Quickest chicken stock by Marc Bittman

This recipe is taken from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, p46 ISBN: 0-4717-8918-6, published March 2006.

The recipe promises to be the quickest and simplest yet tastiest stock ever made. High praise for something so very simple. The complex notes of browned bones & cooked meets are not present, but the stock is very light in color and flavour--perfect for heavily spiced dishes and most soups, but probably not my favourite to use when cooking rice or polenta; where I'm more use to the complex notes of a roasted stock.

The recipe starts simple enough - wash a chicken, pat it dry and put it in a stock pot. My chicken had spent about a day too long in the fridge, so it definitely needed a bath. It was, however, completely thawed, and once washed free of the blood and inner organs - smelled much better. I patted it dry and dutifully put it in my largest stock pot. Note to self: I need a bigger stock pot.

I put the inner organs (lungs and livers) into a bag, labeled it, and put them in the freezer. The labeling is most important when freezing organ meats that, once frozen, may be mistaken for other foods (like, say hamburger). The whole oh-my-goodness-what-did-I-thaw-and-how-can-I-now-make-this-work scenario is just bad and should be avoided at all costs (especially when the cost to avoid it is about $2.43 - 1 permanent marker and 1 roll masking tape). Trust me on this. I speak from experience here.

The ingredients are what you'd expect for a stock (celery, carrots and onions). The spices (thyme, bay, salt, and parsley) are kept very light. I was surprised at the absence of pepper, but as tempted as I was to put it in, I didn't. I am so very proud.

As is my habit, I gathered all the ingredients together, prepped them according to the directions, then added them along with the water to the stock pot. I skinned the onions, even though you don't need to do this -- I decided I wanted to see how pale this stock was going to get. Adding onions skins to your stock will darken it (sometimes significantly). I just chopped the vegetables -- since they were not for serving, I wasn't careful in regards to regularity or shape. This, in part, is what makes this recipe so quick to make.

My pot wouldn't quite hold 14 cups of water; so I settled for 10 and was ready to add more water when/if the level reduced. I have three stock pots - all of which are about the same size. I've been told I already have too many pots and pans (and dishes, and kitchen gegaws, and kitchen appliances, and so on and so forth) so I strongly doubt bringing a *bigger* pot into the kitchen would garner any kind of approval. As I was preparing this I did wonder if I could make this in the crockpot instead of on the stove top (as my crock pot would easily hold the 14 cups of water + ingredients)... but my goal was to prepare the recipe as closely to as written as possible. So...

I put it on the stove, brought it to a very gentle boil, then covered it and reduced the heat. After a few minutes I realized why the instructions say cover but not completely. Once I got the over-boil cleaned up, I moved it to a new burner and started again. I am happy to say that there was no scum to remove from the top of the pot. Maybe because it was so croweded, or maybe it all came out in the overboil; I don't know. I've always hated skimming scum off the top of stock. It feels very wasteful, somehow.

The chicken boiled gently for about an hour. It made the house smell great. Because my pot was small, I flipped the chicken over at about the 1/2 hour mark and added some more water to the pot. The level of water didn't reduce as much as I thought it would; but then the gentle boil didn't produce a lot of steam.

There's lots of blog posts out there about how to make great stock. A common trend seems to be to really squeeze the vegetables when they're strained from the liquid. Following this advice, I set up three bowls. One for the stock (once strained), one for the chicken, and one for the vegetables.

I turned the left-over vegetables into a near puree inside my strainer; working them over until my hands ached and the remains were nearly bone-dry. While not very appetizing to look at, it did make discarding the vegetables easier, as by the time I was done there was very little liquid left to leak out into the trash and, eventually, onto my stocking feet; where, if there is any trash liquid, it is inevitably drawn.

I put the whole chicken in another bowl to sit and cool before skinning and deboning it. Note to self: patience is a lesson easily learned when the alternative is burnt fingers.

The chicken is still very tasty and moist and cooked through. I'll be using it throughout the week in other dishes and trying to remember to get the bits I don't use into the freezer before the week's end. Note to self: Waste not, want not.

I then covered the stock and placed in the fridge, where it quickly formed a skin. The stock is a pale golden color (I love my clear Pyrex bowls, ... and my blue Pyrex bowls, ... and well - I have a lot of bowls in my kitchen).

