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amazon_syren) wrote2012-11-02 11:10 am
amazon_syren) wrote2012-11-02 11:10 am
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Home-Made Duck Stock - Version 2.0
So. The Kowloon Market, which is the neighbourhood's Big Grocery Store, sells duck at their prepared-food counter. Two pre-cooked, deliciously seasoned duck legs for about $3.50. It's awesome. I've been known to pick up two or three packages at a time and that'll do the protein part of our dinners-for-two for a couple of evenings (plus maybe a lunch or something) for a good portion of the week.
You can (or at least could, immediately after the full moon closest to Autumn Equinox) get a whole, roasting duck for ~$12.00. Which is not that much more expensive than a roasting chicken from Hartmann's or Loblaw's or something.
So, as you can imagine, I've had a fair bit of Duck Bones lying around of late. Consequently, I've been starting to make my own soup stock.
I kind of love having a slow-cooker. The ammount of stuff I make in it is kind of nutty. It wouldn't shock me if I wound up making yoghurt in it (using the "keep warm" setting) in the not-too-distant future.
But. Duck Stock. Basically, you make stock by throwing in whatever bits and pieces you happen to have lying around. Here's what's gone into the version that's just started to simmer in the slow-cooker now:
~*~
1 whole duck-carcass skeleton + the bones from 4-6 duck legs
12 (or so) small nasturtium leaves (from our garden)
10 onion-chives (likewise from our garden)
5 tiny leaves of rainbow chard (likewise fro what's still hanging on in our garden)
1 scarlet-runner bean (likewise from our garden)
2-3 green beans (from Ghost's parents' garden)
1 very tiny red pepper (likewise from Ghost's parents' garden)
1 granny-smith apple that probably froze in the back of the fridge at least once
6 (or so) strips of rutabaga
1/2 C left-over red wine (that might have been on its way to vinegar, though I'm not sure)
4 garlic scapes cut into 1" lengths
3 woody stalks od basil, w/ seed-pods (from our garden)
5 bay leaves
1 tsp dried rosemary
1-2 tsp black pepper
1 pinch of cinnamon
10 very small cherry tomatoes (half of which came from our garden post-frost, and half of which came from a friend of Ghost's NPPP)
I'm inclined to add:
2-3 baby carrots
1-2 collard stalks (the thick ends)
~*~
And that should make for a tasty stock.
I'll give it a sampling in a few hours, to see how the broth is shaping up, and figure out what needs to be added. (I'm guessing a little bit of tamari or marmite, plus some maple syrup or molasses, but that's an early guess and it may be fine without).
I'll probably also break up a few of the bones at that time, so that the marrow can find its way better into the broth.
I've used my other home-made stock (duck + chicken bones, and Whatever Was Lying Around) as a base for (a) beef bourginion (esque), and (b) slightly-French onion soup. That latter involved the additons of sesame oil, molasses, and balsamic vinegar, fyi.
It works.
I tend to make 6-8 C of fairly concentrated stock at a time (size of slow-cooker, but also size of fridge) and assemble the ingredients for the next batch (in the freezer) while I use up the current one. I find that 2C stock (I store it onld pasta sauce jars, typically) plus 2-4 C water makes a suitable base for two people worth of soup.
I'm hoping this particular stock (duck lends itself well to strong flavours, being a fatty, strongly flavoured bird to begin with) will be pleasantly spicy and - thanks to my over-cooking the roasting duck[1] - nicely meaty/rich as well. I find that it, like pork, combines well with "sweet" flavours like apple, maple, and cinnamon. Which is handy. But it also goes really well with earthy flavour like rosemary, mushrooms, and thyme (and, yes, maple).
Next time I roast a duck, I will probably do it a little differently, in order to render as much of the fat out of it as possible. I like to keep some duck fat on hand for cooking, since it's quite a lovely consistency. :-) I will, again, save the bones for stock - but I may also try throwing some pork bones in as well (as we've got some pork chops in the freezer at the moment). We'll see what this does to it in terms of flavour.
