Thrifty, easy, and flavorful: Making your own vegetable stock from scraps wins the Triple Crown of home cooking. The basic method and idea couldn't be simpler — it really is just veggie trimmings and water — but consistently good, balanced flavor begins with knowing your scraps well and prepping them for the pot.
Saving Vegetable Scraps for Stock
I save prepped scraps in two separate, clearly labeled, freezer bags, divided by the primary flavor profile they contribute. Vegetable peels don't need prepping before they're frozen, but larger scraps should be chopped into small pieces, roughly 1" in size. When I'm ready to make a batch of stock, I grab equal portions from each bag.
Vegetables that add sweetness include carrots, parsnips, golden beets, fennel, corn cobs, pea pods, and leftovers of previously roasted vegetables.
Vegetables that contribute savory bass notes include onions, leek tops, mushroom stems, spinach, chard, squash peels.
Not all vegetable scraps should meet their fate in the stock pot. A couple — red onion skins, red chard stems and red beets — will tint the stock purple. If you're planning to make borscht or other richly colored dishes, it won't matter, but a violet-tinted mushroom risotto isn't very appetizing.
The starch in potato skins can turn stock gummy, while all members of the cabbage family (this includes cauliflower, collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and all varieties of cabbage and kale) add unpleasant bitterness.
A few are a little more subjective. I avoid all types of peppers as well as zucchini; although I love their flavor in soup, I find that they make stock bitter. I also avoid carrot tops, which I find both bitter and soapy tasting whether they're raw or cooked. Plenty of cooks like them (pesto is their most common use), but there is a sizeable anti-carrot-top club, so taste and decide for yourself. If you like them, add them to your savory vegetable scrap bag (see above.)
This recipe can easily be doubled or even quadrupled, just keep the scrap mixture evenly divided between the 2 groups. While the Parmesan rind is purely optional, it adds wonderful, cheesy depth to the flavor.
With a basic formula of 2 cups chopped vegetable scraps to make 1 quart of stock, it's easy to scale depending on how much you want to make. Other than water and your frozen scraps, you need very little to complete cooking except for a quick sauté. You can do this in the same pot you'll simmer the stock in.
Sauté to Deepen Flavor
A small amount of fat — olive oil, in this case — goes a long way to enrich a stock's flavor. Sautéing the scraps together for a few minutes before adding the water gives depth to the final stock that will be noticeably lacking if you ignore that step. Think of it like browning meat at the beginning of a beef stew recipe: Sure, it's possible to skip it, but developing the meat's color early makes all the difference in the final flavor. In the case of vegetables, it jump-starts the process of melding their flavors so the simmer is more about concentrating their essences rather than extracting them in the first place, while the richness from the olive oil helps those flavors melt in your mouth rather than wash away in the water.
Optional Add-Ins
The most flexible optional ingredients include garlic, fresh or dried thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns. I frequently add a splash of white wine, or an even smaller splash of cider vinegar, for a touch of acidity that will make the other flavors pop. For richness, and if I don't aim to be vegan with my stock, I'll add a small chunk of a non-waxy aged cheese rind, like Parmesan, manchego or Asiago.
To Salt or Not to Salt
I prefer to lightly salt my stock while making it; I do it consistently so I never have to note "unsalted" on the label if I've frozen my prepared stock, and I don't have to greatly adjust the salt amounts in whatever final dish I'm creating with the stock. If you avoid salt for medical reasons or a palate preference, it's fine to leave it out.
More Vegetable Stock Options
Another thing to remember when thinking of thrifty and flavorful cooking liquids: Plenty of recipes call for draining a can of beans, vegetables, or fruit. Many have terrific flavor and body, and are worth the minimal effort of pouring into an ice tray or small container and freezing for later use.
Personal favorites include the sweet, fresh-tasting liquid from canned corn, and savory black or pinto beans, which adds body along with flavor. Any and all canned tomato liquids are also handy. If you buy seasoned ones, separating by Italian flavors and Mexican flavors before freezing — you've got an instant base for future pasta sauce or chili.