This recipe was indeed the simplest recipe I've ever followed to make chicken stock on the stove; but it doesn't differ very much from my method of making chicken stock in the crock pot (except there I use mostly cooked bones, necks, backs, and organ meats with a few choice vegetables and some seasonings... in other words - whatever's wilted in the fridge). For this recipe none of the vegetables were wilted--I even went out and bought fresh. For me this is pretty revolutionary.

I like having stock in my fridge/freezer. I love making soups and using it as a base for grain dishes (like the rice and polenta I mentioned previously), and in stir-frys or to deglaze a pan. Note to self: If freezing it in ice-cube trays again, this time remember to label the ice cube tray. Chicken stock in soda is ... unappealing.

Carnitas, my way

What follows is actually 2 recipes; the first takes a bit of preparation, and the second can be thrown together easily for a quick and delicious week night meal.

Beef brisket

This dish takes a bit of planning, but once made can be the source of several delicious meals.

Notes

There are tons of recipes like this out on the internet, and they're all about the same. Cover the meat with some kind of sauce, season to taste and cook until the meat's ready to fall apart. Most briskets are really fatty--but most of the fat dissolves into the sauce while cooking.

This recipe produces a very beefy-flavored beef brisket. It has no kick for a reason -- namely that, as the ingredient for other recipes, I wanted something fairly mild in flavor.

As always, season to taste.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 hours
Serves: 6-10

Equipment

• Chopping board and knife.
• Measuring cups and spoons.
• Deep frying pan with cover.
• Wooden spoon.
• Crock pot

Ingredients

1	Onion, roughly diced
3 cups	Chicken stock
1	Carrot, roughly diced
1 stalk	Celery, roughly diced (leaves included)
2 cloves	Garlic, skinned and chopped in half
1	Bay leaf
2 cups	Ketchup
1 teaspoon	Cumin
1 teaspoon	Oregano
1/2 teaspoon	Salt
1 teaspoon	Black pepper, freshly ground
1	green bell pepper, seeded and rougly chopped

Directions

1. Combine the ingredients in the crock pot.
2. Set on low and cook for 8-10 hours.
3. Remove the meat from the crock pot and pull it apart with 2 forks.
4. Reserve the liquid separately.

Carnitas Tacos

A great way to use up pulled beef, this quick and easy meal can be served dozens of ways (covered in sauce, fried, etc); but this is the recipe that works best for me.

Notes

Caramelizing onions is a neat trick to add sweetness to a dish, but it's not always necessary. If you're in a rush, just cook the onions until they are translucent.

You can use flour tortillas (or any kind of flat bread) for this dish, but I prefer corn tortillas (the non-deep fried not from El Paso kind).

I like to add my heat at the table (thus I serve this with salsa). Feel free to add some kick with a blend of chili pepper, red pepper flakes and a few drops of choice chipotle peppers or hot sauce.

As always, season to taste.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 with leftovers

Equipment

• Chopping board and knife.
• Measuring cups and spoons.
• Deep frying pan with cover.
• Wooden spoon.

Ingredients

1	Onion, finely diced
1/2 cup	Chicken stock
2 cloves	garlic, finely diced
1 teaspoon	Cumin
1 teaspoon	Oregano
1 teaspoon	Olive oil
2 cups	Beef brisket, pulled
1/2 cup	Beef brisket sauce
1 cup	Cheese, finely grated
12	Corn tortillas
2 cups	Salsa (optional)

Directions

1. Put the olive oil in the bottom of a cold pan and bring it to temperature.
2. Add the onions and stir to coat.
3. Cook until the onions have caramalized, reducing the temperature as needed to make sure they don't stick or burn. Stir often.
4. Add the garlic and herbs and cook until fraigrant.
5. Add the beef brisket and sauce, stiring to incorporate.
6. Add another teaspoon of olive oil in a second pan.
7. Warm a corn tortilla, flipping when pockets begin to form.
8. Fill the tortia with 3 teaspoons of the meat and sauce mixture.
9. Add a pinch of cheese and roll.
10. Place on a plate, seam side down.
11. Cover to keep warm.
12. Repeat until the beef mixture and/or the tortilla are gone.
13. Serve immediately with salsa.

Crockpot Hamburger Soup

Taken from: Recipe*Zaar. Recipe #133649. Posted by Kittencal; and Shirley Downey. Both recipes had good points to them, so I’ve combined them.

Equipment

• Measuring spoons and cups.
• Paring knife and cutting board.
• Can opener.
• Skillet (to brown the meat).
• Plate with paper towel (to drain the meat).

