If you plan on cooking from scratch and care about taste, learn to make a good stock. A good stock is the key to transcending a mixture of ingredients to a tasteful dish. From wonderful soups and sauces to complementing a braised entree, the simple process of preparing a stock will enhance your cooking.

Photo: by cygnoir

Stocks

Formally a stock is an liquid flavored by extractions from meat, poultry, fish and their bones as well as vegetables and seasoning. From this definition we can get a few types of stocks, each classified by the ingredients and techniques used.
A White Stock is made from the simmering of chicken, veal or beef bones in water with vegetables and seasonings resulting in a almost clear liquid.

A Brown Stock is also made by simmering chicken, veal or beef bones in water with vegetables and seasonings but before the being added to the water, each is caramelized. This will give our stock a rich, dark color.

A Fish Stock and a Fumet are stocks made from slow cooked fish bones or crustacean shells in water with vegetables. The Fumet differs with an addition of wine and lemon juice. Both stocks are quite colorless, but strongly flavored.

Vegetable Stocks can also be made if a meatless dish is required.

The key to a good a good stock is to look at and strive for four main characteristics, body flavor clarity and color.

• Body- The body of a stock develops from the break down of collagen from your meat. Vegetable stocks in result will have less body since they lack animal protein.
• Flavor- Obtained from the vegetables and herbs begin added in the proper ratios.
• Clarity- To get a stock clear, you must remove blemishes and impurities.
• Color- Most ingredients will contribute to the color of a stock. To obtain a lighter stock, vegetables like carrots and leeks can be used. Browned bones and tomato paste will darken a stock.

Ingredients

Bones

Adding flavor, richness and color the bones are the primary ingredient in a stock. If been told of a time when kitchens, home and commercial, would break down there own animals. Use the meat for its uses and save the bones for stock. The idea is wonderful, but sadly I see these logical process being broken down and proportioned out (Can any give me a reason other than cooperate gain). It can a rare thing nowadays for butcher shops to have bones.

Continueing on our stock bones, different bones release their flavor at different times. Beef bones, even cut down into pieces, will require six to eight hours to cook; while a stock made with chicken bones will take five or six.

Beef and Veal Bones

When choosing bones you want the bones that will make your stock taste best, right? A better tasting beef stock will be made from bones with high collagen content. Collagen, found in cartilage and other connective tissue, is found more in younger animals. In regards to bone relations with one another, back, neck and shank bones have higher collagen contents than others, providing a better taste. Once you have your bones cut them in pieces of 3 to 4 inch in length allowing enough flavor to be released as possible.

Chicken Bones

For chickens the back and neck are the best bones to use for a stock. If you have a whole chicken carcass, use it. I would advise cutting it up though so you can handle it with ease.

Fish Bones

For fish, lean fish make great stock. Sole, Flounder, whiting or turbot are examples of lean fish. Salmon, tuna and swordfish are fatty fish, and do not make good stocks. The whole carcass can be used, but again I advise cutting it up for even extraction. Before putting fish bones in your stock rinse them under cold water to remove blood, loose scales and other features that will cause impurities.

Other Bones

Lamb, turkey, game and ham bones can also be used in a stock or even mixed in. Lamb and game bones tend to be quite strong, so be careful when mixing with beef, veal or chicken.

Vegetables

The basic standard of vegetables to be use in a stock is referred to as mirepoix. Mirepoix is a mixture of onions, carrots and celery: 50%, 25%, 25% respectively by weight. Size of each vegetable is considered by cooking time. The longer the stock will need to cook, the larger the vegetables will need to be. When making a white stock, you could use parsnips, mushrooms and/or leeks instead of carrots for a clearer result.

Seasonings

Peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme, parsley stems sometimes garlic are the five primary seasonings for a stock. These seasonings can be left whole, for stocks take enough time to cook, allowing the full flavor of the season to be extracted. Therefor there is no need to grind or chop your seasonings if they are added from the start. However, you may want to add your seasoning mid way through if you are making a beef stock since it takes longer to cook.

You may want to bind your seasoning for ease when removing them. They can be tied up in cheesecloth, referred as a Sachet, or tied by twine in a bundle, referred to as a bouquet garni. Classically a standard Sachet consists of peppercorns, bay leaves, parsley stems, thyme and cloves while a standard bouquet garni consists of parsley stems, celery, thyme, leeks, and carrots.

Salt, should not be added to a stock. Even though salt is one of those necessary things (mostly) adding salt to your stock will limit you greatly in what you can do with it. Salt does not reduce, therefore, if you need to reduce your stock for a sauce it will be to salty. Furthermore if you add salt, you may not be able to use ingredients high in salt with you finished stock. Salt can be added anytime in the cooking process with the same effect, so why limit ourselves to add it during the stock making process.