Aaaaaaaaaaand, yeah. That's my rambling on making duck-based soup stock. Huzzah! :-)
TTFN,
Amazon. :-)
[1] I cooked it for four hours. That was too long by a good hour, at least. Next time I roast a duck (possibly next week?) I'll have to make sure it's fully thawed when I start the cooking, and then cook it for less time. I mean, yes, the skin was lovely and crispy. But the meat on the wings was pretty-much jerky with bones in it. So they went into the stock pot very nearly whole. O.O
You can (or at least could, immediately after the full moon closest to Autumn Equinox) get a whole, roasting duck for ~$12.00. Which is not that much more expensive than a roasting chicken from Hartmann's or Loblaw's or something.
So, as you can imagine, I've had a fair bit of Duck Bones lying around of late. Consequently, I've been starting to make my own soup stock.
I kind of love having a slow-cooker. The ammount of stuff I make in it is kind of nutty. It wouldn't shock me if I wound up making yoghurt in it (using the "keep warm" setting) in the not-too-distant future.
But. Duck Stock. Basically, you make stock by throwing in whatever bits and pieces you happen to have lying around. Here's what's gone into the version that's just started to simmer in the slow-cooker now:
~*~
1 whole duck-carcass skeleton + the bones from 4-6 duck legs
12 (or so) small nasturtium leaves (from our garden)
10 onion-chives (likewise from our garden)
5 tiny leaves of rainbow chard (likewise fro what's still hanging on in our garden)
1 scarlet-runner bean (likewise from our garden)
2-3 green beans (from Ghost's parents' garden)
1 very tiny red pepper (likewise from Ghost's parents' garden)
1 granny-smith apple that probably froze in the back of the fridge at least once
6 (or so) strips of rutabaga
1/2 C left-over red wine (that might have been on its way to vinegar, though I'm not sure)
4 garlic scapes cut into 1" lengths
3 woody stalks od basil, w/ seed-pods (from our garden)
5 bay leaves
1 tsp dried rosemary
1-2 tsp black pepper
1 pinch of cinnamon
10 very small cherry tomatoes (half of which came from our garden post-frost, and half of which came from a friend of Ghost's NPPP)
I'm inclined to add:
2-3 baby carrots
1-2 collard stalks (the thick ends)
~*~
And that should make for a tasty stock.
I'll give it a sampling in a few hours, to see how the broth is shaping up, and figure out what needs to be added. (I'm guessing a little bit of tamari or marmite, plus some maple syrup or molasses, but that's an early guess and it may be fine without).
I'll probably also break up a few of the bones at that time, so that the marrow can find its way better into the broth.
I've used my other home-made stock (duck + chicken bones, and Whatever Was Lying Around) as a base for (a) beef bourginion (esque), and (b) slightly-French onion soup. That latter involved the additons of sesame oil, molasses, and balsamic vinegar, fyi.
It works.
I tend to make 6-8 C of fairly concentrated stock at a time (size of slow-cooker, but also size of fridge) and assemble the ingredients for the next batch (in the freezer) while I use up the current one. I find that 2C stock (I store it onld pasta sauce jars, typically) plus 2-4 C water makes a suitable base for two people worth of soup.
I'm hoping this particular stock (duck lends itself well to strong flavours, being a fatty, strongly flavoured bird to begin with) will be pleasantly spicy and - thanks to my over-cooking the roasting duck[1] - nicely meaty/rich as well. I find that it, like pork, combines well with "sweet" flavours like apple, maple, and cinnamon. Which is handy. But it also goes really well with earthy flavour like rosemary, mushrooms, and thyme (and, yes, maple).
Next time I roast a duck, I will probably do it a little differently, in order to render as much of the fat out of it as possible. I like to keep some duck fat on hand for cooking, since it's quite a lovely consistency. :-) I will, again, save the bones for stock - but I may also try throwing some pork bones in as well (as we've got some pork chops in the freezer at the moment). We'll see what this does to it in terms of flavour.
Aaaaaaaaaaand, yeah. That's my rambling on making duck-based soup stock. Huzzah! :-)
TTFN,
Amazon. :-)
[1] I cooked it for four hours. That was too long by a good hour, at least. Next time I roast a duck (possibly next week?) I'll have to make sure it's fully thawed when I start the cooking, and then cook it for less time. I mean, yes, the skin was lovely and crispy. But the meat on the wings was pretty-much jerky with bones in it. So they went into the stock pot very nearly whole. O.O