On Soup and Stock
Published in Tips and Notes
I’m not really a great soup maker, so didn’t think it necessary to make a separate section for soup. These are just the couple of regular recipes that I use.
The most important thing to remember is that the flavour of soup is hugely improved if you make and use your own stock, chicken stock being the most versatile as all it does is enrich the flavours of your dish. Very easy to do: don’t toss out the carcass of your roast chicken when you have finished it – put it into a saucepan, and add water to cover. Bring to the boil, and add a couple of carrots, an onion, a few peppercorns, 2 whole cloves and a bay leaf or two. Simmer for an hour or so. Strain and there you have your stock. This is the cheapest way of making stock. When I was catering, every week I jointed uncooked chickens, and always used the bony backs for making stock. Some butchers will sell you the backs.
Beef stock is made using brisket and/or shin slices with root vegetables and seasonings and vegetable stock with whatever vegetables you have on hand, but not strongly flavoured ones like cabbage, cauliflower etc. Of course, you can always cheat and just use a good quality stock cube or stock powder. Maybe not as good, but certainly very acceptable.
