Make your own stock

Stock is probably the most important thing to do in the kitchen. So many recipes call for stock, and those little Knorr cubes of packed "MSG-in-disguise" powder come no where close to the flavour and depth of homemade stock. Plus it's super nutritious, full of easily available calcium and minerals. And it costs nothing.

There are recipes out there, but there's no hard and fast rules. It's basically bones (hence also called bone broth. instead of using carcasses, you can throw in a whole chicken or bits with meat too.) and water and time. I just have some tips:

1. To extract all the calcium and minerals from the bones better, let your bones sit in the cold water with a few tablespoons of vinegar added, for an hour or so, before bringing to the boil slowly.

2. Add chicken feet and neck for even more gelatinous broth! For pork bones, try pork trotters! When cooled in the fridge, it should gel like this:

3. Stock recipes usually call for leeks, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaf to be added. My mum adds garlic and ginger. Ah, only now I learn to truly appreciate my mum's daily bone broths/soups and the "shang tang" (superior stock) she uses to flavour everything she cooks.I add whatever bits and pieces of vegetables I have spare. I save the ends of carrots and celery etc in the freezer and then throw them into my stock. So it really costs nothing.

4. Simmer your bones for as long as you can. I leave it on overnight, till I can easily crush the bones. The broth after that is like..essence. Except if you use fish bones, then 2 hours is enough, else the stock turns cloudy.

5. You can do a huge batch at a time if you've got a big enough pot.

Then reduce it by half or more before storing so you don't end up having no fridge space at all. Just add water to it when you need to cook with it. Should keep for about 5 days.

Or freeze in portions you'll use, or in ice cube trays, then you got REAL stock cubes. Should keep for months.

That's it really! I have bone broths in some form at least every week. Might be in the form of proper soups, especially Asian soups (more particular about the vegetables/herbs added). Or in stews. Or as the cooking liquid in rice. Or in stir-fries.

Ok go make some stock!