Make Your Own Stock - It's Easier Than you Think!

I find it really satisfying to make my own stock, for soups in the Winter, but also for casseroles, gravies, risotto and any other recipe that requires stock.  I know that using home made chicken stock made all the difference to my Mexican rice.  I bought a bag of beef bones and a chicken frame from the local supermarkets.

For the beef, I cut up onions, celery carrots and bunged in some zucchini for good measure (we have LOTS of zucchini)and put it into a baking dish .  Topped it with the beef bones and drizzled with olive oil then roasted in the oven at about 180C (fan forced) for a couple of hours, watching carefully to make sure it didn't char too much, turning the bones over once or twice.  Then I took it all out and put it into a pot, before adding a little water to the baking dish and deglazing, tipping that into the pot as well.  I added some thyme, parsley, bay leaves and pepper corns and simmered for hours.  Three will do it, and I topped it up with more water as it simmered.

 For the chicken stock I just put the chicken frame into a pot with onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, parsley, thyme and peppercorns and simmered as with the beef.  Once it was done I strained the liquid into bowls and refrigerated overnight to let the fat settle.  The beef had hardly any fat, but the chicken forms a nice layer on top that is easy to skim off.  Then I packaged it into containers in varying amounts and labelled and into the freezer they went. 

I added only a little salt.  Commercially prepared stocks have way too much sodium content and God only knows what else.  Making your own guarantees that you know exactly what you are eating and tastes so much better.  I just thaw it out in the microwave when I need to use it.  The beef bones cost me about six dollars, the chicken frame about $3.50 and everything else I had in the house or the garden.  I got about 3 litres of stock from each.