Stock recipes please

[Mistral]

Just bought my first stock pot - 12quart - would really appreciate fail safe recipes for Beef stock and chicken stock. Tips too!

I decided to ignore pressure cookers and slow cookers.

I am told one must not boil just let it simmer with one bubble.

[paulj]

A good place to start with stocks is using the left over bones from a roast chicken (or the Thanksgiving turkey). It can even be a store bought rotisserie chicken. Think of it as a way of extracting the remaining goodness from the carcass. The result may not ideal for a fancy consume, but should be good enough to serve as the base for a hearty chicken or turkey soup.

[John E.]

Making stock is more about technique than it is the recipe since the ingredients are all pretty much the same. Chicken stock is easy, here's a link to a decent recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/BASIC-CHICKEN-STOCK-50006190

Good beef stock does require roasting the bones and some of the vegetables. The only thing I do differently with beef stock than they do in this link is that once I've skimmed the stock and it is at a good simmer I put in the oven overnight to simmer at about 300. Here is a link to a blog (scroll down) that shows the way Julia Child did it:

http://passionatepastry.blogspot.com/...

Julia Child's book "The Way to Cook" is one of her later books with lots of photos. I have seen it in used bookstores. It includes the stock recipes along with many soup recipes. It is a good all around cookbook that contains mostly classic recipes.

[Mistral]

Many thanks for all the useful info .

John I have some of Julia's other books but not that one.
That is an excellent link.

[hannaone]

Here are some other threads to take a look at -
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/709510
http://www.chow.com/topics/709777
http://www.chow.com/topics/714443
http://www.chow.com/topics/604139
http://www.chow.com/topics/715373

[wattacetti]

Shaw Oliver is right: cooked or raw bones (I always roast bones for beef stock but don't necessarily do it for chicken) + cold water as the minimum two ingredients, followed by simmering and a lot of skimming. Your monkey can do this.

[Mistral]

Thanks - I am just a bit nervous this being the first time!

[wattacetti]

Just don't let it come to a full boil (ever) and keep skimming. it'll be fine.

[Shaw Oliver]

There are no real recipes for stock... in other words you can't go wrong unless you pour motor oil into it. For chicken stock take some scraps (back bone, necks, bones in general) add some water and simmer. That would be the simplest stock. Add in some vegetables like onion, carrot and a bit of celery and you have something a little more sophisticated. Add some herbs like bay leaf and spices like pepper and you start to develop more flavor.

You can see where I'm going with this - the choices are endless and are up to you. Truly, if you can boil water you can make stock so don't think it's complicated or that you need to follow a recipe.