made from ingredients that you already have on hand, is an easy project—one that creates a base for soup, stew, roux, jus, gravy, or anything else that calls for broth. You simply let the ingredients sit and simmer until the house smells good, and then strain the liquid. Once I saw how effortless the process was—and how much better the results were—I chided myself for having bought the commercially made version for so long. When you start making your own stock, you’ll resort to the store-bought variety only in emergencies (such as the imminent arrival of unexpected dinner guests!).
There are essentially two main varieties of stock: meat and vegetable. Although in our kitchen, we most often use chicken, beef, and vegetable stock, I’ve noticed more exotic versions—such as clam and mushroom—on grocery-store shelves. Stock is a simple cooked infusion of flavors that is used as a base for, or to enhance, other foods. You make stock with what is left over from meal preparation—what you otherwise would typically throw out.
Homemade stock is healthy. As you cook vegetable stock, the vitamins and nutrients from the leaves, peels, and ends of vegetables are drawn out into the broth. Likewise with meat stock—the extended cooking time releases the valuable nutrition in the bones and marrow, presenting the latter in a palatable form. My kids would never consent to eating marrow, but they like foods made with meat stock, and they get the benefits of the marrow’s high iron content while enjoying what they’re eating.
Our friends Jeff and Cindi taught us to put the vegetable trimmings from our daily meal preparation in a freezer container—I include meat bones in ours—until we’ve collected enough to make a batch of stock. If you use whole fresh vegetables, the cooked parts left after your stock is prepared can go directly into a soup.
Materials/Ingredients:
•Medium to large stockpot
•Colander or strainer
•Optional: Cheesecloth
•Optional: For freezing—canning jars or freezer containers; for refrigerating—sealable rigid containers
Vegetable Stock: Vegetables, whole or trimmed, any or all of the following:
•Carrots, including roots, ends, and peels
•Onions, including bulbs, skins, and peels
•Garlic, including cloves and skins
•Celery, entire stalks with leaves
•Potatoes, including tubers and peels
•Scallions (wash root ends if still attached)
•Shallots, including bulbs, skins, and peels
•Herbs (bay leaves, rosemary, sage, parsley, basil, oregano, thyme), fresh or dried, complete branches or leaves only
•Seasonings to taste
Meat Stock: Use the ingredients list for vegetable stock, plus anything remaining from the carcass, such as:
•Bones
•Skin (from poultry)
•Meat (cooked or raw)
Step 1: Put all of the ingredients except seasonings into the stockpot. Add enough water to cover everything (if you’ve steamed your vegetables, you can save the water and use that) and bring to a boil.
Step 2: Once the contents are boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer and let the stock cook slowly, covered. While it is simmering, add salt and other seasonings to taste.
Step 3: Cook vegetable stock for at least an hour; cook meat stock longer, especially if you’re using raw scraps. Stock is one of the few dishes that I feel comfortable leaving on the stove for hours; it’s one of those rare dishes that cannot be overcooked. The longer it’s on the stove, the more the flavor is enhanced.
Step 4: Remove the stock from the heat. Strain it through a mesh strainer or colander to get rid of any bones or any big chunks of vegetables or meat, and reserve the liquid. For a clearer broth, strain the liquid a second time through cheesecloth.
Step 5: If the strained vegetable and meat pieces are usable, chop them up for soup; otherwise, compost or throw away the vegetable matter, and throw away the meat and bones.
Use or store the stock right away. You can refrigerate it in a glass jar or plastic storage container for up to a week. For longer storage, pressure-can the liquid in jars (refer to Project 10 in this section, Canning and Pickling) or freeze it, leaving room in the containers for expansion.
Voilà! You’ve just taken what would have otherwise been garbage and turned it into something delicious that can be used in many more meals.
Some trimmings, herbs, and water are essentially all you need for delicious homemade stock.
Project 2: Homemade Pasta
Why would you want to do this? Fresh pasta cooks faster and is superior to its dried counterpart in taste and texture. Making pasta is a great medium for creativity in the kitchen once you’re used to making the dough.
Why wouldn’t you want to do this? It takes more time than grabbing a bag or box of store-bought noodles from the pantry.
Is there an easier way? A pasta rolling machine makes the process much more consistent. It usually comes with cutters for certain types of pasta. The machine and any additional attachments you may want are expensive.
How is this different from the store-bought version? Homemade pasta has a different “mouthfeel” and taste than dried pasta, and you need to cook it carefully so it doesn’t become overcooked and gummy (the recommendation of cooking pasta al dente comes from cooking fresh noodles).
Cost comparison: This recipe makes 1 pound of pasta (enough for our family of four) and the ingredients cost less than 1 pound of fresh packaged pasta.
Skills needed: A comfort level with cooking from scratch or a willingness to experiment and deal with a few initial failures.
Learn more about it: Making Artisan Pasta (Quarry Books, 2012) by Aliza Green offers inventive tips and tricks.
The Italians have been making pasta for countless generations. It doesn’t take as long as you might think, and it makes a huge difference in the taste of your meal. Store-bought fresh pasta is a high-end delicacy, but you can save yourself the trip to the market.
I’ve got to confess that pasta-making is my husband’s territory. I still occasionally rely on dried store-bought noodles, but when I’m putting together a special dinner or just don’t want to run to the store, I make the pasta from scratch and am always impressed by what it adds to the meal. With practice, you’ll discover how easy the process can be and how tasty the results are.
Traditional pasta is made from hard-grained wheat called durum wheat. The flour is a semicoarse grind called semolina; finer grinds are called durum flour. (Under Italian law, dried pasta must be made from semolina.) When making pasta from scratch, you can use either semolina or plain white flour—the latter is what we call bread flour—or a mixture of both. My husband uses whatever is on hand.
Semolina-only noodles will be chewy, more like a packaged dried pasta when cooked. Pasta made with bread flour alone can be gummy if overcooked, but when cooked properly, the texture of this pasta is more delicate than that of pasta made with semolina only.
Flat Noodles
Materials/Ingredients:
•Mixing bowl
•Rolling pin (or wine bottle)
•Knife or pizza/pasta cutter
•Optional: Mixer with dough hook
•3 large eggs
•2 cups flour
•2