Homemade Unorthodox Stock

Before
Originally uploaded by whatstepheats

What I Did Yesterday With All My Freezer Bones

Yesterday I made stock from all the bones in the freezer. They were starting to scare my boyfriend, with whom I happily cohabitate. I can't say that I blame him - he knows I'm not normal, but all those baggies of bones can raise the question of just how far off the beaten path I've gone.

Plus, it was deceiving. The freezer looked full, but it wasn't exactly full of things to thaw for dinner!

Genesis of My Decision to Save Bones in the Freezer

Over the past year or so, I started saving chicken bones in a freezer bag until there were enough to boil away for a few hours with some herbs, garlic, and onion ends (and carrots and celery if they are on hand). The results are amazing - far and above any of that canned, cubed, or boxed crap they sell on supermarket shelves. It's true what has been widely said in the 'foodie' community: water is better than store-bought imitation stock.

What I Did Differently This Time in My Stock-making

This time, I did something quite unorthodox. On a rather recent trip to Hong Meas, a Cambodian-influenced pan-Asian restaurant in East Providence which I frequent and love (and about which I've written before http://whatstepheats.blogspot.com/2008/10/hong-meas-combination-rice-noodle-soup_25.html), the lovely owner Sofia told me a secret of her magic broth. She uses not only chicken bones, but a combination of whatever meat bones she has on hand, which mostly includes pork.

This caused me to start saving pork bones from all the takeout bbq ribs we've been eating from United BBQ, which opened a couple of months ago and now delivers.

I understood the risks involved. This method could have made a stock that tasted like bbq, which obviously would not be good!

Results of My Unorthodox Stock-making Approach

But that didn't happen. What did happen was something wonderful, and something I would definitely do again. I think it's important for the chicken bones to outnumber the pork rib bones, and in this instance I felt some brightening was called for, which came in the form of fresh cilantro (mostly stems).

It can definitely be argued that I am certifiably nuts, but what cannot be argued is the quality of my stock results. I only wish I had as much command over the stock market as I do the stock pot!