


Email me for stock recipes.
Follow my blog for more stock to follow
realmeneatquiche@gmail.com