Tip of the Day: Make stock and soup even easier!

by Monika Bartyzel, Posted Jul 9th 2008 @ 6:00AM

Soups and stocks are some of the easiest and tastiest ways to get into the world of cooking, but there are still tips that can make the experience even easier.

Crumpled eggs shelves whipped up with eggs whites, added to your stock, and brought back to a boil, will help clarify your stock before straining. Eggshells on their own do a decent job as well.
Dragging bread across the top of the stock can help soak up fat before it congeals, as does paper towel, floating lettuce in hot stock, or, in a pinch and done quickly -- ice cubes will attract fat particles before they melt.
If you want to thicken your soup, you can puree some of it and mix it back into the pot, or add some mashed potato.
Freeze onion skins and celery tops so that they're always on-hand.
Freeze meat drippings to add a little depth and flavor to soups when needed.
Throwing a raw potato into a pot of simmering soup can help remove over-salty flavors.
Adding a little vinegar to the water when making stock will pull out extra calcium from your chicken or turkey bones.

Newbie tip to never forget: ALWAYS boil the noodles before you add them to soup. Years ago, I learned the hard way, when hours of work went down the drain as the noodles soaked up all of my chicken stock.

Filed Under: Tip of the Day, Ingredients
Tags: salads, soup, soup tips, SoupTips, stock, stock tips, StockTips