Homemade Stock - Worth the Effort?

lookitsjonno · 9 Jul 2011 at 22:19

never thought of freezing carcasses, will do this next time.

i just use the knorr stock pots which I find pretty good, the main thing about stock I hate is it stinks the house out.

TheDean · 11 Jul 2011 at 09:19

$loth said:
Because of the stock or the sell out?

made me laugh

-BA- · 11 Jul 2011 at 10:05

Ziddy1232 said:
My butcher actually sells fresh stock in sealed bags. It's £5 for 2 litres and doesn't take any effort on my part. I've bought it a couple of times, but most of the time I use OXO Stock cubes.

If you aren't cooking your own chickens at any point where you are left with the basic ingredients to make a stock then I can understand this. £5 for two litres is a lot of money for something that takes no time to prepare and not that long to cook if you you have got the bones from a roast however.

a1ex2001 · 11 Jul 2011 at 10:48

If we do a roast I'll make my own stock it costs very little takes next to no time and as others have pointed out makes things like paella and risotto taste a million times better.

lewism · 11 Jul 2011 at 20:11

I used to but have no room now anymore to do it. Hopefully in the future when I have a chest freezer i'll get round to doing it again. It really is no hassle to make, If you have a slow cooker that can fit the carcass it's even easier. Just leave it on while your at work and it's done when you get home.

Hairybudda · 11 Jul 2011 at 20:24

Roast bones, add stock veg to pot, add roasted bones, add whatever herbs you like, simmer for a few hours, refridgerate for a while and freeze.

Good if you have the stuff but stupid if you dont, buying it in is fine.

Jolteh · 12 Jul 2011 at 02:45

For the record, I did use my stock in the end.

Made a (I thought) pretty decent risotto bianco topped with some roasted summer veg. Was aiming for something lighter than the normal heavy risotto, which came out okay. I didn't add any salt since I was whacking a bunch of parmesan in there, plus the normal complaint about shop stock is that it's too salty. Anyway, the lass reckoned it was under-seasoned and added her own salt at the table, so it was a facepalm moment for me.

With the rest of the stock I made up some onion gravy for my favourite bangers and mash. It was nice, but it works just as well with the legendary marigold bouillon.

I think I'm gonna stick to decent shop stock. I know that making your own is really in vogue at the moment, because Jamie Oliver says it's cool, but boiling 5 litres of water on my stove for two hours is just too much for something I can get instantly and for pennies.

dannyjo22 · 15 Jul 2011 at 12:03

Jonny69 said:
On the flipside I've lost the taste for salty stock cubes, especially the Knorr ones which are way too salty.

After my son was born and started eating solids I was careful to reduce the salt intake in his diet, as he would be eating the same as us. If I need quick stock now I use the low salt ones for babies/children. Far better and much lower in salt.

I buy those lower salt ones as standard now.