Kitchen Scrap Stock - A multi-purpose ingredient

A weekly ritual that I am really starting to get in the groove of accomplishing is the creation of stock. The more things that go into the pot to be simmered down, the more delicious an end product you end up with.

Bones, veggie scraps, dried spices and time create a useful kitchen ingredient that will serve me until I can create a new batch.



Stock creation is a great way of using up kitchen leftovers and scraps. After I filter the solids from the newly made stock, the solids get added to the compost to be useful one more time. My general combination to create stock are chicken bones, onion scraps, celery scraps, carrot scraps, garlic, and lots of water.

To make stock you follow the rough process of...

1. Get a big pot.
2. Put ingredients in the pot and fill rest of pot with water.
3. Simmer covered for as long as possible (12-16 hours).
4. Scoop out solids (dispose of to compost) and simmer uncover to reduce and concentrate deliciousness.
5. Turn off heat when reduced to your liking. Pour through cheesecloth into mason jars and refrigerate.

Some less-than-obvious stock ingredient I enjoy

1. Whole peppercorns
2. Bay Leaves
3. Dried mushrooms (Wood ear)
4. Fresh Herbs (Whatever is on hand but rosemary is lovely)
5. Little bit of apple cider vinegar.



I generally remove the solids from the stock with a spider strainer and then pour the liquid through a layer of cheesecloth as it goes into jars to be eventually refrigerated.

One of my favorite uses for finished kitchen scrap stock include cooking rice in stock for a flavor boost. There are a lot of places where you can swap water for stock and really kick up your recipes a notch.

I have observed a few things through my history of making and improving my stock.

1.Onion skins give a lovely golden-amber color to stock. Don't go overboard unless you are fine with a DARK end product.

Stock made with lots of onion skins.

2. Tomatoes give a nice depth to the finished product. If tomato is out of season and not on hand, you can cheat with a little bit of tomato paste. I always have tomato paste in my freezer so I can take a hunk and add it in.

3. Don't be afraid of roasting the bones before making stock with them. Sometimes before I do anything, I will heat up the pot itself and 'cook' the bones/meat scraps a little before assembling the rest of the stock.

Simmering stock

I toss all clean scraps into bags in the freezer and when this one drawer gets full enough to be annoying (like now) then I make stock. I usually do 90 minutes in the pressure cooker instead of all day on the stove. This one will be heavy on onion, carrot, and asparagus.

I put the vinegar in while the bones are still in the stock pot.  (I only use stainless steel pot.)

If they are very clean, chicken feet which a rich source of collagen.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I put the vinegar in while the bones are still in the stock pot.  (I only use stainless steel pot.)

If they are very clean, chicken feet which a rich source of collagen.

Thekla, why do you add the vinegar?  And why only use a stainless steel pot?  Hope I can find some local chicken feet.  I have used them before and they are great!

5. Little bit of apple cider vinegar.

[Why do you add the vinegar?

J Gustafson wrote:
5. Little bit of apple cider vinegar.

[Why do you add the vinegar?

Allegedly, adding an acid to the pot will aid in extracting all of the 'goodness' in bones and cartilage into the stock.  I'm a little skeptical on the effectiveness of such a small amount of vinegar in so much liquid material but I know for a fact that it does not have any negative effects on the end stock product. It doesn't hurt to do it in my book. I think adding acid into the taste profile helps create a more complex experience which is a nicce plus. I suppose you could sub in lemon juice and get a similar effect.

It is my bias.  All kinds of manufacturers make cookware out of all kinds of substances.  It’s too hard to keep track of it all, with new creations every day.

I have seen new materials entering the marketplace only to be declared unsafe a few years later… so I just don’t bother with new inventions unless I am interested in doing a lot of research.

Acids dissolve aluminum, and many question the health of aluminum in our diets.

In recent conversation, I have been advised that if I can get my hands on chicken feet that they add a lot of collagen to stock. While I am not going to go out of my way to purchase some, I am planning on keeping an ear out for friends/family who might be processing birds in the future who may not utilize them.

I wonder if pigs trotters might be similar? Just more pork forward?

Timothy Norton wrote:In recent conversation, I have been advised that if I can get my hands on chicken feet that they add a lot of collagen to stock. While I am not going to go out of my way to purchase some, I am planning on keeping an ear out for friends/family who might be processing birds in the future who may not utilize them.

I wonder if pigs trotters might be similar? Just more pork forward?

🤣
Yes, I think if you could get pigs feet they would also provide lots of collagen and gelatin

Thekla McDaniels wrote:

Timothy Norton wrote:In recent conversation, I have been advised that if I can get my hands on chicken feet that they add a lot of collagen to stock. While I am not going to go out of my way to purchase some, I am planning on keeping an ear out for friends/family who might be processing birds in the future who may not utilize them.

I wonder if pigs trotters might be similar? Just more pork forward?

🤣
Yes, I think if you could get pigs feet they would also provide lots of collagen and gelatin

My dad used to love pickled pigs feet, and swore they helped his arthritis.

My chickens eat all the kitchen scraps or I would use the scraps in stock.
I usually do large batches of chicken soup, like when I replace my old chickens with young ones,. Like 25-30 chickens at one time.
A bit of vinegar, salt onions, carrots, celery, and into the pressure cooker they all go. The most unpleasant is the soggy skins. I'm seriously considering peeling the chickens once I know they are going into chicken soup.
Once the chickens fall apart, I put on some gloves and go about pulling all the meat from the bones. I toss the skin in the scraps although a friend suggested frying the skins and then add them to the stock. I see where it would add plenty of flavor but I have not done it. I cut the chickens in bite-sized pieces and make a big batch of soup. I put chickens in pints to be processed and I always have plenty of "stock".
Since the whole process takes a couple of days, I can also cook down the stock and process it with the pints of chicken soup [The time is the same for chicken soup and chicken stock.]
Sometimes, I add the veggies to the chicken, but sometimes not.