SOUP STOCK STORAGE

If you decided to make up your own stock, you probably aren't going to use it right away.

I will usually make up stock after I have prepared a beef or chicken dinner that left me with some decent bones.

Just pour the finished stock into plastic containers and refrigerate immediately. It will keep fresh for a few days.

If you don't plan of using the stock for at least 6 days, place in the freezer after you have marked the container well.

You should be able to freeze it for 6 months.

If you find that you need smaller quantities of stock you can also freeze it in ice cube trays.

Once it is frozen, dump the trays into tightly sealed plastic containers or zip lock bags.

Each cube will be the equivelant of about a tablespoon of stock.

You can also freeze any left over stock from a can in this manner if you don't need all of it for your recipe.

MAKING STOCK

When you are making home made stock you do not need to measure everything or prepare everything perfectly.

Start your stock with cold water in a large pot.

When you are preparing your vegetables, you don't need to peel and trim them. You can just wash them and cut them up coarsley into about 1 inch pieces.

For the best flavor, simmer your stock. You don't want a rolling boil, the bubbles should move slowly from the bottom of the pot and burst just before they reach the surface.

When you are ready to strain the stock, don't try to pour it from the pot. Instead use a large measuring scoop or ladle and transfer the stock to another container that has a strainer removing the large pieces. This may take a bit loger, but it is worth the trouble and a lot less messier.

Try not to use any seasoning when you are making up generic stock. As you use it for a recipe then you can add seasoning as needed to suit your recipe.

SOUP STOCK SUBSTITUTION

If you have a recipe that calls for chicken or beef broth you don’t always have to make it from scratch.

Although home made tastes better, you can use any one of these commercial substitutions.

You can buy a can of beef or chicken broth to use in your recipe.

Some will need to be diluted before use so make sure that you read the instructions on the can first or your recipe may turn out too salty.

Instant boullion is usually my preference because it doesn't take up as much room for storage and I can make exactly how much I need.

I will always mix it up with hot water according to the instructions and then let it sit for about 20 minutes for the granuals to totally desolve and for the flavor to develop.

WHAT IS CLARIFIED STOCK?

You have a recipe that asks for clarified stock, but you have no idea what it is.

When you look at regular stock that may have just made, it is slightly muddy looking.

Clarified stock is a clear stock that you don't see any pieces floating aroung in.

If you have stock that needs to be clarified, it is very simple.

In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup water, 1 egg white, and 1 egg shell. Yes, don't freak out, you have to use an egg shell.

Once this has been thoroughly mixed, add it to your soup stock.

Bring your stock mixture to a boil then remove from the heat.

Let he stock stand for about 5 minutes. While your stock is cooling, lay a double thickness of cheese cloth over a larger bowl or pot than your stock pot.

Pour your stock in to the cheesecloth. Slowly pull up the edges of the cheesecloth and strain the liquid through the cheese cloth.

Your stock should now be clarified. If it is still a little opaque, simply repeat the process until the stock is clear.

EASY STOCK

The next time that you are making chicken for dinner, don't let the little pieces go to waste. Gather up the neck, the giblets, the tail and any other pieces that you may not use for your recipe. Refrigerate them until your dinner is completed.

After the meal, cut the rest of the meat off the bones and grab the remaining carcas as well as the pieces that you saved from the chicken before dinner and drop it into a medium sized stock pot and add about 4 cups of water.

Bring to a boil and add about a half a cup each of onion, carrots and celery.

Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Let simmer for a few hours until all of the meat is tender and falling off the bone.

Let the stock cool and strain off all the bones and bits of meat or fat. Pour the stock into ice cube trays and freeze.

Now just drop the ice cubes into a bag and when you need some stock for flavoring just pull out as many as you need!

CREAM OF VEGETABLE SOUP

You always grab a cup of soup and lunch, but home made cream soup is so easy to make that you can make up a large batch and have plenty for a meal or a quick snack anytime. First you will make a broth of 1 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/2 cup onion, and whatever vegetable that you prefer from below. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for the amount of time per vegetable listed below. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes or so. Place 1/2 the mixture into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Pour into a large bowl and repeat with the remaining broth. In the now empty saucepan melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add 2 tablespoons of flour. Let the roux cook for about 30 seconds, then add 1 cup milk. Whisk well and continue to simmer until the mixture is bubbling and beginning to thicken. Pour in your blended stock and mix well. Continue to cook over a simmer until the mixture is bubbling and thick. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Don't get to gung ho with the salt though. Add about 1/8 tsp at a time, and cook for at least 3-4 minutes until adding more. Salt will become overpowering very quickly. Serve hot.

COLD SOUP SERVICE

You have found a great recipe for cold soup but you don't know really how you should serve it.

