Soup and Stock Making 101

I love soup any time of year, and could definitely eat it everyday. But in the winter, I think soup nourishes more than just the body. Even the process of soup-making is therapeutic. I love stirring the pot, inhaling the aromatic steam, especially if the day outside is particularly gray and foreboding. For homemade soup, there are a few extra steps involved, but once a pot of soup is bubbling on the stove, it needs little more attention--just an occasional stir and taste. Since almost all soups benefit from being made ahead, busy families should be especially appreciative of the one-pot wonder. Most soups freeze well, instantly creating future lunches and dinners.

I made soup as a child, tossing in ingredients left and right, never knowing just what I might create. Most of those early soups, I admit, were not really edible, but they were great fun to make. After my failed attempts to make something "mmmm" good, I would usually open a can of trusty Campbell's. My first real success was a homemade chicken noodle soup, followed by a classic French Onion Soup. That was 20 years ago (yikes), and I have made hundreds of soups since then. But those remain my favorites to this day.

During my early-adult-soup-making years, I noticed how chef's stressed using homemade stock. I often pondered that as I opened up a can of broth, or dissolved another bullion cube in water.

Finally, after reading yet another thesis from a chef on the importance of homemade stock, I relented. I would try it from scratch, and do a taste comparison. My favorite French onion soup seemed a good candidate for the test. Though I had made the soup with both beef and chicken stock, I decided to test the soup with homemade chicken stock, then use the same batch of stock on my chicken noodle soup recipe.

Making stock, as with most kitchen tasks, can be as labor intensive as you would like it to be. Many cookbooks demand you roast chicken bones. Others say to use only the wings, which have the most flavor. Some require constant skimming of the chicken scum (yuck) that constantly rises to the surface, and others say if you boil the stock, you have ruined it, and might as well throw it out altogether. Well, this is real life, not life at the CIA (not the secret agents, but the Culinary Institute of America).

I read scores of recipes, and devised one that required the least amount of effort possible, while still producing a tasty, rich stock. One that will absolutely add depth to your soups, stews, sauces, and gravies. I like to make a huge pot of stock, then freeze portions in one or two quart containers. I label them with the date, and thaw whenever I need them.

I tend to make more vegetable stock than chicken, mostly because I almost always have the ingredients on hand. Vegetable stock is extremely versatile, and can be used in place of chicken stock in most recipes. Though it might seem odd, the quantity and type of vegetables you use does matter. Too many carrots, for example, will result in a sweeter stock. Throw a few mushrooms in, and except for mushroom soup, the mushrooms would overpower most other soups and sauces. Don't even think about using cabbage, an excess of celery, or strongly flavored greens.

Adlen Robinson is a free lance food writer and columnist. Feel free to send her an email with your questions at [email protected].