Chicken and Beef Broth

There are some simple tricks you can use to improve the taste of your meals. One of those tricks is to make use of broth where a recipe calls for water. Restaurants do this a lot. Broth is flavored stock which is gotten from boiling meat, fish, poultry or recently, vegetables, in water. A lot of recipes like risotto call for the use of a lot of broth. While they are now readily available in grocery stores, most of them are salty and contain a lot of foreign ingredients. You can make your own broth at home by using chicken or beef bones which are very inexpensive. This is how it is done:

INGREDIENTS:

(1) Beef or Chicken Bones. You can also use Chicken Necks and Backs

(2) Vegetables (Onions, Garlic, Celery, Carrots, Leeks, et ectera)

(3) Herbs (Thyme, Rosemary, Bay Leaf, Parsley)

(4) Black Peppercorns

(5) Water

(6) Salt

(7) Bouillon Cube (Optional)

PROCEDURE:

(1) Wash bones and place in stock pot.

(2) Wash vegetables and roughly chop into chunks. Add to stock pot. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you have at home.

(3) Add some whole black peppercorns and a bouquet garni (Herbs tied together in a bunch)

(4) Season with salt and bouillon cubes if using.

(5) Fill stock pot with enough water to cover bones and vegetables and bring to a boil. When it starts boiling, reduce heat to medium in order to achieve a rolling boil. Boil for 45 minutes – 1 hour.

(6) Strain liquid from bones and veggies . There you have it: your homemade flavorful broth.

NOTE 1: You can make use of veggies in soups or gravy.

NOTE 2: In order to extract oil from broth. Keep in fridge for some hours. The oil floating on top of the broth will solidify. It can then be scooped out.

NOTE 3: A useful tip I have learnt through the years is to keep my veggie “waste” and use for broth. Simply keep onion peels, veggie roots, etc in a freezer bag and freeze. Keep adding to this bag. When you have enough, you can use these to prepare your broth. Be sure to wash your veggies properly before processing if you wanna adopt this method of storing for both purposes.

Do you prefer Fish Stock? I have a HOW TO post on that here.

About Terry Adido

Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.

shurlar says:

April 3, 2014 at 12:29 pm

OMG ….Terry U are a genius. U wowed me at “keeping the veggies waste’ ….i couldn’t have ever thought of that .God bless
Thanks so much for this

Terry Adido says:

April 3, 2014 at 3:38 pm

Thanks. You are welcome.

vivian says:

April 4, 2014 at 10:06 pm

Thanks. So I can’t use the fleshy part of chicken/beef for this ie breast, thigh, etc?

Terry Adido says:

April 4, 2014 at 10:51 pm

You can use the fleshy parts but that might amount to waste, hence the use of the bones. In addition, the bones have more flavor than the meaty parts.