Stock Basics

Cooking Skills: Soups and Stocks 1

Chapter 1 · Stock Basics

Skill goal

Make a clear, flavoursome stock by simmering gently, skimming and cooling it safely.

The basics

Stock is flavoured water. Bones or vegetables give up their flavour into cold water over time, and a good stock is the base of almost every soup, sauce, stew and risotto. Start in cold water so the flavour dissolves slowly and the proteins rise as scum you can lift off; heat it slowly to a bare simmer (small bubbles breaking now and then); and never let it boil hard, which makes it cloudy and greasy.

Don't add salt: stock gets reduced and seasoned later, and a salty stock cannot be rescued. Use cheap vegetables, trimmings and bones, strain it, and cool it fast, because stock goes off quickly (see the safety box). A vegetable stock needs about 45 minutes, chicken 2 to 3 hours, and ham 2 hours. Cooking Skills: Vegetables 1, chapter 6 used stock in a first soup; here you make the stock itself. For the sauces that use stock see Cooking Skills: Sauces 2, chapter 1.

Figure 1. Cover, heat, skim, strain: the four steps of every stock.

The method

Start in cold water, with just enough to cover the ingredients by about 3 cm.
Bring slowly to a bare simmer, then turn the heat low so only a few bubbles break the surface.
Skim the scum (grey foam) in the first 20 minutes with a spoon, and the fat at the end.
Leave it unsalted, and don't stir it, which clouds it.
Strain, cool in shallow containers within an hour or two, then chill or freeze in portions.

Stock	Main ingredients	Time (approximate)	Keeps
Vegetable	Onion, carrot, celery, leek	45 minutes	2 days chilled, 3 months frozen
Upgraded cube	Low-salt cube plus trimmings	20 minutes	2 days chilled
Chicken	Carcass, onion, carrot, celery	2 to 3 hours	2 days chilled, 3 months frozen
Ham	Ham hock, onion, carrot	2 hours	2 days chilled, 3 months frozen

Hot pot, stock safety and allergens

Hot pot and hot steam: a big pan of simmering stock or soup is heavy and scalding. Keep the handle turned in, use a ladle rather than pouring, lift the lid away from your face, and keep children and pets out of the kitchen while you move it.

Cooling and keeping stock: stock is an ideal place for bacteria to grow. Strain it, then cool it quickly in shallow containers or an ice bath, chill within 1 to 2 hours, and use within about 2 days (fish stock within 1 day) or freeze it. Never leave a big pot to cool slowly on the hob or worktop overnight. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.

Allergens in soup and stock: celery is one of the 14 major allergens and is in most stocks and stock cubes. Check cubes for celery, gluten, milk, soya, mustard and sulphites, and tell guests what is in the pot, because soup hides ingredients.

Bones in stock: strain stock through a sieve before it goes near children or anyone eating from it, because small bones come loose in long simmering. Cooked chicken bones splinter, so never give them to dogs.

Try it

Level 1 · Start here

Vegetable stock

1 hourabout 1.5 litresa clear stock from trimmings

The simplest stock and the best place to start. Use whatever is in the vegetable drawer, but avoid strong brassicas (cabbage, broccoli) and beetroot, which dominate or colour it. Leave the onion skin on for a golden colour.

Ingredients (about 1.5 litres)

2 onions, quartered, skin on
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 leek, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 bay leaves
6 parsley stalks
8 black peppercorns
2 litres cold water

Put everything in a large pan with the cold water and bring slowly to a simmer.
Simmer very gently, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes, skimming off any foam.
Strain through a fine sieve, press the vegetables lightly, cool in shallow containers and chill or freeze in portions.

Hot pot and storage

Level 1 · Cheat

An upgraded stock cube

25 minutesabout 500 mladding body to a cube

A cube is a salty shortcut, but 20 minutes with a few vegetable trimmings makes it taste like a stock. Make the cube up weaker than the pack says, and taste before you add salt to anything it goes into.

Ingredients (about 500 ml)

1 low-salt stock cube (chicken or vegetable)
600 ml water
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1 onion, halved, skin on
1 bay leaf
4 parsley stalks
4 black peppercorns

Crumble the cube into the water, add the vegetables, bay leaf, parsley and peppercorns, and bring to a simmer.
Simmer gently for 20 minutes, then taste and add more water if it is still salty.
Strain and use at once, or cool and chill for up to 2 days.

Salt and allergens

Stock and salt: stock cubes and bought stocks are very salty. Use low-salt cubes, make them up weaker than the pack says, and do not salt a stock at all: it will be reduced or seasoned later, and a salty stock cannot be fixed.

Allergens in soup and stock: celery is one of the 14 major allergens and is in most stocks and stock cubes. Check cubes for celery, gluten, milk, soya, mustard and sulphites, and tell guests what is in the pot, because soup hides ingredients.

Hot pot and hot steam: a big pan of simmering stock or soup is heavy and scalding. Keep the handle turned in, use a ladle rather than pouring, lift the lid away from your face, and keep children and pets out of the kitchen while you move it.

Level 2 · Chicken

Chicken stock from a carcass

3 hoursabout 2 litresskimming and simmering bones for body

After a roast chicken, never bin the carcass. Break it up and simmer it with vegetables for a rich stock that sets to a jelly when cold, which is the sign of a good one. Strain it carefully, because bones break up in long simmering.

Ingredients (about 2 litres)

1 chicken carcass (cooked or raw), broken up
1 onion, halved, skin on
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs thyme
8 black peppercorns
3 litres cold water

Put the carcass, vegetables and herbs in a large pan, cover with the cold water and bring slowly to a simmer, skimming the scum for the first 20 minutes.
Simmer very gently, partly covered, for 2 to 3 hours. Do not let it boil.
Strain through a fine sieve, cool quickly, chill, and lift the set fat off the top before using or freezing.

