The (still) Underrated (as in waaaay underestimated) Importance of Stocks and Broths

Stock is an essential part of every cook's kitchen

Get this straight: you’re not gonna make a great dish with a broth that comes from a powder, be it a cube or in loose granules; nor one that blumbles out of a can or bottle or box you bought on sale, 3 for the price of two, last November. You gonna have to make it yourself. Which is pretty darn simple and easy.

Stock is made from combining meat, poultry or fish with vegetables and cooking the broth slowly to pull out flavor (it can be made of course in many ways depending on what flavors you’re looking for.) In Western countries the vegetables commonly used are onions, celery and carrots but there are certainly others, say, leeks, mushrooms, tomatoes, pumpkins, cabbage or even fruits sometimes, and then stuff like pea pods, parsely stems, paresan rinds or… you get the idea. It all depends on what you’re aiming for.

Stock freezes extremely well and can be stored for months so having stocks on hand gives you a wider palette of ingredients to create layered flavor in your dishes.

There is a distinction between stock and broth. Stock is made by using the bones in the liquid while broth uses meat instead. Stock is usually unseasoned while both is seasoned. (Note: this is a bit more of technical deal and depends on the kind of stuff you’ll be needing, ie do you want it clear and a bit less flavorful or cloudy and rich…)

Stock is used in soups and sauces and is an elevated essential part of French cuisine.

To learn more about stock try these articles

• Difference between stock and broth

• Stocks, Soups and Sauces

Note: we in the west are far too used to looking to French techniques. Many national Asian traditional cuisines make much better broths.

In this episode we featured a recipe from Giovanni called Scrippelle 'Mbusse which comes from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Scrippelle 'MBusse

To learn more about this dish, check out this article on its origins.

Another featured recipe was for a broth you might not think is possible, cheese broth made from Parmigiano Reggiano rind.

Vanessa features a recipe from her blog that is from the new Stanley Tucci book - Taste