Cold soup is great on a hot day as an appetizer or a with a main dish.

Make sure that the bowls or cups that you serve the soup in is thoroughly chilled before serving and allow about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of soup per serving.

MATZO BALLS

You have heard of Matzo balls but you never really knew what they were.

They are simply a different kind of dumpling.

They are super simple to make and a nice change of pace for your soup or stew.

Matzo is a ground Jewish leavened bread. You should be able to locate Matzo meal in larger grocery stores in the baking aisle or a Jewish market.

In a large bowl combine 2 Eggs, 1/2 cup Matzo meal, 1/4 cup Club Soda, 2 tablespoons Rendered Chicken fat (Chicken drippings) and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix until it has a smooth consistancy.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

This will help all the ingredients to blend and become more flavorful.

Finish making your soup or stew and just before serving, drop the dough from a tablespoon into the liquid.

You will have about 8 good sized dumplings. Cover your pot and simmer for about 30 minutes with out lifting the lid.

Serve hot with your soup or stew and enjoy!

RICHER STOCK

You have just had a great dinner of turkey or chicken.

You are preparing the bones in a pot to make some stock.

When you are adding your liquid, go ahead and throw in any left over gravy that you might have from your dinner.

It will add an extra kick to the stock that you are preparing.

FREEZING SOUP

When you are making up large batches of soup to freeze, you can try this little trick for soup that is easier to store and reheat.

Grab a large coffee can that is empty and place on your counter.

Place a large zip lock bag into the can.

Pour in your soup that has been cooled and seal the bag.

Now place the soup, can and all in the freezer.

Once the soup is completely frozen, remove the bag from the can and place back in the freezer.

Your can is now ready to use again.

SOUPED UP SOUP

For a quick and easy variety with your soup, don't just cook up white potatoes. Add a couple of diced up sweet potatoes for some extra kick!

GRAVY TIPS II

The hardest thing to tell with gravy is how much to make. The general rule of thum is to make about 1/3 cup of prepared gravy for each person.

If you have gravy lovers like in my house, I will bump it up to 1/2 cup as you can never have too much gravy!

For each cup of gravy you will want 1 tablespoon of fat, 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 cup of broth.

Heat your fat over medium heat in a sauce pan large enough to hold the amount of gravy that you are making.

Reduce your heat to medium low and remove the pan from the heat to add the flour.

Using a wire wisk, blend the flour well into the fat and return your pan to the heat.

Let cook for 3-4 minutesstirring often with your wire whisk until golden brown to light carmel in color.

Add about 1/3 of your broth and remove from heat.

Whisk the mixture well until all lumps have been removed.

Return to the heat and add the remaining liquid.

Increase heat to medium and bring to just a boil for at least 2-3 minutes.

The gravy will thicken as the mixture cooks.

Taste and if needed you can season with some salt and pepper, don't forget to let the mixture cook for a few minutes after the addition to blend the flavors well.

Place your gravy into a bowl or a gravy boat to serve.

If you will not be serving the gravy immediately, place a piece of plastic wrap over the surface, actually touching the gravy to keep a film/crust from forming. You can then remove the wrap and reheat in a microwave or reheat in a pan on the stove over medium heat.

KEEPING GRAVY WARM

As you found out that when you serve gravy it thickens while it cools. Toward the end of dinner you can sometimes find a congealed glob that really isn't that appetizing or pourable.

The next time that you serve gravy for a large dinner, try serving it in a fondue pot. The heat from the candle or burner will keep your gravy warm and pourable.

Just make sure to keep it away from the decorative centerpiece or it could catch on fire!

GRAVY TIPS I

When making gravy a few simple things can help to make it a success. First, start with drippings from your bird. This will give your gravy a richer taste that will blend more than if you use butter or margerine.

Flour is a necessity but don't use "quick dissolving" or "cake" flour. Your gravy will not set up correclty as there is not enough protein to give your gravy that nice texture.

Whenever possible use home made broth, but you will get equally pleasing results using canned broth. In a pinch you can make up some instant broth although the flavor will not be quite as rich.

To make the gravy you will make a roux with the fat and the flour before you add the liquid. You need to make sure that you cook the roux long enough to remove the "flour" taste. Make sure that you cook it at least 3-4 minutes at a medium-low temperature. If you cook it too hot, your roux will burn before you can get rid of the raw flour taste. You will know that the roux is done when it has changed color to a golden brown to a caramel brown and you can smell a slightly nutty fragerence.

When adding the liquid to the roux, remove the roux from your heat source and add about 1/3 of the liquid to the roux. Using a wire whisk, vigerously beat the liquid into the roux until there are no lumps visible. Return your pan to the heat source and add your remaining liquid. Using the whisk, continue to stir the mixture to prevent lumps. Let simmer, stirring often for at least 10 minutes.