Modification/Notes
I keep consomme in my freezer whenever I can, store-brought broth can be used instead. Fresh tomatoes can be used, but you’ll have to dip them in boiling water to remove their skins before adding them to the recipe. I prefer to cut up my tomatoes before adding them.

Ingredients

2 lbs	hamburger
2 tablespoons	garlic, minced
1 large	onion, chopped finely
1 (28 ounce) can	tomatoes (undrained)
1 ¾ cups	water
30 ounces	beef consomme, undiluted
1-2 tablespoons	worcestershire sauce
10 ounces	salsa
5-6	carrots, chopped
5-6 stalks	celery, chopped
1-2	bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon	Each: thyme, oregano, rosemary, and basil
	black pepper, to taste
	grated Parmesan cheese, optional, to taste

Instructions

1. Brown the hamburger with the onion and garlic. Drain well.
2. Add in all remaining ingredients except the Parmesan cheese, and turn the crockpot on low for 6 hours (or high for 3).
3. Ladle into serving bowls and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh ground black pepper just before serving.

Meatball soup

Originally from the Relish! menu planning website, I modified the recipe to reduce the salt. I picked the recipe originally because it seemed straightforward and probably could be modified to work with the crock-pot. My first test of the recipe was a resounding success.

Version: 2.0
Serves: 6 (1 1/2 cups each)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Equipment

• Measuring cups & spoons.
• Cutting board & knife.
• Dutch Oven.
• Ladle.
• Stirring spoon.

Modification/Notes
The original recipe used canned beef broth and onion soup mix. Both taste good, but I wanted something lower in salt. So, I switched to chicken broth and real onion. I also reduced the amount of butter down to a tablespoon (from 2). I had 2 cups of rice (cooked in chicken broth) in my fridge - so I added it to the soup to positive effect.

Ingredients

• 38-ounces frozen meatballs
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 4 carrot(s), thinly sliced
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 26-ounces (6 cups) chicken broth, fat removed, low-sodium
• 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon fresh)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (or 1/2 teaspoon fresh)
• 1 bay leaf
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, freshly grated

Instructions

1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, melt 1/2 the butter.
2. Sauté the onion until the onion begins to become translucent.
3. Add the carrots and celery, and continue to sauté for 4-5 minutes or until softened.
4. Add all the other ingredients except the meatballs and the cheese.
5. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
7. Add meatballs; cover and simmer meatball soup 10 minutes longer.
8. Remove the bay leaf before serving.
9. Serve topped with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Saturday was just one of those days. Friday had been fine, but by not visiting the butcher's early, I was in a real bind. I hoped they'd have something called "pork butt shoulder roast", and having seen pictures of it -- I thought they might.

We usually call on the butcher by around 10 in the morning. The store-front's in a fancy 80's mini-mall, and always well lit. The butcher's a friendly guy who, after I asked for "3 pounds of pork butt shoulder roast" gladly walked me to the fridge section and pointed to a well-wrapped package. I picked one up. It weighted 1.795KG, which to my addled brain seemed about the right weight. It also had a bone in the middle of it - so I guess this was a "bone-in pork butt shoulder roast". It didn't look round, or very much like a Sunday roast; but I'm not the type to question the experts, at least not in their shop so close to the knives.

I bought it - along with other ingredients for my menu of the week.

Conscious of the time, we got home by 11, and everything was put away by around 11:30; so I dug right in. Onions and garlic are always at my house. The recipe called for 1 large onion, I used up 3 smaller ones who were waiting in the pantry. Unwrapping them always makes me cry, but a few minutes under the knife leaves the onions fanned out and reduced to bits. Six cloves of garlic were then smashed and disrobed by the same chef's knife. I found that very therapudic, although I doubt the garlic would agree.

The serrano chiles were frosty, but I ignored their attitude. I quartered 2 lenthwise, scraped out the seeds and diced them fine. The recipe calls for picked jalapeno peppers - but I don't like pickled peppers and I'm a spice-wimp, so the choice of a lower-heat chile made sense to me. I dumped the onion, garlic and chiles into a 4 cup measure. To this I added the rest of the spice ingredients, pausing only a minute to open a new can of tomato paste with an unwilling can opener. It squeeled displeasure throughout the process, but it was a small can and I didn't give the can opener any options.

