Making stock for soup

[TheCarpetCleaner]

Complete beginner at all things soup - whats the best and easiest way to make a stock (which i believe is the base?) for a soup? Do these things come in packet form of some kind or is it best to make your own?

I want to lean towards spicey meat based soups - so what do the experts recommend?

Cheers

[Plotloss]

Depends on what you want in your stock but you can create a stock from chicken carcasses, beef bones, anything.

[BigAlinEmbra]

You can make your own, but unless you're cooking a big wodge of meat for lots of folk it's not worth the effort imo.
You can get dried stock in cubes or tubs or liquid stuff in cartons in most big supermarkets. Does the job usually. I'd start off with a ham stock for most soups.

[bigmanteebs]

Knorr stock cubes are very good for this sort of thing. You would be suprised how many michelin star chefs use this stuff

[AndyAudi]

Knorr Stock GRANULES, take a lot of beating (IMO)

But boiling up a chicken carcass after a roast gets you a decent stock, along with any onions etc you may have stuffed in the bird prior to cooking. Strain and perhaps remove some of the fat from the top if there is a lot. I made some georgous soup like this at the weekend by just adding a pile of mushrooms and some left over chicken meat to the stock then liquidising it.

[sleep envy]

Plotloss said:

Depends on what you want in your stock but you can create a stock from chicken carcasses, beef bones, anything.

why just use the carcass?

use half a chicken and boiling beef so you can have boiled meat for a separate dinner

add carrots, onions and celery too


eta - you can use the boiled meat to make capelleti too

Edited by sleep envy on Tuesday 18th March 22:57

[HiRich]

AndyAudi said:

But boiling up a chicken carcass after a roast gets you a decent stock, along with any onions etc you may have stuffed in the bird prior to cooking. Strain and perhaps remove some of the fat from the top if there is a lot. I made some georgous soup like this at the weekend by just adding a pile of mushrooms and some left over chicken meat to the stock then liquidising it.

Basically that. Or viewed another way
1) As you do your roast, you may drop an onion or extra carrot in the roasting dish
2) When you take the meat out to rest, start a new pot or saucepan. Bit of water to start, warm it up then leave it on a low heat.
3) Drain/Scrape off any excess (to what you want) from the roasting dish before you start making the gravy
4) As you carve the meat, drop any bones or mongy bits in the stock pot.
5) If you strain your gravy, drop the lumpy bits into your stock pot.
6) Put any leftovers (meat scrapings, spuds & veg, even the gravy) in the stock pot. Top up with water. Leave on a low heat while you eat, wash up, snooze in front of Time Team, etc. Taste, and add water to dilute if necessary.
When you get bored, turn it off and let it cool. You might want to chill it a little so you can remove the excess fat. Remove the bones, blitz it. Pour into pint pots (tip: start collecting them now, or panic as you run out mid-pour), you may or may not seive it depending on how lumpy you want it, then fridge or freeze.

[dougc]

Ice cube tray are pretty handy for storage, especially if you only intend to use it a bit at a time.

[Rude Girl]

When I do a Sunday roast, I put all the veg trimmings in the slow cooker , plus anything like the tops of celery, outside leaves of cabbage (hacked about a bit) that I'm not going to use in the week. After dinner, I add the bone from the meat/chicken carcass, water, and leave it on overnight. Next day I skim the fat, strain it and freeze the stock. No real effort at all and brilliant for soups etc later.

[MrsRotty]

Rude Girl said:

When I do a Sunday roast, I put all the veg trimmings in the slow cooker , plus anything like the tops of celery, outside leaves of cabbage (hacked about a bit) that I'm not going to use in the week. After dinner, I add the bone from the meat/chicken carcass, water, and leave it on overnight. Next day I skim the fat, strain it and freeze the stock. No real effort at all and brilliant for soups etc later.

That's exactly what I do - and it tastes lovely. Plus it doesn't need any extra seasoning because you get all the lovely flavours.