280392 Thu Oct 20 09:56:47 -0700 2005 5 31 Home Cooking 0 1489478 Now that I have a real kitchen, I want to try making my own chicken stock. I've been saving chicken parts, onion scraps, etc. in the freezer, but was wondering if I could also use fennel scraps (the leaves and the stalks on top of the bulb) or if it would too intense a flavor for basic stock. Thanks! Thu Oct 20 09:56:47 -0700 2005 0 AppleSister 1 1489480 You can use fennel scraps- but your doubts are valid, too. Adding fennel will make your stock taste wonderful, but distinctively fennelish (fennel-esque?) so it will be great for most "European" style sauces- if, however, you wanted to use the stock for Asian applications, you might have some difficulties. Just as a quicky- don't add the leaves. Strip off as much of those feathery little dudes as you can- leaving the leaves on the produce results in a cloudier stock. If you're not making consomme or a broth-y soup, I wouldn't worry too much, but it may dull the finish of your sauces. I make my stocks with a few distinct mire poix notes as possible, but load up the clean stock with goodies when making sauces and broths. I almost always add fennel during those applications. Yummy! Thu Oct 20 10:06:22 -0700 2005 1489478 0 jdherbert 2 1489485 What a nice, thorough post. Thu Oct 20 10:31:59 -0700 2005 1489480 0 yayadave 2 1489504 Thanks for the tips! Thu Oct 20 11:54:34 -0700 2005 1489480 0 AppleSister 1 1489481 I would think that the fennel would be overbearing for most broth applications. Of course, it depends on what you intend to use it for - but unless it's something specific that can gain from the fennel, I'd leave it out. I simmer onions and carrots and a whole (raw) chicken cut up. If I want a really strong chickeny broth, I simmer another chicken in the broth from the first. A bit expensive, to be sure, but if you believe in chicken soup, you believe in chicken soup! Thu Oct 20 10:12:44 -0700 2005 1489478 0 applehome 1 1489519 If it were me and I had fennel scraps on hand, I'd throw them in. Part of the fun of homemade stock for me is tossing in whatever odds and ends I have and using up throw-away scraps. Be cognizant of proportions, but fennel can add a lovely dimension to veggie or chicken stock IMO. Doesn't hurt that I happen to love fennel too... Thu Oct 20 12:45:45 -0700 2005 1489478 0 Carb Lover