With everything in the 4 cup measure, I brought out the big guns: my emersion blender. After finding an outlet (it was cowering behind dirty dishes and my kitchen-aid mixer), I powered it up and worked over the sauce ingredients. It took a while to get everything smoothed out, but near the end the sauce began looking more and more like barbeque sauce. Smelled like it too.

When it was done, I wiped off the emersion blender, unplugged it and rinsed the business end before putting it away. After unwrapping the pork butt shoulder roast from its cellophane container, I put the meat into a deep pot. I then poured in the sauce and filled the now-empty 4 cup measure with water, scraped the remaining bits of sauce off the sides into the water, and added that to the pot as well. I put the heat on full, and turned it down to a simmer only after the sauce began to boil. I set the timer to 2 hours and moved on.

My next project was spagetti sauce. This is one of my old favorites and I'd run out last week. I like this sauce because it freezes well, and because it has meat in it. But that's another story.

When the timer screamed at me the meat was still resistant to being pulled apart. I let it cook for another 3/4 of an hour, but by then I was out of time, so I pulled the pork mess off the burner and allowed it to cool. It was later put in the fridge by a helper who shall remain nameless.

The next morning I took out the congealed mass. It looked very ... orange. I put the pot back on the heat, allowing it to slowly rise up to the boil and then reduced the heat to a simmer. After about an hour on simmer the meat pulled easily from the bone, so I took the pot off the heat and let it sit.

It was almost an hour later when I came back and checked - the sauce was warm, but I could touch the meat without burning myself; so I got out a big bowl and tried to pull the meat out with a meat-fork. It fell apart back into the sauce. Using a spoon and the meat fork I managed to fish out most of the bits of meat from the sauce.

I poured the sauce into a sauce pan and returned it to the heat to reduce.

The meat came apart easily. I used my fingers. I had tried using 2 forks, but it just got messy. The tines kept getting tangled up and scaping the plate, so they and I went our separate ways. I discarded the inner fat and the bones, and set the meat aside.

It was another hour before the sauce was reduced, and even then not to the 3/4 the recipe suggested. Throwing caution to the wind, I added the sauce to the meat in the bowl and stired it in. I served it on toast - open faced for me, as a sandwich for the other. We both found it sweet, but good and very filling.

The remaining meat and sauce went into a baggie, got labeled and thrown into the freezer for later. Next time I'll try using more chiles or maybe some adobe chipotle paste to give it more of a kick. I'll also give myself more time to make the recipe all in one go.


Pulled pork sandwiches
Serves 4-6
Time: 15 minutes preparation, 3+ hours cooking
Inspired by Simply Recipes Pulled pork sandwich recipe. This hot sandwich comes with its own terrific sauce. It takes time to make, but should be convertable to a crockpot recipe with relative ease.

Notes:
The original recipe called for 1 pickled jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped, 2 teaspoons of Chipotle chile powder, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, and 1/4 cup light brown sugar. I found this recipe too sweet and so have modified it to try and make it more spicy. This is best served on thick-crusted bread rather than toast or hamburger buns, otherwise the sauce will make the bread really soggy. The meat and sauce store well. I'm going to try freezing the leftovers and will report back to see how they taste after thawing. I've left the original ingredients in the recipe (along with some notes) as I know a few readers will prefer things sweet to spicy.

Ingredients:
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 6 garlic cloves, peeled
* 2 serrano chile peppers, seeded and chopped (to taste)
or 1 picked jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped (original recipe)
* 1 tablespoon of Adobe Chipotle paste
or 1 tablespoon tomato paste (original recipe)
2 teaspoons of Chipotle chile powder
* 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 1/3 cup ketchup
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 1/8 cup light brown sugar
or 1/4 cup light brown sugar (original recipe)
* 1 bay leaf

* 3 lbs of pork butt shoulder roast, trimmed of excess fat
* Hamburger buns

Instructions:
1. Puree the first 11 ingredients until smooth.
2. In a deep pot, put the pork butt shoulder roast, bay leaf, sauce and 4 cups of water.
3. Bring the pot to a boil.
4. Turn it down to simmer. Keep simmering for 2 hours.
5. Remove from the heat and alow to cool.
6. When cool, remove the pork from the sauce. Shred it into small pieces and set aside.
7. Reduce the sauce by 3/4s.
8. Add the meat back into the sauce and allow the meat to heat through (about 2-3 minutes). Stir often.
9. Remove the bay leaf.
10. Top hamburger buns with about 1 cup of the meat mixture each. Add additional sauce if possible.
11. Serve while hot.