The gravy will thicken a bit on cooling, so don't keep adding flour because you think that it is not thick enough.

CREAMY SAUCE

Making the perfect sauce is not so hard to do. With these few simple suggestions you can make smooth sauce every time.

When you are making sauces with a corn starch/flour base, place the cornstarch/flour in a small bowl.

Stirring vigorously add enough cold liquid to form a thick paste.

Slowly add the cornstarch/flour slurry to your hot sauce mix.

Once the cornstarch/flour is combined with your sauce it must be stirred constantly with a wire whisk or rotary “egg” beater.

Continue cooking the sauce over low-medium heat unless otherwise directed by the recipe that you are preparing.

Cooking any sauce at too high of heat or for too long can cause most sauces to curdle or break down.

If you have to step away from your sauce for any reason while it is cooking, remove it from the heat.

Once you come back, return the sauce to the burner and continue to cook.

Most sauces will thicken, as they cool, so don’t cook too long!

EASY SOUP FIXINGS

Keep a couple of large containers in your freezer for leftovers.

Use one for meat scraps and bones and the others for vegetables.

When you have leftovers, just drop them into the appropriate container and keep frozen until ready for use.

When you are ready to make some soup, just grab your containers and use your scraps and bones for making broth, and the veggies for adding in after the broth is made.

Now all you have to do is add some spices and noodles/rice and you have instant soup!

GREASY SOUP

You are making up some soup and just as you are ready to serve it you notice that there is some fat floating on the top of it. You don't want to serve it that way, but skimming it off with a spoon is not working. How are you going to get all that fat off before you finish it and serve it?

Grab a piece of cheesecloth and place a couple of ice cube in the center and tie it off.

Now just drag the cloth over the surface of the soup and the fat will stick to the cheese cloth.

The ice will cool the fat enough to make it solidify a bit and stick to the cheese cloth like magic!

Now just toss the cheese cloth and finish preparing your soup!

WHAT TO GO WITH SOUP

You are having soup for lunch today, but it looks rather bland. You want a little something to spice it up. Try any one of these idea's to make it more appealing.

To make some savory toast, lightly butter as many pieces of bread as you think you will need. Sprinkle each buttered slice with garlic powder or onion salt. Using a pizza cutter or knife, cut each bread into strips, triangles or squares. Sprinkle each piece with finely grated cheese and place on a baking sheet. Toast in a toaster oven or bake in a preheated 350º oven for 4-7 minutes just until cheese starts to melt.

To make some savory crackers, grab a package of saltine crackers. Spread soft butter on as many crackers as you think that you will need. Sprinkle each cracker with garlic powder, onion salt, celery seeds, paprika or any other spice that might compliment your soup. Brown in toaster over or a preheated 350º oven for 3-6 minutes.

SOUR SPAGHETTI?

If you have made up a batch of spaghetti sauce and you found that it tastes a little bitter, you can add some brown sugar to sweeten it up.

Add a tablespoon of brown sugar at a time until desired sweetness has been reached.

To prevent Tomato Sauces from becoming bitter, cook on medium heat. Tomato Sauces will often become bitter if you over heat it.

LUMPY GRAVY

You have just invited the in-laws over for you’re first home cooked meal for them. You are making gravy, and you notice that it is lumpy!

Easiest fix is just to dump the gravy in the blender and puree.

If the gravy is too thick, dilute with broth or water a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

If the gravy is too thin, combine ¼ cup flour with ¼ cup cold water and mix well. Add the water/flour slurry to the simmering gravy a tablespoon at a time, and let cook for at least 2 minutes before adding more. Continue adding until desired consistency is achieved.

Remember, as Gravy cools down it thickens, so don’t make it too thick before serving.

SAVING HOLLANDAISE

You are making Hollandaise Sauce, and you left it for just a moment and now it is separating.

To re-combine the ingredients, remove the pan of sauce from the stove and place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Gently whisk the ingredients making sure not to splash any water into the pan.

Once the mixture starts binding together again, return to the stove over low heat and reheat slowly and serve immediately.

SAUCEY PUDDING

If you get tired of having the same old desserts night after night, try dressing up an old favorite.

Pudding is very versatile. Just keeping a couple of extra boxes of instant pudding on hand can help you create fun and unique desserts for your family.

Make up the recipe of pudding as normal, but add in an extra ½ cup of milk or so per large box of pudding. This will make a yummy sauce that you can pour over fresh fruit or cakes.

HOLLANDAISE HELP I

You are making Hollandaise Sauce, and you left it for just a moment and now it is curdled.

To make it smooth again add 2 tablespoons of water per ¼ cup of hollandaise, and whisk well until smooth.