Stovetop -add the vegetable scraps to a large pott, then add enough water until the scraps are about 1″ above the water line. Cover the mixture, then cook on low to medium-low heat for a minimum of three hours. depending on the seal of your pot lid, you may need to add extra water if it starts to evaporate too quickly.
Remove the tops/bottoms/skins/stems from any vegetables you are preparing (avoid vegetables like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, or cauliflower as they will add a bitter taste to your stock) and place them in a ziplock bag - they can stay frozen up to 6 months. Note: You can add many other vegetable scraps (think sweet!)
and make your own stock cubes. Use any vegetable peels, stalk, leaves, or any leftover veggies. Roughly chop them down, add to a pan with herbs, salt, spices and cook until most of the moisture evaporates. Now blend until you get a smooth texture.
Save those vegetables that may have lost their crunchy appeal for a flavorful veggie stock. Even if stored properly, celery and carrots may become floppy after some time, but don't let them go to the compost. Throw in your onion skins, potato peels, and other veggie scraps from cooking to add more flavor to the mix!
Some vegetables just don't taste great in a stock! Cruciferous vegetables will get funky tasting, and seemingly mild vegetables like zucchini, green beans, and bell peppers can get bitter if simmered for too long.
Tomatoes and tomato skins: Some of my favorite leftover vegetable scraps to add are tomatoes and tomato skins. These pantry-classic ingredients add a bright and sweet flavor to any homemade broth. Vegetable peels: Nearly any vegetable peel will work in this flavorful stock recipe, from carrot peels to squash peels.
If you don't have bones or don't eat meat, no fear — the onion and garlic skins alone make a wonderful, flavorful vegetable stock. Just put them in a pot, cover them with water to about an inch short of the top of the pot, and simmer them gently for several hours before straining them out and saving the liquid.
Steer clear of any member of the brassica family; broccoli, cauliflower, kale and cabbage among others. These will ruin your stock with a sulphurous and bitter flavour. Softer vegetables such as potatoes or pumpkin are no good as they break down too easily, creating a cloudy stock.
Stock is generally made from bones, and broth is generally made from flesh. In both cases, they are often supported with aromatic vegetables, but in the case of stock, left unseasoned for maximum flexibility in recipes, whereas broth will usually contain at least salt and pepper.
Um, as you're cooking with stock, the the vegetable, the vegetables will release the nutrients and the flavor into the water and what you're left, um, what you're left to it is just kind of a mushy vegetable. It doesn't have a lot of taste.
Consider adding other vegetables and herbs to the stock, like mushrooms, eggplant, asparagus trimmings, corn cobs, fennel stalks and trimmings, bell peppers, pea pods, chard stems and leaves, celery root trimmings, potato parings, marjoram stems and leaves, and basil stems and leaves.
Omit scraps from cabbage-y veggies (aka cruciferous vegetables), but feel free to add squash and potato skins to the mix. Even scraps from veggies you usually eat raw, like lettuce or cucumber, can add body to a scrap broth.
Put vegetables into the stock pot with the beef scraps. Fill the pot with enough water to completely cover the meat and vegetables. Add two or three tablespoons of beef flavor base if using. Simmer the mixture on low for 4-6 hours, adding more water as needed.
Vegetable stock likely comes unseasoned, while broth usually contains salt and other seasonings. Vegetable stock is made with untrimmed, sometimes whole vegetables, while broth is made from trimmed, roughly chopped vegetables.
Wash any visible dirt off the vegetables and give them a rough chop. You don't even need to peel them first unless you really want to. (Some people even advocate leaving on the onion skins!) Throw all the vegetables in a pot big enough to hold them plus a few extra inches of water.
Introduction: My name is Greg Kuvalis, I am a witty, spotless, beautiful, charming, delightful, thankful, beautiful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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