In Australia our pre-made stock is fairly average. The stuff you buy at supermarkets like coles and woolworths anyway. The powder stocks and cube stocks are no good really either.
Do any Australian members know where to get some nice stock? Or do you just make your own and freeze it or something?
I am looking for a source for nice stock for reduction suaces etc.
Hi Knight76,
You can make your own beef, lamb, fish and chicken stocks.
Stocks can be white (chicken, fish, veal, lamb) or brown (beef, veal, lamb). It all depends upon what you do the bones before adding water. In addition, how long you cook each stock for is important.
For example, if you have access to fish bones and heads then to make a stock you cook these with some onion (sliced), carrot (sliced) a bit of celery (? yep - sliced) literally a slice of onion, a small carrot sliced and enough celery to sit on your pinky and boil for 20-30 minutes. Strain and reduce or freeze for further use, depending upon how you might use it. For example, a concentrated fish stock, boiled down can be frozen in an ice cube tray, packed in a bag and reconstituted at a later date. Concentrated - it takes up less room in the frezzer and adding water at a later date when you decide to use it should not be a problem.
A chicken stcok you can do in one of 2 ways - brown the carcasse of a roasted chicken and vegetables and add sufficient water to cover and simmer for a 2/3 of hours. Strain, reduce if space is a problem and freeze. Alternatively, place the chicken/carcasse in a pan with vegetables (carrot/onion/celery) and boil for 2/3 hours, strain and cool rapidly and then freeze.
For red meat stocks, brown the bones over a high heat or in the oven, place in a large pan, add liquid and vegetables to flavour and cover by a couple of inches and cook for 4/5 hours in a covered pan on a gently simmer. Strain, reduce (if you want/need to) and freeze for further use. Avoid adding any seasoning as any further reduction will result in the intensification will concentrate any salt or pepper added to the stock.
To reduce the heat of a stock quickly, place a very clean pot/roasting tin in the freezer 30 minutes to 1 hour before the end of the cooking time. Place the hot stock in this. What you are looking for is something which has a greater base area than depth which wil reduce the heat of the stock quickly.
Hope this helps,
Archiduc