Raw chicken, bones and storage

Raw chicken and carcasses: keep raw chicken and carcasses on their own board and plate, away from food that won't be cooked. Wash your hands, boards and knives in hot soapy water afterwards, never rinse raw chicken under the tap (it splashes bacteria around) and cook stock bones thoroughly.

Bones in stock: strain stock through a sieve before it goes near children or anyone eating from it, because small bones come loose in long simmering. Cooked chicken bones splinter, so never give them to dogs.

Hot pot and hot steam: a big pan of simmering stock or soup is heavy and scalding. Keep the handle turned in, use a ladle rather than pouring, lift the lid away from your face, and keep children and pets out of the kitchen while you move it.

Cooling and keeping stock: stock is an ideal place for bacteria to grow. Strain it, then cool it quickly in shallow containers or an ice bath, chill within 1 to 2 hours, and use within about 2 days (fish stock within 1 day) or freeze it. Never leave a big pot to cool slowly on the hob or worktop overnight. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.

Level 3 · Ham

A ham stock from a hock

2 hours 30 minutes plus soakingabout 2 litrestaming a salty ingredient

An unsmoked ham hock makes a deeply savoury stock, but it is salty. Soak it overnight, boil it for 10 minutes and tip that water away before starting the stock proper. The meat is lifted off and kept for the split pea and ham soup in Cooking Skills: Soups and Stocks 1, chapter 5.

Ingredients (about 2 litres)

1 unsmoked ham hock (about 1 kg), soaked overnight in cold water
1 onion, halved, skin on
2 carrots, chopped
2 bay leaves
8 black peppercorns
2.5 litres cold water

Drain the hock, cover with fresh cold water, boil for 10 minutes, then drain and rinse. This removes most of the salt.
Put the hock back with the vegetables, bay, peppercorns and the 2.5 litres of fresh cold water. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 2 hours, skimming.
Lift out the hock, strain the stock, cool and chill. Shred the meat when cool enough and keep it for soup.

Salt, hot pot and storage

Stock and salt: stock cubes and bought stocks are very salty. Use low-salt cubes, make them up weaker than the pack says, and do not salt a stock at all: it will be reduced or seasoned later, and a salty stock cannot be fixed.

Hot pot and hot steam: a big pan of simmering stock or soup is heavy and scalding. Keep the handle turned in, use a ladle rather than pouring, lift the lid away from your face, and keep children and pets out of the kitchen while you move it.

Cooling and keeping stock: stock is an ideal place for bacteria to grow. Strain it, then cool it quickly in shallow containers or an ice bath, chill within 1 to 2 hours, and use within about 2 days (fish stock within 1 day) or freeze it. Never leave a big pot to cool slowly on the hob or worktop overnight. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.

Bones in stock: strain stock through a sieve before it goes near children or anyone eating from it, because small bones come loose in long simmering. Cooked chicken bones splinter, so never give them to dogs.

Experiments

Experiment

Cold or hot water start

Clarity.

Make two small stocks, one starting in cold water and one in hot.

Look for: The cold start gives a clearer stock; the hot start sets the surface proteins at once and gives a cloudier result with less flavour.

Experiment

Simmering or boiling

Appearance.

Cook two pots of the same stock, one at a bare simmer and one at a hard boil, for the same time.

Look for: The boiled stock is cloudy and greasy; the gently simmered one is clear and clean-tasting.

Experiment

Salted or unsalted

Control.

Salt one half of a small stock at the start, and reduce both by half.

Look for: The salted one becomes far too salty when reduced; the unsalted one can be seasoned to taste.

Experiment

1 hour or 3 hours

Depth.

Taste a chicken stock at 1 hour and again at 3 hours.

Look for: At 1 hour it is thin and light; at 3 hours it is rounder, richer and sets to a jelly when cold.

Tasting notes

What I tried	Method or amount	What I saw	What I thought	Will I do it again?
Vegetable stock
Upgraded stock cube
Chicken stock
Ham stock
Cold or hot water start
Simmering or boiling
Salted or unsalted
1 hour or 3 hours

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	What to do
Cloudy stock	Boiled hard or stirred	Simmer gently and don't stir; strain through a cloth
Weak, watery stock	Too much water or too short	Use less water and simmer longer, or reduce it
Greasy stock	Fat not skimmed	Chill and lift off the set fat
Bitter stock	Strong brassicas or burnt vegetables	Leave out cabbage and broccoli; keep the simmer gentle
Too salty	Salted at the start or a salty cube	Don't salt; use low-salt cubes and water it down
Stock smells sour	Cooled too slowly	Throw it away; next time cool in shallow containers

Stock safety, storage and allergens

Cooling and keeping stock: stock is an ideal place for bacteria to grow. Strain it, then cool it quickly in shallow containers or an ice bath, chill within 1 to 2 hours, and use within about 2 days (fish stock within 1 day) or freeze it. Never leave a big pot to cool slowly on the hob or worktop overnight. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.

Stock and salt: stock cubes and bought stocks are very salty. Use low-salt cubes, make them up weaker than the pack says, and do not salt a stock at all: it will be reduced or seasoned later, and a salty stock cannot be fixed.

Allergens in soup and stock: celery is one of the 14 major allergens and is in most stocks and stock cubes. Check cubes for celery, gluten, milk, soya, mustard and sulphites, and tell guests what is in the pot, because soup hides ingredients.

Checkpoint: can you do this now?

I start a stock in cold water.
I can keep a stock at a bare simmer.
I can skim scum and fat.
I can cool and store stock safely.
I know why I don't salt a stock.

Next chapter

Cooking Skills: Soups and Stocks 1, chapter 2 is Brown, Fish and Other Stocks: roasting for colour and making short stocks.