SALTY SOUP

You are making soup for dinner and you taste the soup, not enough salt. So, you add some more. Still not quite right, add some more. Ooops! You have to start over again! Too much!

This is actually an easy fix. Just peel and dice a raw potato and throw it in. Let it simmer for 15-20 minutes and then pull out the potato pieces. The starch in the potato will absorb salt from the broth. If it is still too salty, repeat until desired taste is reached.

Unfortunately if you are on a timeline, this will not work out too well. You can try removing some of the liquid and replacing the liquid with water or stock.

BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER

After preparing broccoli or cauliflower florets, set aside the stem trimmings.

Peel the stems, then julienne or dice and add to your favorite soup, salad or stir fry.

You can freeze them in freezer containers for future use for up to 3 months.

Leftover Turkey Soup

This soup is so easy to make within a few days after you have a turkey dinner.

After you have finished cleaning the meat off the bird and storing for other uses, refrigerate the bones (carcas) over night or for a couple of days. I will usually cook the neck with the turkey, but hold it out just for the soup.

In the morning sometime within the next couple of days, grab a large soup pot (with a lid) place 6-8 cups of water on to boil. Remove your turkey bones (carcas) from the refrigerator and place in the pot. Cover the pot with the lid and reduce the heat to a simmer. (it is OK if your bird is not totally covered with water) Let simmer for 4-6 hours. (bird will be submerged in the water at this point and if you try to stir it, it will fall apart)

Grab a colander and a large bowl. (large enough to hold all the liquid from your pot. Place the colander over the large bowl and CAREFULLY pour all of the contents from the soup pot into the colander. The colander will hold all the meat and bones. Place the colander onto a plate to catch any extra juices that may fall.

Pour the broth from the bowl back into the pot and place over medium heat. While the turkey bones are cooling, dice 1 large onion, 4 stalks celery and 4 carrots. Place in the broth and stir to blend. Add 1 tablespoon of chicken boullion. Let simmer for 5 minutes and taste. If you need to season a bit more add a bit of salt. Wait 5 minutes and taste again. Repeat with salt process to taste.

Place the lid on the pan and let simmer while you carefully begin to pull the meat from the bones. I will leave the trash can out and next to my right leg. I will grab a bone and pull the meat off with my left hand and drop the bones into the trash can on my right. Place the meat in a bowl. Once you have cleaned all the bones, gently pull the meat apart in the bowl checking for any missed bones. Place the meat into the pot and let simmer.

At this point the choice is yours. You can add dried pasta (about 2 cups) and cook according to package directions. Or you can make up some dumplings to cook in the broth.

Either way your family will appreciate the special treat!

Storing Soup

You have a ton of leftovers and you decide that the best way to use them up is to make some soup and freeze until you need it. Will all soups freeze the same? Here is some information that will help you learn how to store it.

Chicken, beef, or Turkey soups freeze exceptionally well.

When you get ready to freeze the soup do not leave in or use potatoes/rice/pasta. You can add them after you have reheated it. They can all get really mushy when frozen and reheated.

After you are done preparing the soup for freezing pour it into sever smaller containers. These may not be the containers that you freeze it in, it will just help it to cool faster to prevent bacterial buildup.

Once the soup has cooled to room temperature, pour into the containers that you will freeze the soup in. Leave at least 1" of space for expansion at the top of the container. This will keep the lid from getting blown off in the freezer as it finishes the freezing process.

If you are freezing bean soup, it may be super thick when you thaw it as they tend to thicken when you freeze. Be prepared to add some broth or liquid when reheating.

Make sure that you write the date that you freeze your soup on the container. You should not freeze for longer than 3 months.

Fish soups are best served fresh, and it is not suggested that you freeze.

Souper Soup

To add a bit of "tooth" to your next batch of Chicken Noodle Soup try this little tip.

Grab a small can of water chestnuts and coarsley chop them.

Drop them into your broth just before adding your vegetables.

Your tooth will have a bit of crisp crunch now when serving.

Rubber Clams

You are in a hurry making your clam chowder.

You used the microwave to make it and it seems that it turned out fine, but the clams are like little rubber bands. What happened?

When you microwave clam chowder, the microwave sometimes cooks the clams faster than the rest of the soup.

When you are making clam chowder from scratch in the microwave, add your clams just before serving and try not to microwave them except for just a minute or two.

Soup Saavy

When you are preparing soup, double your recipe when possible and freeze the extra.

This will allow you to make a quick and easy dinner on a night when you don’t have as much time to cook from scratch.

All you have to do upon serving is add a bit of cheese and fresh bread.

For extra fresh flavor, buy some chunks of fresh cheese and grate it over your hot soup just before serving.