"stock" news and stories

Stop! Before you pour a bag of noodles into your carefully crafted soup, read on!

Before I started making stocks and soups, I falsely assumed that tasty broths were just naturally clear. Then I got my mom to show me how to make her post-Thanksgiving turkey broth. The taste was there, but so was the fat, and that less tasty looking gelatinous goo that came from chilling it in the fridge.

But what about consomme? Michael Ruhlman's latest post details how to turn that homemade stock into a delightfully clear consomme. I plan to test this once Thanksgiving hits, if I can pull myself out of turkey hangover and find the drive.

If you have experience with the art of consomme, is this how you do it? What are your techniques?

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.

Want an easy way to keep stock on hand at all times? Freeze it like ice cubes.

Have you guys discovered the blog Wasted Food yet? I ran across it about a month ago and it's become of the sites I look forward to seeing pop up in my reader with a new post. It's not always a happy site, in that it is devoted to raising awareness about the amount of food that we, as Americans, waste. But it is always interesting, well-written and helps me look at food from fresh perspectives.

Earlier this week, Jonathan wrote a post about how he made a pot of stock with some leftover chicken bones and a few aging veggies. He decided to make stock because it was one more way in which he could walk his talk and attempt to reduce the amount of waste in his personal food cycle. I thought it was interesting, because I rarely think about making stock as a way to reduce wasted food. I make stock because it tastes good and has the power to improve the taste of nearly everything you add it to. It was nice to be reminded that I was doing something right each time I turn the remains of a roasted chicken into a pot of stock or chicken soup.

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